PEARL FISHING AND ' BEACHCOMBERS: 253 



Up to the present time it may be safely estimated that the 

 Tuamotu Group has yielded to traders of various nations not less 

 than 25,000 tons of pearl-shell, representing, at the lowest rates 

 Avhich have ruled in Europe since the trade attracted any great 

 attention, at least 1,000,000. The Tuamotu fisheries are 

 frequently described in the Pacific, and by people who ought . 

 to know better, as exhausted. This is not true, although the 

 quantity now obtainable there does not probably exceed 200 

 tons per annum. The reason is very obvious : the pearl-oyster 

 takes seven years to come to maturity, and the fisheries have 

 had no rest for more than thirty years. As they are exceed- 

 ingly prolific, if allowed reasonable time to recruit they would 

 soon recover their former flourishing condition. There are 

 numerous other pearl islands besides the Tuamotus, which 

 have never been visited by fishers, or have lain dormant for a 

 great number of years ; but I studied the pearl industries of 

 that particular group, and it may be taken as representative of 

 the rest. 



I have already referred to the cable or muscle by which the 

 pearl-oyster binds itself to the rock. This apparatus has the 

 look of a large tassel, consisting of an infinite number of slender 

 filaments, each about the thickness of a pack-thread. It 

 springs from the body of the fish, and passes through an orifice 

 between the shells immediately next the hinge. During life 

 its colour is iridescent, changing from dark green to a golden 

 bronze, exhibiting while in motion various prismatic hues. It 

 fastens itself to the rugged coral rock with so tenacious a 

 hold as frequently to require the utmost strength of a powerful 

 man to tear it away. 



It seems incredible that under these circumstances the crea- 

 ture should move from place to place, yet it is a fact that it 

 does ; and I know that under the influences of certain causes 



