DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49708#0121
SESSIONAL PAPERS, 1881. 105
The chief trade is with British India direct: the Ceylon supply is merely warehoused
temporarily to be reshipped to Bengal.
If the returns are reliable as showing the actual value of cowries annually imported
(which may reasonably be doubted), the rise and fall is remarkable. The annual value
absorbed by British India between 1853 and 1855 averaged only £568, but rose in 1856 to
£2,008.
The same year Ceylon is credited with £15,905 worth ; but in ten years the value
imported had fallen as low as £89. Between 1870 and 187o the trade appears to have
been brisker, the importation into British India reaching £6,774 in 1870 and averaging
for the five years 1871-75 £3,590, as compared with £2,049 during the same period into
Ceylon.
Dried-fish (M. forms by far the largest article of export, amounting
during the last twenty years to more than 73 per cent, of the total value of imports into
Ceylon from the Maldives. It is noticeable that of the whole supply of fish required by
Ceylon nearly one-third is drawn from these Islands.
About forty or fifty years ago the quantity shipped from the Maldives rose in some
years to 75 lacs (1824), though in others it fell as low as 10 lacs. At Galle and
Sumatra the demand was greatest. Chittagong traders exchanged most of their fish for
pepper, which they carried to Bengal, generally making a profit of 300 to 400 per cent, on
the speculation. A lac of fish, which cost something less than Rs. 2,000 at Male, sold at
Sumatra for 2,000 Spanish dollars.*
The wholesale barter rate for dried fish at the Maldives is at the present day 1 candy
rice for 2| cwt. A few years back, before the system of modern weights was introduced,
the same quantity of rice exchanged for 400 fish (/.<?., 1,600 pieces.) In Ceylon the price
runs from Rs. 12 to Rs. 20 the cwt., according to the several sorts.f
From the returns it will be seen that the value of fish imported into Ceylon exceeded
£20,000 by 1862, and attained its maximum in 1876 (£35,548.) The annual average since
1856 has amounted to £23,337 and has remained very steady during periods of five
years :—■
£
Between 1856-60
it equalled
12,634
1861-65
22,075
1866-70
23,819
1871-75
>>
29,932
1876-80
5,
28,223
For the value offish-blood (M. rhi-hakuru, c fish-sugar’), as distinct from dried fish
imported into Ceylon, the returns give figures only from 1856-1869, showing an average
of nearly £100 annually.
Tortoise-shell (M. kahabuh) In Pyrard’s day the trade was chiefly with Cambaye :
a gau (|lb.) could be purchased for one larin. Maidive tortoise-shell is considered of first-
class quality. Ceylon and Bengal are the markets for it.
Five maunds (lbs. 420) were exported from Male in one season (1835). The Ceylon
returns show that the trade is steady. In 1856 the value imported was £1,157, fell to
£630 in 1862, rose to £1,510 in 1865, but fell again in the next two years to £992, after
which it progressively improved till 1875, when it amounted to £2,184. The last five
years, however, show an average of only £1,146. The annual average since 1856 has
been £1,296.
Tortoise-shell purchased at Male for Rs. 16 to Rs. 25 per cwt. realizes in Ceylon as
much as Rs. 5 to Rs. 10 per lb. It is in great demand at Colombo and Galle for the
manufacture of native combs and ornaments.
* Trans. Bom. Geo. Soc., 1836-8, pp. 83, 106.
T Dried fish per cwt.: godd-mas, Rs. 20 ; gadu-mas, Rs. 20 ; Himiti-rrias, Rs. 19 ; medu-mas, Rs. 18;
kird-mas, Rs. 12 to Rs. 15 : fish-blood, Rs. 12 to Rs. 20 per lb.; salt-fish, Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 per 100.
, THE
MALDIVES.
Trade and
Commerce.
Dried-fish,
Fish-blood.
Tortoise shell.
The chief trade is with British India direct: the Ceylon supply is merely warehoused
temporarily to be reshipped to Bengal.
If the returns are reliable as showing the actual value of cowries annually imported
(which may reasonably be doubted), the rise and fall is remarkable. The annual value
absorbed by British India between 1853 and 1855 averaged only £568, but rose in 1856 to
£2,008.
The same year Ceylon is credited with £15,905 worth ; but in ten years the value
imported had fallen as low as £89. Between 1870 and 187o the trade appears to have
been brisker, the importation into British India reaching £6,774 in 1870 and averaging
for the five years 1871-75 £3,590, as compared with £2,049 during the same period into
Ceylon.
Dried-fish (M. forms by far the largest article of export, amounting
during the last twenty years to more than 73 per cent, of the total value of imports into
Ceylon from the Maldives. It is noticeable that of the whole supply of fish required by
Ceylon nearly one-third is drawn from these Islands.
About forty or fifty years ago the quantity shipped from the Maldives rose in some
years to 75 lacs (1824), though in others it fell as low as 10 lacs. At Galle and
Sumatra the demand was greatest. Chittagong traders exchanged most of their fish for
pepper, which they carried to Bengal, generally making a profit of 300 to 400 per cent, on
the speculation. A lac of fish, which cost something less than Rs. 2,000 at Male, sold at
Sumatra for 2,000 Spanish dollars.*
The wholesale barter rate for dried fish at the Maldives is at the present day 1 candy
rice for 2| cwt. A few years back, before the system of modern weights was introduced,
the same quantity of rice exchanged for 400 fish (/.<?., 1,600 pieces.) In Ceylon the price
runs from Rs. 12 to Rs. 20 the cwt., according to the several sorts.f
From the returns it will be seen that the value of fish imported into Ceylon exceeded
£20,000 by 1862, and attained its maximum in 1876 (£35,548.) The annual average since
1856 has amounted to £23,337 and has remained very steady during periods of five
years :—■
£
Between 1856-60
it equalled
12,634
1861-65
22,075
1866-70
23,819
1871-75
>>
29,932
1876-80
5,
28,223
For the value offish-blood (M. rhi-hakuru, c fish-sugar’), as distinct from dried fish
imported into Ceylon, the returns give figures only from 1856-1869, showing an average
of nearly £100 annually.
Tortoise-shell (M. kahabuh) In Pyrard’s day the trade was chiefly with Cambaye :
a gau (|lb.) could be purchased for one larin. Maidive tortoise-shell is considered of first-
class quality. Ceylon and Bengal are the markets for it.
Five maunds (lbs. 420) were exported from Male in one season (1835). The Ceylon
returns show that the trade is steady. In 1856 the value imported was £1,157, fell to
£630 in 1862, rose to £1,510 in 1865, but fell again in the next two years to £992, after
which it progressively improved till 1875, when it amounted to £2,184. The last five
years, however, show an average of only £1,146. The annual average since 1856 has
been £1,296.
Tortoise-shell purchased at Male for Rs. 16 to Rs. 25 per cwt. realizes in Ceylon as
much as Rs. 5 to Rs. 10 per lb. It is in great demand at Colombo and Galle for the
manufacture of native combs and ornaments.
* Trans. Bom. Geo. Soc., 1836-8, pp. 83, 106.
T Dried fish per cwt.: godd-mas, Rs. 20 ; gadu-mas, Rs. 20 ; Himiti-rrias, Rs. 19 ; medu-mas, Rs. 18;
kird-mas, Rs. 12 to Rs. 15 : fish-blood, Rs. 12 to Rs. 20 per lb.; salt-fish, Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 per 100.
, THE
MALDIVES.
Trade and
Commerce.
Dried-fish,
Fish-blood.
Tortoise shell.