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Title: The Book of the Pearl - The history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems
Author: Stevenson, Charles Hugh, Kunz, George Frederick
Language: English
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THE BOOK OF
THE PEARL
[Illustration:
THE CZARINA OF RUSSIA
]
[Illustration]
THE BOOK OF
THE PEARL
THE HISTORY, ART, SCIENCE, AND INDUSTRY OF THE QUEEN OF GEMS
BY
GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ, A.M., Ph.D.
AND
CHARLES HUGH STEVENSON, LL.M., D.C.L.
Will I give thy love to win,
And a shell to keep them in.
—_The Faithful Shepherdess (1611)_
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1908
Copyright, 1908, by
THE CENTURY CO.
_Published October, 1908_
THE DE VINNE PRESS
TO
MARGARET, THE PEARL
AS A SLIGHT MARK OF APPRECIATION BY THE AUTHORS OF HER FATHER’S GENEROUS
ENCOURAGEMENT OF SCIENCE, ART, ENGINEERING, TECHNOLOGY, AND LITERATURE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION xv
I PEARLS AMONG THE ANCIENTS 3
II MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY OF PEARLS 15
III ORIGIN OF PEARLS 35
IV STRUCTURE AND FORMS OF PEARLS 51
V SOURCES OF PEARLS 65
VI THE PEARL FISHERIES OF THE PERSIAN GULF 85
VII EAST AFRICAN PEARL FISHERIES 153
VIII PEARL FISHERIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES 159
IX PEARL FISHERIES OF THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS 189
X PEARL FISHERIES OF VENEZUELA 225
XI PEARL-CULTURE AND PEARL-FARMING 285
XII MYSTICAL AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF PEARLS 301
XIII VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS 319
XIV TREATMENT AND CARE OF PEARLS 375
XV PEARLS AS USED IN ORNAMENTS AND DECORATION 403
XVI FAMOUS PEARLS AND COLLECTIONS 449
XVII THE ABORIGINAL USE OF PEARLS, AND THEIR DISCOVERY IN 485
MOUNDS AND GRAVES
BIBLIOGRAPHY 517
INDEX 541
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The Czarina of Russia _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
Ancient Chinese crown with pearls. Ancient Chinese pearl
rosary. Chinese priests keeping guard over the tombs
of the kings, in Mukden, where the crowns are
preserved 4
Grecian pearl and gold necklace 8
Front cover of Ashburnham manuscript of the Four Gospels 16
Francis I, King of France, 1494–1547. Isabelle de Valois 19
(From photographs by A. Giraudon)
Maria Theresa (1717–1780), Queen of Hungary 24
Facsimile of title-page of decrees of Venetian Senate
regulating the wearing of pearls 27
Lady Abinger. Mrs. Adair. Baroness de Forest. Hon. Mrs.
Renard Gréville. Marchioness of Lansdowne. Lady
Londonderry. Lady Wimborne 30
(From photographs, copyright by Lafayette, Ltd.,
London)
Venezuela shell. Panama shell 36
Shells from Venezuela with attached pearls. Exterior
view of same. X-ray photograph of shell, printed
through exterior of shell and showing encysted pearls 39
Mexican pearl-oyster with adherent pearl. Group of
encysted pearls in shell of Australian pearl-oyster.
Mexican pearl-oyster with encysted fish. Group of
encysted pearls (oriental). Reverse of same group,
showing outline of the individual pearls 42
Cross section of an irregular pearl, magnified 80
diameters. Cross sections of pearls, magnified 30
diameters. Thin section of mother-of-pearl, magnified,
showing sponge borings which traversed the pearl
shell. Structure of conch pearl produced by
fracturing, magnified 80 diameters 53
Pearls from common clam of eastern coast of America.
