CHAPTER V. 



Mother-of-Pearl Shell. 



Fool: " Canst tell how an oyster makes his shell ?" 



— King Lear. Act i. Scene v. 



HE principal sources of supply of 

 Mother-of-Pearl shell are the Torres 

 Straits and West Australian fisheries, 

 and the trade-centres of Singapore and Macassar. 

 Manila, situated on the Isle of Luzon and the 

 capital of the Philippine Islands, was until quite 

 lately the greatest centre of this trade in the East ; 

 and thus most of the shell from the surrounding 

 seas has obtained, and still retains in the trade, the 

 distinguishing name of ** Manila shell" But the 

 geographical advantages of Singapore, added to the 

 c.iterprise of the Chinese steam-ship owners there, 



