GREAT CAMEO PEARL, ACTUAL SIZE 22 INCHES
Sold at auction in Amsterdam in 1776 for 180,000 florins. Note great baroque pearl forming body of the swan at the base, diameter 1.37 inches

The Unio sinuatus (pictorum), the mulette of the artists, which has a shorter and smaller shell than the pearl-mussel, has also yielded many small pearls of good quality, as well as shells for manufacturing purposes. This species has been regularly exploited in the Adour, in the Charente, in the Gironde and its tributaries—the Garonne and the Dordogne and their affluents, and in some other streams in western France.

There is a pearl fishery in the Charente River near the western coast of France, and likewise in the Seugne, a small tributary entering it from the south. The mussel is known locally under the name of palourde. In an account of this fishery,[[210]] Daniel Bellet states that in the Seugne, where the water is shallow and clear, the mussel is secured by entering the pointed end of a wooden staff or stick between the valves of the open shell as the mollusk lies feeding on the bottom; as the shell is immediately closed tightly upon the intruding stick, it is easily removed from the water.

In the deeper waters of the Charente, the fishery is prosecuted on a larger scale. Until recently, the palourdes were caught by means of a dredge towed by a small boat, which was raised from time to time and the catch removed. Ten or fifteen years ago the scaphander or diving apparatus was introduced, requiring seven men for its operation, and by its use large catches have been made. The mussels are taken to the bank and there boiled for a time to cause the shells to open, so that the contents may be easily removed.

The shells are examined one by one to find any pearls that may adhere thereto, and then the flesh of the mollusk is crushed between the fingers to locate pearls contained in the mass; this is done largely by children, working under competent supervision. Many pearls of fairly good size and luster are obtained. The flesh of this mollusk is edible and well-liked in southwestern France; and the shells are also of value in the manufacture of buttons and similar objects.

In Germany the pearl fisheries are most important in streams of the southern districts, in Bavaria, Saxony, and Silesia. The pearl-mussel in these waters is not so abundant as formerly; yet, owing to the care which has been given to these resources, it is probably as numerous here as in any other part of the continent. The mussel rarely occurs singly, generally in small beds or banks contiguous to each other, and in some favorable regions these are extensive.

The pearl fisheries of Bavaria have been prominent since the sixteenth century. They exist principally in the districts of Upper Franconia (Oberfranken) and Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz), the several tributaries of the Danube between Ratisbon and Passau, and in those tributaries of the Main and the Saale which rise in the Bavarian mountains, such as the Oelsnitz, the Lamnitz, Schwesnitz, Grünebach, Vils, and the Perlbach; also in the district of Lower Bavaria, where in nine districts alone there are one hundred pearl-bearing streams and lakes, of which the most important are the Regen, the Isar, and the Ilz.[[211]]

Early in the sixteenth century, the river Ilz had the reputation of yielding the choicest pearls in Lower Bavaria. The right to them was reserved to the bishop of Passau, and a decree was made in 1579 that persons convicted of poaching on these reserves should be hanged.[[212]] Since that time there have been few decades in which the gems have not been found in the woodland brooks and mountain streams that flow through the ravines and past quaint, interesting castles of the wonderful Bavarian highlands. Most of the prominent families in this beautiful region have collections of native pearls, and there is still some trade in them in picturesque Passau, at the junction of the Danube, the Ilz and the Inn.

Tavernier wrote about 1670: “As for the pearls of Scotland, and those which are found in the rivers of Bavaria, although necklaces are made of them which are worth up to 1000 écus (£225) and beyond, they cannot enter into comparison with those of the East and West Indies.”[[213]]

The official returns for the Bavarian fisheries, dating from the latter part of the sixteenth century, were examined by Von Hessling in 1858. He noted many gaps in the statements of the yearly returns, partly on account of the loss of the records and partly because the pearls were delivered directly into the hands of the princes. The results of the first fisheries are recorded in the district of Hals for the years 1581–99, in Viechtach for 1581–83 and 1590–93, and in Weissenstadt and Zwiesel for 1583. The range of the fisheries was enlarged through the discovery of new areas during the first half of the seventeenth century; but this was offset by the bad seasons and by disturbed conditions during the Thirty Years’ War. From 1650 to 1783 the pearls in the forest lands of the Palatinate were exploited regularly and uninterruptedly, with the exception of the district of Wetterfeld and that of Neunburg vor dem Wald, where they were prosecuted for a few years only. From 1783 to 1814, they were almost entirely neglected, and the take was confined to a few streams in Upper Palatinate and in the Bavarian forests. In the former episcopal principality of Passau, where, according to general accounts, the waters were rich in pearls, the records were scanty previous to 1786; this was probably owing to the fact that the head gamekeeper was obliged to transmit the catch of pearls directly to the prince-bishop. The records for the fisheries in the districts of Rehau and Kulmbach began with the year 1733.