^34 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [UAttdit f, m^c 



" And preciou3 the tear as that raiu from the sL-y, 

 "Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea." 

 The most famous peirls are those from the cast; 

 the coast of Ceylon, or Taprobaae as it was called 

 by the Greeks, having from the earliest times been 

 the chief locality for pearl fishing. They arc, how- 

 ever, obtained no,v of nearly the same quality in 

 other parts of the world, as Panama in youth Amer- 

 ica, St. Magavita in the West Indies, the Coromandel 

 Coast, the shores o£ the iSulu Islands, the Bahrim 

 Islands, and the islands of Karak and Corgs in the 

 I'ersian Gulf. The pearls of the Bahrim fisiiery are 

 Haid to be evt-n finer than those of Ceylon, and 

 they form an important part of the trade' of Bas- 

 Bora. These, and indeed all the foreign pearls used in 

 jewellery, la- j produced by the pearl oyster. The shells 

 of the molluscs which yield the Ceylon, Indian and 

 Persian ones, are sometimes as much as a foot in diam- 

 eter, and are us-ua'ly ab )ut nine iniihes. Those of the 

 New World, although the shells are sma'ler aid tliicker, 

 are believed to be the same species. The chief locality of 

 the Ceylon pearl iis'iery is a bank about 20 miles long, 

 10 or 13 miles from shore, opposite to the villages of 

 Condatchy and Arippo on the uorbheru coast. The sea- 

 sou of ths fishery lasts about three mouths, commencing 

 at the beginning of February, and is carried on under 

 Government regulations. The boats employed are opeu, 

 and vary iu size from 10 to 15 tons burden ; they put 

 out at night, usually at 10 o'c'ook, on a signal gun being 

 fired from the fort of Arippo, and mike for the Govern- 

 ment guard vessel, which is moo.ed on the bank, and 

 serves the double purpose of a guard aad a lighter-ship. 

 The divers are under the direction of a manager, who is 

 cilled the Adapaniar, and they are cjiefly Tamils and 

 Moors from India. For each diver there is provided 

 a diving stone, wciighiug about 30 pound--, which is 

 fastened to the end of a rope long enough to reach 

 the bottom, and having a loop made for tlie man's 

 foot; and in addition to this, a large network basket, 

 in wliich to place the pearl oysters as h^ collects 

 them. These are hung over the sides of the boat ; 

 and the diver placing his foot in the loop attached 

 to the stone, liberates the coils of the ropo, and 

 wit'i his net basket rapidly decends to th^ bottom. 

 To each boat there is usually allotted a crew of 

 13 men and 10 divers, 5 of whom are descending 

 whilst the others are resting. This work is done very 

 rapidly ; for, notwithstanding the stories to the con- 

 trary, the best divers cannot remain longer than 80 

 seconds below, and few are able to exceed GO. 

 The greatest depth they descend is 13 fathoms! 

 When the diver gives the signal by pulling the 

 rope, he is quickly hauled up with his net and its 

 contents. Accidents rarely happen; aad as the men 

 are very superstitious, their safety is attributed to 

 the incantations of their shark-charmers, paifoi-aie } at 

 the commencement of the fishing. .Sir E. Tennent, 

 however, attributes the rarity of accidents from sharks] 

 usually SJ abundant iu tropical .seas, t > the bustle and' 

 to the excitement of the waters during tlie fishery 

 frightening away the dreaded ere ituresT The divers 

 are sometimes paid fixed w.iges : others agree for one- 

 fourth of the produce. When a boat-load of oysters 

 has been obtained, it returns to shore, and the cargo 

 sometimes amounting to 20,000 or 30,000 is landed 

 and piltd on th=^ sh >re to die and putrefy, in order 

 that the pearls may be easi'y found. The' heaps are 

 formed in small v»'led compartments, the wall sur- 

 rounding each being about one or two feet in height. 

 Several of these cimpartm^nts surround a small cen- 

 tral enclosure, in which is a bath, ami they slope to- 

 wards this bath, and are e ich connected with it by a 

 small channel, so that any pearls washed out from tlie 

 putrefying mass by the rain may be carried into the bath 

 When the animals in the shell are sufficiently decom- 

 posed, the washing commences, and great care is taken 



the clippers, who, with pinchers or hammer, skilfully 

 remove them. Such pearls are used only for settin/- 

 whi St the former, being usually quite round, are 

 ariUed and strung and can bo used for beads, &c. Tl 



le 



workmen who are employed to drill the pearls, also 

 round the irregular ones, and polish them with great 

 skill. The method of holding the pearls during these 

 operations is very curious ; they make a number of 

 h jles of small depth in a piece of dry wood, and into 

 these they fit the pearls, so thut they are only partly 

 below the surface of the wood, which they then place 

 iu water. As it soaks up the water and swells, the 

 pearls become tightly fixed, and are then perforated, 

 &c. These operations are all carried on, on the spot. 



