whose
duty it is to take the oyster in his fingers and carefully feel all
over it for the small Pearls. These he places in a small shell, and
very few ever escape these sharp little fellows.
When
all are opened, the empty shells are stacked so that the sun and wind
may dry the hinges, which after seven or eight hours are brittle enough
to be broken without injuring the shells. The shell is then stacked in
bulk in the hold, or packed away in hogsheads for export. This
operation is one in which the pearler takes considerable pride. A well
- packed hogshead weighs between 5 and 6 cwt. The Pearls are handed
over to the " boss " of the vessel, who washes them clean, and puts
them away—the good ones into his cash-box, and the common ones into a
pickle bottle. Every day a few Pearls are found, but it is rarely that
anything of much value is discovered. Men have opened over 5,000 pairs,
and never found a Pearl worth £5. The yield of Pearls in shells taken
west of Cossack, is far larger than in those from the Eastern grounds;
the usual proportion in value of shells and Pearls taken West being 3
to 1, whereas East it is only 5 to 1 : that is to say the Pearls found
in £5,000 worth of shell will average about ;£iooo.
West of Cossack shells are scarcer than to the
