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

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Several very interesting reports on the industry were prepared about that time. Especially to be noted among these were the accounts by Henry J. LeBeck in 1798;^[128] by Robert Percival in 1803;^[129] and by James Cordiner in 1807,^[130] to which reference is made for detailed accounts of the fisheries of that period.

The Ceylon fishery was prosecuted about every other year from 1799 to 1809, and the annual returns ranged from £15,022 in 1801 to £84,257 in 1808. From 1810 to 1813, inclusive, there was a blank so far as receipts were concerned. In 1814 the fishery was very good, bringing in a revenue of £105,187. With the exception of very slight returns in 1815, 1816, and 1820, no oysters were then obtained until 1828. Excepting 1832 and 1834, the industry was prosecuted each year from 1828 to 1837, the revenue to the government averaging about £30,000 annually. Then came a long blank of seventeen years, for there was no fishing from 1838 to 1854, and likewise from 1864 to 1873. Indeed, so depleted had the beds throughout the Gulf of Manaar become in 1866, that serious consideration was given to the possibilities of securing seed oysters from the Persian Gulf for restocking the reefs; but fortunately this was rendered unnecessary by the discovery soon afterward of a few oysters on several reefs on both the Ceylon and the Malabar coasts.