An early eighteenth century view of the pearl fishery at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, India. Depicted onshore are the buildings built by European traders. Oysters are piled high on the beach with all of the traders standing nearby. An illustration from Johan Nieuhof’s account of his travels in the Far East with the Dutch East India Company, 1665-7. Nieuhof served time in prison briefly for attempting to smuggle pearls. It is an illustration from the English edition of Johann Nieuhof’s ‘Voyages and travels, into Brasil, and the East-Indies’.