180 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept. I, 1903. 
for business. If he has fished for pearls before he 
knows that he cannot depend alone nn these 
foundlir;u;s of fortune for a livelihood. The only 
piaelioai way for him is to dig up cL<nis and 
tell iheir shells, and as he sorts over the bivblves 
he can keeji his eye out for an elusive penrl. He 
mfiy t;o llnoufih a v hole season una fTily discover 
a few " dead ones," wliich nre practically worth- 
less, or of a sudden he noy slare at a brilliant 
"turtle back" as large as a marble and worth 
$10,000. 
'i I e work is done frcm a scow shaped boat 
V 5;:ch drifts with the current, dragging over the 
' ni a la)ge rrun Ver of hocks, on which the 
ciriu V "bite." ■} he hooks are on short strings, 
or (liiiins, and are atlficlied side by side on a 
lor.g bar or gas pipe. Tht re are two " of these 
bars, wiiieh are kept on stanchions on either side 
of the boat. By means oi a "mule," which 
cof^isi of a fiame coveitd with canvas, placed 
v -lly into the water, and which acts as an 
uii(' ; .vater sail, tlie "eliiuimer" obtains enough 
mo'ivc power to propel the boat and drag the 
h';tic- over the bottojn. The clams lie wit h their 
ii(iu'!' towaid the cnrietit, so that ihey may 
ci it r i'jnd pnrtieles that come fi ating towaid 
thi ns V» hen lite horks enter their months the 
cl. ins immediately shut d<iwn on them and hang on 
like so many steel traps. The pearl seeker 
usually woiks on the river in the morning and 
spends the afternoon in cf<mp "boiling out." 
This is the process by which the pearls are found, 
the shells cleaned and made ready for maiket. A 
tank, constructed of planks with a metal bottom, 
is used for this purpose, and the clams are placed 
in it with about enough water to cover the bottom. 
Then the whole is covered with boards or a 
blanket. 
A fire is built underneath the tank, and the 
elan s steamed or boiled until they are so tho- 
roughly cooked that the n.eat will drop out of the 
shell. Contrary to the general belief, this does 
not ii ju^e the pearl, for the reason that it is pro- 
tected by the shell of the clam and is not exposed 
to the direct heat. The cooking requires an hour 
or two, and when it is finished the clams are 
shovelled on to a sorting table, where the search 
for nearls is made, and the shells graded and 
placed in bins. There are some fifty varieties of 
shells, most of which are valuable. The largest 
shells or ' washboards,' are too brittle to be 
worth anything for commercial purposes. The 
sm Ter shells aie all good for peail buttons and 
brii g therlanimer $15 to $20 a ton. The shell 
buyii.i (onie with barges and take the shells at 
the cjimjs. Very olien a steamboKt is sailing 
d(.v.'n the river, pushing several hfirges, each of 
which contains in the neighbouihood of five 
bundled tons of clam shells. These shells aie 
made into pearl bultcn.s at factoiies at various 
river towns. The outioris aie sawed out of the 
shell, find in this longhfoim aie sent East to be 
finished. Theie are smup fifty factories on the 
Missisfeippi, each emphying fr( m fen to sixty 
hands tl;e year iound.~G'Zo6e, June 12. 
^ 
SALE OP INDIAN TEA ESTATE. 
Messrs. Mackenzie, Lyall & Co , sold by 
public auction in Calcutta on the 14th instant 
the Mirzapiir Tea Estate. The property is 
situated in the District of Sylhet, Assam, 
and is close to the S.itgaon Station on the 
Assam-Bengal Kail way. The estate, which 
comprises about 2.0C0 acres of leasehold land, 
of which about 397 acres are under tea, to- 
gether with the f;ictory,macliinery, and plant, 
bungalow, cooly lint s and premises, was sold 
as a going concern, as from the 1st January, 
1903. The outturn of tea for ]9t'2 was 
127.425 II),, and the estimated outturn for 
3 903 is 148,000 lb. The property was valued in 
1898 at Rl 83.000 jiud was sold at the auction 
for R45,000 to Messrs. Andrew Yule & Co.— 
Madras Mail, July 17. 
PLANTING NOTES 
Bird LIFE on Estates.— Messrs. Geo- 
Steuart «Sc Co. (the premier Agency Firm 
for Estates) deserve credit for the steps 
taken to attract attention to this subject 
and to provoke and secure careful action 
which, we trust, will be the result of the 
correspondence gfiven elsewhere. There is 
some difficulty in doing all that is desirable, 
t'l conserve and encourage the nesting 
and settlement of birds. Eor instance the 
burning of patna &c. near an estate is 
deprecated in the interests of birds; but is 
undoubtedly often advantageous in getting 
rid of troublesome insects, snakes &c. How- 
ever there are other means of helping bird- 
life which ai-e freely pointed out and we 
trust will be freely acted on, 
" Moss FROM A Rolling stone "—is the 
title of a chatty and amusing, as well as 
instructive letter from an old Ceylon friend 
on page 178. And yet "W'T McK," 
(who must still be remembered by not a 
few old Durais upcountryl has not rolled 
about much since he settled in Sumatra, a 
good many years ago. But he is on the 
move now, with a game leg and an inimi- 
tably faithful Javanese boy, and we do not 
know which to admire most, the perfor- 
mances of the limb or those of the boy 
But "W T McK" always wou'd have his 
little joke, — though the son or nephew of 
one of the best of Bishops— greatly admired 
in the Midlands, and a true Highlander in 
heart as well as blood. Is it any wonder 
that he should have faithful servants as 
well as attached friends? and then there is 
his ever-present, saving sense of humour — 
worth a fortune in itself. For, what is a 
millionaire without a grain of humour? 
nothing but a dry-as dust miserably un- 
happy specimen of humanity. We venture 
to say that " W T McK' has got a lot of 
amusement out of his rolling experiences, 
and after the present trip he will no doubt 
tell us all about Rubber and Coconuts, as 
well as Sugar, in Penang, Peiak and the 
Straits generally- a letter which will be 
ready for another Chapter in that Book on 
" Twenty five (or thirty) years in Java, 
Sumatra and the Eastern Archipelago," with 
which W T McK, must come out later on, 
under the auspices of an enterprising London 
publisher. 
