South
Sea, there is no grading of pearls or definite ideas of value. The
natives dispose of their pearls, as they are able, to traders, often
for a very small price. It is so to-day at many points in the Sulu
archipelago from Mindanao to the Tawi Tawi islands. The smaller
established fisheries of the seas east of China assort roughly and
sell in bulk to buyers from neighboring trading centers.
The
output of the large fisheries is practically controlled by the great
merchants of neighboring cities who know the methods and intricacies
peculiar to the localities. For instance, the pearls of Ceylon go to
Madras, and Bombay handles the bulk of those from the Arabian coast
and the Red Sea. Lower California pearls are marketed chiefly at La
Paz. Those from Venezuela are shipped principally to Paris and
definite figures cannot be obtained. A few are brought to the United
States direct from Venezuela, chiefly by Syrians who barter for them
with the independent divers. These traders have no knowledge of market
rates for assorted goods but sell them in mixed lots for as much as
they can get.
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