230 Pearls. 



fisheries are now in the Gulf of California rather 

 than the Bay of Panama. The present price of 

 Panama shell (October, 1886),. is from i6s. to 

 37^. 6d. per cwt. 



After these American fisheries had^ by continued 

 fishing, become exhausted they were practically 

 abandoned for many years^ but attention has of 

 late been directed again to their development, and 

 many jfine Pearls have recently been obtained. 

 Mr. W. H. Dali writing on Pearl-fishing in the 

 "American Naturalist" in 1883, says, — "Of late 

 years it has looked up again, and the Mexican 

 Government has farmed out the beds to private 

 parties, who have been in the habit of granting 

 licenses to persons provided with the equipment for 

 fishing. This method ignores the preservation of 

 the beds as such, and each licensee endeavours 

 to strip them as thoroughly as possible. Rubber 

 armour is used, and natives of Central America 

 are employed as divers. Even with these appliances 

 the work is attended with risk, and deaths are not 

 uncommon. About three tons of fresh shells are 

 obtained by an ordinary party per day, from water 

 about forty feet deep when the weather is fair. 

 About one shell in a thousand contains a Pearl, 

 but these are often of excellent quality. The natives 

 work on shares of the Pearls ; the shells go to the 



