Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1892 — THE PEARL FISHERIES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE PEARL FISHERIES.

DANCERS WHICH BESET AN OYSTER DIVER’S TASK. Bow the Business Is Carried On—Where Peart Oysters Grow—Selllnjt the Ca ch —Scenes on an Oyster Beach—The Ceylon Beds. How Pearls Are Obtained. • The pearl Is so highly prized an ornament that from the earliest times special efforts have been made to develop the fisheries in whatever part of the vorld they exist. The pearl oyster, which does not differ greatly from the ordinary variety, is.found in almost every ocean, and pearl fisheries have been successful and lucrative, not only in the Mediterranean aud along the coasts of Africa, but also in many parts of the Caribbean Sea, in the Gulf of Mexico, along the Pacific coast, in the vicinity of most of the South Sea islands, and in almost 1 every part of the Red Sea. The Persian j Gulf has from the dawn of history boen ' a favorite fishing ground for the pearl oyster, and most of the pearls known to the ancient world came either from the Persian Gulf or from the lied Sea. There is another locality, however, which contests with both the palm of superiority, for from very early times the west coast of Ceylon has been known as the habitat of the pearl oyster, and the fisheries there have been carried on with success for at least 2,00!) years, and how much longer no one is able to state. Formerly the Ceylon fisheries were the property of the kings of the country, says the (jlobo-T)omocrat, but alter the conquest of Ceyiou by the East India Company they passed into the

nominal possession of the Governor General, and after that under the control of the British Government. There they remain, and at present are the property of the Crown, the right, however, to use them being renlod out to individuals from year to year lor certain definite sums fixed at the time. The oyster grounds cover many hundreds of square miles, and have all boen accurately surveyed and the boundaries fixed by buoys. In order to conserve the fisheries as much as possible, the Government follows the policy of not allowing the whole ground to be fished over every year, but by dividing and subdi-

riding the whole district into comparatively small plats manages that only once in 6even years shall any particular ground be culled by tho divers. By this judicious management the Ceylon fisheries have "become a source of continual profit, and every year from $500,000 to $1,000,000 worth of pearls are brought up by tho divers. It has been found by observation and experiment that about 6even years are requ»red for pearls to grow, and this being the case, the length of time a particular piece of territory is suffered to lie fallow, if the expression is allowable, Is amply sufficient to allow the oysters time to repro-

duce in surtcient numbers to render wort in the tract again lucrative. The season chosen for the annual fishing is the spring, because then the : sea is calmer than at any other time of ; the year, and there is less danger of sudden stems scattering the fleet, j The scenes during the Ashing season sre of the busiest possible description, j A week before the opening of the season the entire coast is deserted, but a few days later thousands of boats and tens of thousands of workmen present a scene equaled only by similar industries in other parts of the world. Natives are there in thousands; the Cingalese fishermen, boatmen and divers, with their curious apparel, consisting of • shawl belted around the wai6t, and their anique head-dress, the long hair baing biaided up in s knot at the top or tits Lack of the head, and fastened with . .. ■

a fancy eomb. Merchants, traders In pearls, speculators from all parts of India and the East are also present, for this is their harvest; while caterers and purveyors also come in numbers, for it is a common saying in Ceylon that more money is made by feeding the divers than by diving. Regiments of troops from the Indian army are detailed to keep order among the motley multitudes, and a fleet of small government boats Is also present to accompany the fishing boats to the grounds and see that all regulations are observed and that fishing on forbidden ground is not carried on. Prominent among the crowds are the pearl-drillers, native Indian artisans, who, with the simplest possible mechanism, consisting only of a block of wood, a needle-drill, and a bow, such as is used by jewelers, will in a wonderfully brief time bore holes through the pearls with almost mathematical accuracy. Squatted on the gruund before the huts of their employers, they will do the work in sight of the little orowd always gathered around to witness the operation. Towns spring up as If by magic on the. shore, towns of the most unsubstantial character, for within the limits of a city comprising 10,000 people there will not be one house of materials more durable than poles and leaves; yet the season is fair, the rains at this time of year are infrequent, and no belter shelter is needed by the multitudes engaged in the pearl fishery. The boats employed in the fisheries are capacious in size, for each must carry, in addition to a master and crew of four or five seamen, from ten to twenty divers. These relieve each other, for while one party is engaged beneath the surface of the water, the others are resting, and as soon as those who went down first come up, their fellows in waiting at once descend. So the fishing goes on interruptedly during the whole time alotted to it. Little clothing is worn by the divers, except in localities where sharks are numerous, when, in order to frighten away those monsters of Iho deep, the pearl-dlfers frequently wear q white gown. Tho boats usually leave for the fishing grounds about midnight,

so as to reach there early tho next morning, and by noon a light breeze springs up, and the boats at once sot sail for home. Each diver on preparing to descend puts a clamp on his nostrils, ties between his feet a large stone, to which a rope Is attached, and thus sinks like a shot to tho bottom of the sea, releases his hold, and at onco begins to fill with tho oysters a' small bag or basket he carries in his hand. His task completed, he jerks tho rope, and is drawn as rapidly as possible to tho surface. The time during which the divers can remain under water is often grossly overstated. Some say that trained divors will remain at the bottom four, five, and six minutes, but this statement is probably an exaggeration, for actual observers of the work of nearly 1,000 divers give an average of one minuto to each submersion. Retaining the breath, however, for even this length of time, Is so forced and unnatural a process that very frequently, before tho day’s work Is completed, blood flows from the noses, mouths, and ears of the divers, and almost without exception they are unhealthy and short-lived men. When the fleet returns to the shore all is exoitement. Laborers are present to transport the oysters from tho .boats to the land; the precious cargo is counted, and in baskets of 100 each the oysters are removal to large inclosures, where they are thrown In heaps, the “catch" of each boat being kept separate. There they are left to rot, for such is the Indian prejudice against this species of shell fish that, although food is scarce and dear, no Indian can be persuaded to cat an oyster. The stench arising from the decomposition of hundreds of tons of the bivalves is often intolerable, but strange to say, no bad results to the health of the oyster settlement have over been known to follow, and in a country whore the decomposition of vegetable matter is highly deleterious, no sickness follows the decay of this vast mass of animal substance. In a few days, under tho broiling sun of India, the oysters are ripe for the next prooess, and are then thrown into large troughs, where the contents of each shell are carefully scraped out with the

