Bombay,
and likewise at Kananur in the Malabar district. In 1901-1902, there
was some local excitement about pearls found at Belapur and quantities
were reported as collected ; but since then little has been heard of
the industry in that region.
Elsewhere on the west coast of India, pearls are obtained from the so-called "window-glass" shell, of the genus Placuna. The
individual shells are flat, thin, and transparent, and are still used
in Goa and vicinity as a substitute for glass in windows. This mollusk
is abundant from Karachi, near the Baluchistan border, to the Kanara
district south of Bombay; and wherever it occurs in any abundance it
is collected for the sake of the small pearls found therein.
Of
the fishery at Karachi, Mr. Ε. Η. Aitken writes: "It is farmed out by
Government for a good sum. In 1901, the amount realized was Rs.3650
for a period of three years; but the lessee lost heavily, and in 1904
the highest offer for a similar period of three years was Rs.1851.
Pearls may be found in as many as ten to twenty per cent, of the mature
mollusks." Pearls are far more numerous in the Placuna than in
the pearl-oysters, but few of them are of sufficient size or luster to
be used as ornaments, ranking with the so-called medicinal pearls of
Europe. They are much softer in texture than the pearls of the
Margaritiferae. The largest are commonly of irregular form, with the
surface slightly botryoidal or like the "strawberry" pearls of the
Mississippi. While not often used as ornaments, they are highly valued
by the Hindus in calcined or powdered form for medicinal purposes, and
especially to be chewed with the betel-nut, and are also used in the
original form in funeral rites, a small quantity being placed in the
mouth of a deceased person.
In
the Mergui Archipelago, which is within the territory of lower Burma
and under the jurisdiction of the government of British India, patches
of pearl-oyster reefs are scattered over an area roughly computed at
11,000 square miles, taking 970 40' as the western boundary.
They occur principally in the strong tidal passages among the islands.
The bottom is formed largely of porphyritic granite interspersed with
sand and thinly covered with corals, coral cups, the long whip-like
black coral (Antipathes arborea), and other submarine animal and vegetable growths.1 These constitute a home most favorable to the growth and development of molluscan life.
Of
the several species of pearl-bearing mollusks occurring in the Mergui
Archipelago, by far the most important is the "mok," or large
Australian pearl-oyster (Margaritifera maxima). The shell
attains a maximum size of about thirteen inches in diameter, and the
nacre is of a milky or silvery color. This species occurs in its two
varieties of
1 Jardine, "Report Relating to the Mergui Pearl Fisheries," Rangoon, 1894, p. 6.
