342 DR. H. LYSTER JAMESON ON 
rocks and stones, clear of all mud.” Mr, Pestonji says that the 
bottom of the sea around the reefs is muddy, and that it is 
believed that the heavy rains and seas wash away the mud from the 
Oyster-beds, and so make it easier to see and collect the oysters. 
“At high tide there is usually about ten to twelve feet of water 
over the Oysters. The oyster-beds are never dry, even at low 
water, there always being an inch or two of water draining off” *. 
The fishery is carried on by wading, at low tide. ‘‘ During the 
Monsoon season four or five hundred men are sent out to a certain 
reef, where they tramp about and pick up the oysters as they come 
upon them. They stay three or four days on each reef, and when 
one reef has been searched they move on to another. Each man 
is rewarded according to the number and nature of the pearls found 
in the oysters he brings in.” 
The oysters are not * rotted,” as in the case of the Ceylon pearl- 
fisheries, but are opened one by one, and the pearls removed “ by 
scraping the flesh gently with a blade of a knife.” 
The number of oysters fished annually is about 150,000, on 
an average. ‘Ihe value is uncertain. The number of pearls 
extracted from these oysters comes to about 20,000 and over. 
They vary in size from seed- pearls to those weighing 20 grains and 
over, The lustre and colour are of first-class order, but “the shape 
in over 60 per cent. of the pearls is poor. 
Mr. Pestonji estimates that if care is taken to pick up oysters 
which are about four years old, about 10 to 15 per cent. of them 
contain pearls. He says, in a letter dated November 14th, 1911: 
‘“‘Lately we opened oysters three times. The first time we opened 
643 oysters and got 452 pearls. The second time we opened 
770 oysters, and got 537 pearls. The third time we opened 845 
oysters, and got only 379 pearls.” Mr. Pestonji includes the 
minute “ dust” pearls as well as pearls of different sizes and shapes 
in this statement, and explains that there are often as many as 
fifteen or more minute pearls in a single oyster. 
Highteen pearls from this collection have so far been decalcified 
and examined, and thirteen of these have been sectioned. Some 
of these were sectioned in sitw in the tissues, others were pearls 
which had fallen out of the tissues in the preserving process. 
They differed in no recognisable microscopic features from the 
pearls produced by the same species in Ceylon and the Persian 
Gulf. Thirteen of these pearls, six of which were from one 
specimen and three from another, were of the same character as 
those described from Dr. Kelaart’s material in the British Museum, 
that is to say, they had a small central cavity, surrounded by 
ordinary nacre. The remainder had more or less obvious 
pseudo-nuclei, composed of columnar or alveolar substance, in some 
cases interstratified with nacre. ‘T'wo of these (Preparations 
N. VII. and N. LX.) had nacre inside the columnar substance, with 
* Spring tides rise 18 ft., and neaps 14 ft., aft Rojhi, an island near the town of 
Nawanagar, according to the Admiralty Sailing Directions, “ West coast of 
Hindustan Pilot ” (1898 edition). 
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