Pearls are sometimes produced in whole chaplets by the insertion of grains of quartz connected by a string into the mantle of a species of Meleagrina; in other cases, a dozen enamelled figures of Buddha seated have been produced by inserting small plates of embossed metal in the valves of the same species. The pearls are very naturally small at first, but increase by the annual layers deposited on the original nucleus, their brilliancy and shade of colour varying with that of the nacre from which they are produced. Sometimes they are diaphanous, silky, lustrous, and more or less iridescent; occasionally they turn out dull, obscure, and even smoky.
The pearl oyster is met with in very different latitudes. They are found in the Persian Gulf, on the Arabian coast, and in Japan, in the American seas, and in the islands of the South Sea; but the most important fisheries are found in the Bay of Bengal, Ceylon, and other parts of the Indian Ocean. The Ceylon fisheries are under Government inspection, and each year, before the fisheries commence, an official inspection of the coast takes place. Sometimes the fishing is undertaken on account of the State, at other times it is let to parties of speculators. In 1804 the pearl fishery was granted to a capitalist for £120,000; but, to avoid impoverishing all the beds at once, the same part of the gulf is not fished every year; and, indeed, sometimes the oysters disappoint the scientists and practical finders by migrating.
PEARL OYSTER (Meleagrina margaritifera).
The great fishery for mother-o’-pearl takes place in the Gulf of Manaar, a large bay to the north-east of Ceylon. It occupies 250 boats, which come from different parts of the coast; they reach the ground at daybreak, the time being indicated by [pg 68]a signal gun. Each boat’s crew consists of twenty hands and a negro. The rowers are ten in number. The divers divide themselves into two groups of five men each, who labour and rest alternately; they descend from forty to fifty feet, seventy being about the utmost they can accomplish, and eighty seconds the longest period the best diver can remain under water, the ordinary period being only thirty seconds. In order to accelerate their descent a large stone is attached to a rope. The oars are used to form a stage, across which planks are laid over both sides of the boat; to this stage the diving-stone is suspended. This stone is in the form of a pyramid, weighing thirty or more pounds; the cord which sustains it sometimes carries in its lower part a sort of stirrup to receive the foot of the diver. At the moment of his descent he places his right foot in this stirrup, or, where there is no such provision, he rests it on the stone with the cord between his toes. In his left foot he holds the net which is to receive the bivalves; then seizing with his right hand a signal cord conveniently arranged for this purpose, and pressing his nostrils with the left hand, he dives, holding himself vertically, and balancing himself over his foot. Each diver is naked, except for a band of calico which surrounds his loins. Having reached the bottom, he withdraws his foot from the stone, which ascends immediately to the stage. The diver throws himself on his face, and begins to gather all the proper shells within his reach, placing them in his net. When he wishes to ascend he pulls the signal cord, and is drawn up with all possible expedition. A good diver seldom remains more than thirty seconds under water at one time, although some can remain considerably longer, but he repeats the operation three or four, and, in favourable circumstances, even fifteen or twenty times. The labour is extremely severe, and they are short-lived. On returning to the boat they sometimes discharge water tinged with blood by the mouth, nose, and ears. They are also exposed to great danger from sword-fish and sharks, which lie in wait for and frequently devour the unhappy [pg 69]victim. They continue to fish till mid-day, but are expected to return long before dark. Mrs. Brassey explains that when a boat with pearls reaches the shore the shells are divided into equal heaps, one-fourth going to the boat’s crew and three-fourths to the Government inspector. They keep whichever heap he chooses to kick, so that, being uncertain in which heap the best pearls are, the chances are good enough. The heaps [pg 70]are then divided and sold by auction in thousands, and then sub-divided again. Gambling is such an Oriental proclivity that the merest beggar will buy a few of the shells, hoping to find a pearl of great value; and should he fail to do so, he still has got his oyster! “Some of the oysters are taken in sealed-up sacks to Colombo, Kandy, and other inland places, in order to enable people to indulge their love of gambling and speculation.” Sir Emerson Tennant tells us that the depleted pearl oyster-shells of the Condatchy fisheries, which date back two thousand years, form an immense bank on the beach, extending for miles. In past times the Ceylon fisheries were more valuable than at present. In 1797 they are said to have produced £144,000, and in 1798 as much as £192,000. In 1802 the fisheries were farmed for £120,000; but for many years the banks have been less productive, and are now said to yield only the sum of £20,000 per annum.
