Madras fisheries bulletin

24
in a lump, the head of the crew giving a receipt or making
his mark. The division of the money among the individual
divers is often protracted and somewhat heated as
they
are men who are obstinate as mules and do not
understand a give and take policy when applied to money
matters. PLach man wants his full pound of tiesh or rather
his uttermost pie. On one occasion the money received,
after division was tuade, lelt a single pie over and how this
was to be shared among seven men was a puzzle that
caused protracted argument. Eventually
a brilliant
solution was evolved and they went ofl and bought a
cheroot in the bazaar which was solemnly divided into
seven equal- sized fragments and shared out— a most
happy consummation whereby no m^n could grieve that
his neighbour had had more ihan his fair share.
This childish fear of one beino- favoured more than
another is a well-marked characteristic of these men. On
several occasions after getting our first motor launch, she
proved unable to tow the whole fieet to sea at any reason-
able speed in the teeth of a strong wind owing to the
weight of the canoes. In consequence the boats got to the
fishing ground very late and catches were small. To
remedy this as far as I
possible, ordered the launch to tow
half the fleet onlv and so h;ecure to these boats a oood
day's work ;
equalize matters I instructed the tindal to
to
take the other half of the Meet out the second day and so on
alternately, returning each day for the second half of the
Meet after taking the first lot to the banks. To my surprise
the men " "
point blank refused. Take us all or none
"
by your arrangement some boats will get a
they said ;
"good day's fishing and the others nothing ; rather than
this should happen we would prefer not be towed at all !"
Again, a system for awarding substantial money prizes to
the canoes which fished most regularly through a season
was refused— the men told me they would be very glad if a
present were divided equally among them, but they would
have nothino- to do with a scheme under which some
boats would gain prizes and others none. Suspicion of
each others honesty explains largely, I believe, this dogin-the-manger
attitude.
From their shells the divers usually set aside each
day one shell per man as a contribution to the church,