would have gone wild with joy. He leaped
about, danced, laughed, and sung bits of old
musty ditties. Nor was he quiet until he had
removed his heap to a miserable little shed
hard by. There he sat down, close beside his
lot of fish, and burying his head between his
hands with the elbows resting on his knees,
remained contemplating his little fortune,
longing, yet half afraid to open some of
them. I left him thus gazing on the
oysters, as though each living thing held
his own life and immortality within its rocky
shell.

There were many wealthy traders there
from all parts of India; but many more
had with difficulty scraped together sums
varying from a dozen pagodas to a dozen
dollars; men who had purchased or
borrowed the means of bidding at this
intoxicating auction; men who had left their
famished families without the means of
obtaining a mouthful of rice: who had torn the
gold bangles and ear-rings from their wives and
children, and melted them into ingots, to deal
in the maddening trade of Aripo. Some
returned home rich beyond their expectations:
some with little fortunes; but many
went back ruined, beggared, and broken-
hearted, to repay their loans or pledges; while
some fled in terror to strange lands—having
lost the means of replacing monies taken by
them from sources of trust—being ruined
in means and reputation. All this happens
at every Pearl Fishery, and is not to be
prevented, save by offering the fish in larger
lots; which, though it might not prove quite
so remunerative to the Government, would
save much evil and suffering.

No further accidents from sharks happened
whilst I was on the "Banks;" but in truth, at
the end of the first week of the fishery, I was
glad to avail myself of the opportunity of
returning to Colombo in a Government boat.
The novelty of the scene had worn off; one
day's operations were precisely those of
another. The scenes of drunken riot and
dissipated frenzy were daily becoming
more, violent and disgusting. Added to this,
the intolerable stench from the accumulating
myriads of oysters hastening to
decomposition, rendered a residence on shore,
within a mile or two of the Cottoos, quite
intolerable to one who did not in any way
partake of the excitement of the lottery in
pearls.

The oysters are left in heaps for about
thirty days, at the end of which time they
become perfectly decomposed. In that state
they are placed in a large canoe, and well but
carefully washed with plenty of water, so as
to remove the rotten portion of the fish,
leaving the pearls and the shells in the water.
Some of the more needy purchasers have not
patience to await this process, but at once
proceed to work by opening the fresh oysters,
and so learn their good fortune or their
beggary. So eager are all to make money at
these auctions, that the Cottoos, or bamboo
enclosures and the washing-places, are all
offered for sale at the expiration of the
cleansing processes, and eagerly purchased by
those who hope to discover, in the sandy ground,
some pearls which may have escaped the care
of the former occupants. This they often
succeed in doing.

Some conception may be formed of the
immense masses of oysters which at these
times lay putrifying on the burning sands
of Aripo, when I mention that each boat
will bring on shore, in one trip, from
ten to twenty thousand of fish, making a
daily total of from two to four millions for
the whole fleet. The extremely hazardous
results of these auctions may be gathered
from the fact, that whilst in some instances
as many as a hundred pearls of various
weights and value are found in one oyster
of large size, one hundred oysters may be
opened without finding in them a single
pearl.

The natives of India have a singular belief,
with regard to the origin of pearls:* it is,
that those beautiful concretions are
congealed dew-drops, which Buddha, in certain
months, showers upon the earth, and are
caught by the oysters whilst floating on the
waters to breathe. The priests—ever alive
to their own interests—keep up the strange
belief, and make it the pretext for exacting
from the divers and boatmen of their
faith what are termed "charity oysters,"
for the use of Buddha, who, when thus
propitiated, according to their showing, will
render the fish more rich in pearls in future
seasons.

*The true explanation of the formation of pearls in the oyster is to be found in our first Volume, pp. 466-67.

FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

AMONG the Blue Books published in the
year 1849, one was the Report of a
Committee upon Public Libraries. The evidence
attached to this Report exhibited (perhaps
exaggerated), the general deficiency among us
of accessible book-stores, and detailed the
experiences of our continental neighbours.
Much of the evidence, however, also went
to show that: Whereas, in many of the towns
of France, Belgium, and Germany, books are
lent from their libraries to their inhabitants,
gratuitously; and, whereas, such books are in
much request among their working-classes, yet,
nevertheless, they are not lost or stolen, but
are only thumbed and honestly worn out:
Therefore it was worth while to consider
whether we also might not allow books fairly
to be worn out by the fingers of a reading
multitude.

The evidence of M. Guizot printed in this
Report attracted much attention, and extracts
from it were freely inserted in the public
journals. M. Guizot was the statesman who