PEARLS AND PEARL FISHERIES. 
397 
pearls had been found by a party of men who were cutting cedar poles on White 
Eiver; in 1888 a brilliant pear shaped pink pearl weighing 27 grains was found by a 
fisherman on White Eiver and sold to Judge E. S. C. Lee, of Augusta, Ark., who had 
it mounted as a scarf-pin and has worn it ever since; in 1895 a surveying party on 
White Eiver obtained pearls to the value (it is said) of $5,000; and country lads of 
the region have pearls in their possession up to 50 grains in weight, which they have 
picked up from time lo time and used as marbles. 
From these accounts it will be seen that the mode of pearl occurrence in Arkan- 
sas presents features somewhat different from those usually noted. Generally it has 
seemed that the sandy and gravelly bottoms were most favorable for the pearl-hunter, 
and the larger and older shells the most productive, while all the pearls have been 
taken from the living Unios. Here, on the other hand, appear these novel conditions 
of the pearls being apparently lost or washed out from the older shells and lying in 
the mud bottoms or carried long distances by floods, while the younger shells, if the 
observation of Mr. Sharum be correct, are more apt to contain them. It will be inter- 
esting to ascertain more precisely the facts upon these points, to see if the loss of the 
loose pearls is a habit belonging to some particular species of Unios, and whether it is 
accidental, or how far the local tradition of “shedding” them has any basis in fact. 
Of course, if pearls were lost in these ways in gravelly or rocky streams, it is easy 
to see that they would soon lose their beauty by attrition among hard pebbles, and 
become indistinguishable from them, or be washed into the crevices of rocky beds; 
so that such pearls would scarcely be preserved or noticed, save in regions of mud 
bottom like those of the Arkansas bayous. It is clear also that only the rounded and 
perfectly free pearls would be lost in this manner, with the result that those found 
under such condilions would present a very unusual proportion of large, well-shaped, 
and hence valuable pearls, as compared with the ordinary gathering of them by open- 
ing the shells. This is precisely the case; the occasional pearls found at previous 
times, and those that first attracted notice and brought on the excitement, were of 
large size and round or well formed, and so brought high prices. Later, when almost 
the entire population at many points turned out, and all other work was abandoned 
for pearl-hunting, and the Unios were gathered and destroyed by tens of thousands 
all along the streams through whole counties, great quantities of imperfect, irregular, 
and defective pearls were obtained, with only an occasional one of value. 
The pearl excitement of 1897 seems to have developed from several distinct centers, 
through accidental discoveries in the latter part of the summer as the water became 
low in the rivers, lakes, and bayous. Specific accounts of these separate starting-points 
have appeared in the local papers. The first to become highly important was the 
discovery of a good pearl on the muddy shore of Murphy (or Crooked) Lake, by a 
young man from St. Louis, who was spending his vacation on a fishing trip. Seated 
on a log, he noticed this bright object on the ground and, on picking it up, judged it to 
be a pearl. His negro guide told him that such objects were abuudant at some points 
thereabout, and took him a mile or two through the woods to a spot where a number 
of similar pearls were easily picked up. The guide was amused at his interest in 
them, and told him that they were of no use except as playthings for the children. He 
nevertheless gathered a quantity of them and sent samples by mail to St. Louis and 
Memphis. In reply he was informed that they were true pearls, and the Memphis 
jewelry house sent him a checkfar beyond his anticipation. He then sent other parcels, 
