Pearls

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by Caroline Stone

Ma Huan says the following about pearl harvesting in Ceylon:

"In the sea there is a stretch of snow-white floating sand; when the sun or moon shines on the sand, it sparkles brilliantly like ripples on the water; [and] every day the pearl-oysters collect together on the sand. The king has constructed a pearl-pond; [and] once in two or three years he orders men to take pearl-oysters and pour them out into the pond; he sends men to guard over this pond; they wait until the [pearl-oysters] are decayed and rotten, then with water they scour out the pearls, and take them to the officials; [but] it also happens that they are stolen and sold in other countries."

- translated in J. V. G. Mills, Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan: "The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores", [1433], Hakluyt Society (Cambridge, England, Cambridge University Press, 1970), “The Country of Hsi-lan”, p. 128

Nicolò de' Conti speaks about pearls in Kayal (India):

"Beyond this city (Mylapore) there is another, which is called Cahila (Kayal), where pearls are found."

[Note: Mylapore is the old name for Madras. This is Kayal, or Palayakayal (‘Old Kayal’), in the delta of the Tambraparni River facing the pearling beds of the Palk Strait. The site is now deserted. PL].

- Nicolò de' Conti, translated in R. H. Major,
India in the Fifteenth Century: Being a Collection of Narratives of
Voyages to India (London: Hakluyt Society, 1857), p. 7.
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