Formanymi'e? along the Condatchy shure, the ac- 

 cumulation of shells is enormous, and averages at least 

 four feet in thickness. This is not ti bo wondered at, 

 when it is remembered that this fishery has been in ac- 

 tive operation for at least 2,000 years. The place itself 

 is exceedingly barren and dreary, and, except daring the 

 fishing season, is almoit deserted ; but at that time it 

 presents an exceeding animfl,ted spectacle ; thousands of 

 people of various countries and castes, are liere drawn 

 together, some for the fishery, others to buy pearls, and 

 others to feed the multitude. They chiefly reside in tents 

 so that it appears a vast encampment. 



The pearls, vary much in size ; those as large as a 

 pea, and of good colour and form, are the best, except 

 unusually large specimens, which rarely occur, the most 

 extraordinary one known being the pearl owned by the 

 late Mr. Hope, which measured two iucbes in length, 

 and four in circumference, and weighel 1,800 grains. 

 The smaller ones are sorted into sizes, the very smallest 

 being called seed-pearls. A considerable quantity of 

 these last are sent to China, where they are said to be 

 calcined, and use in Chinese pharmacy. Amongst the 

 Romans the pearl was a great favorite, and enormous 

 prices were paid for fine ones. One author gives the 

 value of a string of pearls at 1,000,000 sesterces, or 

 about £8,000 sterling. The single pearl which Cleopatra 

 is said to have dissolved and swallowed was valued at 

 £80,729, and one of the same value was cut into two 

 pieces for earrings for the statue of Venus in the Pan- 

 theon at Rome. Coming to latter times, we read of a 

 pearl, in (jueen Elizabeth's reign, belonging to Sir 

 Thomas Gresham, which was valued at £15,000 and 

 which he is said to have treated after the fashion of 

 Cleopatra ; for he powdered it and drank it in a glass of 

 wine to the health of the Queen, in order to astoni.sh the 

 ambassador ofSpiin, with whom he had laid a wager 

 that he would give a more costly dinner than could the 

 Spaniards. 



During the occupation of Britain by the Romans 

 this country became famous for its pearls, which were 

 found in the fresh water mussel of our rivers. Gener- 

 ally the pearls of these molluscs are small, badly coloured, 

 and often valueless ; but occasionally they occur of such 

 beauty as to rival those of the psarl oyster. Some years 

 ago, in the Scutch rivers, the search for pearls was pro- 

 secuted vigorously, especially bj^ a merchant named lin- 

 ger, of E.iinburgh, who had brought Scotch pearls into 

 great repute. He collected specimens ranging, as was 

 stated, from £5 to £90 each and formed a necklace said 

 to be worth £350. In Scotch pearls of the highest qual- 

 ity, there is a pleasing pinkish tint, which is very per- 

 manent. The fishing for pearl mussels is by no means 

 so dangerous or troublesome as for pearl oysters ; usually 

 they are found in the beds of streams, shallow enough 

 to wade in, and so clear that they can see the bottom. 

 If too deep to remove with the hand, they are easily 

 captured by putting a stick between their gaping shells, 

 which instantly close upon it, and can be drawn out with 

 it. So profitable did this pursuit become, that a great 

 many persons engaged in it. 



Very fine river pearls, known on the continent as 

 Bohemian pearls, are found in the rivers Moldan and 

 Wottawa. There is also a fresh- water pearl fishery in 

 Bavaria, where the river Iltz yields at times very fine 

 S))ecimens. Even the most inferior pearls can only be 

 properly polished with poarldust, and the inferior pearls 

 are powdered for the purpose of polishing and rounding 

 the finer ones. 



False pearls are very admirable imitations, mado by 

 blowing very thin beads or bulbs of glass, and pouring 

 into then a mixture of liquid ammonia, and the white 

 matter from the scales of the Bleak and sometimes of 

 the Roach and Dace, The proper way to prepare the 



