AMERICAN PEARL-FISHERY. 61 



in the year 1825, commissioned Lieutenant Hardy, an officer 

 of great zeal and integrity, to establish a pearl-fishery in the 

 gulf of California, but the speculation proved an entire 

 and ruinous failure ; not from any deficiency on the part 

 of their clever agent, but from the deficiency of oysters, and 

 their unproductiveness in the sought-for prize.* The pearl- 

 oysters of this gulf, and of South America in general, are 

 not found in beds or banks, but always in the cracks and 

 crevices of rocks ; and so " firmly does the oyster fix him- 

 self to the rock, that, in order to tear him away, it is neces- 

 sary to get ' a purchase ' upon him, by placing the feet on 

 the bottom. The excessive difficulty of doing this is in- 

 credible ; it requires the muscular strength of the whole 

 body to overcome the resistance of the water's buoyancy." *j- 

 And when at length a great number of shells were collected 

 in the Gulf of Molexa, alas ! six very small pearls were all 

 that the large number produced. The divers, too, seem to 

 be exposed to greater danger than they are in the Indian 

 Ocean from the attacks of sharks and other fish, to guard 

 against which, they arm themselves with a stick about nine 

 inches long, pointed at both ends. " The diver grasps it in 

 the middle, and when attacked by a shark, he thrusts it into 

 the monster's expanded jaws in such a position, that, in at- 

 tempting to seize his victim, the jaws close upon the two 

 sharp points ; thus secured, he can do no mischief, but swims 

 away with his martyrdom ; the diver rises, and seeks a new 

 weapon of defence." Lieutenant Hardy spiritedly describes 

 the marvellous adventure of one of these divers, but the 

 story is too long for me to transcribe in this place ; and I 

 hasten to finish this general survey of the pearl-fishery by 

 noticing that which is now carried on to some extent in the 

 Australasian seas. Captain Beechy tells us that there one 

 vessel " sometimes collected seventeen hundred of these 

 shells in one day ; " and afterwards he mentions that the 

 Queen of Otaheite, " seeing the estimation in which the 



* " For one branch of commerce, the pearl-fishery, California has been 

 famed from its first discovery. The glory and the riches derived from this 

 source are, however, almost traditional : at least, the actual amount of the 

 trade is insignificant. Nevertheless it is by no means certain that the sources 

 of a beneficial commerce in this respect do not yet exist, provided proper 

 means were taken for pursuing it with effect." A. Forbes on the Pearl- 

 Fishery of Lower California in the Naturalist, iv. 312, &c. 



t Quart. Review, xlii. 344. Lieut. Hardy adds, " I have no doubt that, 

 by means of its long beard, the oyster has the power of locomotion, and that 

 it changes its situation according to its pleasure or convenience." Lieut. 

 Hardy is entirely wrong here ; the beard is a chain or cable which the animal 

 cannot unfix. 



