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ON THE PEARL FISHERY OF LOWER CALIFORNIA.* 
By Alexander Forbes, Esq. 
For one branch of commerce, the Pearl Fishery, California has been famed 
from its first discovery. The glory and the riches derived from this source are, 
however, almost traditional ; at least, the actual amount of the trade is insignifi¬ 
cant. Nevertheless it is by no means certain that the sources of a beneficial 
commerce in this respect do not yet exist, provided proper means were taken for 
pursuing it with effect. 
Long before the discovery of America by the Europeans, the natives of many 'of 
the maritime parts of it were acquainted with the art of diving for pearls, as 
these were found by the first discoverers to be held in great estimation as 
ornaments.f Hernando de Soto found them in great quantity in Florida, where 
the tombs of the native princes were ornamented with them; and among the 
presents made to Cortez by Montezuma before his entry into Mexico, necklaces 
of precious stones and of pearls are mentioned by Gomara : these Cortez sent 
to the Emperor Charles V. The Incas of Peru, also, we are told by Garcil- 
lasso, set a great value on pearls, but the laws of Manco-capac prohibited the 
natives from exercising the trade of diver, as being dangerous to the individual 
and not very profitable to the state.ij: After the discovery of America the traffic 
in pearls became considerable. They were found^ chiefly near the island of 
Cubagua, in the mouth of the Rio de la Hacha, and in the gulf of Panama, near 
the Islas de las Perlas (whose inhabitants still pursue the fishery), on the shore 
to the North of Acapulco, and on the East Coast of California, in the gulf. We 
are told by Acosta that in 1587, 6971bs. of pearls were inported into Seville 
from America, upwards of lifts, of which were of the greatest beauty, and 
destined for the king, Philip II. The pearl fisheries of Cabagua and Rio de la 
Hacha seem to have been of short duration; and their exhaustion turned the 
traders more eagerly towards that of California, which had already supplied the 
crown of Spain with its richest pearls, found in the expeditions of Yturbi and 
* This article is printed from some proof-sheets of a work entitled A History of Upper and 
Lower California, anti, which were kindly communicated to us by John Forbes, M.D.,F.R.S., 
the author’s brother.—E d. 
+ It was not indeed necessary that they should be divers in order to possess pearls, as we find, 
from the voyage of Father Consag ( Venegas , Yok II., p. 310), that in certain places (as at Cape 
San Miguel in lat. 29 deg.) the sea throws up on the shore great quantities of them. 
7 Humboldt’s New Spain. 
