sufficient
for regular shipments. The value gradually increased, and in 1854 it
approximated 2000 francs per ton in France, placing the industry upon
a very remunerative basis. This resulted in much activity in the
fishery, and an increase in the number of boats and divers.
In 1855, the fishery gave employment to 368 divers, and yielded $23,800 worth of pearls, and 350 tons of shells worth $13,50ο.1
It was estimated by Lassepas that from 1580 to 1857, inclusive, 95,000
tons of oysters were removed from the Gulf of California, yielding 2770
pounds of pearls, worth $5,540,00ο.2
For
protection of the reefs, the Mexican government in 1857 divided the
Gulf of California into four pearling districts, and provided that only
one of them should be worked each year, and then only in areas leased
for the season to the highest bidders, thereby permitting the reefs
successively to remain undisturbed for three years.
The
yield of pearls in 1868 approximated $55,000, and that of shells
$10,600 in value; while in 1869 these items were given as $62,000 and
$25,000, respectively.3 The local prices ranged from $15 per ounce for seed-pearls to $1500 for a choice gem.
At
that period the fishery was carried on from shore camps or from large
vessels, each carrying twenty to fifty divers, who were mostly Yaqui
Indians from the eastern shore of the gulf. The camp or vessel was
located in the vicinity of the reefs or beds, and the fishing was
prosecuted from small boats, each carrying three or four nude divers.
Fastened to the waist or suspended from the neck was a net for the
reception of oysters, and each diver carried a short spud or stick with
which to detach them from the bottom, and to some extent for use as a
weapon of defense against sharks and similar enemies. The diving
progressed mostly in the morning, when the sea was unruffled by the
breeze which usually begins shortly after noon. The season lasted from
May to late in September, when the water became too cold for further
operations. ·
The
divers were paid a definite share of the catch, and kept in
debt-bondage by means of advances and supplies. Little clothing was
necessary, and the provisions consisted principally of corn, beans,
and sun-dried beef. Luxuries were added in the form of tobacco, and of
mescal distilled from the maguey plant, indulgence in these
constituting the chief remuneration for the season's labor. The finding
of an unusually choice pearl brought to the lucky fisherman a gratuity
of a few dollars, and shore leave for several days in which to spend
it. Dress-
1 Esteva, "Memoria sobre la Pesca de la * Pujol, "Estudio Biologico sobre la ostra Perla," "Boletin de la Sociedad Mexicana Avicula margaritiférus," "Boletin de la Sode Geographia," Vol. X, pp. 681-688. ciedad de Geographia," Epoc. 2, Vol. III,
' Lassepas, "Historia de la Baja Califor- p. 13g et seq. nia," Mexico, 1859, p. 65.
