THE PEARL FISHERIES OF CEYLON 
193 
part of the world, and for spher- 
ical regularity, also, they are 
unexcelled. Other peculiarities 
are that their size averages 
smaller than elsewhere in the 
world, and that their number 
exceeds that in any other fishery. 
Pearls weighing over lo grains 
are very uncommon, and by far 
the larger number weigh less 
than two grains. Specimens 
worth $350 at the fishery are 
rare ; the most valuable pearl 
found in 1904 sold locally for 
$830, and the record fishery 
of 1905 yielded one valued at 
$4,000. 
More seed pearls result from 
the Ceylon fisheries than from 
all other parts of the world com- 
bined. The most minute, that 
have no value as pearls, are cal- 
cined and sold to the wealthy 
for chewing with the betel nut. 
The same use is made of many 
American fresh - water pearls, 
for which a market has now 
been established in Bombay. 
Somewhat larger seed pearls, 
that have no sale outside of 
Ceylon and India, are placed in 
the mouths of deceased Hindus 
of means, replacing the rice 
grains that are employed for the 
same purpose by the poorer people. 
The larger seed pearls are drilled, 
strung, and used for ornament. The 
drilling is done by the most primitive 
means, and it is a very clever workman 
who can perforate 40 to 50 pearls in a 
day with the ancient bow-drill. This will 
enable us partly to estimate the labor 
required to drill the 120,000 seed pearls 
in a necklace, dating from the Louis XVI 
period, now the property of an American 
lady. By means of one of the modern 
mechanical drills, 1,500 pearls may be 
easily and accurately perforated in a day. 
ORIGIN 01^ pe;ari,s 
Pearls dififer from other gems in the 
brief period of their existence in a natu- 
ral state, and in the steady renewal of 
the supply. A diamond or a ruby, formed 
a hundred thousand or a million years 
OUTLINE MAP OF CEYLON (Stt PAGES II5, I35, 
145, AND 153) 
ago, remains practically unchanged until 
found by man. A pearl, unless plucked 
when ripe, like a fruit, drops to the bot- 
tom and quickly loses its value when the 
creature that makes and harbors it per- 
ishes. 
It is interesting to contemplate that in 
all waters having pearl-bearing mollusks, 
from the earliest dawn of history down 
to the present time, much the larger part 
of the pearl crop has never been har- 
vested and never seen by man, but has 
been scattered on the floor of the ocean 
as the oysters have died in the course of 
nature. This is particularly striking in 
the case of the pearls of Ceylon because 
of the brief, almost ephemeral, life of 
the oysters. 
It is not necessary in this article to 
enter into a discussion of the origin of 
pearls, but it is not inappropriate that 
