The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-08-09
BARGAINS IN THE BEAUTIFUL GEMS

the pearl fisheries, we expected, BY being
on the spot, to secure some
BARGAINS IN THE BEAUTIFUL. GEMS
one hundred dollar pearl for twenty
dollars each, or something approximating
but like the rest of our compatriotic prede
cessors, we were doomed to disappoint
ment. Not only are the people here fully
"upn to the value of those frozen tears tx
the minutast caret, but in most cases they
put fictitious price upon them that Is
simply absurd, and one can buy better
gems, well set, in New York for less money
than on the spot where they are taken from
the deep.
For a thousand miles around the coasts
of Lower California pearl-oysters are found
in detached beds, intercalated at intervals
but the best shells lie within the 25C
miles of shallow water extending between
Cape San Lucas and the bay of Mulege, on
the eastern side of the peninsula.
For more than three hundred years these
fisheries have been in the possession of
private families by virtue of grants from
the Spanish crown, given soon after the
conquest. And thus il happened that the
pride of the Spanish regaliais an enormous
Mexican pearl, weighing 100 carats,
y
the sea before the Napoleonic invasion
This most perfect gem, to-day the most con,
spicuous ornament of the royal crown OF
Spain, was secured by Gayni Indian diver,
who went down nearly naked, with nc
apparatus but heavy stone with which to
sink himself, a knife IN has teeth for de-
Tense against sharks and the decaded black
imam eaters, - and a sack slung around his
neck in which to put the shells torn from
fha rOplrS-aud rarOp nm with this
LovELIEsT PEARL IN THE WORLD
grasped in his dusky hand.
In 1874 these fisheries We're divided into
four zones, and the pearl oysters were care
fully cultivated, law being passed allow
ing only one section to be worked at time
for period of two years. But few years
ago the Mexican government, melted or
bribed thereto by certain interested par
ties. upset the old regime. Proclaiming
the principle flor which it cares not fig
that the benefits of free republic should
be open alike to African or American, Chi
nese, Turk or Russian, the government
for liberal considerations annulled the
ancient grants and leased the fisheries to
the highest bidders. These happened to be
Messrs. Gonzales and Rufus, who have COM
mercial houses both in La Paz and the City
of Mexico, and they obtained "conces-
sion,'' whereby for sixteen years they have
exclusive right to the best grounds. The
rent paid by them goes into the Mexican
treasury through the La Paz custom house,
in the shape of IS per ton for all the shells
they fish up during the first three years
whether they contain pearls or mott, and
$40 per ton during the remainder of the
contract time. AS all the mother-of-pearl
shells that can possibly be obtained readily
sell for $40 or $40 per 100 pounds, these
alone pay the rent and the entire cost of
fishing, leaving whatever treasure they
may contain as clear profit
The lessees were also given exclusive
right to five kilometers Immediately sur
rounding the islands of La Paz and Espiritu
Santo, (the very cream of the fisheries, }
the terms of the concession obliging them
10 place buoys to indicate their fields, and
to employ at least two-t thirds Mexican
labor, to the exclusion of foreigners.
Though the government viii realize hand
somely from the renting of these islands,
the lucky firm are amassing colossal for
tunes, without the slightest risk of danger.
LOUD MURSEURs OF Discomfort
are rife all around the California coast, and
especially among the old-time fishers, for
this encroachment on their ancient
rights" They claim that unless the gov
eminent puts some limiting clause to its
concessions, the fisheries viii be irretriev-
ably ruined, because the fields will be over
run and the real germs of the industry-the
delicate mother-Of pearl-destroyed. The
latter, from which spring the pearl oysters,
is a small shell, seldom more than two
inches long, consisting of layers of pearl
fabric The careless divers often crush
these germs with their leaden shoes; and
especially is this the case when they are
working on percentage and trying to secure
a large quantity of oysters, regardless of
consequences.
The fortunate few who now monopOlize
the fisheries engage their divers, (whO are
Yaquis, from the state of Arizona across
the Gulf, according to the grub stake ar
rangement practiced by northern miners
that is, they are paid only by a certain GER
centage of the result of their labors (-and
nobody else is allowed to gather pearl
shell in these waters. Messrs. Gonzales &
Ratio, who have a house of general
merchandise in La PaZ, wholesale, retail
and commission, after the manner of
American merchants, who keep everything
under one roof, from Goldfish to calico,
groceries, silks, hardware, artificial
flowers, wines, ct cetera) to Europe
every year from fifty thousand dollars to
eighty thousand dollars worth of pearls,
and at least twenty-five thousand dollars
worth of pearl shells.
Nearly every poor little shop and tiendd,
whose sole stock in trade is a Wheelbarrow
load of stale groceries or a few bottles Of
mescal, will bring out of some dark corner
to possible purchaser little
PAsTE-BoARD FOX OF PEARLS,
Some of which are rare beauties. l met
one man, a rough, ignorant boor who prob
ably never had what in the north would be
considered a full square meal'' in his life,
who wore in the front of his soiled calico
shirt three magnificent pearls large as
ci1 farfaaf1rT a ohaH in Cizn
and color. He said it took years to find the
three precisely alike, and that he had re-
fused 81, 600 for them.
They tell US that the best year Of modern
times at the fisheries was that of 1881,
though why the gems should be more
plentiful at one time than another none
can tell Some of those obtained during
that year were of extraordinary size and
great value. One. which was black and
weighed twenty-eight carats, sold in Paris
for $4,000.
During 1883 several notable specimens
were found. Among them was a light
brown pearl, fiecked with darker shades,
which weighed sixty-five cala.s, its esti-
mated value being 1000. 1t was found by
a Mexican diver named Manuel Urbano.
and sent to Paris by Messrs. Con
zales & Ruffo Another, found by
Napoleano Savin, was pear shaped
white. shot with dark specks-which
weighed forty-four carats and sold for
$500. At the same time, Mr.. Pablo Hi
dalgo. a small pearl merchant of La Paz,
bought pearl of an unknown Indian diver,
for which he paid $40, and having taken it
to Manic, received for it $500. 1t was
oval-shaped, of light sandy color, Of sur
prising lustre and weighed thirty two
carats. In 1882 that lucky diver, Sairn,
found two other treasures, weighing re-
spectively thirty one and forty-five carats,
Which together brought $1,000 White