away.
The common conch is the ordinary pink-mouthed shell so frequently seen
in milk shops. It furnishes the rare pink pearls, so much appreciated,
and these are exported from the Bahamas to the value of about ,£3,000
annually. Some fine collections of these pink pearls, set and unset,
were shown at the Fisheries and Colonial Exhibition in London.
It
was once thought that no other pearls than those produced by the pearl
oysters could obtain a rank among gems; but some of the river pearls
found in species of mussels (Unws) compete closely with those
from the mollusca of the ocean. These river pearls are found widely
diffused in France, Saxony, Bavaria, Bohemia, and Silesia as well as in
the lochs and rivers of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. In China, the
rivers of Manchouria furnish a good many. Delegates from the royal
household look out for the best of these pearls there for the ladies of the Imperial Court.
In
many of the Scotch rivers old men, women, and children may be seen
wading about the shallow fords, and when they discover a collection of
mussels, they thrust down long sticks split at the ends, and bring up
the mussels wedged in the slots. In the shallow waters of the Dee, the
boatmen look down into the water with a tin, having a glass bottom, and
when shells are discovered, they are brought up by a kind of dredge, or
scoop, and frequently some fine pearls are obtained.
These
pearl mussels are also found in most of the small streams of the
province of Quebec, and in the districts bordering on the lower St.
Lawrence. The streams most abounding in pearl mussels are but little
known, except to Indians and backwoodsmen, who are carefully in
guarding the secret of where these molluscs are found.
Occasionally
a party of pearl seekers may be seen paddling in a bark canoe, and
potaging through a very wild region. After opening several thousand
mussels, they will only succeed in securing a few good pearls. These
vary in colour from white to dark brow n; the white are appreciated for
their rarity and the pink on account of their peculiar brilliancy. In
form they are generally round or spherical, and have a hard skin with
an iridiscent or nacreous hue. It would lead to too much detail to pass
under review the various pearf fisheries of the Australian Coasts, the
Eastern Archipelago, and the Pacific Islands, where the unclothed
native divers have to brave the attacks of sharks, cephalopods, and
other dangers. They especially dread the stings of the jelly fish,
which they say are speedy death to them. Enough has, however, been
stated to show the importance of this wide-spreading industry of
hunting for gems and precious stones. Fine collections of these are
frequently brought before the public to feast their eyes on, as at the
recent Colonial and Indian Exhibitions in London, and those at
Amsterdam, Paris, and elsewhere.
At
the Fisheries Exhibition in London, a firm of Parisian jewellers showed
among others a very choice five-row necklace of 355 selected oriental
pearls, weighing 2,570 grains; a matchless and unique necklace and
parure of-Scotch pearls; a very important black pearl necklace,
composed of 39 pearls, weighing 1,020 grains; a round pearl of 36
grains, being one of the finest pearls known and worth £20 a grain; a
very important collection of Oriental pearls, composed of 3,345 grains
original, such as are most prized in Bombay, besides black, pink,
yellow, and grey fancy pearls.
For further information on these topics, I may refer to my paper on " The Peart, Coral, and Amber Fisheries," Journal of the Society of Arts, vol. xviii, p. 173; and to my work on "The Commercial Products of the Sea."—Journal of the Society of Arts.
THE
PEARL FISHERIES OF AUSTRALIA. A little while ago we were taken aback by
a telegram reporting the disaster which caused so much loss of life in
the pearl fisheries on the western coast of Australia, and as we think
the subject may interest many of our
