Meleagrina margaritifera.
But pearls are at times found loose in the shell;—in this case, the pearly matter is deposited on some extraneous substance, such, for instance, as a grain of sand, and by dissolving the pearl in an acid, this nucleus can be traced.
Some of these round pearls are supposed to be formed on a centre, consisting of the remains of a diseased ovum, or egg, of the animal.
Every schoolboy knows the story of Cleopatra having dissolved a valuable pearl in vinegar, and afterwards drunk it off, to show her ridiculous disregard of expense. But the account may reasonably be doubted; for had the acid been strong enough to dissolve the pearl, it would have been impossible to drink it, and if it was weak enough to drink, it would not have dissolved the pearl, at least not until the lapse of a very considerable time.
At the island of Ceylon the fishery for pearls is a matter of great moment. The following is an account of the mode in which it is conducted.
The country round Aripo, on the north-western coast of the island of Ceylon, is flat, sandy, and barren, presenting nothing to the eye but low brushwood, chiefly of thorns and prickly pears (which are the plants that nourish the cochineal insect[2]), and here and there some straggling villages with a few cocoa-nut trees. But Condatchy, three miles distant, where, in general, nothing is to be seen but a few miserable huts, and a sandy desert, becomes, during the period of the pearl-fishery, a populous town, several streets of which extend upwards of a mile in length (though, as the houses are only intended as a shelter from the sun and rain, they are very rudely constructed), and the scene, altogether, resembles a crowded fair on the grandest scale. The people most active in erecting huts and speculating in the various branches of merchandise, are Mohammedans, Cingalese (natives of Ceylon), and Hindoos from the opposite coast of the continent of India. Apparently, however, from their natural timidity, none of the Cingalese are divers, and scarcely any of them engage in the other active parts of the fishery; they merely resort hither for the purpose of supplying the markets.
About the end of October, in the year preceding a pearl-fishery, when a short interval of fine weather prevails, an examination of the banks takes place. A certain number of boats, under an English superintendent, repair in a body to each bank, and having, by frequent diving, ascertained its situation, they take from one to two thousand oysters as a specimen. The shells are opened, and if the pearls collected from a thousand oysters be worth three pounds sterling, a good fishery may be expected. The “banks,” or beds of oysters, are scattered over a space in the Gulf of Manaar, extending thirty miles from north to south, and twenty-four from east to west. There are fourteen beds (not all, however, productive), of which the largest is ten miles long, and two broad. The depth of water is from three to fifteen fathoms.
The pearl oysters in these banks are all of one species, and of the same form: in shape not very unlike our common English oyster, but considerably larger, being from eight to ten inches in circumference. The body of the animal is white, fleshy, and glutinous: the inside of the shell (the real “mother-of-pearl,”) is even brighter and more beautiful than the pearl itself: the outside smooth and dark-coloured. The pearls are most commonly contained in the thickest and most fleshy part of the oyster. A single oyster will frequently contain several pearls, and one is on record, as having produced one hundred and fifty.
Sometimes the English government of Ceylon fishes the banks entirely at its own risk; sometimes, the boats are let to many speculators: but, most frequently, the light of fishing is sold to one individual, who sub-lets boats to others. The fishery for the season of the year 1804 was let by government to an individual for no less a sum than 120,000l.