THE ABALONE FISHERY. 625 



lusk holds to its site a power of anchorage necessary when storms beat upon its native rocks with 

 almost resistless force. 



The tenacity of life of this mollusk seems equal to its hold upon the rocks. Dr. E. E. C. Stearns, 

 of San Francisco, writes that he has frequently removed the animal from the shell by means of a 

 sharp knife and thrown it into the water, when "it would at once descend and place itself in its 

 normal position upon a rock, to which it would adhere with apparently as much tenacity as befor-i 

 it was deprived of its shelly covering." 



The meat of abalone has long formed an article of food in various parts of the world, Senegal, 

 the South Sea Islands, Malaya, China, Japan, and onr Pacffie-coast. It is said to be " exceedingly 

 nutritions, but indigestible." In San Francisco it is rarely eaten except by Chinamen, who are the 

 only ones who gather it. A simple process of salting and drying is all that is necessary for its 

 preservation, after which the larger portion of every season's crop is exported to China. In order to 

 get a ton of meat, about 6 tons of living animals must be gathered, but how many individuals this 

 represents cannot be stated. After being cured abalone meat is worth about 5 cents a pound or 

 $100 a ton in San Francisco; and the value of the crop in 1879 was nearly $40,000. The number 

 of men employed is unknown, but amounts to some hundreds. The coast is so stripped of haliotis 

 now, that the Chinamen are compelled to resort to unfrequented islands, transportation to which 

 is afforded them by American capitalists who take their pay in shells, while the Chinese retain 

 the meats. 



The trade in abalore shells, indeed, is of twice as much importance, financially speaking, as 

 that of meats, since it amounts to nearly $90,000 annually. Some Americans, also, are engaged in 

 this business, and the finishing off of the shells for market is wholly in their hands. 



The shell of haliotis is one of the most brilliantly beautiful in its interior of any known. The 

 lustrous, iridescent curves of the nacre delight every eye, and is due to a peculiar cellular struct- 

 ure of the laminae which make up the shell. In aged specimens the part to which the muscle is 

 attached is raised above the level of the rest of the interior and presents a roughened or carved 

 surface of irregular shape, often fancifully imitative of some other object. The writer has seen one 

 which thus contained a singularly correct profile of Napoleon I. 



Outside the shells are usually rough and unattractive, but support a small forest of minute 

 vegetable and animal forms very interesting to a naturalist. A curious case is mentioned by Dr. 

 Stearns where a haliotis had been attacked by another mollusk, a boring bivalve, known as Navca, 

 which had cut its way through the shell. Advised of this enemy, the haliotis had defended itself 

 by adding coating upon coating of nacre, as a bulwark between him and his foe, until, as the 

 Navea progressed a large knob was built in the interior of the abalone's shell. 



The shells are usually sent to San Francisco from the lower counties of the State in the rough. 

 In addition to the regular trade, the captains of coasters . often make a special trip, or pick up 

 return cargoes, and speculators venture with a single cargo or two now and then. This is the 

 sort of supply which is credited to San Francisco, in the above table, in addition to the regular 

 trade owned there. 



The price paid for them by the merchants varies greatly, running from $40 up to $90 a ton ; an 

 average price last year would be $50 or $60. From San Francisco they are shipped to China, 

 Europe, and the Eastern States. In China they arc broken up and used for inlaying in connection 

 with the lacquer- work for which the Chinese are famous. The mosaics of Europe arc often 

 adorned in the same away, various arts are served by their glittering fragments, and in Guernsey 

 their scintillating surfaces, dangling from strings on the top of poles, become effective in frighten- 

 ing birds from the grain-fields. Many of the shells sent to Europe arc polished with the help of acids 

 SEC. v, VOL. ii 40 



