The American P earl-Fisheries, 231 



vessel's account. The working season is about three 

 months." 



Unusually fine Pearls have at various times been 

 recorded from the Bay of Mulege, near Los Coyetes, 

 in the Gulf of California. It is not only, however, 

 along the Western coasts of North and Central 

 America that Pearls occur ; they are also to be 

 found on certain parts of the Western shores of South 

 America, especially off Ecuador. Mr. P. L. Simmonds 

 states that in 1871 an American schooner was en- 

 gaged in Pearling near Guayaquil, the government 

 receiving one-fifth of the produce. On the Eastern 

 side of South America they are found to a limited 

 extent, in the waters off the coast of Brazil. 



Several of the West Indian islands, especially 

 St. Thomas and those on the North coast of 

 South America, have at various times produced 

 large quantities of Pearls. The island of Margarita 

 off the Venezuelian coast, takes its name from the 

 Pearls which it has yielded. In 1574, a Pearl found 

 here weighed 250 carats. 



It is said that in 1597, as much as 350 lbs. 

 weight of Pearls were brought into Spain, from the 

 fisheries of the Caribbean Sea. It appears that the 

 earliest connections with the American fisheries, 

 were by far the most profitable, for although in the 



