Attempts were made some years past to transplant this species of oysters, but without success, as they invariably died during their transportation. most common practice is to farm the season to an individual, who lets the right of partaking to others. The fourteen banks, or beds, on which the oysters are found, are situated in the bottom of the gulph of Manaar, and are in The first step previously to a fishery is the examination of the banks, which takes place at the end of October, during the short included in a space about thirty miles in terval of fine weather usual between the close of the south-west monsoon and the commencement of the north-east. One pilot, two divers, and eight or more sailors, to each boat, are employed upon this service, and there are generally nine boats. The superintendant on the part of government accompanies the principal arripanaar, or pilot, who is taught his profession from his infancy, inheriting it from his father, in the manner of most occupations in the East. The boats visit the banks in a body, and the divers frequently descending, ascertain its exact position, and at the same time bring up a thousand or more oysters as specimens, which are examined by persons who, from experience, are enabled to judge whether it is probable they are of an age calculated to answer the purposes of the intended fishing: this examination is not, however, deemed sufficient, and the oysters are opened, when the pearls are extracted, and after sorting them they are valued. It is really shocking to humanity to reflect, that if one thousand oysters produce as many pearls as are worth three pounds sterling, the fishery is undertaken, as it has been found that the examination of that number is a sufficient designation of success, or the reverse. In the progress of this preliminary part of the undertaking, the oysters are found at various periods of their growth: those not more than one year old are very small, being less than an inch in circumference, and the full grown oysters are as large as the palm of the hand of a man: between the ages of four and five years the seed pearl only is discovered; but after this period they increase in size very rapidly; and, as has been before observed, they die after the eighth year. After completely satisfying themselves as to the probability of future success, the result is published, for the information of those who may be inclined to partake of the probable advantages. Since the island of Ceylon has been a part of the British empire, each fishing season has either been reserved for the exclusive use of government, or rented to speculative persons: but the produce has never amounted to 200,0001. on any one occasion. The length, from north to south, and twenty-four in breadth. It has been ascertained, that the largest of those beds is ten miles long, and two broad; the remainder are much smaller; nor are they all equally productive, as it seldom happens that more than three beds can be marked for use in any given season. The spots where the oysters lay are not raised higher than the surrounding parts, except by their accumulation, and the coral rocks, on which the most valuable are placed, are on a level with the sand: the depth of water over them varies from eighteen to ninety feet, and the most convenient and best fishing is at the depth of between six and eight fathoms. When it is thought proper to undertake a fishery, advertisements are issued in the English and Malabar languages, inviting the possessors of boats suited for the purpose, and all divers, to meet on the 20th of February in the bay of Condaatchy: vessels of this description assemble from various places on the coast of Coromandel, completely equipped, and furnished with every necessary for the accomplishment of their intentions: those are open, of about one ton burthen, forty-five feet in length, seven or eight wide, and three deep in the hold; and are so constructed as to draw not more than eight or ten inches water, unless they are heavily laden, and are navigated with one sail only. They have a complement of twenty-three men, whose employments are thus appropriated: one pilot, one man for the helm; another to take care of the boat; one to lade out water; ten divers; ten mundrees, who haul up the divers, the stones, and the baskets; and a peon attends on the part of the renter, to take care that his interests do not suffer from fraud. A second examination of the banks takes place a few days before the operations begin, which is merely for the purpose of anchoring buoys to point out the situation of the banks, and those parts of them most abounding with the object of search. A small sloop is from the first stationed in the centre of the banks, where she remains for the double purpose of guarding the buoys, and as a guide to the boats. The pilot boats make a circuit of twelve or fifteen miles round the sloop, sounding and sending down the divers, and upon discovering a place remarkable for the number of oysters, a buoy is immediately placed over it, which consists of triangular rafts of wood, fastened by a cable attached to a wooden anchor, sunk by two stones. The rafts support flags of various colours; and drawings of those are inserted in a book, where a minute description is given of the name, quality, and age of the oysters on the bank under each flag. Three hours sailing of the boats employed in the pearl fishery from the shore of Condaatchy, or a distance of about fifteen miles, occurs between the banks and that place: unfortunately the land near them is so low, that it is impossible to make use of it in ascertaining their position; it becomes, therefore, absolutely necessary to renew at each fishery the fatiguing operation of sounding and