The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-10-21
PEARLS OF LA PAZ.
The Great Industry of Lower Californian
Waters,


fornia, lies the picturesque town of La
Paz. This town, whose chief industry
is pearl fishing. presents a very ami
mated and interesting spectacle be-
tween the months of May and Novem-
Der, when the season is on. The port
is full of fishing boats, and smacks of
all dimensions and builds, which are
moving continually over the placid
waters of the Gulf of La Paz, and the
piers and other landing places are full
of people preparing to embark, or
awaiting the return of the fishermen.
AT least two-thirds of the entire popu-
lation of La Paz is engaged in the pearl
fisheries.
The oyster beds or fisheries which ex-
tend from Cape st, Lucas to Bunlege
were divided by the Mexican govern
ment into four sections in 1872, and a
law was passed which only allowed one
section to be worked upon every two
years. This measure was taken to pre-
vent the exhaustion of the fisheries
The barks 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, the most important
parsonage on board He is usually
provided with waterproof suit metal
helmet, lead weights for the breast
and shoulders, and copper or lead shoes,
which weigh altogether some $50
pounds,
The boats generally gather in groups
of twenty and leave the port at mid
night, so as to reach the oyster beds at
early dawn. When all have arrived
cannon shot is fired as signal and the
diving commences While the diver is
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 under water
over eighty or ninety seconds, though
some have been known to resist the
enormous pressure for a longer time
Before the divers suit was introduced
in these parts it 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 We're thrown. Even now the
practice exists amang some few divers,
but the sword fish, the sharks and devil
fish, of different varieties, which
abound in the waters of the gulf, rem
der this work extremely dangerous,
There is legend extant that in the
days of old it 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. 1t 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 fired to announce that
the fishing is over, and the balance of
the day is employed in opening the oys-
ters 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 ana running down to the small
est after which operation they are APP
praised and sold invariably by the
weight A tiotilla of pearl fishing boats
is supposed to gather some three tons
daily of oysters, audit is estimated that
about one in thousand bivalves con-
tains pearl. During the season of
1881 there was larger amount of pearls
extracted than at any former period;
and some of the specimens were re-
marlSable for their size and beauty. A
black pearl taken out that season by
the divers of Juan Hidaleo weighed
twenty-eight carats and was sold in
Paris for $40, 900.
The pearls of this section were held
in great esteem in Mexico and Peru
three hundred years ago During the
first quarter of the seventeenth century
VIC NaNNAAAtr COiOItSls
who was living south of Mazatlan, made
an enormous fortune in the pearl fish
cries About this time, also, Capt.
lturbe Ortega engaged in the same
business and took some very valuable
pearls TO Mexico, one of which he sold
for $4,000 This gave great impetus to
the industry. The sailors of the Cavern
dish in 1857 and those of the Sherlock
in l720 received some very fine pearls
from the Indians along the western
coast of Mexico in exchange for some
trifies These pearls afterward became
very famous. The pearls taken from
the Cape of San Lucas up TO the twenty
seventh degree are generally white or
transparent They are known to the
trade as orient pearls Those which are
found TO the north of that latitude are
usually stained and are not in as great
demand.
In ls4O there were some extremely Sc
we're storms which threw some enor-
nous oyster banks upon the coast.
strewing them over completely to the
north aud south of the bay of Magda-
lena. The Indians of the mission of san
Panacio sold large quantities of these
pearls 10 Manuel Oslo and his soldiers
for insignificant amounts With the
A. Il L ! Z