Pearls and the Pearl Fisheries. 425 



states that during his residence there, for one owned by the 

 queen a German merchant had offered ;£'i200. Pearls to 

 the value of £\6oo were shipped from the Navigator's 

 Islands in 1858. The pearls are there classed under four 

 grades : — 



1. Those of a regular form and without faults. 



2. Those of a round form, white, and of a good lustre. 



3. Pearls of irregular form, not free from faults or 

 spots. 



4. Knots of pearl, or those which have adhered to the 

 shell. 



The average value of these kinds, according to weight, 

 ranges as follows : — 



1st Class. — Pearls weighing the tenth part of a gramme 

 are worth about 3^. And so on through the intermediate 

 weights up to those weighing i J to 2 J grammes, which are 

 valued at ;^ioo to ;^I40. 



2nd Class. -^Thirty grammes of pearl, containing 800 

 pearls, would be worth only £\ ; whilst the same weight 

 in 50 pearls would be worth £,60. 



3rd Class. — Thirty grammes of pearls of this kind 

 would be worth from £'^, to ;£'4, according as the pearls 

 were more or less tarnished by black blemishes or dulness 

 in the lustre. 



4th Class. — Thirty grammes would be worth 30J. to £2, 

 according to their regularity of form and brilliancy. 



The commerce in pearls in the Society Islands is esti- 

 mated at about £ApfX> a year. Some are of remarkable 

 beauty ; and among others may be noted one belonging to 

 the Queen of the Gamblers, which is of a brilliant orient, 

 and of the size of a pigeon's egg. The large pearls found 

 are, of course, of an arbitrary value; the small, or seed- 

 pearls, are sold at £2 to £1 the pound at Tahiti. 

 19 