Pearl “nuggets” from the Mississippi Valley. Wing
pearls from the Mississippi Valley. Dog-tooth pearls
from the Mississippi Valley 55
Actual sizes of pearls from ⅛ grain to 160 grains 57
Brooches made of petal, dog-tooth, and wing pearls 58
Gray pearls in the possession of an American lady and
brooch from Tiffany & Co.’s exhibit, Paris Exposition,
1900 60
Shell of pearl-oyster with attached pearl 68
Pinna or wing shell. Pearl-oyster of Ceylon 72
Shell and pearls of the common conch 76
Cargo boat in pearl fishery of the Persian Gulf. Huts of
mats and palm leaves, the homes of the pearl fishermen
at Menamah, Bahrein Islands, Persian Gulf 87
Agha Mohammed (1666–1725). Shah Sulaiman (1647–1694) 88
Arab pearl-divers at work in the Persian Gulf 90
His Imperial Majesty, Mohammed Ali, Shah of Persia 94
The “Prince of Pearls”; the late Rana of Dholpur in his
pearl regalia 101
The late Maharajah of Patiala 108
Facsimiles of notices of pearl-fishing at
Marichchikadde, in English and Cingalese 110–111
Unloading oysters from the vessels into the kottus at
Marichchikadde, Ceylon. The pearling fleet on the
shore at Marichchikadde, Ceylon. Hindu workmen
preparing to drill pearls, Marichchikadde, Ceylon 115
Indian pearl merchants ready for business. Children of
Persian pearl dealers 120
Street scene in Marichchikadde, the pearling camp of
Ceylon. Return of the fleet from the pearl reefs to
Marichchikadde, Ceylon 126
Pearls presented by the Imam of Muscat to President Van
Buren 131
Necklace and earrings from the treasury of the Emir of
Bohkara 136
Carved “Jerusalem Shell” from the Red Sea 142
Cap of State, from looting of summer palace, Pekin, in
1860 145
Fishing for the awabi (abalone) shells at Wada-no-hara,
Japan 148
(From “The Burlington Art Magazine”)
Old print showing four methods of catching pearl-bearing
mollusks 160
Madame Norischkine née Straudman. Duchesse Elizabeth
(Constantin).
(From a photograph by Ch. Bergamasco, St. Petersburg)
(From a photograph by A. Pasetti, St. Petersburg)
Daughter of General Sobelieff, first Countess
Beauharnais 163
Scotch pearl rivers 167
Great Cameo Pearl 170
Dowager Czarina of Russia. Grand Duchess Vladimir.
(From a photograph by Ch. Bergamasco, St. Petersburg)
Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna 174
Miter of Patriarch Nikon 176
Panagia or ornament worn on the breast of a bishop in
Russia 180
Russian Boyard ladies of the seventeenth century,
showing caps and other ornaments of pearls 184
Pearl-divers of the Tuamotu Archipelago. Settlement of
pearl fishermen at Hiqueru, Tuamotu Archipelago 197
Pearling boats at Hiqueru, Tuamotu Archipelago.
Australian pearl-diver (armored) coming up from the
depths 204
Opening pearl-oysters and searching for pearls, off the
coast of Australia. Grading, weighing, and packing
mother-of-pearl, off the coast of Australia 213
Moro boats, used among the pearl islands of the Malay
Archipelago. Raft used for pearl-fishing in the Malay
Archipelago 216
Pearling village, with youthful fishermen, Sulu Islands.
Japanese diver in Dutch East Indies, come up to “blow”
for a few minutes 220
Gray pearls from Lower California, and diamonds 228
Clara Eugenia, daughter of Philip II 237
The Adams gold vase 248
Negro pearling camp, on bank of an Arkansas river. Group
of Arkansas pearl fishermen 254
Brooch, Renaissance style, set with baroque pearls, from
American streams 259
Brooches and rings of fresh-water pearls from Wisconsin
and Tennessee 262
Pearl-bearing unios 266
Pearling scene on White River, Arkansas. Pearling camp
on upper Mississippi River 270
The evolution of buttons, made from Mississippi shells 275
Necklace of fresh-water pearls 276
Shell of pearl-bearing abalone 280
Shell of _Dipsas plicatus_, with attached metal figures
of Buddha coated with nacre. Shell of _Dipsas
plicatus_, with attached porcelain beads coated with
nacre 286
Artificial rearing-ponds for the development of
pearl-oysters on the Island of Espiritŭ Santo, Gulf of
California. Trays containing small pearl-oysters
prepared for placing at the bottom of artificial
rearing-ponds 291
Japanese legend of the dragon and the pearl, idealized
in Jade 302
Russian eikon of the Madonna 312
Pectoral cross of Constantine IX, Monomachus (1000–1054
A.D.) 321
Great pearl necklace of the French crown jewels 332
The Siamese Prince in full regalia 336
Half-pearls: lots of three different sizes. Brooch of
half-pearls and onyx, United States, 1860 343
Pearl nose rings, Baroda, India. East Indian earring of
strings of pearls and table diamonds. Grape pendants.
