* 



396 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



the pursuit is very fruitful. The experience of several 

 seasons tends to show that the banks are recovered in 

 the course of a year or two, and that the industry has 

 thus a tolerably permanent character. The nearest port 

 is at Nicol Bay, where there is a town and a Government 

 staff. All boats engaged in the fishery pay a license of 

 i per ton on the registered tonnage, but never less than 

 ^5 or more than .30, and the revenue derived from this 

 source is appropriated to services connected with the 

 northern settlements. 



The fishery for pearls is carried on at Shark's Bay, 

 latitude about 26, under the same regulations and in a 

 somewhat similar manner. In winter, however, iron-wire 

 dredges are substituted for diving, and these are drawn 

 across the banks. Hitherto the small shells containing 

 pearls have been found almost exclusively in an inlet, 

 named (curiously enough) Useless Harbour, which is about 

 ten miles wide, the banks lying in the middle of it. The 

 men camp on shore, and the boats, which are chiefly small 

 cutters, go out at eight a.m. till two or three p.m. A boat 

 with four men may bring back eight sacks of shells, and 

 these are thrown on to the large heap on shore, for the 

 animal to rot, when the shells are easily opened. Of course, 

 the product is more uncertain than in the shell fishery. You 

 may find large and valuable pearls, but they are the ex- 

 ception ; the average-sized pearls found are remunerative ; 

 but it is precarious if carried on on a small scale, and the 

 banks in Useless Harbour are showing signs of exhaustion, 

 while at present no other satisfactory deposits have been 

 found. The export of pearls, however, has gradually in- 

 creased, and some have realized 200 to ^300 each. 



The pearl shell fishery of Western Australia is be- 

 coming a most important trade on the Australian north- 