DIVING FOR PEARLS.
The natives of the Bay of Bengal, those of the Chinese coast, of Japan, and the Indian Archipelago, all devote themselves to the pearl fishery, the produce being estimated to realise at least £800,000. Fisheries analogous to those of Ceylon take place on the Persian coast, on the Arabian Gulf, along the coast of Muscat, and in the Red Sea. Arrived on their fishing-ground, the fishermen of the Red Sea range their barques at a proper distance from each other, and cast anchor in water from eight to nine fathoms deep. The process is pursued here in a very simple manner. When about to descend, the divers pass a cord, the extremity of which communicates with a bell placed in the barque, under the armpits; they put cotton in their ears, and press the nostrils together with a piece of wood or horn; they close their mouths hermetically, attach a heavy stone to their feet, and at once sink to the bottom of the sea, where they gather indiscriminately all shells within their reach, which they throw into a bag suspended round their haunches. When they require to breathe they sound the bell, and immediately they are assisted in their ascent. On the oyster-banks off the isle of Bahrein the pearl fishery produces about £240,000; and if we add to this the product of the other fisheries in the neighbourhood, the sum total yielded by the Arabian coast would probably not fall short of £350,000. In South America similar fisheries exist. Before the Mexican conquest the pearl fisheries were located between Acapulco and the Gulf of Tchuantepic; subsequently they were established round the islands of Cubagua, Margarita, and Panama. The results became so full of promise that populous cities were not slow to raise themselves round these several places. Under the reign of Charles V. America sent to Spain pearls valued at £160,000; in the present day the annual yield is estimated to be worth £60,000.
Pearls form, of course, the most important product of the animal. When they are adherent to the valves they are detached with pincers; but as a rule they are found in the oyster’s soft tissues. In this case the substance is boiled, and afterwards sifted, in order to obtain the most minute of the pearls; for those of considerable size are sometimes overlooked in the first operation. Months after the mollusc is putrefied miserable Indians may be observed busying themselves with the corrupt mass, in search of small pearls which may have been overlooked by the workmen.
The pearls adherent to the valve are more or less irregular in their shape; they are sold by [pg 71]weight. Those found in the body of the animal, and isolated, are called virgin pearls. They are globular, ovoid, or pyriform, and are sold by the individual pearl. In cleaning them, they are gathered together in a heap in a bag, and worked with powdered nacre, in order to render them perfectly pure in colour and round in shape, and give them a polish; finally, they are passed through a series of copper sieves, in order to size them. These sieves, to the number of a thousand, are made so as to be inserted one within the other, each being pierced with holes, which determine the size of the pearl and the commercial number which is to distinguish it. Thus, the sieve No. 20 is pierced with twenty holes, No. 50 with fifty holes, and so on up to No. 1,000, which is pierced with that number of holes. The pearls which are retained in Nos. 20 to 80, said to be mill, are pearls of the first order; those which pass and are retained between Nos. 100 and 800 are vivadoe, or pearls of the second order; and those which pass through all the others, and are retained in No. 1,000, belong to the class tool, or seed pearls, and are of the third order. They are afterwards threaded; the small and medium-sized pearls on white or blue silk, arranged in rows, and tied with ribbon into a top-knot of blue or red silk, in which condition they are exposed for sale in rows, assorted according to their colours and quality. The small or seed pearls are sold by measure or weight.