DESTRUCTION FOR PLEASURE OR LUXURY 195 



which was carried to King James VI by the Provost of Aber- 

 deen, and became one of the Crown jewels. The Provost 

 was rewarded for his trouble by being presented with "twelve 

 to fourteen chalder of victuals about Dunfermline, and the 

 Customs of Merchant's goods in Aberdeen during his life "; 

 the pearl-fishers were rewarded by an order of the Privy 

 Council passed in 1621, proclaiming that Pearls found within 

 the Realm belonged to the Crown, and appointing conser- 

 vators of pearl-fisheries in several counties, including Aber- 

 deen, Ross and Sutherland. The Aberdeenshire conservator 

 was specially commended in that "he hath not only taken 

 diverse pearls of good value, but hath found some in waters 

 where none were expected." 



The Scottish pearl-fishery caused an appreciable reduc- 

 tion of Pearl-mussels in the rivers. In his ''Tour" (1771) 

 Pennant records of the Tay and Isla that 



there has been in these parts a very great fishery of pearls got out of fresh 

 water muscles. From 1761 to 1764, ; 10,000 worth were sent to London and 

 sold from los. to i. 6s. per ounce.... But this fishery is at present exhausted, 

 for the avarice of the undertakers. It once extended as far as Loch Tay. 



The destruction of the Pearl-mussel brought to an end 

 for the time being the pearl-fisheries of Scotland; and they 

 were not revived till about 1 860, when a German merchant, 

 Moritz Unger, travelled through Ayrshire, Perthshire, and 

 Aberdeenshire, buying up-all the pearls that could be found. 

 With the valuable stock he then acquired, he reawakened 

 the demand for Scottish pearls, and created afresh the pearl- 

 fishing industry. I have often spoken with an old fisher on 

 the Don in Aberdeenshire, who, first encouraged by Unger 

 and later by two other traders, Selig and Aaron, spent 

 the summer, year after year, when the river was at its 

 lowest, " at the pearls." The prices paid by these itinerant 

 pearl- dealers ranged from $s. to js. a grain. Now, owing 

 to its rarity as well as to the increased appreciation of the 

 liquid beauty of the Scottish pearl, the value has reached 

 from i to 10 a grain, according to quality and size. A 

 small collection of half a dozen Tay pearls bought for the 

 Royal Scottish Museum from Unger in 1859 for 12 is to- 

 day valued at over ^50. 



The result of the new demand was that the more acces- 

 sible shallows of pearl rivers were soon denuded of their 



132 



