The American Pearl- Fisheries. 227 



" The fifth and last Is at the isle of S. Martha, three- 

 score leagues from the river La Hache. 



" All the Pearls of these five fishings are of a 

 white water, weak, dry, faint, milky, or leady ; not 

 but that they find some fair ones, but they have 

 not so live a water as those of the East : in 

 recompence they are great ones, in weight from 

 eighteen to forty-two carats, and are almost all 

 of the shape of a pear. 



"These five fishings of which I have spoken, 

 are all in the North sea, but they find also great 

 quantities in the South sea near to Panama, they 

 are long rather than round, but not so fair as the 

 others, and ordinarily are somewhat black, for the 

 Indians opened the oyster by fire, till Vasques Dugnez 

 taught the Cacique to open them without it, and 

 since they find the Pearls whiter. Experience 

 teacheth us that oysters change their places as well 

 as other fish, and that they pass sometimes to one 

 side of the island, and sometimes to the other. 



" It is a considerable curiosity to know how they 

 fish for Pearls ; seven, eight or nine men at most 

 go in one bark, two of which descend to the bottom 

 of the sea, six, nine, or twelve fathoms deep. About 

 the isles of Margarita and Cubagua the water is 

 very cold, but the greatest difficulty in fishing is 



