THE PEARL OYSTER 173 



the rocks, as we stopped to pick up some attractive shell. 

 Marine animals, as long as one's arm looking very 

 like gigantic worms covered with warts and bunches, 

 and known by the name of beche de mer or trepang, and 

 of which the Chinese make rich and delicious soups, 

 were very abundant. These animals are smoked and 

 dried before they are ready to export, and shrivelled 

 up into small lumps of stony hardness. 



We found large cream-colored volutes, crawling 

 over the sand in the shallow water, as the tide re- 

 turned ; sometimes, away up above the highest tides, 

 with the dried animal still occupying the outer cham- 

 ber, we picked up that little-known sailor of the trop- 

 ical seas, the pearly nautilus. But it is for the pearl 

 oyster (Meleagrina margaritifera) that these shallow 

 seas are best known, and for them men risk their lives 

 and hazard their fortunes. 



They are large, flat, pearly shells, in places an inch 

 thick ; and are generally known, the world over, by 

 the name of mother-of-pearl. 



There are several varieties, and three or four grades 

 in the quality of shell. They all bring good prices, 

 and large fortunes have been made at the business. 

 The owner of a pearl-shell station has several boats, 

 for each one of which he hires a diver and crew ; 

 these are generally South Sea Islanders. The boats 

 are equipped with the best of modern diving armor, 

 air-pumps, and provisions, and bedding for the men. 



