106 LULE AN LAPLAJJD. 



■with a contraction, or shallow notch as it 

 Mere, about the niiildle of their outer mar- 

 gin. The man opened them by means of 

 a whilk shell, which he thrust with A'iolence 

 between the valves, for it is impossible to 

 effect tliis with the finger only. He intro- 

 duced the point of the whilk in the centre 

 of the base, or broader end, of the muscle, 

 searching for the pearls chiefly towards the 

 other end, on the inside of the valve. If 

 the inside of the latter be white, the pearl 

 is white ; but if dark or reddish, the pearl is 

 of the same colour. 



When it was first discovered that this 

 neighbourhood produced pearls, the river 

 at Purkijaur was the place where the prin- 

 cipal pearl-fishery was established. But 

 now it is nearly exhausted. When the 

 discovery of this bed of pearl muscles was 

 first made, it is said the shells were in such 

 abundance that nobody could reach the 

 bottom of them, which is far from being 

 the case at present. 



There is no external sion about the shell, 



