276 



the divers, we must remember, that a boat some- 

 times collects, in two or three weeks, more than 

 thirty-five thousand oysters. The animal lives 

 but nine or ten years : and it is only in its fourth 

 year that the pearls begin to show themselves. 

 In ten thousand shells there is often not a single 

 pearl of value*. Tradition states, that on the bank 

 of Margaretta the fishermen opened the shells 

 one by one : in the island of Ceylon, the animals 

 are thrown into heaps, to rot in the air ; and to 

 separate the pearls, which are not attached to 

 the shell, the animal pulp is washed, as the mi- 

 ners do the sands that contain grains of gold, 

 tin, or diamonds. 



At present Spanish America furnishes no other 

 pearls for trade than those of the gulf of Pana- 

 ma, and the mouth of the Rio de la Hacha. On 

 the shoals that surround Cubagua, Coche, and 

 the island of Margaretta, the fishery is as much 

 neglected as on the coasts of California -j-. It is 

 believed at Cumana, that the pearl-arowde has 

 greatly multiplied after two centuries of repose^; 



* Cordiner, Description of Ceylon, vol. ii, p. 187. 

 + Nouv. Esp. t. i, p. 313 : and t. ii, p. 465. I am as- 

 tonished at never having heard in the course of my travels of 

 pearls found in the fresh water shells of South America, 

 though several species of the unto genus abound in the rivers 

 of Peru. 



X In 1812, some new attempts were made at Margaretta 

 for the fishing of pearls. 



