6. All payments to be made in ready money in Ceylon currency.
7. Drafts on the banks in Colombo or bills on the agents of this Government in India, at ten days sight, will be taken on letters of credit produced to warrant the drawing of such drafts or bills.
8. For the convenience of purchasers, the treasurer at Colombo and the different Government agents of provinces will be authorized to receive cash deposits from parties intending to become purchasers, and receipts of these officers will be taken in payment of any sums due on account of the fishery.
9. No deposit will be received for a less sum than Rs. 250.
By His Excellency's command.
Everard Im Thurm, Colonial Secretary. Colonial Secretary's Office, Colombo, Feb. 27, 1904."
The sanitary precautions are of the utmost importance, for a plague stricken Hindu, if he were dying, would still endeavor to go where he might "get rich quickly."
As the time draws near, thousands of speculators and sightseers from farther and nearer India arrive. Berbers, Arabs, Persians, and Burmese, mingle with the Singhalese and Tamil divers. A town of huts to accommodate perhaps 50,000 springs into existence. Steamer service to Colombo is started, post and telegraph service is established and sanitary measures put in force. Conjurors employed by the divers go through incantations to preserve them from the sharks which abound in these waters.
This shark-charming power is believed to be hereditary and not dependent on the religion of the conjuror and he can, if ill or absent, convey the power to a substitute so that it will be respected by the sharks. To make matters doubly sure the divers arm themselves with a short, pointed piece of ironwood. This however is not their main reliance for a "wise woman" was able to avert a panic which was well under way, after one of the divers was bitten at the Tuticorin fishing of 1890. Excepting the loss of a limb occasionally not much damage is done by the sharks, a fact which sustains the implicit faith of the natives in their shark-charmers.
When the day set by the Government officials arrives, the fleet puts to sea after numerous ceremonies. The boats, which range from ten to fifteen tons, are grouped in fleets of sixty to seventy. Beside the divers they are manned by ten or more sailors, a steersman, and if possible by a shark-charmer (pillal karras). The boats leave at midnight in order to be ready on the banks at sunrise. At the firing of a signal gun diving commences. A stone of granite, shaped like a pyramid and weighing about thirty to forty pounds, is attached through a hole at the smaller end to the cord by which the diver is lowered. Some divers prefer a half-moon stone fastened to the waist. Above the stone when attached to the line is a loop for the diver's foot. The divers work in pairs, one going down and the other remaining in the boat to attend to the line, and in some cases exchanging positions as the diver becomes exhausted. Naked divers stay below fifty to eighty seconds on an average, though some can remain under water longer. Each man makes forty to fifty descents a day and brings up fifteen to thirty oysters each time. As a rule the maximum depth in these waters is about forty-two feet though fishing at twelve and thirteen fathoms is reported. The divers work from sunrise to noon, which allowing for shifts gives each man four hours diving for a day's work. A gun is fired as a signal for the day's fishing to cease and the fleet starts at once for shore. Upon arriving there the oysters are immediately landed by coolies who carry them in baskets, on their backs, to the "Kottu," or government stockade. There they are counted and each boat-load is divided into three equal parts; Two of these are chosen by officials for the government and the remaining heap is the boats' share. Formerly the catch was divided into four parts of which the government took three. Of the boats' share the divers get in some cases two thirds. As soon as the division is made, those belonging to the boat are quickly traded or sold to the numerous small speculators which abound in the camp. Six evenings in the week the government auctions off the catch in lots of one thousand.