220 Pearls. 



proof which can be given of the insignificance of 

 this trade is that it has escaped the notice, or is 

 deemed unworthy the attention of the pasha's 

 officers. A few boats are occasionally despatched 

 by the Jeddah merchants to search for Pearls, but 

 the precarious and ill-paid task of collecting them 

 is left mostly to the Tuwal and Huteimi tribes. 

 The former have about forty boats engaged in the 

 trade, which are mostly employed upon the Abyssinian 

 coast. Their mode of collecting Pearls differs en- 

 tirely from that adopted in the Persian Gulf, where 

 they are found in nine or ten fathoms of water. 

 The fishermen w^ait for a calm day, when they pull 

 along the outer edge of a single reef, until they 

 discover the oyster from the boat in three or four 

 fathoms." 



The Pearl-shells from the Red Sea were for- 

 merly sent to Alexandria, and being shipped thence to 

 Europe were known commercially as " Egyptians," — 

 a designation which they still retain. At one 

 time large supplies were sent to Trieste, and thence 

 by rail to Vienna, where the Mother-of-Pearl was 

 worked into a variety of ornamental objects, chiefly 

 for the American market. A good deal of the 

 Red Sea produce also finds its way directly to 

 London. The little Pearl-fishing that is still pro- 

 secuted in the Red Sea is not now a government 



