The headquarters of the fishery are at Tuticorin, near to Madura, the Benares of the south, the holy “City of Sweetness” which the gods have delighted to honor from time immemorial. But the camp is commonly erected of palmyra and bamboo on the barren shore several miles distant from Tuticorin. The 1890 fishery was at Salápatturai, and that of 1900 at a place which received the mouth-filling name of Veerapandianpatanam.
The preparations for pearling at Tuticorin are similar to those on the Ceylon coast. In the autumn the reefs are examined by government inspectors, and if the conditions seem to warrant a fishery in the following spring, arrangements are made therefor and the proper notification issued. The announcement follows the general plan of that in Ceylon. The following, from the Fort St. George “Gazette,” Madras, January 16, 1900, is a copy of the notification preceding the last fishery which has occurred:
Notice is hereby given that a pearl fishery will take place at Veerapandianpatanam on or about the 12th March, 1900.
1. The bank to be fished is the Theradipulipudithapar, estimated to employ 100 boats for twenty days with average loads of 7,000 oysters per day.
2. It is therefore recommended that such boat owners and divers as may wish to be employed shall be at Tuticorin on or before the 1st of March next and anchor their boats abreast of the government flagstaff; the first day’s fishing will take place on the 12th of March, weather permitting.
3. The fishery will be conducted on account of Government, and the oysters put up for sale in such lots as may be deemed expedient.
4. The arrangements of the fishery will be the same as have been usual on similar occasions.
PEARLS PRESENTED BY THE IMAM OF MUSCAT TO PRESIDENT VAN BUREN
Now in the United States National Museum, Washington, D. C.
5. Payments to be made in ready money in rupees or in Government of India notes. Checks on the Bank of Madras or Bank Agencies will be received on letters of credit being produced to warrant the drawing of such checks.