PEARLS AND THE PEARL INDUSTRY 109 



The Red Sea Fishery. The Red Sea fisheries date back to ancient times, having 

 been exploited centuries before the Christian era. Later they were surpassed, 

 but not superseded, by those of the Persian Gulf and Ceylon, and they have con- 

 tinued to be a good source of supply up to the present day. The largest and best 

 known pearl oyster here is the variety identified by Jameson as Margaritifera 

 inargaritifera erythroeensis, which is closely related to the large species in the 

 Persian Gulf. It measures 4 or 5 inches across, although it occasionally attains a 

 diameter of 8 inches and a weight of 3 pounds or more. It is distinguished by a 

 dark green coloring about the edges and by a greenish hue over the interior 

 nacreous surface. Although it only rarely yields pearls, the shells afford good 

 qualities of mother-of-pearl and the occasional pearls add to the profit of the 

 catch. 



The pearling season usually lasts from March or April until the end of May 

 and is renewed in September and October. Dhows, holding from 40 to 80 men 

 or sambuks (sailboats without decks), holding from only 6 to 25 men, are used. 



Venezuelan Fishery. On the coast of Venezuela the Margaritifera radiata is the 

 chief pearl oyster, a species related to that of Ceylon, although slightly larger in 

 size and having a coloration range from white to bronze, and occasionally black. 

 Pearl fishing in these waters under European direction dates back to 1500 a.d. 

 The islands of Cubagua, Coche, etc., lying near the larger island of Margarita, 

 constitute a group. While the average size of the pearls from this field was rather 

 small, so great a quantity was attained toward the close of the sixteenth century 

 that the fifth part of their value, the tribute paid to the King of Spain, amounted 

 to more than 15,000 ducats annually. Then the product rapidly decreased. After 

 1845 pearl fishing revived and by 1909 as many as 350 boats, all small craft of 

 from 2 to 15 tons each, were engaged in the enterprise. 



Panama Fishery. The richness of the Panama pearl fisheries on the Pacific 

 Coast was made known to the Spaniards in 1526 by Gonzalo de Oviedo, and many 

 of the finest pearls in the Spanish treasury were derived therefrom. However, 

 like the Venezuelan source, the production gradually declined, and recently its 

 success depends almost entirely on the value of the pearl shells. The principal 

 reefs and headquarters of the fishery are at Archipelago de las Perlas, or Pearl 

 Islands, situated from 30 to 60 miles southeast of the Pacific terminus of the 

 Panama Canal. The pearls are of good quahty, frequently of large size; they 

 range in color from white to green and lead-gray and are often greenish black. 

 The Panama mollusk is much larger than that of Venezuela and hence furnishes a 

 fine shell. 



Mexican Fishery. The pearl fisheries on the Pacific Coast of Mexico were re- 

 ported to the Spaniards in 1522 after conquest by Hernando Cortes. From a tribe 

 near the present site of Hermosillo, in the State of Sonora, Cortes secured great 

 quantities of the gems, and the location of the pearl reefs was prominently noted 

 on his coastal map, made in 1532. In the eighteenth century one of the most 

 successful of the early pearlers, Manuel Osio, is credited with having marketed 

 127 pounds in 1743 and 275 pounds in 1744; he is said to have been the richest 

 man in Lower California. In 1868 the yield of pearls was about $55,000. The 

 fishery was then carried on from shore camps or from large vessels, each carrying 

 20 to 50 divers, most of them Yaqui Indians. The season lasted from May until 

 late September. The principal species of pearl-mollusk in this region is the 