fingers by laborers who are under | the constant and watchful guardianship iof Government inspectors. Examining | the oysters for the pearls is the most ; delioate part of the work, in one sense of the word, for in spite of the watchful j eyes of the Government inspectors the ! laborers often manage to secrete valuj able pearls. The regulations are severe; jno laborer, under penalty of a sound : thrashing, is allowed to lift his hand to , his mouth while engaged in this part of the work. But such is the adroitness of the Indian thieves that valuable pearls sometimes find their way to the illicit merchant from the hands of the oyster 1 washer. It is often thought, indeed, by experts that no inconsiderable part of , the take, is stolen, Jor the oysters, if j left undisturbed in the boats, frequently ' open their shells, sometimes exposing a pearl to view, which is at once uncere-

moniously appropriated by any ono who happens to see it. Loss is also sustained in another way. Whea the opener finds a pearl in the oyster he may sometimes undetected throw aside the shell and its contents and aftorwrfrd return and appropriate the jewel, but the regulations are so severe and the punishments of dishonesty so strict that it i 9 impossible to believe that any systematic thieving can be carried on. Alter being extracted from the oysters the pearls are separated into different grades by means of sieves having meshes of different 6izes. The jewels are carefully laid to themselves until the season is over,

when, almost in a day, the coast again becomes the desert that it was btfore. m The divers do ull the work, but by no means receive all tho pay. Various arrangements are made between them and their employers; they are paid by the number of oysters they take out, or by the day, or with a certain number of the pearls found, but generally by onefourth of the number of oysters taken. As a rule they dispose of their part of the “catch” on speculation, which is a favorite method of selling the product of a day’s labor. The oysters to bo sold are collected into one pile, their number slated, and speculators are asked to bid upon them. This is a veritable lottery; no one knows that the pile of oysters before him contains a single pearl, and yet by competition in bidding the price of 1,000 oysters—for on the pearl coast this is tho proportion of shells to one pearl—is frequently run up to double what the original owner might anticipate obtaining from his “catch." The dangers of diving, aside from the physical disabilities to which divers are subjected, arise mostly from sharks and saw-fish. Although sharks abound in every tropical sea, the Ceylon divers are not very much troubled from their wateiy jfoes, the presenco of so many boats and men, the shouting, the splashing, all tending to frighten them away; but, as a protection, each diver carries with him a short, strong knife, with which to rip up the shark in case of a sudden atta k. Gome prefer a stake from a foot to eighteen inches in length and sharpened at both ends. This they consider quite lb i a defense as tho knife, for, tho shark approaches, and opens his onormous mouth, the intended victim, by a quick movement, fixes the stake between his opened jaws, which, of course, are pierced by its sharpened ends, and the discomfittod monster swims off to rid himself of his novel incumbranoo as best he can. Most r&liance, however, is placed, not on stake or knife, but on the charms of the conjurers, one or more of whom accompany the fleet throughout the day’s erUise. For a certain sum they guarantee to the divers immunity from the sharks, and are said to be quite expert in explaining any unfortunate mischance which results in the death of one of their patrons. The value of poarls has led to frequent efforts to produce them artificially, and in this the Chinese have been successful. They ascertain tho locality of an oyster bed, and remove the mollusks alive to some place where a constant watch can be kept over them. Then, opening the shell of eaih bivalve, they introduce bits of wood, grains of sand

or other substances which, by experience, have proved useful in serving as nuclei for the nacreous matter which constitutes the pearl. Curious results are obtained by the Chinese ingenuity in dealing with the pearl oyster, for by introducing within the shell a tiny image of a Chinese deity it will in a short time be completely covered with the mother-of-pearl, and present an appearance no less curious than beautiful. The pearls, however, produced Dy artificial means are often defective, but the Chinaman is equal to tho occasion, and either covers tho defective parts with white wax or hides them in the setting of the jewel. River pearls are found in great abundance in many parts of the world. Several rivers in the United States are regularly fished for pearls, which are found within the shells of the fresh-water mussels; but, as a rule, when a discovery of this kind is made, the hunt is so indefatigible that tho supply is soon exhausted. So large a number of freshwater pearls were formerly found in Scotland that for many years over $15,000 a year was realized from the business. In Germany the river fisheries are carefully preserved. Government inspectors examine the streams, and annually determine what portion shall that year be fished, and the section which this year is examined for pearls will not again be visited for ten years. So careful are the German pearl-hunt-ers to conserve their resources that with an iron instrument they open the shells of the mussels, and, if no pearls are found, replace the creatures in the water. The fresh-water pearls are, however, so inferior in size and color to those of the sea as to hear no comparison with them, and for age 3 to come it is probable that the world must rely for its supply of pearls on the oyster-beds of the Persian Gulf, of the Ceylon coast, and on the pearls artificially produced within the living oyster by the ingenuity of tho Chinaman.

AT WORK ON THE CEYLON OYSTER BEDS.

A TYPICAL DIVER.

A SPECIAL MESSENGER TO THE OYSTER BOATS.

THE PEARL-BORER AT HIS BENCH.