Oriental pearls 345
Necklace containing 126,000 seed-pearls, Louis XVI
period 346
Seed-pearls and gold; Chinese ornaments of the
nineteenth century. Complete set of seed-pearl jewelry
in original case 357
Persian princess and ladies in waiting 364
Facsimiles of the title-page and last leaf of an
enactment abolishing duty on pearls, English
Parliament, 1732 368
Pearl drilling 376
Pearl stringing 383
Necklace of seed-pearls, United States, Civil War period 389
Mother-of-pearl shell from Tahiti 390
Ladies’ sewing case and scissors inlaid with
half-pearls; watches incrusted with half-pearls;
snuff-box, ivory inlaid with fresh-water pearls;
miniature surrounded by half-pearls 395
Evolution of a seed-pearl brooch. Seed-pearls, Indian
strings. White horsehair for stringing 396
Facsimile of letter of M. Gaston Mogeaud, Director of
the Louvre 398
Madame Thiers’s pearl necklace, bequeathed to the Louvre
Museum, Paris 398
(From a photograph by A. Giraudon)
Antique ornaments of pearls 404
Tyszkiewizc bronze statuette of Aphrodite 407
Pearl earrings from Herculaneum and Pompeii 408
Antique pearl ornaments 410
East Indian necklace of pearls, table diamonds, glass
beads, gold and enamel 413
Crown of Reccesvinthus and other Gothic crowns of the
seventh century 416
(From a photograph by A. Giraudon)
Her Majesty, Queen Alexandra of Great Britain and
Ireland, Empress of India 418
(From a photograph by W. & D. Downey, London)
Crown of St. Edward 424
(From “The English Regalia,” published by Kegan Paul,
Trench, Trübner & Company, Ltd., London)
The Empress Dowager of China 431
Pearl ornaments of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries 434
Margherita, Dowager Queen of Italy 439
Collection of black pearls belonging to an American lady 440
Señora Carmen Romero Rubio de Diaz, wife of President
Porfirio Diaz of Mexico 442
(From a photograph by Valleto & Co., Mexico)
Jade jar inlaid with pearls set with fine gold. Japanese
decoration set with pearls 444
Gaikwar of Baroda, 1908 450
Mary, Queen of Scots 453
(From “Portraits and Jewels of Mary Stuart,” published
by James MacLehose and Sons, Glasgow)
Queen Elizabeth of England. Elizabeth of France 456
Pearl carpet or shawl of the Gaikwar of Baroda 460
The Hope pearl. Weighs 1800 grains 463
Her Grace, the Duchess of Marlborough 465
(From a photograph by Lafayette, Ltd., London)
The Madame Nordica collection of colored pearls 468
Grand pearl diadem of the French crown jewels 471
The Imperial Austrian crown 472
The Great Sévigné of the French crown jewels 474
Madame Nordica 476
Mrs. George J. Gould 480
Fresh-water pearls from Hopewell group of mounds, Ross
County, Ohio 499
Fresh-water pearls from Hopewell group of mounds, Ross
County, Ohio 510
MAPS
PAGE
The pearling regions in Ceylon and British India 129
Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, the pearling center of the
world 140
The pearling regions in Oceania and Malaysia 191
Venezuela and Panama, the principal pearling regions of
South America 227
Gulf of California and the pearling territory of western
Mexico 243
INTRODUCTION
The preparation of this book has been a joint labor during the spare
moments of the two authors, whose time has been occupied with subjects
to which pearls are not wholly foreign—one as a gem expert, and the
other in the fisheries branch of the American government. But for the
views and expressions contained herein, they alone are personally
responsible, and do not represent or speak for any interest whatever.
