Читать книгу The Book of the Pearl - George Frederick Kunz - Страница 19

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Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;

He who would search for pearls must dive below.

Dryden, All for Love, Prologue.

Second in extent to those of Persia only, are the intermittent and uncertain pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar. This is an arm of the Indian Ocean, from 65 to 150 miles in width, separating the island of Ceylon from the southernmost part of India. The pearl-oyster banks—known locally as paars—are situated off the northwest coast of Ceylon and also in the vicinity of Tuticorin on the Madras coast of the mainland. The Ceylon fisheries are under the control of the colonial government of the British Empire, and those of the mainland are monopolized by the Madras government. Notwithstanding the fact that they are outside of the three-mile limit established as the bound of national jurisdiction, exclusive privileges are exercised over these fisheries by the respective governments,^[122] and poaching vessels are liable to seizure and punishment.

Though possibly not so ancient as those of Persia, the Ceylon pearl fisheries are of great antiquity. References to them occur in Cingalese records dating from 550 B.C. Pliny, Ptolemy, Strabo, and other ancient writers speak of their importance.

The “Periplus of the Erythræan”—written about the end of the second century A.D.—refers to these fisheries, and states that, owing to the dangers involved, it was customary to employ convicts therein. In the days of the “Arabian Nights,” under the name “Serendib,” this was the scene of the pearling adventures of Sindbad the Sailor, and the reputation of the valuable pearl resources is reflected in those wonderful tales.

The first extensive description we have of the Gulf of Manaar fisheries was given by the Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, who visited the region about 1294. He wrote:

The pearl fishers take their vessels, great and small, and proceed into the gulf where they stop from the beginning of April till the middle of May. They go first to a place called Bettelar, and then go 60 miles into the Gulf. Here they cast anchor and shift from their large vessels into small boats. You must know that the many merchants who go divide into various companies, and each of these must engage a number of men on wages, hiring them for April and half of May. Of all the produce they have first to pay the king, as his royalty, the tenth part. And they must also pay those men who charm the great fishes to prevent them from injuring the divers whilst engaged in seeking pearls under water, one-twentieth of all that they take. These fish-charmers are termined Abraiaman; and their charm holds good for that day only, for at night they dissolve the charm so that the fishes can work mischief at their will. These Abraiaman know also how to charm beasts and birds and every living thing. When the men have got into the small boats they jump into the water and dive to the bottom, which may be at a depth of from 4 to 12 fathoms, and there they remain as long as they are able. And there they find the shells that contain the pearls, and those they put into a net bag tied round the waist, and mount up to the surface with them, and then dive anew. When they can’t hold their breath any longer they come up again, and after a little down they go once more, and so they go on all day. These shells are in fashion like oysters or sea-hoods. And in these shells are found pearls, great and small, of every kind, sticking in the flesh of the shell-fish. In this manner pearls are fished in great quantities, for thence in fact come the pearls which are spread all over the world. And I can tell you the King of that State hath a very great receipt and treasure from his dues upon those pearls.^[123]

That quaint old missionary bishop, Friar Jordanus, in his “Mirabilia Descripta, or the Wonders of the East” (circa 1330), reports that “more than 8000 boats” were sometimes employed for three months continually in these fisheries, which were then prosecuted under the jurisdiction of the Cingalese kings of Kandy, and that the quantity of pearls taken was “astounding and almost incredible.”^[124]