The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-02-09
PEARLS IN The 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. md 50 forth. hand
cd 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-pearl fisheries that,
since the decline Of those of Ceylon and
the Persian Gulf, divide with the north
coast of Australia the reputation Of teing
the most valuable in the world.
The sulu pearl grounds have for some
time been controlled BY men or companies
with large capital, Of which the chief Is a
great London jewelry firm. These capital
lists equip aud send out Hesti Of rom
twenty to thirty moderate-sized schooners
upon annual cruisers, and emrloylin the
pursuit, besides European officers and
supercargoes. many hundreds. " not
thousands. of native dlvsrA
1t mag b infoenstion 10 many that
the chief revenue Of the pearl fishing In
dustry is derived mot from the pearls-a
very uncertain contingency-but from .
pearl shells. or meteorological. wli,u
brings In the market si00 ton and up
ward. As an illustration Of this, while
the West Australian pearl fisheries netied
In one year $500, 900 from the shells. the
returns from the Hnd Of pearls was valued
at little more than $3.50. COO. or about
one third In this respect, while the
pearls found in the Sulus are OF the finest
quality, the raother.of pearl is sometimes
characterized by ysllowish tint, which
renders 1t less valuable com mercially than
that obtained on the adjacent Australian
banks
The actual diving operations are carried
on chiefly by the natives. though of late
years Europeans, with diving apparatus,
have IN some Instances been employed.
The former method is simplicity itsslf.
The diver being denuded OF his clothes
and provided with knife and small
net bag In which to gather the shells
and having forty pound stone attached
to his feet draws desp breath, and is
let rapidly down byta rope into the trans
parent waters. The depth ut which pearl
diving is generally carried on Is from
thirty to forty feet, though depths of
eighty feet have been thus reached In u
diver quickly proceeds to cut the shells
from the rocks in his neighborhood, and
while nlHng his bag remains under
water for period Of sixty to a hundred
seconds.
While thus engaged the divers are some
times subject to the attacks OF sharks,
but they lind a far deadlisr 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 It's full Ca
pacity of from twenty to Thirty thousand
shells, It Is put into the shore W ere the
cargo Is landed and piled b Ugh on the
beach for the sun to assist In causing the
decomposition of the dead fish. so that
the pearls may lie the more easily obtained
During the cleaning and washing process
great care is exercised in order to discover
the loose pearls which, being nearly all
perfect spheres, are the most valuable
Tor stringing or necklace purposes; after
which the shells are examined for those
that may remain attached, furnishing the
many quaint shapes to be seen in jewell
ers' windows. Pearls of value are seldom
discovered in shells under four yearsof age
the age being computed by the weight
of tho shells-and eight years 1t would
seem, being the extreme limit of pearl
inussel longevity.
The pearls found In the Sulus are re-
markable for their line white color and
soft irridescent sheen, and up till the pres.
ent have found their principal market in
London, but now that the archipelago
has become an outlying territory Of the
United states one may naturally expect
that these gems will come more into favor
on this side Of the Atlantic than hereto
fore.