For many years the writers have collected data on the subject of pearls,
and have accumulated all the obtainable literature, not only the easily
procurable books, but likewise manuscripts, copies of rare volumes,
original edicts, and legislative enactments, thousands of newspaper
clippings, and interesting illustrations, many of them unique, making
probably the largest single collection of data in existence on this
particular subject. It was deemed advisable to present the results of
these studies and observations in one harmonious volume, rather than in
two different publications. This publication is not a pioneer in an
untrodden field. As may be seen from the appended bibliography, during
the last two thousand years hundreds of persons have discussed
pearls—mystically, historically, poetically, and learnedly. Among the
older writers who stand out with special prominence in their respective
periods are the encyclopedist Pliny, in the first century A.D.; Oviedo
and Peter Martyr of the sixteenth century; the physician Anselmus De
Boot, and that observant traveler and prince of jewelers, Tavernier, in
the seventeenth century. It would be difficult to do justice to the many
writers of the nineteenth century and of the present time; but probably
most attention has been attracted by the writings of Hessling and Möbius
of Germany; Kelaart, Streeter, Herdman, and Hornell of Great Britain;
Filippi of Italy, and Seurat and Dubois of France. While the book is a
joint work in the sense that each writer has contributed material to all
of the chapters and has critically examined and approved the entire
work, the senior author has more closely applied himself to the latter
half of the text, covering antiquity values, commerce, wearing
manipulation, treatment, famous collections, aboriginal use, and the
illustrations, while the junior author has attended to the earlier half
of the book, with reference to history, origin, sources, fisheries,
culture, mystical properties, and the literature of the pearl.
The senior author has had exceptionally favorable opportunities to
examine the precious objects contained in the various imperial and royal
treasuries. Through the courtesy of the late Count Sipuigine, Court
Chamberlain, and of the late General Philamanoff, custodian of the
Ourejena Palata, he was permitted to critically examine the Russian
crown jewels in the Summer Palace on the Neva, and in the Palata in the
Kremlin, at Moscow, he examined the crowns and jewels of all the early
czars. Through the courtesy of Baron von Theile, he was permitted to
inspect carefully and in detail the wonderful jewels of the Austrian
crown, which are beautifully ordered and arranged. The English and Saxon
crown jewels were also seen under favorable conditions which permitted
detailed examination, and the jewel collections of almost all the
principal museums of Europe and America were carefully studied. As
regards the literature of the subject, the senior author has gathered
together the largest known existing collection of works treating of
pearls and precious stones.
In covering so comprehensive a subject, many obligations have been
incurred from individuals and officials, to whose courtesy and
assistance is due much of the interest of this work. To list all of
these is impossible, yet it would be ungrateful not to note the
following: her Majesty Queen Margherita of Italy; his Royal Highness the
Gaikwar of Baroda; to H. R. H. le Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria, of Munich;
to the late Prince Sipuigine, then chamberlain of the Russian Imperial
Appanages; to Sir Edward Robert Pearce Edgcumbe for data relative to
fisheries of East Africa; Dr. H. C. Bumpus, director of the American
Museum of Natural History, New York, for many courtesies in regard to
materials and illustrations; Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke, director, Dr.
Edward Robinson, assistant director, J. H. Buck, curator of Metal-work,
and A. G. St. M. D’Hervilly, assistant curator of Paintings, all of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, for numerous courtesies; Archer M.
Huntington, founder of the Hispanic Society and Museum in New York City;
Dr. Bashford Dean, Prof. Friedrich Hirth, Chinese professor, Dr.
Berthold Laufer, Prof. A. V. Williams Jackson, professor of Indo-Iranian
languages, and Prof. M. H. Saville, all of Columbia University, New York
City; J. Pierpont Morgan, for the right to publish the illustration of
Ashburnham missal; Dr. W. Hayes Ward, Assyriologist; Dr. Charles S.
