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EUROPEAN PEARL FISHERIES 183
The
fishery then came into great favor. To the nobility of Livonia, in
whose domains the brooks were situated, the crown accorded sixty rubles
for each half ounce of choice pearls secured, and for every half ounce
of the second class, thirty rubles; but the nobles were obliged to
renounce their rights to the fisheries and to permit the lakes and
brooks to be guarded by imperial soldiers. Owing to the very great
destruction of mussels which yielded no pearls, a reward was offered to
any one who would discover a method of determining from external
characteristics those individual shells which contain gems of value.
In
1746, when the Empress Elizabeth passed the summer in Livonia, large
quantities of pearls from the neighboring brooks were presented to her.
But, owing to the cost of supervision, the expenditures soon exceeded
the revenues and the government abandoned the guard and dismissed the
fishermen. Little by little the search decreased, and by 1774
relatively few pearls were found.1
According
to Hupel, the Schwarzbach River, near Werro, was celebrated for its
pearls, which were noted for their size and beauty ; one of the
tributaries of this river is named Perlenbach (Pearl Brook). The Ammat
and Tirse streams, and forty other brooks and lakes also yielded them.
Pearls of slight value were likewise produced in the Palze and the
Rause, near Palzmar ; the Paddez, a tributary of the Evest which
empties into the Diina, and the Voidau and the Petribach, each of which
flows into the Schwarzbach. Near the Tirse was a very old road house,
patronized by the peasants, which from time immemorial had borne the
name Pehrlu-kroghs (Pearl Tavern).
Formerly
some of the brooks of Esthonia on the Gulf of Finland, and principally
those near Kolk and the adjacent lakes, furnished beautiful pearls.
From these waters came the beautiful necklace which is yet an heirloom
in the Kolk family. The choicest of these weighed from five to ten
grains, and the color was grayish blue. The Emperor Alexander I is said
to have received a present of pearls collected in the vicinity of
Tammerfors, in the government of Tavastehus, in the grand duchy of
Finland. The development of manufacturing in that region, however, has
destroyed most of the mussels.
Von
Hessling notes that in the province of Olonetz, pearls are found in the
Poventshanka, in the Ostjor, and in the Kums, where they are secured by
the neighboring peasants who sometimes make valuable finds.2
When the brooks dry up, the mussels are easily secured; old inhabitants
note that on one occasion of this kind many superb pearls
1 A. H. Hupel, "Nouvelles topographiques 2 "Die Perlenmuscheln," Leipzig, p. 196.
de Livonie et d'Esthionie," 1774, Vol. I,
P· 134·
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