Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-01-08
PEARL FISHERIES:
Description ofa Peculiar Industry and the
Perils That Attond 1t.


Description ofa Peculiar Industry and the
Psrils That Attend IT.
The overfshing Of the last fifteen or
twenty years is doing for pearls what II
did long ago for oysters. Fashion also
bears its part in raising prices, and
good set of three black pearl shirt studs
can not be got wholesale much under
E4O. Four years ago they could he had
for less than third Of that price.
Mother-of-pearl has risen in the market
too, and now costs nearly one shilling
the pound at the fisheries, where four
pounds could be obtained for the same
money twelve years back. The fish
cries Of the Red Sea and the Bay Of Ben
gal are still, however, as celebrated as
they ever were in classic days, although
the fair can no longer hope for the pro-
duce by the peck. as Varro-at second
hand-said they used to do: "Allera
exorat viruin semodum margaritarnm.
For all tho scarcity of pearls, VIC now
get them from also the Sunda isles of the
Malay Archipelago, the seas OF China
and Japan, from Panama Tahiti, the
Gambler Islands and Australia. The
pearl market Is no longer si Rome, at
the Margaritarius Porticus; but in the
hands OF the Amsterdam. Hamburg,
London and New York dealers who buy
up all this harvest Of the sea.
There are numerous bivalves which
give pearls, bad, indifferent or better;
but the true pearl-oyster-if oyster il
can DO called, for it Is exactly like an ex-
Rggoraied cockle--is the Ayi sts liur-
gdriJferlw, or Piniadiadenl, Which meas
ures from four TO six inches in diameter
and an inch and a halfin thickness. The
oceanic variety differs from the East In
dian, and gives finer gem. The Tu-
amotu archipelago, to the east of the
Society Islands, is perhaps the greatest
pearl-fshery In the world. 0fts eighty
Islands there are only some half dozen
whose waters do not produce the pearl
oyster. The natives Of this group know
no industry but fishing. Men, women
and children, they all dive like sea-fowl.
and the women are the most expert.
Two women especially of Faiti, and one
of Anaa or Chain island, are well known
In this trade-more dreadful far than
sapphire gathering-for plunging into
twenty-five fathoms OF water in the
teeth Of the sharks, and remaining as
long as three whole minutes under
water A famous diver of Anaa escaped
moi long ago from shark with the loss
OF q breast and an arm, and many of
thom go down mover 10 come up again.
II they make too many plunges In their
days work al ths beginning of the
season, which comprises the summer
months, from November to February.
they bring on hemorrhage or congestion;
and after some years passed in the occu-
patton paralysis is certain. Few of these
divers work for themselves, but can earn
feur shillings day from the pearl
traders. With a wooden tuhe some six
teen inches leng, ten iBches square, and
glazed at one end, they prospect from
their boats the bottom Of these translu-
cid seas; the glass end, whiehis put into
the water, serving the purpose Of sup
pressing the eye-puEzling surface ripple.
The diver Of the Persian Gulf or Of
Ceylon attaches weight OF some twen-
ty pounds TO his feet to aid in his de-
scent, and carries seven or eight pounds
more of ballast In belt. He protects
both eyes and ears with oiled cotton,
bandageS his mouth, and goes down
forty feet with rope. He remains
down from fifty-three TO eighty seconds,
and helps himself up again by the rope.
But the Pacific diver practices the con.
jurer's boast Of mo preparation" Just
before the plunge he or she draw full
breath rapidly three or four times run
ming, and finally, with the lungs full of
air. drops feet first 70 the bottom, not
forty feet, Dut twenty-five or thirty
fathoms (l50 feet to 1870 feet), and comes
10 the surface again with extraordinary
swiitness, unaided in any way. Each
dive generally lasts from sixty to ninety
seconds; and only very occasionally the
astonishing maximum Of three minutes
The divers hardly ever bring up more
than one oyster at time; but this Is
chosen as likely TO contain pearls by
some fancied rule Of thumb Of their own,
grounded on age, form and color; and
they hold the shells tightly together as
they mount, lest the envious oyster
should shed the pearl which the divers
themselves are very quick to conceal by
swallowing If the employers eye is not
fixed upon them. biving-bells have
been introduced by some houses In the
trade, but the natives win no longer
work in them, saying they bring on
early paralysis of the legs.
| Like his edible relative, the pearl
oyster also has bis enemies and para
sites. A fat fish called tahereta by the
natives Of this Polynesian archipelago
makes great rayages among the young
fry; II resembles the eagle ray,
which Is so destructive In European
> oyster-beds. There Is another, a long
fish with powerful jaws for crunching
the full-grown oyster, which is called
the oni or kotohe. and does not seem to
have been identified by natnralists.
There are also two univalve shell-iish =
a murex, which spends its time boring
holes through the oyster, and a pholade,
which scoops nest for Itself in the up.
per shell. Just as its fellows do in the
rocks of our own coasts But the worst
pest Of all is probably marine worm,
locally called the needle-worm, which
pierces q network Of galleries, like the
book worm or the teredo, between the
outer and inner surface Of the shells,