possibly
it antedated that report. The statement is that the pearls of Ceylon
peel off, while those of Persia are as "firm as the rock on which they
grow" ; and though they lose in color and luster one per cent,
annually for fifty years, they still lose less than those of Ceylon,
and at the expiration of the fifty years they cease to diminish in
appearance.
The
pearl output in the Persian Gulf at the present time appears from the
official returns to exceed four million dollars annually at local
valuation. The exports in 1903 were reported at £827,447, and in 1904,
£1,077,241. It is generally understood that all of the pearls are not
entered in the official figures, and the valuations in the markets of
Asia and Europe are greatly in excess of these amounts. The profits of
the fishery are divided among a great number of persons. A large
percentage goes to the shrewd bunnias from India, who finance
the fishery operations, and who, by all sorts of tricks connected with
advances of supplies, valuation of the catch, etc., manage to make a
very good thing out of the business. It is nothing unusual for the
valuation of a lot of pearls to double and even treble after leaving
the hands of the fishermen.
While
many of the gulf pearls—and especially of the small seed-pearls—go to
Bagdad, the great bulk of them are sold to representatives of Hindu
and Arab merchants of Bombay for shipment to that city, which to the
Bahrein fisherman is the heart of the outside world. Few of the pearls
go directly into Arabia or Persia, as the certain sale in the larger
Bombay market is preferable to a sometimes higher but less regular
price in other markets. Indeed, pearls may usually be purchased at a
less cost in India than a stranger would be obliged to pay at Bahrein.
The Bombay merchants "sow the earth with Orient pearl," dealing direct
with London, Paris and Berlin, and with the oriental jewelers. Most of
the yellow pearls find oriental purchasers, with whose dark complexions
they harmonize better than the silvery white ones. They are also more
popular because of a belief existing throughout the East that they are
less likely to lose their luster with the lapse of years.
The
shell of the pearl-oysters is not used locally, but large quantities
are exported to Europe for manufacture. Although it is the smallest and
cheapest produced in the gulf, yet, owing to the enormous quantity
taken for their pearls, the shell of the mahar (Margaritifera vulgaris) constitutes
the bulk of the exports. Formerly most of the shipments were made from
the harbor of Lingah, hence it is known in the markets of Europe as
"Lingah shell." But in the last three or four years, much of it has
been transported to Europe via Bander Abbas and Bushire. A German firm
at Bahrein is extensively employed in exporting this shell, and several
Indian merchants are also engaged in
