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AMERICAN PEARLS
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Another
discovered a $50 pearl in the first shell he opened. A Negro found an
$85 pearl the first day he worked, while another fisherman worked seven
months and secured less than $10 worth. It is a question of finding or
not finding ; the finding brings riches sometimes, and though the
failures reduce the average profits as low as in other local ventures,
the big prizes affect the mind, and the average is lost to sight.
Taking the country as a whole, it is probable that the total find has
been sufficient to pay the average fisherman little if any more than $1
for each day's work.
The
fresh-water pearls range in size from that of the smallest seed to that
of a pearl weighing several hundred grains. There is relatively only a
small quantity of seed-pearls, especially when compared with the output
in the fisheries of Ceylon and Persia. Possibly this is due largely to
a scarcity of the parasites which seem to perform so important a
function in the regions noted. A further reason may be found in the
manner in which the mollusks are opened and searched. Were the Ceylon
method of opening employed here—which, however, is not at all
practicable—it seems probable that the quantity of seed-pearls found in
this country would be greatly increased.
The
pearls from the tributaries of the Mississippi are noted for their
great range of coloration. From a dead white, the color is gradually
enhanced to faint shades of pink, yellow, or salmon tints, then to a
more decided form of these. From the light shades, the range extends to
purple and to bright copper red, closely resembling a drop of molten
copper. Some are very light green; others rose, steel blue, or russet
brown, while purplish and very dark brown are not uncommon. White
pearls are probably the most numerous ; but pink, bronze, and lavender
are by no means rare.
A
large percentage of the Mississippi River pearls are very irregular in
form, many of them resembling dogs' teeth, birds' wings, the heads or
bodies of different animals, etc.
As
a rule the fresh-water pearls do not rank so high in value as those
from oriental seas, since ordinarily they are not so lustrous. However,
some of them have sold at very high figures. A round pearl weighing 103
grains, found in Black River, Arkansas, in 1904, was eventually sold
for $25,000; and one of 68 grains, found, in 1907, on the Wisconsin
side of the Mississippi River, was recently marketed at $15,000.
One
of the largest American pearl necklaces, brought together in 1904,
consisted of thirty-eight pearls weighing 1710 grains in the
aggregate, an average of 45 grains for each pearl. The central gem
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