ulo beds. Still the Ceylon
fishery has netted the British Government from one to two laks of
pagodas for permitting it to be fished fourteen days annually. As this
portion of Borneo belongs to the English, a much greater revenue might
be drawn from these vast sources of wealth, under proper management.

As there are no people of sufficient opulence to contract for so vast
a fishery, the Company might undertake it themselves; three or four
gun-boats would be necessary to protect the fishermen; and a small
fort should be erected at Tambisan or Tawi Tawi. But it is necessary
to observe, the Sulo people do not practice diving at all, as is
the case at Beharen and Ceylon, but only comprehend the slow method
of dredging for the tipy with a thing like the fluke of a wooden
anchor. It would be a desirable thing, in the event of prosecuting
this valuable fishery as a national concern, to obtain forty or fifty
Arab divers from Beharen, and perhaps an equal number of Chulias
from Nagore and Negapatam, from the number employed annually on the
Ceylon fishery. These men would teach the Malay the superiority of
diving, which can, in fourteen days' fishing, bring into government
a revenue of two laks of pagodas, pay the expenses of the fishery,
and enrich all parties concerned; while the Malayan operose plan of
dredging perhaps affords but a precarious subsistence. But had they
divers, from the extent of the banks, instead of fourteen days in the
year, they might, one after another, be fished the whole year round,
and never be exhausted. The Chinese fishermen, though laborious,
possess no enterprise, and can never be prevailed on to dive, from
apprehension of the sharks. The Caffris from New Guinea and the Arroes
would be superior to them.

The Sultan of Sulo, in 1810, proposed to me to bring over one hundred
Chulia divers from Negapatam on our joint expense and profit: and
the divers agreed to go over on receiving each twenty-five rupees
advance, their victuals being found, and one-fourth of the produce of
oysters allowed them, as at Ceylon. Circumstances, however, occurred
to prevent an undertaking which I think must have turned out highly
lucrative. They dredge the banks all the year round. The water on the
Tahow, Maludu, and Tawi Tawi banks, is from seven to ten fathoms deep;
in other places they fish in fifteen fathoms water.

The Malays of Borneo understand the art of cutting, polishing, and
setting their diamonds. Gold and si