The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-10-27
PEARL 3 or IA pAz.

"a Waters q
About ono hundred miles due south
0f hsrc, across tho Cult OF Lower Cali.s
fornia, lies tho picturesque town of T.
Pax This town, whose chief industry
| Z pearl fishing, presents ! very ani.
mated and interesting spectacle be-
tween the months Of May and Novem-
ber. when the season d on The port
y full Of fishing boats, and smacks Of
all dimensions and builds, which are
moving continually over the placid
waters Of the Gulf Of La Pax. and the
piers and other landing places are full
OF people preparing to embark, or
awaiting the return Of tho fishermen
At least two thirds Of the entire popu-
lation OF La Paz Is engaged in the pearl
fisheries. s5E.ss sSEi:
The oyster beds or fisheries which ex-
tend from Caps St. Lucas to Bunlege4
were divided by the Mexican govern
ment into four sections in 1871, and q
law was pa ssed which only allowed one
section to he worked upon every two
years This measure was taken to pre-
vent the exhaustion of the fisheries.
The barlks which engage in this in-;
dustry are boats of from two to
three tons burthen, manned ordi-
narily by six men. including the diver,
who. is, OF course, tbs most important
personage on bmrd He IL usually
provided TIN waterproof suit, metal
helmet. lad Weights for the breast
and shoulders and copper or lead shoes.
which weigh altogether some $50!
pounds. '.F =. : - - ','s.''' 90,
The boats generally gather in groups
Of twenty UNI leave the port 1t mid
night. SO us to reach the oyster beds at
early dawn. When all have arrived i
cannon shot il fired as signal and the
diving commences While the divert
below his companions watch the signal
and haul up the baskets OF oysters as
rapidly as he can fill them, and finally
bring up the exhausted diver himself,
as he: can rarely remain 1pder water
over eighty or ninety seconds, though
some have been known to resist the
enormous pressure for q longer time Il
Before the divers suit was introduced
in these parts 1t was the custom of the
native fishermen to anoint their bodies
with oil and dive to the bottom with
nothing about them but belt to which
the basket was attached in which the
oysters were thrown. Even now the
practice exists among some few divers,
but the sword Ash, the sharks and devil
fish, of different varieties, which
abound in the waters of the guilt, rem
der this work extremely dangerous
There is q legend extant that in the
days OF old 1t was customary for the ma
tive divers to take with them shark
charmer, whose duty consisted in keep
ing off the sharks with prayers and in
carnations while the diver was below.
These shark charmers, it is said, COM
manded better pay than the divers
themselves. It is impossible to find out
at this late day what ingenious excuse
they devised when the diver came up in
pieces or failed to come up at all.
The diving goes on from six o'clock
in the morning until midday, when an
other signal is fred to announce that
the fishing is over, and the balance of
the day is employed in opening the oys-
tiers and blessing or cursing the luck
had during the day. Formerly it was
customary to pay the pearl divers one
quarter of the proceeds, but now the
owners of the fishing outfits pay their
divers and helpers fixed salary.
The pearls are separated or classified
by running them through different
straining pans, commencing with the
largest and running down to the small
est, after which operation they are ap-
praised and sold invariably by the
weight A dotilla of pearl fishing boats
is supposed to gather some three tons
daily of oysters, andi is estimated that
about one in thousand bivalves con-
tains pearl. During the season of
1881 there was a larger amount of pearls
extracted than at any former period;
and some of the specimens were re-
markable for their size and beauty. A
black pearl taken out that season by
the divers of Juan Hida]go weighed
twenty-eight carats and was sold in
Paris for $4,000
The pearls of this section were held
in great esteem in Mexico and Peru
t':ree hundred years ago. During the
1AESk " wv GCI VI SAC6CNCACCSuEu century
Antonio DC Castillo. a Spanish colonist,
who was living south of Mazatlan, made
an enormous fortune in the pearl fish
cries About this time, also, Capt.
1tarbe Ortega engaged in the same
business and took slime very valuable
pearls to Mexico, one of which he sold
for $4,000. This give great impetus to
the industry. The sailors of the Caven-
dish in 1:S7 and those of the Sherlock
in 40 received some very fine pearls
from the Indians along the western
coast Of Mexico in xchange for some
tr IFS These pearls ufterward became
ve'y famous Tne pearls taken from
the Cape Of San Lucas up to the twenty
seventh degree. ar. generally white or
transparent They are known to the
ira ie as orient pearls Those which are
fou I'd to the north of that latitude are
usually stained and are not in as great
demand.
In 1740 there were some extremely Sc
We're storms which threw some enor-
Fmous oyster banks upon the coast,
strewing them over completely to the
north and south Of the bay of Magda.
lena. The Indians of the mission of San
Panacio sold large quantities of these
pearls to Manuel Oslo and his soldiers
for Insignificant amounts. With the
money which he obtained from their
sale he purchased his release from the
army, went to Sinaloa and bou;.ht q
large number Of boats and great guam
tity OF provisions and embarked. in the
business of pearl fishing on large scale.
He employed the Yaqui IndiaAs, who
are expert divers. He soon became the
richest man in western Mexico
The most precious pearls to be found
to-day among the crown jewels of Spain
were taken from the fisheries near La
Paz before the French war of interven-
ton and they have always been in
great demand since the time Of Cortez.
In 1924 au Amorica,, n,nhaS aodor ~ <hn