Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1893 — "Dead Finger” Bottles. [ARTICLE]

"Dead Finger” Bottles.

The pearl hunters of Borneo and adjacent islands have a peculiar superstition. When they open shells in search of pearls, they take every ninth find, whether it be large or small, and Eut it into a bottle with a dead man’s nger. ■ These am kept and are known as “seed pearls,” or “breeding pearls,* the natives of the islands, firmly believing that they have the powers of reproducing their kind. For every pearl put into the phial, two grains of ripe are thrown in for the pearls to “feed* upon. Some of the white gem hunters of Borneo believe in the superstition as firmly as the natives do. It is said that nearly every hut along the coast has its “dead finger” bottle.