“Now tell about the pearl harvest,” prompted Ruth, when they were all fairly settled, and the supply of hermits had diminished somewhat. “What is it like?”
“How often have you been there?” added Kate.
“Twice. Last year and once when I was a youngster just out of college, and bent on globe-trotting. Ceylon, you know, is the great pearl market of the world, and yet the season of the catch lasts only six weeks. But during those six weeks, instead of a long, jungle-fringed beach, there rise the tents and houses of the pearl seekers, like a city of magic. Every morning you can see the long boats go out, hundreds of them, and each carrying from sixty to seventy men.”
“Divers?” asked Polly.
“Not all. Some are rowers, and some take care of the catch as the divers bring it up. They are all natives, and trained to the work. When they dive, all they carry down with them is their basket and a small tortoise shell clip that holds their nostrils closed.”
“Don’t they have to wear diving suits?” asked Ted.
“No. They can stay under water longer than any human beings I have ever seen. And after the catch of the day is brought in, it is put up at auction, and then there is excitement enough to satisfy anyone. I have often wondered why some artist has never put the scene of the pearl harvest on canvas;” the doctor’s eyes were half closed, as if he could recall it perfectly even then. “I have seen as many as five million oysters piled there, waiting to be sold, and to the crowd it is one great lottery. Any shell in the lot may contain a pearl worth thousands. So they scramble, and push to get up close to the auctioneer, and even the children will beg you for pennies so that they may buy a handful of the shells and have the fun of opening them. Last year while I stood there, a little old man in front of me, with a crutch, turned and begged me to lift him up so the auctioneer would be sure to see him. He was a Burmah merchant and told me afterwards he was sent every year to buy for the native princes. Behind me was a tall, quiet Persian. They told me he had found a pearl once years before that brought him over seventy thousand dollars. It was a pink one, and flawless. And he had come every year since and bid on every day’s catch in the hope of finding its mate.”
“Oh, I’d love to be there,” cried Polly her eyes sparkling with excitement. “And do they open them right in front of you so you can see them find the pearls?”
“Some do. And when a pearl of great price is found, even to-day the bidding jumps like magic over that catch the same as in the old days of the parable. The merchants will still go and sell all they have to buy the one pearl if they can get it.”
“I wonder why it is everybody loves pearls so,” said Ruth thoughtfully. “I do myself, better than diamonds, or any of the colored stones. They seem different, almost as if they had life. Were they ever alive inside the shells, Doctor Smith?”