CHAPTER XVIII 

 PEARLS AND PEARL-DIVING 



How pearls grow Loose and fixed pearls The fish that contain 

 them The Ceylon Banks Native divers The pearl fleet Scene 

 in the Gulf of Manaar A noisy crew The " shifts "Method of 

 lowering Sharks A curious superstition Landing and piling the 

 oysters How they open Varieties of pearls Other grounds- 

 Dredging for pearl-shells The argentine. 



WHAT is pearl ? Put briefly, it is the result of 

 layer upon layer of carbonate of lime being 

 wrapped round a tiny nucleus that lies hidden 

 within some shell-tearing mollusc. 



Most shell-fish are provided with a secretion wherewith 

 to line their homes, making the otherwise harsh shell a 

 smooth and comfortable refuge for the tender body that 

 lies within it ; and this secretion, which, in its hardened 

 form, we know as nacre or mother-of-pearl, is spread by 

 the fish in very thin translucent films, the outer one of 

 which consequently acquires an opaline or iridescent sur- 

 face. When the shell is thus lined, its tenant has still 

 good store of the secretion left, and this it devotes to 

 covering any small particle that has no business within 

 the valves ; for shell-fish, though their nervous system be, 

 in most respects, very elementary, are exceedingly sen- 

 sitive to tickling or scratching. 



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