rigure 6. 



Official appraiser of pearls in Porlamar. 



seeds are placed, for several minutes, -under the lids of a baby In the belief that this will 

 make his eyes darker and shiny. One of the b-uyers in Porlama.r told me that about half of 

 the volume of his business in India has been selling seed pesirls for this purpose. 



Pearls, purchased by a wholesale buyer, must be very carefully sorted before 

 they are offered to various dealers or are shipped to different coimtries. Tron I5 to 20 

 sortings are sometimes reo^uired before the original lot purchased from the fishermen is 

 divided according to various sizes, shapes, color, and other grades recognized by trade. 

 Sorting is usually done by the girls, who assist the buyer and work under his immediate 

 supervision. When the sorting is completed, the pearls are poured in small, cotton bags, 

 or are wrapped in brown paper and stored in boxes. 



Por export, the pearls are classified according to their o_uallty asl First 

 o.uality (De Vista), round (redondas) , baroq^ue (barruecas) , and seed (mostacilla). As can 

 be seen from table 3» seed pearls comprise the largest part of the total quantity exported, 

 while the greatest monetary return is derived from baroques. 



Some of the dealers ship their stock to India for matching and drilling and, 

 after the pearls are made into necklaces and other articles, import them to New York. This 

 is done because of much lower prices for this type of v/ork in India than in the United States 

 or Europe. 



Pearls exported from Venezuela must be accompanied by a certificate issued 

 by the Minister of Agriculture or the Administrator of Fisheries ascertaining their legiti- 

 mate origin. This certificate must be submitted to the custom officials (Article 19, Chapter 

 IV, ley de Pesca de Perlas) to clear the shipment through the Custom House. 



The importation and trade in arti'ficial and cultured pearls is prohibited by 

 lavf (Article 21, Chapter IV, Ley de Pesca de Perlas). 



16 



