378 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



about 3000 to 5000 cwts. per annum. They are chiefly 

 used in Birmingham for buttons, counters, and inlaying 

 purposes. 



4. The shells from the Red Sea fishery bear the name 

 of " Egyptian," as they are sent to Alexandria. For a long 

 time the bulk of these shells were forwarded vid Trieste to 

 Vienna, affording employment to a large number of arti- 

 sans, who worked for the American market, and thus dis- 

 placed about 50 per cent, of the British-made goods. But 

 after the great rise in the price of mother-of-pearl shells, 

 the larger proportion of the Red Sea shells was again 

 sent for some years to London and Liverpool. About 

 12,000 cwts. are shipped annually from Alexandria ; but 

 we only get at present about half this quantity. 



5. Panama shells from the Gulf of Panama, about the 

 Pearl Islands, are now obtained in large quantities. The 

 shells from the island of St. Joseph (one of this group) are 

 said to be the largest, purest, and finest in the bay. After 

 1855 the trade began to be conducted on an important 

 scale, five or six vessels taking cargoes of 100 to 250 tons 

 each for Great Britain ; 800 to 1000 tons is about the 

 average annual shipment from this quarter. 



According to their growth, the mother-of-pearl shells 

 imported vary in size from about the palm of the hand to 

 that of the crown of a hat. The smallest are the South 

 American, weighing nearly half a pound the shell (the single 

 valve) ; the Bombay and Egyptian weigh about three- 

 quarters of a pound ; the South Sea black, one pound ; and 

 the Singapore and Manila as much as one and a quarter 

 pound each. Their value greatly depends upon quality, 

 for they arrive in bulk without any attention being paid 

 to sorting, and keeping separate, the dead and grubby 

 or worm-eaten shells, of which there is always a great 



