Notwithstanding
the popular idea that pearls are scarce owing to depletion of the
fisheries, they are doubtless produced in greater quantities at present
than ever before in the history of the world. True, they were more
plentiful in Rome after the Persian conquest, and in Spain immediately
following the exploitation of tropical America ; but it is highly
probable that in no equal period have the entire fisheries of the world
yielded greater quantities than in the five years from 1903 to 1907
inclusive. Certain individual fisheries are now less productive than at
the height of their prosperity ; those in the Red Sea do not compare
favorably with their condition in ancient times, the European resources
are nearly exhausted, the supplies from the Venezuelan coast do not
equal those obtained early in the sixteenth century, the yield from
Mexico is not so extensive as twenty-five years ago, and the same is
true of some other regions. On the other hand, the great fisheries of
Persia and Ceylon are yet very prosperous, the Ceylon fishery of 1905
surpassing all records, and the number of minor pearling regions has
largely increased.
The
present value of pearls—which has advanced enormously since 1893—is due
to the extended markets and the increased wealth and fashion in Western
countries, rather than to diminished fisheries. The oriental demand
still consumes the bulk of the Persian and Indian output, and the vast
increase in wealth among the middle classes in America, Europe, and
elsewhere, has increased the demand tenfold over that of a century ago.
While women no longer appear ornamented from head to foot as in the
sixteenth century, pearls are in the highest fashion, and the woman of
rank and wealth usually prizes first among her jewels her necklace of
pearls.
