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Ch. 11: Pearl Fisheries

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THE PEARL
about 500 tons for the year, with naked-diving 200 tons less. This would operate against the local government, as it not only levies $38.60 U. S. gold per metric ton as an export duty, but makes a large profit on the diving machines by way of license. The pearl fisheries of French Oceanica therefore face a grave situation.
Pearls are found occasionally on the western coast of Nicaragua at San Juan del Norte. The Panama coast still yields great quantities of pearls as it has done for many years. When Spain controlled the northwestern section of South America with the Isthmus to the borders of Guatemala, under the name of Colombia, immense quantities of pearls were sent home by the colonists.
It is recorded that 697 pounds of pearls were imported into Seville from Colombia in 1587. A large proportion of these undoubtedly came from the coasts of what is now Venezuela. The Panama or bullock shell as it is called, is not of the finest quality and the pearls are apt to be dark and inferior to the Indian pearls in luster as well as in color; nevertheless fine pearls are found there and the fisheries yield a greater
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Ch. 11: Pearl Fisheries Page of 358 Ch. 11: Pearl Fisheries
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