diving, the buoys being all removed at the close of their labours, as they would serve to point out the places for depredators to dive with success. Mr. Cordiner, from whose late excellent account of Ceylon we have extracted most of the preceding particulars, says, "As the boats arrive at Condaatchy to be employed in the fishery, they are regularly numbered, and their description and the names of their crew are registered in a book. The fishery for the season of 1804 was let by government to a native of Jaffnapatam, who had resided for some years previously to it on the coast of Coromandel. For thirty days fishing, with 150 boats, he came under an obligation to pay 300,000 Porto Novo pagodas, or 120,000l. sterling. He sold the right of fishing to some of the best equipped boats for 3000 pagodas each, and that of others for 2500; but kept by far the greater part of them to fish on his own account." After every arrangement is completed, and the boats are ready to put to sea, their navigators and the divers are roused from their slumbers by the discharge of a cannon, the sounding of horns, and the beating of a kind of drum, called by the natives tom toms: this signal is generally made rather before midnight, when a breeze from the land prevails; the confusion that immediately follows the movements of upwards of six thousand persons in the dark may be better conceived than described; but in defiance of every obstacle, these silly people will not depart till they have performed certain ablutions and incantations, calculated, as they suppose, to forward their views. When they have reached the banks they cast anchor, and wait the approach of day; which no sooner arrives than each boat takes its station: at six or seven o'clock the diving commences. To facilitate this operation, a species of open scaffolding is projected from each side of the vessel, and it is from the scaffold the tackle is suspended, three stones on one side and two on the other. The author we have just mentioned gives so clear and comprehensive an account of this dangerous business, which he saw performed, that we shall give part of it in his own words. "The diving stone hangs from an oar by a light country rope, and slip knot, and descends about five feet into the water. It is a stone of 56 lb. weight, of the shape of a sugar loaf. The rope passes through a hole in the top of a stone, above which a strong loop is formed, resembling a stirrupiron, to receive the foot of the diver," who is entirely naked, except a piece of enhio wrapped round his waist; swimming near the side of the vessel, he takes the rope in one hand, and places his foot in the stirrup on the stone; a basket is then thrown into the water to him, made of a hoop and network below it, in which he places the other foot: after preparing his lungs for ceasing to breathe, he presses his nostrils firmly with one hand, and with the other pulls the rope forming the slip-knot; the stone carries him instantly to the bottom, where he no sooner arrives, than he disengages himself from the stirrup, which, with the stone, is immediately drawn up by the people in the boat. The diver throws himself forward upon his face, and grasps every thing in his way as rapidly as possible, and putting it into the basket, gives a signal when it is full by pulling the rope, when that also is hauled up; he then ascends by the rope, and frequently arrives at the surface before the basket: such is the consequence of custom, that though the diver cannot descend again without an interval of rest, he seldom enters the boat, remaining swimming and floating about during the whole day. Besides the other dangers peculiar to this pursuit, the divers are liable to be devoured by sharks; but whatever may be the cause, an accident seldom occurs, which these superstitious people attribute to the powerful aid of shark charmers, without whom, and the exercise of their diabolical incantations, they will on no account undertake their labours. The most experienced diver has never been known to remain longer than one minute and a half under water, in which time he may gather 150 oysters, if they are numerous; but he sometimes gains not more than from five to a dozen, accompanied by coral pieces of rock and other substances, for he has no time to separate and examine what he seizes. When 500 boats are employed in the fishery, it is supposed that at least 1500 divers are constantly descending, the noise of which resembles the incessant roaring of a cataract. The return of the fleet in regular order, at one or two P. M. and their arrival, with the crowds waiting to welcome their return, presents a very animating and gratifying spectacle. The method adopted to extract the pearls is dreadfully disgusting and unwholesome, as they do not undertake this operation till the oysters have been deposited in heaps for ten days, or till the flesh has become decidedly putrid: the reason for so doing is obvious, as the particles of decayed matter and maggots are readily floated off by repeated washings in inclined receptacles, so contrived as to arrest the progress of even the smallest pearls, as they descend by their weight. Every possible precantion is taken, by picking and sifting, to secure the whole of the produce, and yet it is said that vast numbers are lost. After the most valuable are selected, they are sent to be drilled; a most ingenious and delicate operation, which is thus performed: a piece of wood in the shape of an inverted cone is placed upon three legs, raising it about one foot from the ground: holes of various dimensions are made in the surface to receive the pearls: the person who drills sits close to the machine; he then drives the pearls steady into their sockets. "A well-tempered