PEAKL-FISHING 175 



a bag, they pull it up, returning an empty one. In 

 good weather, he remains down all day, and frequently 

 walks fifteen or twenty miles in that time. 



When the day's work is over, the shells gathered are 

 all opened and cleaned, and the pearls found are distri- 

 buted among the men, few, if any of them, ever reach- 

 ing the owner of the boat. The owners are generally 

 very well satisfied with the shells, for the pearls are 

 very scarce, and not often of good color or shape. Mr. 

 Clark informed me that he once went out with his 

 boats, and opened seven hundred shells without finding 

 a pearl worth a shilling. They do, however, sometimes 

 find lovely ones. I once saw a diver with a small bot- 

 tle full, each one a perfect gem in itself, and as round 

 as a marble. They were not larger than peas, but 

 were of several colors and shades, some of a decided 

 green, others pink, and now and then a blue one shone 

 out among the rest, which were mostly yellow and 

 white. A handful of perfect pearls, of several colors, 

 is one of the richest sights imaginable, and makes one 

 feel covetous. The perfect pearls are always found in 

 the flesh of the animal, and the irregular ones are often 

 stuck to the shell. Sometimes one will be beautifully 

 round, and yet of a dull brown or brick-red color, and 

 not worth a cent. Everything has to be very favor- 

 able for the growth of a perfect pearl, and that is prob- 

 ably why they are so scarce. These morbid growths 

 are of the same material as the shell ; they probably 