Braddock, formerly Chief of Medical Inspection for the King of Siam;
Robert Hoe, for the two plates of unique Persian illustrations from his
manuscripts; Edmund Russell, for East Indian material; F. Cunliffe-Owen,
the author of diplomatic subjects; Ten Broeck Morse; Walter Joslyn;
Stansbury Hagar; Henri de Morgan, explorer; Dr. Nathaniel L. Britton,
director New York Botanical Garden, J. H. Lawles, and Ludwig Stross, for
many courtesies; Miss M. de Barril and Miss Belle da Costa Greene, all
of New York; Dr. Stewart W. Culin, of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and
Sciences; the Contessa Casa Cortez, for Peruvian information, of
Brooklyn; Dr. Charles B. Davenport, of the Carnegie Institution
Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor; Arthur C. Parker, archæologist, State
Museum, Albany, N. Y.; A. S. Clark, antiquarian, Peekskill, N. Y.; Dr.
Richard Rathbun, assistant secretary, Dr. Cyrus Adler, curator, Dr. Otis
S. Mason, curator of Ethnology, all of the Smithsonian Institution; Dr.
S. W. Stratton, chief of the Bureau of Standards; Miss E. R. Scidmore;
Gilbert H. Grosvenor, editor, National Geographic Magazine; Hon. William
Eleroy Curtis; his Excellency Enrique C. Creel, Embajador de Mexico, and
James T. Archbold, war correspondent, all of Washington, D. C.; Prof. W.
P. Wilson, director Philadelphia Commercial Museum, Clarence B. Moore,
Academy of Natural Sciences, and T. Louis Comparette, curator Numismatic
Collection, U. S. Mint, all of Philadelphia; Prof. Henry Montgomery,
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Dr. Warren K. Moorehead,
archæologist, Andover, Mass.; H. D. Story, and Theo. M. Davis, curators
of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.; Miss Mathilde Laigle
of Wellesley College; Prof. F. W. Putnam and Alfred M. Tozzer, Peabody
Museum of Archæology, Cambridge, Mass.; Prof. Edward S. Morse, Salem,
Mass.; Dr. Hiram Bingham, Yale University; W. E. Frost, Providence, R.
I.; Dr. Edgar J. Banks, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.; Hon. F. J.
V. Skiff, director, for several photographs of museum material, and Dr.
George A. Dorsey, curator of Anthropology of the Field Columbian Museum;
Dr. A. R. Crook, curator of the Museum of Natural History, Springfield,
Ill.; Richard Hermann, director Hermann Museum, Dubuque, Ia.; Charles
Russell Orcutt, San Diego, Cal.; David I. Bushnell, St. Louis, Mo.; Dr.
J. H. Stanton, Prairie du Chien, Wis.; Joe Gassett, Clinton, Tenn.;
Prof. Wm. C. Mills, University of Ohio, Columbus, O., for material
covering the new Ohio mound discoveries; Mrs. Marie Robinson Wright,
author and South American traveler, New York City; Miss Helen Woolley of
Judson College, Alabama; Prof. Dr. Eugene Hussak, Rio Janeiro; Hon.
George E. Anderson, Consul General of the United States, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil; Señor L. E. Bonilla, Consul General of Colombia; Madam Zelia
Nuttall, Coyoacan, Mexico; Prof. Waldstein, University of Cambridge,
Cambridge, England; Dr. O. F. Bell, assistant keeper Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford; Dr. Stephen W. Bushell, Chinese authority; Lady Christopher
Johnston, Dr. William F. Petrie, University College, Dr. Charles
Hercules Read, director of the department of Archæology, British Museum,
for illustrations and data; Cyril Davenport, antiquarian writer of the
British Museum, for the illustration of the English crown, and crown
information; to Sir John Evans, late veteran archæologist and writer;
Thomas Tyrer, chemist, W. Talbot Ready, A. W. Feaveryear, E. Alfred
Jones, author on metal-work, Edwin W. Streeter, all of London, England;
Prof. H. P. Blackmore, curator Blackmore Museum, Salisbury, England; Dr.