needle is fixed in a reed five inches long, with an iron point at the other end, formed to play in the socket of a cocoa nut shell, which presses on the forehead of the driller. A bow is formed of a piece of bamboo and a string. The workman brings his right knee in a line with the machine, and places on it a small cup, formed of part of a cocoa nut shell, which is filled with water to moderate the heat of friction. He bends his head over the machine, and applying the point of the needle to a pearl sunk in one of the pits, drills with great facility, every now and then dexter ously dipping the little finger of his right hand in the water, and applying it to the middle, without impeding the operation. In this manner he bores a pearl in the space of two or three minutes, and in the course of a day perforates 300 small, or 600 large pearls." There are different methods of fishing for pearls practised in other parts of the world; but as the Ceylon fishery eclipses them all, and the simplicity of the invention is so obvious, it would be well if it were universally adopted. PEARL-spar, is a fossil of the calcareous kind, being composed of carbonate of lime, with the oxides of iron and manganese: it has received different names, and occurs massive, disseminated, and crystalized: its colours are white, often with shades of grey, yellow, or red; but by mere exposure to the air its colour darkens, it becomes brown, and at length nearly black. Specific gravity about 2.8. It does not melt before the blow-pipe, but blackens: it effervesces with acids: it is said by Bergman to consist of PEAT, or, as it is sometimes called, TURF, is a congeries of vegetable matter, in which the remains of organization are more or less visible; consisting of the trunks of trees; of leaves, fruits, and stringy fibres, the remains of aquatic mosses. It occurs in extensive beds called peat mosses, occupying the surface of the soil, or covered to the depth of a few feet with sand, gravel, and other matters. It is met with in great abundance in the northern, and in some of the central districts of Europe: in moist, uncultivated, mountainous tracts, and likewise in low vallies and fenny plains; and in several parts of the western shore of Great Britain. The depth of peat mosses is very various, from a few feet to twelve or fifteen yards: its consistence is very various; sometimes in a semi fluid state, forming a black, impassible wilderness, studded here and there by tufts of rushes: when more solid, it is scantily covered over with heath and coarse grasses: in this state it is passable by sheep and other animals, especially dur ing the dry season of the year. In deep peat mosses the upper part is loose, and less inflammable than the lower part of the bed. When of a good quality it is moderately compact, and may be readily cut in small masses of the size of bricks. By ex posure to the air it dries, and becomes very inflammable. In this country it is the common fuel of large districts of Wales and Scotland, and of some parts of England, where coal is scarce and dear. Its ashes are in high estimation as a manure, being applied in the form of a top-dressing. PECK, a measure of capacity, four of which make a bushel. PECORA, in natural history, the fifth order of the class Mammalia. They have no fore-teeth in the upper jaw, but several in the lower; feet hoofed, cloven: they live on herbs, chew the cud, and have four stomachs; viz. the paunch, to macerate and ruminate the food; the bonnet, reticulate, to receive it; the omasus, of numerous folds, to digest it; and the abomasus, to give it acescency, and prevent putrefaction. There are eight genera, viz. Capra Cervus Antelope PECTIS, in botany, a genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Superflua class and order. Natural order of Compositæ Oppositifolia Corymbiferæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx five-leaved, cylindric; florets in the ray five; down awned; receptacle naked. There are four species. These are annual plants, and natives of the West Indies. PECULIAR, signifies a particular parish or church that hath jurisdiction within itself, for probate of wills, &c. exempt from the ordinary, and the bishop's court. The Court of Peculiars is that which deals in certain parishes, lying in several dioceses; which parishes are exempt from the jurissliction of the bishops of those dioceses, and are peculiarly belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, within whose province there are fifty-seven such peculiars. PEDALIUM, in botany, a genus of the Didynamia Angiospermia class and order. Natural order of Lurida. Bignoniæ, Jnssien. Essential character: calyx five-parted; corolla subringent, with a five-cleft border; mut suberous, four-cornered, thorny at the corners, two-celled; seeds two. There is but one species, viz. P. murex, prickly fruited pedalium: it is a native of the East Indies. PEDALS, the largest pipes of an organ, so called because played and stopped with the foot. The pedals are made square, and of wood; they are usually thirteen in number. They are of modern invention, and serve to carry the sounds an octave deeper than the rest. See ORGAN. PEDESTAL, in architecture, the lowest part of an order of columns, being that which sustains the column, and serves it as a foot or stand. The pedestal consists of three principal parts, viz. a square trunk, or dye, which makes the body; a corniche, the head; and a base, the foot of the pedestal. There are as many kinds of pedestals as there are of orders of columns, viz. the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. See ARCHITECTURE. PEDESTALS of statues, are such as serve to support statues or figures. Vignola observes, that there is no part of