ON THE PEARL FISHERY OF LOWER CALIFORNIA. 
313 
Pinadero. In those times the trade in pearls was certainly very considerable; 
and this continued to be carried on, without any restriction, up to the period of 
the settling of the country by the Jesuits. It is stated by Torquemada that 
previously to the arrival of the strangers, the Californians hardly put any value 
on the pearls, as they were in the habit of throwing the Oyster into the fire, in 
order to obtain the flesh for food; the pearls being destroyed by the same process. 
“ But the avidity of others,” he adds, 44 has communicated its flame even to this 
simple people; who are now eager to get, and careful to keep, what they have 
seen highly valued by foreigners.” The conduct of the Jesuits in regard to this 
fishery has already been stated : it was strictly forbidden on account of the oppres¬ 
sion and cruelty to the natives to which it led. 
The rude and savage adventurers of those days little regarded the welfare or 
even the lives of the Indians when put in competition with their own selfish 
interests; and it was customary to kidnap and employ by force, as divers in the 
pearl fishery, all they could lay their hands on, on the coasts and islands of the 
gulf. Many of the natives, no doubt, voluntarily lent themselves to this employ¬ 
ment, under certain terms of remuneration ; but this was rather the habit of the 
few regular traders than of the many casual adventurers who sought the peninsula 
in search of its boasted treasures. A characteristic illustration of this fact is 
mentioned by Father Consag, in his voyage for surveying the coast of California 
in 1746, and which we believe to be no less just as indicative of the character 
of the Fathers than it is of the practices of the pearl-fishers. On reaching a 
part of the coast near the top of the gulf, be says, 44 The people on seeing the 
canoes took us for divers , and fled up the country; the outrages and brutality of 
these men having rendered them equally dreaded and detested by all the natives 
of California ; but on being made acquainted by some of their countrymen, who 
were with me, that A Father was come in the canoes, they immediately 
returned.” It is, indeed, true, that after the establishment of the Jesuits, the 
pearl fishery, which had been previously greatly interrupted b}' - the opposition 
of the natives originating in these cruelties, began to be prosecuted with greater 
vigour and success than ever, now that the divers were left in a considerable 
degree unmolested; but the divers and traders did not belong to California, but 
came from the opposite shores of the gulf, whose inhabitants to this day are the 
principal fishers. The Jesuits had the influence to obtain authority from the 
government, not only for excluding all vessels from fishing in the gulf except such 
as had the Viceroy’s license, but also that the military commandant (who* be it 
remembered, was under the authority of the Fathers) should have the power to 
examine and verify these licences, and to prevent the approach of all vessels not 
provided with them. It was expressly forbidden to every one, whether soldiers 
or seamen, belonging to the missions, to have Rny thing to do with the fishery; a 
