The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-07

citation, which is supposed to increase the
socretions.
Pearls of various CoIogs.
Pearls can he made of various colors by a
simple process Each molusk deposits It's
own sort of nacre. The nacre of the fresh
water mussel is pink. Pearl oysters viii
produce black gray or pure white pearls
according to the part of the animal where
the nucleus is lodged. At the National
Museum in Washington there is an arti-
fetal pearl of exquisite pink color as
large as q pigeons egg.
Partisan jewelers. are very clever in the
art of "peeling'' pearls They will take a.
pearl that is not pretty, remove its outer
coat and reveal a beautiful gem within. y
pearl is composed OF alternate layers of
nacre ana animal tissue and the process
of peeling is very difficult. The tools en-
ployed are a sharp knife, various sorts of
flies, pearl powder and piece of leather.
The pearly coats are extremely hard and
must be cut off piece by piece, the opera
tor relying more on the sense of touch con-
veyed by the blade of a knife than on the
sense of sight Pearls found imbedded
in the mother-Of-pearl oyster shell are
made marketable by skillful treatment
with acids. Experts know how to make
pearls of any coIor black by a bath of nj
means they can turn them to rose color
lilac or gray. Pearls Of these unusual
tints bring fancy prices.
Atlantic Ocean Pearls.
The only pearls found in the Atlantic
ocean are on the north coast of South
America, near Baraquilla, Colombia. and
the Marguerite ISLANDS. off the coast Of
Venezuela, which We're discovered by Co
Iumbus, but their pearls are of a poor
u1tl ~ lie arA e,Hr
where in the Pacific, on the coast of Mex
leo and Central America, as far south as
Guayaquil, in the Hawaiian, Samoan.
Caroline, Ladrone and Polyneslan ISL
ands, on the coast of Australia, and the
finest come from the Indian ocean, near
Ceylon. The abundance and the quality
of the pearls produced depend upon She
character Of the water in which the mol
lusk lives and the food it consumes.
Pearl Divers.
In the Bay of Panama the pearl divers
who work with diving bells are required 10
pay license fee of $3.50 a year and are al
lowed to work whenever and as long as
they like. Each diver usually goes down
twice day and remains under the water
from half to three-quarters Of an hour
each time. He tears the oysters off the
rocks and puts them in a wire basket
which is hauled UP by windlass to the
deck Of the schooner where they are
opened under the surveillance of inspec tors
Each basket win contain forty or ficty
oysters. and Is usually filled five or six
times while the river Is down. These
divers are furnished licenses. diving bells
and other apparatus by the pearl mer-
chants of Panama and are paid regular
wages, but almost every negro on the
island In the bay of Panama is a pearl
fisher on his own hook, and whenever he
cares to do so he dives naked a. low tide
"a nd hrir ttpt a. in, al
hands. This is difficult work and II
takes a good deal Of strength to wrench
them off.
One i'm a Hundred.
Pearl diving Is q great gamble. A negro
diver may often go down hundred times
without getting single pearl, and his only
reward is the shell, which is worth from
10 to IA cents q pound. Mr. Piza. the larg-
est dealer in Panama, told me that his
boat took up 100 tons Of shell one sea son
without finding single, pearl, and then
daily for four OF five days In succession