The Portland daily press., 1899-02-13
PeAbLs in HE PHILIPPINES.
Fisheries OF Some value Not worked
Among The Islands of the suIu Group.

In the picturesquely miscellaneous col
lection of Sultans, active volcanoes.
rajahs, Dyak pirates and So forth. hand
ed over to the United Safes In the far
Pacific as one result of the spanish war,
are the important pearl fisheries attached
to the Sulu Islands-pesrl fisheries that
since the decline of those o. Ceylon and
the Persian Gulf, divide with the north
coast of Australia the reputation Of being
the most valuable In the world.
The ulu PEARL grounds have for some
time teen controlled BY men or companies
with large capital, OF which the chief is a
great London jeselry firm. These capital
lists equip and send ont hests Of rom
twenty 10 thirty moderate-sized schooners
upon annual cruisers, and employ In the
pursuit, besides European officers and
supercarroes. many hundreds II not
thousands, of native divers
IL may be Information TO many that
the c lief revenue of the pearl fishing in
dustry Is derived not from the pearls--a
very uncertain contingenoy-but from the
pearl shells. or mother f-Taarl, which
brings In the market 500 ton and up
ward. AS an Illustration of this, while
the West Australian pearl fisheries netiei
in one year 500, 900 from the shells. tn
returns from tho ind of pearls was valued
at little more than $780, or about
one third In this respect, while the
pearls found in the Sulus are OF the finest
quality, the mother.of pearl is sometimes
characterized by yellowish tint, which
renders 1t less valuable com mercialls than
that obtaine on the adjacent Australian
banks
The actual diving operations are car led
on chiefly by the natives, though OF late
years Europeans, with diving apparatus.
have In some Instances teen employed.
The former method Is simplicity itself
The diver being denudsd OF his clothes
and provided with a knife and small
net bag In which to gather the shells
and having forty pound stone attached
to his feet, draws a deep breath, and is
let rapidly down by rope into the trans
parent waters. The depth at which pearl
diving is generally carried on Is from
thirty 10 forty feet, though depths Of
eighty feet have been thus reached In IA
few instances. Once at the bottom, the
iyer quickly proceeds to cut the shells
while nlling his bag remains under
water for period of sixty to hundred
seconds.
While thus engaged the divers are some
times subject to the attacks OF sharks,
but they find a far dea1!ier enemy In the
exhaustiug nature of their work, carried
on beneath the waters of the tropics.
Their lives are generally of Short dura ion
after once adopting the profession.
When a vessel has received its full CO.
pacity of from twenty TO thi ty thousand
shells, 1t is put into the shore ere the
ca; go Is landed and piled high on the
leach for the sun to assist In causing the
decomposition of the dead fish so that
the pearls may be the more easily obtained
During the cleaning and washing process
great care is exercised In order to discover
tie loose pearls which, being nearly all
perfect spheres, are the most Valuable
Tor stringing or neck lace purposes; after
which the shells are examined Tor those
that may remain attached, furnishin the
many quaint shapes 10 he seen In Jewell-
ers' windows Pearls OF value are Sc dom
discovered in shells under four year o. age
1.-The age being computed by the weight
Of tho shells-and eight years 1t would
seem, being the extreme limit Of pearl
inussel longevity.