Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1908-12-30
FAMOUS peARL,ne GROUNDS.
Fishery on Arabian seaeoast-coIIee.
tions Owned by indian Princes,

flbhery on Arabian SedcoaSe-Collec-
tions Owned by indian Princes.
Prince Ranjitsinhji (the Jam of
Jamnagar) has lately leased his pearl
fishery of the port OF Salaya, on the
Arabian seacoast, to a European con-
cessionaire. This fishery-the. only
one In Kathiawar-was never proper
ly developed before, neither by the
old Jam-Sahtb nor by the last ruling
Chief Of Jamnagar. 1t is, as matter
of fact. most valuable adjunct to
the State. Most of the divers are
natives, and they are particularly ex-
pert, being, literally like armorclad
fishes in s6e sea. Madras too has its
pearl fisheries, but they do not
amount to great DEAL while the well
known and famous Ceylon pearling
grounds are to some extent exhausted.
Not long ago / visited the collec-
ton of pearl and diamonds Of his
Highness the Maharajah-G aekwar OF
Baroda. These pearls are truly mag
nificent-I never expect to see any
finer-and perhaps the gem OF the
collection is necklet OF immense
pearls and emeralds in gorgeous
setting. The Gaekwar is justly proud
OF his. pearls. Among his diamonds
he possesses. by the way. the cele-
brated Star OF the South, being the
celebrated gem for long time in the
possession of Napoleon Bonaparte,
after whose fall it passed to q Par
see merchant OF Bombay.
The Nawab of Rampur, In central
india, Is a Mpfiammetfan chfeftair
who owns such agnificeft Pearls that
in few years he has expended a
sum OF about "a million and half
sterling Is their acquisition. This
now represents far larger sum than
a1,500.o0O, owing to the circum-
stances that Indian pearls have gone
up in price by leaps and bounds.
The Jamnagar collection fRanjitsin
hji's) is very famous. but oddly
enough it Is more renowned for Its
emeralds than its pearls. The pre-
mier ruling chief Of India, the Nizam
OF Hyderabad, has many precious
stones in the pearl, ruby and emerald
line. He has also the enormous dia-
mond known locally as the Nizam.
When few years ago Arthur
Priestley, IN. p. was In Patiala on a
shooting expedition with K. s.. Ran
jitsinhji. as the guest Of the late
Maharajah of that thriving State, he
was much attracted by magnlfi-
cent black pearl which his Highness
was wearing. The Maharajah there
upon removed 1t from his vest and in
sisted upon Mr.. Priestley accepting 1t.
This he did with much reluctance.
having admired 1t (ah he said) in all
innocence. and 1t is one of his cherish
ed possessions to-day. It is valued
at several hundred pounds. AS fact
the Indian black pearl is not alto
gether rare. hut naturally the speci-
men presented by the Mahara1ah OF
Patiala to Mr. Priestley would be one
of the finest in the world.
II this contemplated boom" an
Eastern pearls comes of the result Is
bound to be enormously interesting,
for there is vast field to exploit.
Near by the coast of Kathiawar are
the far famed pearling grounds of the
Persian Gulf, which will have such
rude disturbance in the event of an
attack upon our Indian possessions at
any time. Among other Eastern po-
tentates to be named. the collection
Of pearls belonging to his Majesty
King 'chulalongkors I. Of Siam
which l have also visited-is among
the rarest to be seen Of men. Certain
OF these gems were procured upon the
European markets. but in the ma
jority OF cases they are known to
have come directly from east Of
Suez. "-Westmlnster Gazette.