The pearl ; its story, its charm, and its value . the fishinggrounds, half the crew is selected for diver uses a small braided mat basket as areceptacle for the shells and has a long lineattached to him by which he can signal to theman in the boat who manages it. There is aman to each divers line. Except for the shortintervals at the surface necessary for air andrest, the divers remain in the water for oyster beds vary in depth from six toeighteen feet in the shallows, to forty feet atthe banks. The duration of the fishing season dependson the temperature of the water. It
The pearl ; its story, its charm, and its value . the fishinggrounds, half the crew is selected for diver uses a small braided mat basket as areceptacle for the shells and has a long lineattached to him by which he can signal to theman in the boat who manages it. There is aman to each divers line. Except for the shortintervals at the surface necessary for air andrest, the divers remain in the water for oyster beds vary in depth from six toeighteen feet in the shallows, to forty feet atthe banks. The duration of the fishing season dependson the temperature of the water. It lastsusually through July, August, and September,though some of the larger boats remain outfrom the end of June until the beginning ofOctober. The pearls are sold by weight, sales beingmade sometimes while at sea and a dutyequalling about twenty per cent, is levied on thespot. A large number of Hindu traders comeduring the season to buy, returning to Indiaat the close as they have done for centuries. No exact statistics of the output of these214. PEARL FISHERIES fisheries are to be had but the yield is said toaverage well; some authorities placing thevalue of the fisheries of the entire district inthe sixties at nearly two millions of dollars perannum, and the number of boats engaged at4,000 to 5,000. As ancient as those of the Arabian sea andeven more important are the pearl fisheries ofIndia. These are also fished for the pearls, theshells of these waters being smaller than thoseof the Persian Gulf and valueless for mother-of-pearl. The pearls however average whiter thanthose of the Red Sea and the Persian equally fine pearls are found in otherwaters the Ceylon, or Madras pearls as theyare called, have long been esteemed the bestbecause of their good average color and banks are situated in the Gulf of Manaarbetween the southern point of India and theisland of Ceylon. On the Madras (India) side the banks are offTinnevalli and Madura at Tuticorin. Th
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