258 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



accustomed from early life to supply cockles and clams to the 

 ' lords of the creation/ they are the better divers. 



Taking all expenses into consideration, it may be said that 

 the cost of raising shell amounts to between 5 and Q 

 a ton. Some of the old fisheries are now abandoned. It 

 is quite a mistake to suppose, however, they are valueless ; 

 the best of the shell is in the deep water, and in the great 

 coral caverns underneath the exhausted shelves. Properly led 

 and kindly treated, the natives will attempt the greater 

 depths, and this is a very important point to notice. More- 

 over the shallow water of lately worked fisheries is skirted by 

 sandy bogs, and in the neighbourhood of these, as I have said, 

 the fish will not live. Pearl-oysters are like sponges certain 

 conditions are necessary to their development. In some 

 localities, however, supplying apparently their requirements, 

 they are not found at all 



I believe the magnificent necklace of pearls belonging to the 

 Empress Eugenie, and lately sold by Mr. Edwin Streeter 

 of Bond Street, came from the Tuamotus, and was obtained 

 by the Messrs, Stewart of Tahiti. 



A friend of mine says that in the lagoons of the Fanning 

 Group, a short description of which will be found further 

 on, there exists a species of large clam, called in the Pacific 

 the paalma or tridachua. There are two kinds : one grows 

 chiefly on the solid coral, and does not attain to so great a 

 size as the other, which is found not only on the hard reef, but 

 bound to loose rocks, or lodged upon the sandy bottom. This 

 attains extraordinary proportions. It is in some cases, especi- 

 ally near the Equator, so large as to weigh several hundred- 

 weight. This is the kind of shell sometimes used in gardens 

 for the basins of fountains. Some years ago, I was told 

 on good authority, there was a trade in this kind of shell, and 



