Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1876 — The Pearl Fishery of Ceylon. [ARTICLE]

The Pearl Fishery of Ceylon.

The pearl fishery, vaguely renowned even In the days of Pliny, is carried on principally at Aripo, on the west of the island, a little south of Manaar and Adam’s Bridge. Few places, from the description, can be more dreary than the shore at this spot. A sandy beach, a few cocoa palms, some thorn bushes, and enormous mounds of shells which have accumulated for centuries, do not sound attractive or picturesque. From March to May this spot» thronged by some hundreds of thousands of people interested in the catch, and houses are hastily run up of mite sod palm leaves, while boats of all sorts and sizes crowd the each. The divers mainly come from the Malabar coast, and their operations begin at sunrise. The plupgc to the bottom is facilitated by a stone.,weighing thirty pounds attached to a rope, in a loop of which the diver places huFlbot and drops perpendicujpny. As soon as he reaches the ground the stone is f drawn ‘up, and the process of filling a basket with shells commences. Experts remain under the water not quite sixty seconds, though- the Government Inspector had known one man who could stay eighty-seven seconds. They can go down nine fathoms, but work has been done in thirteen. Danger from sharks booty apprehended and not felt. A professional ‘‘Shark charmer” is,' however, in attendance, who recites a formula *and supplies charms -and amulets for the divers. The immunity from attack probably arises from the noise ana disturbance of foe waters

by so in any hundred boats. Some divers can bring up 3,000 or 4,000 shells a day, and e&rn nearly four pounds in eight days’ work. Failures in the fishery afe not uncommon. During the occupation of the Dutch, which lasted, 140 years, sixty years were unproductive, and dime were only four really good seasons. In our time there was a failure from 1830 to 18*8, aid another from 1887 to 1859. Hi is not very easy to estimate the financial retorp of this branch of the revenue, wnich is usually farmed out to a speculator. In 1814, 76,000,000 of shells were brought np, and in 1798 the farmer paid the Government £140,000, and realized about £50,000 of profit. There is ,still sbme doubt, it would seem, whether the {bad itself is the result of disease, or of an “ independent natural concretion.” One naturalist ascribes the origin to parasites. Even greater uncertainty exists as to the possibility of fheilitating the growth of pears by systematic treatment. But we should say that there can be no doubt as to the careless and unscientific way in which the shells are buried in the sand, and the valuable part either extracted after decomposition or forcibly tom out. The steneh, by the way, which arises from the putreftctlon of such vast numbers of shellfish is horrible, and yet Aripo is not converted into a huge hospital. The sea breezes and the short time of the fishery may perhaps account for this immunity from epidemics.— Review.

The ninth annual report of foe Uommissionerof Railroads for fob State of Ohio, just published, furnishes the following statistics: “There were but miles of ttack laid in Ohio last year, I*s miles Its* than foe previous year. The total number of passengers carried was 17,198,948, an increase over foe previous year of 1,706,654. The total number of tons of freight carried was *5,750,501, an increase of 145,7*5. The gross earnings of al} the lines were $64,945,3*5.58, against $70.8*8,194.6T1a5t year,'♦‘decline of $6,432,868.84, or nearly ten per cent The net eainifigs were $17,515,686.94, over eleven .per cent, decrease, and amounting to only UuNf per cent, upon foe paid in capital stock and indebteaness of foe companies owning foe. lines operated. Passenger Mraiw were tIT 116 - 524.48, aMling 0ff0fi5,779.82 from las't year. The earnings from freight transportation were $43,280,930.11, being $6,377,646.41 less than the amount derived from this source test year, and a decrease of 12.88 per cent. The total net debt of railway companies In Ohio is $161,247,. 55*-**- The total increase of debt, $&., 818,7*0.91.” ’