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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. XVI. THE PEARL FISHERY
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ployed by him picked up in the sand, at several stations on this coast, numerous Byzantine and Chinese as well as Hindu coins.* The brickwork of the pagoda, as described by him, very fine and closely fitted but without cement, corresponds to that of the Burmese and Ceylonese medieval Buddhist buildings. The architecture bas a slight resemblance to that of Pollanarua in Ceylon (see I+'erb usson, II. p. 512). (Abulf. in Gildenzeister, p. 185 ; Nelson, Pt. II. p. 27 seqq. ; Taylor's Catalogue Raisonné, III. 386-389.)
Ma'bar is mentioned (111à pa-'rh) in the Chinese Annals as one of the foreign kingdoms which sent tribute to Kúblái in 1286 (supra, p. 296) ; and Pauthier has given some very curious and novel extracts from Chinese sources regarding the diplomatic intercourse with Ma'bar in 1280 and the following years. Among other points these mention the " five brothers who were Sultans" (Suantan), an envoy Chanzalating (Jumaluddín) who had been sent from Ma'bar to the Mongol Court, etc. (See pp. 603 seqq.)
NOTE 2. — Marco's account of the pearl-fishery is still substantially correct. Bettelar, the rendezvous of the fishery, was, I imagine, PATLAMM on the coast of Ceylon, called by Ibn Batuta Batthála. Though the centre of the pearl-fishery is now at Aripo and Kondachi further north, its site has varied sometimes as low as Chilaw, the name of which is a corruption of that given by the Tamuls, Saláblzanz, which means " the Diving," i.e. the Pearl-fishery. Tennent gives the meaning erroneously as " the Sea of Gain." I owe the correction to Dr. Caldwell. (Ceylon, I. 440 ; Pridlzam, 409 ; Ibn Bat. IV. 166 ; Ribeyro, ed. Columbo, 1847, App. p. 196.)
[Ma Huan (J. North China B. R. A. S. XX. p. 213) says that " the King (of Ceylon) has had an [artificial] pearl pond dug, into which every two or three years he orders pearl oysters to be thrown, and he appoints men to keep watch over it. Those who fish for these oysters, and take them to the authorities for the King's use, sometimes steal and fraudulently sell them."— H. C.]
The shark-charmers do not now seem to have any claim to be called Abraiaman or Brahmans, but they may have been so in former days. At the diamond mines of the northern Circars Brahmans are employed in the analogous office of propitiating the tutelary genii. The shark-charmers are called in Tamul Kadal-Katti, " Sea-binders," and in Hindustani Hai-banda or " Shark-binders." At Aripo they belong to one family, supposed to have the monopoly of the charm. The chief operator is (or was, not many years ago) paid by Government, and he also received ten oysters from each boat daily during the fishery. Tennent, on his visit, found the incumbent of the office to be a Roman Catholic Christian, but that did not seem to affect the exercise or the validity of his functions. It is remarkable that when Tennent wrote, not more than one authenticated accident from sharks had taken place, during the whole period of the British occupation.
The time of the fishery is a little earlier than Marco mentions, viz. in March and April, just between the cessation of the north-east and commencement of the southwest monsoon. -His statement of the depth is quite correct ; the diving is carried on in water of 4 to Io fathoms deep, and never in a greater depth than 13.
I do not know the site of the other fishery to which he alludes as practised in September and October ; but the time implies shelter from the south-west Monsoon, and it was probably on the east side of the island, where in 175o there was a fishery, at Trincomalee. (Stewart in Trans. R. A. S. III. 456 seqq. ; Pridlzam., u. s. ; Tennent, II. 564-565 ; Ribeyro, as above, App. p. 196.)
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* Colonel Mackenzie also mentions Cinese coins as found on this coast. (J. R. A. S. 1. 352-333.')
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