The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-05
GREATEST PEARL FISHERIES.
COME WITH THE PHILIPPINE IS
LANDS, AND BRING TROUBLE.

They Are in the Dominion or Thar
American POtentate, the sultan of
the SuIus-Output Now Controlled
by London observation-disclosures for
American CapitaI-YearIy Product
of the Fisheries-How the Diving
Is Done-Treatment of the Shells.
Collecting the Pearls.
Washington. Feb. 3.-In the picturesque
" miscellaneous collection Of Sultans, act
i've volcanoes, rajas, Dyah pirates and
so forth, handed over to the United States
in the far Pacific as one result of the
late Spanish war, are the important pearl
fisheries attached TO the group of Sulu
Islands-pearl fisheries that since the de-
cline of those at Ceylon and the Persian
Gulf, divide with the north coast of Aus
tralia the reputation or being the most
valuable in the world. These pearl fish
cries promise to furnish great opportuni-
ties for the investment of American CAPT
tai.
Like many other fields of enterprise in
that part of the world, the Sulu pearling
grounds have, for some time, been con-
trolled by men or companies with large
capital, of which the chief is the great
London jewelry firm of Streeter These
capitalists equip and send out fleets of
from twenty to thirty moderate-sized
schooners upon annual cruises, and en-
ploy in the pursuit besides numerous Eu-
ropean officers and supercargoes, many
hundreds, if not thousands, of native div
ers.
AS regards the latter controversy has
ragged in the Western Pacific for many
years. Several individuals whose informa-
ton was apparently founded upon the best
of grounds-personal observation affirmed
that many of the pearl fleet owners were
nothing but pirates of the worst type, who,
while shielding themselves behind con-
tracts with the native chiefs in reality
kidnapped thousands of the Pacific island
ers and compelled them to dive on the
banks, whether the latter were willing or
not.
AS the matter so nearly affected the
Australian government, they made such
urgent representations to the British au-
thorites on behalf Of the native divers
that, at length, a veritable martinez was
dispatched as high commissioner to the
! Pacific who in turn vowed that he would
hang without mercy any British subject
convicted of the offense before his court.
Now Nearly All Americans.
Then the pearl-feet owners did a very
simple thing. They chose the territory in
| the American union where naturalization
could be the most quickly effected, and
thither dispatched their principal officers
to learn the science of fruit farming.
| When they had become full-fedged Amer
lean citizens they smilingly returned to
their old vocation, being then subject of
course, to the jurisdiction of the Ameri-
can consular agents in those lautudes-
men who, as the pearl-heet owners declar-
ed were so much more amenable to 'rea-
SON."
This, for the time, coiled up the swing
ing rope of the British official but the
trouble since remained more or less on the
simmer, until now that the United States
has acquired one of the principal fisheries,
it will probably break out afresh, thus af-
fording sundry prospective international
| commissioners a pleasant winter tour
among the islands of the Pacific, before
it is finally settled with justice to all
| concerned.
Revenue From Pearl Fisheries.
| 1t may be information to many that the
| chief revenue of the pearl fishing industry
| is derived not from the find of pearls-a
very uncertain contingency but from the
| pearl shells, or mother-of-pearl which
brings in the market 800 a ton and up
wards AS an illustration of this, while
the West Australian pearl fisheries netted
in one year 100000 from the shells, the
| returns from the find of pearls was valued
at a little over $3.50, 900 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 char
| acterized by a yellowish tint, which rem
! ders it less valuable from a commercial
point of view, as being unsuitable for
many ornamental purposes, and conse-
quently makes the industry more of a
speculative nature than that carried on
upon the adjacent Australian banks.
How the Diving Is Done.
The actual diving operations are car
| ried on chiefly by the natives, though of
| late years Europeans, with the regular
| diving apparatus have in some instances
| been employed. The former method is
simplicity itself The diver being denuded
| of his clothes, is provided with a knife
! and a small net bag in which TO gather the
| shells, and then with a 40-pound stone at
tached to his feet and having drawn
deep breath, he Is let rapidly down by
rope into the transparent water. The depth
at which pearl-diving is generally car
ried on is from thirty to forty feet, though
as deep as eighty feet has been thus
reached in a few instances.
once at the bottom, the diver quickly
proceeds to cut the shells from the rocks
in his neighborhood, and while filing his
bag remains under water for a period of
sixty to 100 second-the record time, so far
as is known, for one of these divers to re-
| main under water having been no less than
| six minutes
While thus engaged the divers are often
| subject 10 the attacks of ravenous sharks,
which they are usually able to ward off,
| but they find a far deadller enemy in the
| exhausting nature of their work carried
| on beneath the waters of the tropics. Their
lives are generally of short duration, after
once adopting the profession.
Treatment of the Shells.
| When a vessel has received it's full capa-
| city of from twenty to thirty thousand
shells. it is put in to the shore, where the
| cargo Is landed and piled high on the
beach for the fierce rays of the sun to
assist in the decomposition of the dead
fish, so that the pearls may be the more
| easily obtained.
During the cleaning and washing pro-
| cess, great care is exercised in order to
discover the loose pearls which, being
nearly all perfect spheres, are the most
valuable for stringing or necklace pur-
| poses; after which the shells are eXamin-
| ed for those that may remain attached
| furnishing the many quaint shapes 10 be