308 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
without moving from their places, to open the oysters which 
have fallen to the lot of the Armador. During this operation, 
that dignitary has to watch the Busos with the greatest scru¬ 
tiny, to prevent them from swallowing the pearls with the 
oysters ; a trick which they perform with so much dexterity, 
as almost to defy detection, and by means of which they often 
manage to secrete the most valuable pearls. The govern¬ 
ment portion is next opened with the same precautions, and 
taken into possession by the Armador. And last of all the 
Busos open theirs, and sell them to the Armador in liquida¬ 
tion of debts incurred for their outfits, or of moneys advanced 
during the voyage. They usually reserve a few to sell to 
dealers on shore, who always accompany these expeditions 
with spirituous liquors, chocolate, sugar, cigars, and other 
articles of which these Indian divers are especially fond. 
Since the Mexicans obtained their independence, another 
mode of division has been adopted. Every time the Busos 
come up, the largest oyster which he has obtained is taken by 
the Armador and laid aside for the use of the Virgin Mary. 
The rest are thrown in a pile; and w^hen the day’s diving is 
ended, eight oysters are laid out for the Armadors, eight for 
the Busos, and two for the government. 
In the year 1831, one vessel with seventy Busos, another 
with fifty, and two with thirty each, and two boats with ten 
each, from the coast of Senora, engaged in this fishery. The 
one brought in forty ounces of pearls valued at $6,500; ano¬ 
ther twenty-one ounces, valued at $3,000; another twelve 
ounces, valued at $2,000, and the tw r o boats a proportionate 
quantity. There were in the same season ten or twelve other 
vessels, from other parts, employed in the trade; which, if 
equally successful, swelled the value of pearls taken in that 
year to the sum of more than forty thousand dollars. 
This pearl-fishery, indeed, is the principal source of wealth 
in Lower California. From the soil little can ever be derived ; 
unless the deserts and mountains, like other volcanic districts 
on the west coast of the continent, should prove to be stored 
