May 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
741 
AUSTRALIAN PEARLS AND MOTHER- 
O'-PEARL OYSTERS : 
AN EAST AFRICAN ISLAND AS A 
CENTRE FOR PEARL FISHERIES. 
AMERICAN RIVER PEARLS. 
At the time we visited Fremantle and 
Perth and made a short tour through 
Western Australia, in September 1875, very- 
little was known of the Australian Pearl 
Oyster Fisheries. The more extensive fisheries 
were entirely on account of the shells :— some 
of the NickoU Bay Shells (specimens of 
which we lodged in the Colombo Museum 
being 6 to 7 lb. weight the pair, thickly- 
coated with mother-o'-pearl and often with 
noticeable raised " blisters "—of which more 
anon. The Shark Bay Oysters, on the other 
hand, about three times the size of those of 
Ceylon, were fished or rather dredged, solely 
with reference to pearls. Here then we 
may reproduce some manuscript notes 
drawn up 28 yea rs ago; but for some reason 
not given at the time in the Observer. They 
are, however, of some interest at the pre- 
sent time. 
" At first, there was no expectation of findiofi; 
pearls, and indeed very fe-w were discovered in con- 
nection with the West Australian fisheries. 
The great impetus to the trade in pearls was 
given by the discovery by Mr. Mason, a jeweller in 
Fremantle that the raised blisters which are rather 
common on the nacre inside the larger motber- 
o' pearl shells, usually enclosed pearls of great 
purity and value. This enterprising and skilful 
manipulator, with whom I had some conversation, 
assured me that he was first led to pick at these 
blisters which had never previously attracted 
attention, through ti e great scarcity of pearls 
such as usually came in fiom Shark's Bay. 
Peeling away at the blister he soon found that 
a very fine pearl was enclosed which could be 
removed without sustaining injury. Every 
blister was now an object of great interest and 
valne. 'Ihe secret soon oozed out and the trade 
in pearls became an extensive and valuable one. 
Occasionally large blisters or excrescences inside 
the shells, giving promise of enclosing fine pearls 
are found to be empty, But, the largest which 
have yet been seen in the market have been 
obtained from such blisters rather than from the 
fleshy body of the oysters. The best pearls got 
from the Shark's Bay oysters, I was told, averaged 
from 18 to 24 grains, while from the large 
NickoU Bay Shells, pearls of 40 grains were 
the rule and some had beeu pricked out as 
lieavy as 82 and 125 grains each. One of the finest 
pearls yet found is said to have been purchased for 
the Crown Princess of Prussia for the sum of £2,000 
I was told of a small but select consignment of 
pearls recently sent to England by a private 
gentleman which was expected to realise a con- 
siderable sum, leaving a handsome profit. One 
pe.irl— double the size of a pea — was valued at 
£1,500. I heard of a dealer pestered at a time 
when pearls were not so much valued in Frc" 
mantle as they are now to buy a pearl by a 
man newly arrived from a Fishery. He did not 
care about it, but was importuned to give at least 
all the money he had about him— the encounter wav 
iu the street— and so he Uaudcd the luruc sum of 
93 
2d and received a pearl which afterwards proved 
to be worth over i£100 ! A great many small and 
seed pearls are, of course, founrt Pnd for these 
a ready market is found in Enpland at so much 
per ounce. Tlieie ia also a considerable propor- 
tion of yellow pearls. Thexe are at present re- 
garded as of little value; it being reported that 
they will not sell in London ; but I found a 
rumour current that they were much prized in 
India. I could not say whether tluy are or not ; 
but I have got one or two small specimens with 
me on which to get the opinion of competent 
judges. To get at any pearls in the oysters, the 
mode adopted is to boil down the flesh on the 
latter. Of pearls the quantity entered in the 
Custom house as exported last year stand at a 
value of £6,600. 
Since 1875, Saville-Kent has investigated 
—and he and others have written freely 
about — the Australian oyster fisher ies. None 
nf the Tahitian species, with black-edged 
shells, are found on the Westralian Coast. 
There is an island some distance off the 
land from Portuguese East Africa which is 
believed to be surrounded by banks covered 
with Pearl Oysters, never properly fished— if 
fished at all. It was the subject of a Consular 
report some years ago, and with the South 
African war iutervening, we do nut know 
that any notice has been taken of it up to 
the present day. 
It is not generally known that in Americai 
pearls— and some of them very fine — are 
found in mussels in the rivers, just as in 
Scotland and Wales, mussels in the Tay and 
Conway have often yielded fine pearls. More 
than lO.COO dollars worth of pearls were 
sent from Wisconsin to New York in a 
few months of 1890-1 ; but the rivers there 
got worked out and now the States in which 
pearls are chiefly found are Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. If lime- 
stone prevails near the rivers, it is noticed 
that pearls are more likely to be found, They 
are of all colours from pure white to that 
of a drop of molten coppei\ There are, of 
course, pearl-oyster fisheries off Southern 
California and west of Panama and 
attempts at culture have been made near 
the Gulf of California. 
COFFEE, CARDAMOMS AND PEPPER 
IN COORG. 
We are in receipt of a copy of the Ad- 
ministration Report on the Province of Coorg 
for 1901-2, with a note by Lieut. -Colonel 
Donald Robertson, cs.i.. Chief Conmiissioner 
of Cooi'g, in which he states :— " 1 he province 
of Coorg is still suffering from the depression 
brought about by the deterioration of the 
coffee industry." To us it is wonderful that 
Coorg coffee has kept up so long .ns it has, and 
that there should still be 45,000 to 90,000 cwt. 
exported annually according to season. Coorg 
has an area of l.oOi) scjiiare iiiiles, a littie 
more than our Western Province ; but with 
,a population of only iSi.OOO—not nuicii more 
thai! there is \^itluu the Colombo .\luuici- 
pality,— the total revenue being under three- 
(juarters of a million ot rupees. The fol- 
lowing extracts are of some interest to our 
