THE OUTDOOR WORLD 



503 



THE JOY OF POSSESSION AND THE THINGS 



POSSESSED. 



Finding the pearls, and a pearl necklace from a 



mussel bed of a Vermont lake. 



the first thing to do is to locate the 

 favorable beds. This is done by gath- 

 ering a number of mussels and exam- 

 ining them. If they appear to be im- 

 perfectly formed or stunted, and the 

 interior pearly surface is blistered or 

 otherwise marred, the bed may be con- 

 sidered favorable ; but if the mussels 

 are well formed, and the interior lining 

 of the shell is smooth and lustrous, the 

 bed is a healthy one, and, therefore, 

 unfavorable for pearl fishing. 



One summer the writer fished in tbe 

 mountain lakes of Vermont, after a 

 long drought, when the water was 

 low and clear. Conditions were just 

 right. After several days of exploring, 



a favorable bed was located, which 

 yielded, after five days of fishing, 

 seventy-four beautiful little pearls. 

 They were all of an unusual violet 

 color, with a brilliant luster. 



The following year the writer was 

 located on a New Jersey stream, in 

 which there were many mussels, and 

 most of them apparently unhealthy, — 

 their interior linings being greatly 

 marred, but the pearl fishing was poor. 

 After a summer's work, only two 

 pearls of any account were found. One 

 was a button pearl, found half imbed- 

 ded in the stomach of the mussel. It 

 was creamy white, with a soft luster. 

 The interior lining of the shell was 

 almost entirely destroyed, and the 

 shell itself was decidedly stunted. The 

 other pearl was a purple baroque. It 

 was taken from the same bed, and was 

 found under the mantle of the mussel. 

 The interior lining, in this case, was 

 slightly marred, and the shell was 

 stunted. Only one healthy bed was 

 found in this stream. In it, the mussels 

 were large and perfectly formed, and 

 their interior linings were smooth and 

 lustrous. On examination thev yielded 

 no pearls. 



The writer went to St. Paul, Va., 

 and fished on the Clinch River. Some 

 of the mussels in this river are as 

 large as dessert plates. The mother- 

 of pearl lining is heavy, and beautiful 

 in color, sometimes pink, purple or 

 salmon, but more often white. This 

 river has been visited by the profes- 

 sional pearl fisher, and is consequently 

 almost exhausted. I found a few pearls 

 here, all of which came from apparently 

 unhealthy mussels, with the exception 

 of a small tooth-shaped specimen of 

 excellent quality, which was taken 

 from an apparently healthy mussel. 



Those pearls that are easily found 

 are generally worthless. Those of fine 

 quality are usually difficult to find. 



There is nothing puerile in nature; and 

 he who becomes impassioned of a flower, 

 a blade of grass, a butterfly's wing, a 

 nest, a shell, wraps his passion round 

 a small thing that always contains a 

 great truth. — Maeterlinck. 



