How Pearls Are Obtained 



Most of the sea pearls are obtained by 

 naked divers who descend from boats to 

 the beds of pearl oysters, three to ten or 

 more fathoms beneath the surface of the 

 ocean. The shells are brought to the 

 surface, loaded into boats and conveyed to 

 land where they are opened and the pearls 

 extracted, sorted and sold to the merchants. 

 The fresh water pearl-bearing mussels fre- 

 quently live in streams so shallow that they 

 may be easily gathered. This is the case 

 with the mussels inhabiting our New Eng- 

 land brooks and rivers. In the rivers of 

 the middle west, however, they are not 

 often so easily obtained and rakes, forks, 

 oyster tongs and iron bars with hooks 

 attached are extensively used. The latter 

 are dragged over the mussel beds, the hooks 

 catching between the open valves of the 

 shells. Many pearls are found by those 

 who supply the button factories with shells 

 for making pearl buttons. The difficulties 

 to be overcome and the number of mussels 

 to be gathered and opened are seldom 

 appreciated by those who see the gems 

 displayed in the jeweler's windows. To 

 collect, carry ashore and open two thousand 

 of these large shells is a hard day's work for 

 a strong man, and as many as twenty thou- 

 sand shells are occasionally opened without 

 finding a pearl worth a dime. Again, the 

 luck is much the other way, a man some- 



