where
it has been fished by Arabs since early times in primitive fashion. It
is only quite recently that the Australian pearling grounds were
discovered, perhaps fifty or sixty years ago, but the pearls found
there, though often very fine, are quite different from the Oriental
pearls, and the oysters out of which they come are of another kind.
The Japanese pearl oyster is different again, and not a producer of
good pearls or good shell. But the Japanese pearl oyster has the
distinction of being the stepmother of the cultured pearl.
Nowadays,
almost the first question a pearl merchant is asked is: "What is a
cultured pearl?" and next: "Can you tell the difference?" A cultured
pearl is made by introducing, in a special way, a foreign body into a
living oyster's shell. If the foreign body is very minute, it stands
the same chance of being covered evenly and well with nacre so as to
produce a fine pearl just as any other foreign body, accidentally
introduced. That is, perhaps a ten thousand to one chance. In such a
case it would be as a "real pearl", indistinguishable from any
"natural" pearl, although tending to be second class, as most Japanese
pearls are. In any case, its sheen and lustre would show where it had
come from. But cultured pearls started on very tiny cores are not a
commercial proposition, and it is the rule to insert a core of some
size and spherical in shape so that a largish round pearl can be
produced in a reasonable time, for it takes years for the oyster
obligingly to deposit the thin layers of nacre on the pearl. Thus the
expert can always tell the cultured pearl from others because it
usually consists of a small bead coated
