other chiefs, and the proprietors of temples
on the opposite coast of India, who claimed, a right to participate in
the fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar.]

[Footnote 2: "Il y avait autrefois dans le Golfe de Serendyb, une
pecherie de perles qui s'est epuisee de notre temps. D'un autre cote il
s'est forme une pecherie de Sofala dans le pays des Zends, la ou il n'en
existait pas auparavant--on dit que c'est la pecherie de Serendyb qui
s'est transportee a Sofala."--ALBYROUNI, _in_ RENAUD'S _Fragmens Arabes,
&c_, p. 125; see also REINAUD'S _Memoire sur l'Inde_, p. 228.]

It appeared to me that the explanation of the phenomenon was to be
sought, not merely in external causes, but also in the instincts and
faculties of the animals themselves, and, on my return to Colombo, I
ventured to renew a recommendation, which had been made years before,
that a scientific inspector should be appointed to study the habits and
the natural history of the pearl-oyster, and that his investigations
should be facilitated by the means at the disposal of the Government.

Dr. Kelaart was appointed to this office, by Sir H.G. Ward, in 1857, and
his researches speedily developed results of great interest. In
opposition to the received opinion that the pearl-oyster is incapable of
voluntary movement, and unable of itself to quit the place to which it
is originally attached[1], he demonstrated, not only that it possesses
locomotive powers, but also that their exercise is indispensable to its
oeconomy when obliged to search for food, or compelled to escape from
local impurities. He showed that, for this purpose, it can sever its
byssus, and re-form it at pleasure, so as to migrate and moor itself in
favourable situations.[2] The establishment of this important fact may
tend to solve the mystery of the occasional disappearances of the
oyster; and if coupled with the further discovery that it is susceptible
of translation from place to place, and even from salt to brackish
water, it seems reasonable to expect that beds may be formed with
advantage in positions suitable for its growth and protection. Thus,
like the edible oyster of our own shores, the pearl-oyster may be
brought within the domain of pisciculture, and banks may be created in
suitable places, just as the southern shores of France are now being
colonised with oysters, under the direction of M. Coste.[3] The
operation of sowing the sea with pearl, should the experiment succeed,
would be as