PRODUCTS FROM THE SEA 349 



many different languages throughout the newspapers of 

 the East. On the announced date a motley collection of 

 divers, pearl buyers, speculators, moneylenders, shop- 

 keepers and all manner of others, collect at the temporary 

 town of Marichchikkaddi, the headquarters of the fishery. 

 This lasts for anything up to three months and is carefully 

 controlled by the Government. The boats with the divers 

 go out every morning and have to return at the sound of a 

 gun about midday, the oysters being landed and the catch 

 immediately divided into three equal piles, two of which 

 are taken by the Government and later sold by auction, 

 and the third by the divers. The separation of the pearls 

 from the oysters is a slow and very disgusting business, 

 the oysters being left to rot, millions of fly maggots assisting 

 in the process. After a week the largest pearls are picked 

 out by hand, the remaining filth with the smaller pearls 

 washed out of the shells and, after a series of further wash- 

 ings, all the pearls gradually collected. 



The well-known Japanese culture pearl is not artificial 

 such as the ones discussed later in this chapter, but a true 

 pearl produced in the usual manner. But instead of 

 waiting until a sand grain or a parasite chances to stimulate 

 the oyster's activities, the Japanese cultivator introduces a 

 small body into the oyster around which the latter lays the 

 pearl substance. The exact nature of the process is kept 

 a close secret but takes several years. 



Shells 



Shells have been employed for practical purposes, for 

 decoration and as a medium of exchange from very early 

 times, and are still largely used in all these ways by savage 

 tribes, and for decorative purposes by civilized peoples. 

 The Money cowry [Cypraea moneta) has been extensively 

 used in almost every part of the world for purposes of 



