The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-01
THEY SEEK BLACK PEARLS
An Industry of the Pacific Coast
About Which Some Mystery Exists.

About Which Some Mystery Exists.
Pasadena, Cal, Dec. About sixty
miles off the coast of California lies an
island that is headquarters for the
black pearl trade, and similar fisheries
are found on other islands along the
coast. Some time ago an individual who
had gone to-thiS island to collect relics
of the natives, for which the place is
famous, determined to investigate the
mystery of the, black pearls. An old
man appeared to be the sole inhabitant,
and he was very uncommunicatiVe.
BLACK pearls, is ftp" he said. Amt
the white ones good enough that people
should go hunting black ones?'' Yes,
he said in reply to further questions, he
had seen them but they were generally
considered useless, and he reckoned the
men threw them away. Yet this same
odI fellow, according to report, had sold
a black pearl to the agent of large
jewelry house IN the east for a. goodly
sum, the gem being resoId for a large
advance.
The old beachcomber evidently hoped
to discourage that newcomer; but he
did not succeed as the latter establish
ed camp on on the beach and began
watching the island and those who Wis
tied it. His theory was that the old
man was the dealer who handled the
pearls, and that the object was to keep
the trade quiet. A few days after the
strangers arrival a typical Chinese
junk hove in sight and landed several
Cinnamon, who went into camp on the
began to hunt for abalones. The white
man applied for a job, but was rejected.
Then, finding that they would have
nothing to do with him, he moved his
camp over near theirs and began to
watch them. The men were sent out
every day in gangs of two or three, and
at low tide they hunted along the shore
in search of the beautiful pearly aba
lone, which they pried from the rocks
as they walked along, and then dropped
into bag. Each man would collect
on an average thirty or forty a day,
all of which were taken to the camp
and carefully examined. They had a.
big trough into which the shells were
dumped. Then several of the Cinnamon
began the work of cutting out the meat
from the shell. This was carefully gone
over by hand in search, as was learned
later. of the black pearls, which are
found in the folds of the animal itself
After this the meat was spread out to
dry, and ultimately went to China
Then the shells were carefully gone over
taken, most of them being imperfect
or broken from the shells. These are
sold to the trade, polished and ground
to the proper shape, and disposed of
for ornaments of various kinds.
Whether the old man was the boss
pearler could not be determined. The
newcomer, while watching the China
men, had gone into the shell-collecting
business himself, and when the old man
saw this he offered to buy his shells
alive. In short, he evidently did not
wish the business to be investigated too
closely; but the stranger persisted, and
found that nearly all of the abalones
had pieces of pearl, and many contained
a. black pearl more or less perfect. At
last accounts, like his companions, he
was still hunting pearls, and, like them,
lying low and keeping what may be a
good thing to himself