architecture more arbitrary, and in which more liberty may be taken, than in the pedestals of statues; there being no rules or laws prescribed by antiquity, nor any settled even by the moderns. There being then no fixed proportion for these pedestals, the height depends on the situation, and the figure that they sustain when on the ground, the pedestal is usually two-thirds or two-fifths of that of the statue; the more massive the statue is, the stronger the pedestal must be. Their form and character, &c. are to be extraordinary and ingenious, far from the regularity and simplicity of the pedestals of columns. The same author gives a multiplicity of forms, as oval, triangular, multangular, &c. PEDICELLARIA, in natural history, a genus of the Vermes Mollusca class and order. Body soft, and seated on a rigid, fixed peduncle; aperture single. Three species only are enumerated. P. globifera: head spherical; inhabits the Northern seas, among the spines of echini; body minute, and resembling a mucor; head reddish, having the appearance of a small cherry; peduncle or stem tawny, and covered with a gelatinous liva'ine skin. P. tridens: head three-lobed, the lobes oval and awn ed, neck round: this class inhabits the Northern Seas, among the spines of the echini: the reck is smooth and hyaline, sometimes reddish; lobes of the head some times four, and three times as long as the neck, rarely unarmed with awn; peduncle reddish, and three times as long as the neck. PEDICELLUS, in botany, a partial flower stalk, or the proper stalk of any single flower, in an aggregate or head of flowers. The principal stalk, which supports all the flowers, is called the common flowerstalk: the stalk of each partial flower, if it has one, is syled the proper flower stalk, or "pedicellus." PEDICULARIS, in botany, louse-wort, or red rattle, a genus of the Didynamia Angiospermia class and order. Natural order of Personatæ. Pediculares, Jussieu. Es seutial character: calyx five cleft; capsule two-celled, mucronate, oblique; seeds coated. There are nineteen species. PEDICULUS, in botany, a foot-stalk, so called by former botanists; but Linnæus has substituted, in its stead, "petrolus," for the foot-stalk of the leaves; and "pedunculus," for the foot-stalk-of the flowers. PEDICULUS, in natural history, the louse, a genus of insects, of the order Aptera. Generic character: mouth with a retrac tile, recurved sucker, without proboscis; no feelers; antennæ as long as the thorax; two eyes; abdomen depressed; legs six, formed for running. These live by extracting animal juices; the larvæ and pupæ are six-footed, and nimble, resembling the perfect insect. There are between seventy and eighty species: of these some infest the bodies of quadrupeds, others of birds, and some even of insects themselves. P. humanus, or common louse, is distinguished by its pale, livid colour, and lobated, oval abdomen. It is produced from a small oval egg, popularly called by the name of a nit, which is fastened or agglutinated by its smaller end to the hair on which it is deposited: from this egg proceeds the insect, complete in all its parts, and only different from the parent animal in its smaller size. When examined by the microscope, it is seen, that the trunk or proboscis, which is generally concealed in its sheath or tube, is of a very sharp form, and is furnished to wards the upper part with a few reversed aculei or prickles; the eyes are large, smooth, and black; the stomach and intestines afford a very distinct view of the peristaltic motion; the legs are each terminated by a double claw, not very much unlike that of a lobster, but of a sharper form; and the whole animal is every where covered by a strong granulated skin. Few insects are more prolific than the louse. It is said, that in about eight weeks a louse might see five thousand of its own descendants. PEDIMENT, in architecture, is a kind of low pinnacle, serving to crown an ordonnance, or finish a frontispiece, and is placed as an ornament over gates, doors, windows, niches, altars, &c. being ordinarily of a triangular form, but sometimes forming an arch of a circle. PEDOMETER. See PERAMBULATOR. PEDUNCULUS, in botany, the footstalk of a flower, or head of flowers: the pedunculus elevates the flower and fruit only, without the leaves; the petiolus, or leaf-stalk, supports the leaves only, without the flower or fruit. Flower-stalks have different epithets, from the place which they occupy on the plant. When they proceed from the root, they are termed radicles; when from the stem, trunk-stalks; and when from the branch, branch stalks. They sometimes afford excellent characters in discriminating the species: an example is found in a species of the globe amaranth, which is distinguished by its flower-stalks being furnished with two leaves that are placed opposite, and immediately under each head of flowers. PEEK, in the sea-language, is a word used in various senses: thus, the anchor is said to be a-peek, when the ship, being about to weigh, comes over her anchor in such a manner, that the cable hangs perpendicularly betwixt the hawse and the anchor. To heave a-peek, is to bring the peek so as that the anchor may hang a-peak. A ship is said to ride a-peak, when, lying with her main and fore yards hoisted up, one end of her yards is brought down to the shrouds, and the other raised up an end, which is chiefly done when she lies in rivers, lest other ships falling foul of the yards should break them. Riding a-broad peek, denotes much the same, excepting that the yards are only raised to half the height. PEER, in general, signifies an equal, or one of the same rank and station: hence, in the acts of some councils, we find these words, with the consent of our peers, bi |