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EUROPEAN PEARL FISHERIES 163
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with an old man that had been long at this trade, he advised me to seek not only when the waters were low, but on a dusky, gloomy day also, lest, said he, the fish see you, for then he will shed his pearl in the sand ; of which I believe no more than that some muscles have voided their pearls, and such are often found in the sands.1
For
several years following 1760, the Scotch pearl fisheries were of
considerable local value. The zoologist, Thomas Pennant, wrote of them
several times in his "Tour of Scotland." Referring to the Tay and Isla
rivers, then as now the center of the Scotch pearling, he states:
"There has been in these parts a very great fishery of pearl, got out
of the fresh-water muscles. From the year 1761 to 1764, £10,000 worth
were sent to London, and sold from 10s. to £1 6s. per ounce. I was told
that a pearl had been taken there that weighed 33 grains. But this
fishery is at present exhausted, from the avarice of the undertakers.
It once extended as far as Loch Tay."2 And he adds later
that, some years preceding, a pearl fishery was prosecuted in Loch
Dochart with great success and the pearls were esteemed the fairest and
largest of any.
From
1770 to i860 the pearl resources of Scotland remained almost dormant,
and Scotch pearls were rarely met with in the markets. In 1861 a German
merchant, who was acquainted with the beauty* of these gems, traveled
through the districts of Tay, Doon and Don, obtaining a great number
which the poor people kept for their own pleasure, not esteeming them
of any market value, and interested the fishermen in searching for the
mussels. The seemingly high prices which he paid and the abundance of
the pearls sent hundreds of persons to the rivers and small brooks.
Those who were otherwise employed during the day devoted hours of the
long summer nights to diligent search after the coveted shells; while
boys and old persons, who were without regular avocations, waded day
after day where there was a probability of reward. In the course of a
short time pearls, good, bad and indifferent, reached the originator of
the movement at Edinburgh, from Ayrshire, from Perthshire, and from
the Highland regions far beyond the Grampians. He was soon the
possessor of a collection which, for richness and variety, had seldom
been surpassed. A trade in these gems was developed, the patronage of
royalty was obtained, and once more Scotch pearls became fashionable,
and their vogue was enhanced by the fondness which Queen Victoria
entertained for them.
In addition to the rivers named, pearls were found in the Forth,
1 "Transactions of the Royal Society of 2 Pennant, "Tour in Scotland," Chester,
London, for 1693," Vol. XVIII, No. 198, pp. 1771. 659-663.
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