Читать книгу The Book of the Pearl. The history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems онлайн

150 страница из 197

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]

THE “PRINCE OF PEARLS”: THE LATE RANA OF DHOLPUR IN HIS PEARL REGALIA

This number of boats seems entirely too large, especially in view of the fact that Jordanus secured his information at second hand; but it leaves the impression that the fisheries of that period were of great importance.

When the Portuguese, attracted by the wealth of its resources, obtained control of this region about 1510, they exacted from the local rulers an annual tribute in pearls and spices. Later they conducted the fisheries on their own account, permitting the native fishermen to retain one fourth of the catch as compensation for their work, and dividing the remainder into three equal portions, for the king, the church, and the soldiers, respectively.