Coral and the Coral Fisheries. 



445 



demand. France does not use much coral for ornaments, 

 but the fashion there is reviving. 



The average annual imports of rough coral into France 

 have been as follows : — 



Kilogrammes. Value in francs. 

 In the ten years ending 1856 ... 10,450 ... 253,804 

 „ 1866 ... 19,960 ... 1,418,976 



„ „ 1876 ... 21,596 ... 1,890,356 



The imports of worked coral, unmounted, in the same 

 period was as follows : — 



Kilogrammes. Value in francs. 



1856 6,600 1,125,805 



1866 11,831 3,060,010 



1876 14,553 5^078,062 



In America and the West Indies the black population 

 have a great fancy for coral. Morocco buys largely, and 

 so does India. The caravans transport bijous and jewels 

 fashioned of it to the interior. There, according to 

 religious custom, the dead carry with them to the tomb 

 the ornaments they have worn in their lifetime, and each 

 year sees buried a quantity of coral, more or less consider- 

 able, which has to be replaced. Coral manufactories em- 

 ploying a large number of workmen exist at Marseilles. 

 The exports of manufactured coral from Europe were stated 

 in 1862 to be of the value of 15,000,000 francs (;£"6oo,ooo), 

 of which Marseilles made about 2,000,000 francs. 



As few persons have access to the bulky returns con- 

 stituting the Blue Books of the Board of Trade, which 

 give the statistics of the annual imports of various articles 

 into the United Kingdom, it may be desirable to condense 

 the figures as regards coral, so as to furnish a retrospect 

 of the commerce in this marine product. The three items 

 enumerated in the returns are " Coral in fragments," " Coral, 

 whole, polished or unpolished," and " Coral negligees'' 



