nine
districts alone there are one hundred pearl-bearing streams and lakes,
of which the most important are the Regen, the Isar, and the Ilz.1
Early
in the sixteenth century, the river Ilz had the reputation of yielding
the choicest pearls in Lower Bavaria. The right to them was reserved to
the bishop of Passau, and a decree was made in 1579 that persons
convicted of poaching on these reserves should be hanged.2 Since
that time there have been few decades in which the gems have not been
found in the woodland brooks and mountain streams that flow through the
ravines and past quaint, interesting castles of the wonderful Bavarian
highlands. Most of the prominent families in this beautiful region have
collections of native pearls, and there is still some trade in them in
picturesque Passau. at the junction of the Danube, the Ilz and the Inn.
Tavernier
wrote about 1670: "As for the pearls of Scotland, and those which are
found in the rivers of Bavaria, although necklaces are made of them
which are worth up to 1000 ecus (£225) and beyond, they cannot enter into comparison with those of the East and West Indies." 3
The
official returns for the Bavarian fisheries, dating from the latter
part of the sixteenth century, were examined by Von Hessling in 1858.
He noted many gaps in the statements of the yearly returns, partly on
account of the loss of the records and partly because the pearls were
delivered directly into the hands of the princes. The results of the
first fisheries are recorded in the district of Hals for the years
1581— 99, in Viechtach for 1581-83 and 1590-93, and in Weissenstadt and
Zwiesel for 1583. The range of the fisheries was enlarged through the
discovery of new areas during the first half of the seventeenth
century; but this was offset by the bad seasons and by disturbed
conditions during the Thirty Years' War. From 1650 to 1783 the pearls
in the forest lands of the Palatinate were exploited regularly and
uninterruptedly, with the exception of the district of Wetterfeld and
that of Neunburg vor dem Wald, where they were prosecuted for a few
years only. From 1783 to 1814, they were almost entirely neglected, and
the take was confined to a few streams in Upper Palatinate and in the
Bavarian forests. In the former episcopal principality of Passau,
where, according to general accounts, the waters were rich in pearls,
the records were scanty previous to 1786; this was probably owing to
the fact that the head gamekeeper was obliged to transmit the catch of
pearls directly to the prince-bishop. The records for the
1Von Hessling, "Ueber die Erzeugung 2 Weinmann, "Bresslauer Naturgeschich-
künstlicher Perlen," "Gelehrte Anzeigen der ten," 1725.
Münchener Akademie," 1856, VoL II, p. 159. 3 Tavernier, "Travels in India," 1889, Vol.
II, p. 113·
