Morning journal and courier., 1889-05-24
BRAUTIFUL BEACH PEARS.
The Methods of Securing The Treas. ures of the Pacific for thelWorld's


 ures of the Pacific for she!world's
 Marts.
 There are probably few jewellers who han dle the beautiful black pearls which are sent all over the world from the pacific coast who have any idea of the extent of the pearl ish- cries or the methods of the fishing. Juan Hi- dalgo of San Francisco says these famous pearl fisheries are situated on the eastern shores of the Gulf of California, from Cape St. Lucas to the mouth of the Colorado Riv- CT, taking in about l, ,500 miles ot coast, in- cluding the Gulf islands. They also extend from MazatlaR to Is Bsrra de Ocoz. That is the boundary line between the republics of Guatemala and Mexico, distance of 1000 miles, making grand total of $500 miles. They were first discovered some three cent- uries ago by the famous Cortez when he crossed from Acapulco to Santa Cruz, Lower California.
 The fishing season lasts from Ma y l, to Nov 15 and is mostly done at Depths of from l ten to sixteen fathoms, instead of, as former | ly, at depths of from three to six fathoms. | All the men employed are big, powerful Nexicans, and every diver has five assistants | Regular diving suits and apparatus imported | from London and Paris are used, though l some 300 head divers are also engaged. The latter, as their class implies, dive in head ! first and wear no clothes of any sort Their l operations, however, are confined to depths l of from three to at most ten fathoms. | Four men work the air pumps for the suited diver, and the fifth attends the life l line, hauling up the diver and letting him l down, as we'll as hoisting up the nets or bas-. | kets full of shells and lowering the empty
 ones. The diver receives $45 month, plus | one tenth of all that he brings up, netting | him as high as $50G month if he is lucky. l The hours of actual fishing are from a. m. l to Q. ID.
 | The shells containing the pearls vary in Il diameter from two to eight inches, six inches being about the average size They are l found on hard rocks or on sandstone at the | bottom of the sea, usually in punches to- gether, holding on to the rocks by sort of sucker, which the scientists call foot, the circular portion being up and the shells usu- | ally little open. The oysters are vertical, l not lying on the flat. Each diver has a knife, with which hacuts bunch loose and places them in a basket or net, which is hoisted up when full, an empty one descend- | ing at the same time.
 | The oysters once on board the boat are l pried open with flat knife, and the mussel, l that is, the living body inside, is separated from each shell. 4 grisly substance attach es the body to the inside of each shell, and ! about Ono-1OuEbu bu0 AFoA IS tuus COVsT6U The remainder of each shell is occupied by
 the pearl bearing membrane, black jet | like coat, and of course part of the living l shell fish. The shells are handed over to an
 other man while the opener takes the separ- ated fish and examines the inside of the
 black membrane for the pearls he is in search of, and finally closes his fist over the fish so
 as to squeeze out any pearl which may have lodged in the stomach.
 Occasionally man will work "below" all
 day, and what he sends up will contain no
 pearls at all; at other times there will be SIG, 900 worth in as few as twenty shells.
 The largest and finest black pearls-for it if
 the black pearls which are the speciality oi these isheries-weigh from thirty to forty
 five and even sixty carats each. A pearl oi
 three carats, which is perfect in beauty, col
 or and shape, may be worth $200, but very
 slight defects will reduce the price to one : tenth of thatlsum. The best black pearls eve found, according to the Jewellers Review come from these fisheries, though peacocl i, ! green, blue and white ones are also found In shape they vary much, being sometime spherical, st others pear.shspe, sgg-shsps'