PEARL FISHERIES OF VENEZUELA
When
I discovered the Indies, I said that they composed the richest country
in the world. I spake of gold and pearls and precious stones, and the
traffic that might be carried on in them.
Extract from Columbus's Fourth Letter.
T
HE Caribbean Sea
furnishes one of the most interesting chapters in the history of the
pearl fisheries. In no region of the world have these resources caused
more rapid exploitation or affected the inhabitants to a greater extent
than on the shores of Venezuela.
Before
the discovery of America, the natives of this region collected pearls
from the mollusks which they opened for food in times of necessity, and
also sought them for ornamental purposes. And although they had large
collections which they used for personal ornamentation and for
decorating their temples, it does not appear that they prized them
extravagantly, readily bartering them for small returns.
In
Columbus's account of his third and fourth voyages to America, he
repeatedly refers to pearls. On the third voyage, in 1498, after
passing the mouth of the Orinoco River, he entered the Gulf of Paria,
where the natives "came to the ship in their canoes in countless
numbers, many of them wearing pieces of gold on their breasts, and
some with bracelets of pearls on their arms ; seeing this I was much
delighted and made many inquiries with the view of learning where they
found them. They replied that they were to be procured in their own
neighborhood and also at a spot to the northward of that place. I
would have remained here, but the provisions of corn, and wine, and
meats, which I had brought out with so much care for the people whom I
had left behind, were nearly wasted, so that all my anxiety was to get
them into a place of safety, and not to stop for anything. I wished,
however, to get some of the pearls that I had seen, and with that view
sent the boats on shore. I inquired there also where the pearls were
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