Thos. Gann, Harrogate, England; Prof. Arthur E. Shipley, Cambridge,
England; Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, Labrador; T. W. Lyster, librarian of the
National Library of Ireland, Prof. R. F. Scharff, director of the
National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, W. Forbes Hourie, all of Ireland;
Mr. James Hornell, Dr. W. A. Herdmann, all on information concerning the
Ceylon fisheries; Prof. James M. Milne, Belfast, Ireland; David
MacGregor, Perth, Scotland; Joseph Baer & Co., Frankfurt, Germany; Herrn
C. W. Kesseller, Idar, Germany; Prof. Dr. Carl Sapper, University of
Tübingen, Germany; Geheimrath Prof. Dr. Max Bauer, University of
Marburg, Germany; Herrn Prof. Dr. Hofer, director Biologische
Versuchsstation, Munich; Herrn Ernst Gideon Bek, Pforzheim, Germany;
Hon. Albert H. Michelsen, American Consul at Turin; Sabbatino De
Angelis, of Naples, Italy; Mons. Alphonse Falco, of the Chambre
Syndicale Pierres Précieuses of Paris; Prof. A. Lacroix, Musée Histoire
Naturale, Paris; Mons. Georges Pellisier, Paris; Sr. Gaston J. Vives, La
Paz, Mexico; Prof. R. Dubois, Faculté des Sciences, University of Lyons,
France; Prof. P. Candias, director of the National Museum, Athens,
Greece; Prof. G. A. F. Molengraaff, University of Delft, Holland; the
late Prof. Dr. Furtwängler of Munich; Dr. Otto Leiner, Custus
Landes-Museum at Constanz, Baden; Herrn Dr. A. B. Meyer, Herrn Carl
Marfels, Berlin; Prof. Dr. H. Schumacher, University of Bonn; Geheimrath
C. F. Hintze, Breslau; Herrn R. Friedlaender & Sohn, Berlin; Herrn
Reg.-Rath Dr. W. von Seidlitz, Dresden; Dr. R. Jacobi, director König
Zoologichen Museum, Dresden, Germany; his Excellency Dr. Szalaz,
director Hungarian National Museum; Dr. S. Radischi, director National
Industrial Museum of Budapest; and to Herrn A. B. Bachrach, Budapest,
Hungary; Frau Melanie Glazer, of Prague, and Herrn V. Fric, Prague,
Bohemia; Herrn Prof. Dr. F. Heger, Custus Imperial Archæological
Collection, Vienna; Herrn H. von Willer and Herrn Max Zirner, of Vienna;
Herrn Leopold Weininger, the artisan goldsmith of Austria, for many
courtesies; Prof. W. Vernadskij, University of Moscow; Mons. C. Faberje,
Joaillier de la Cour, St. Petersburg, Russia; his Excellency Baron P.
Meyerdorff, assistant director, Musée des Antiques, Ermitage Impériale,
St. Petersburg, for important data and illustrations; his Excellency N.
J. Moore, Premier, Western Australia; Dr. K. Van Dort, engineer of
Bankok, Siam; Dr. J. Henry Burkill, of the India Museum, Calcutta,
India; Alphaeus E. Williams, manager of the De Beers Mine, Kimberley;
Capt. E. L. Steever, District Governor of Jolo, Philippine Islands; Dr.
T. Nishikawa, Zoölogical Institute; K. Mikimoto, both of Tokio, Japan;
Dr. S. M. Zwemer of Bahrein, Persian Gulf; Mr. Hugh Millman of Thursday
Island, Australia; Julius D. Dreher, American Consul at Tahiti, Society
Islands; and not least, by any means, the uniform promptness and
completeness with which the officials of the British Colonial Service
have responded to the many inquiries which the writers have addressed to
them.
THE AUTHORS.
September, 1908.
I
PEARLS AMONG THE ANCIENTS
THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
I
PEARLS AMONG THE ANCIENTS
The richest merchandise of all, and the most soveraigne commoditie
throughout the whole world, are these pearles.
PLINY, _Historia naturalis_.
_Lib._ IX, c. 35.
Perfected by nature and requiring no art to enhance their beauty, pearls
were naturally the earliest gems known to prehistoric man. Probably the
members of some fish-eating tribe—maybe of the coast of India or
bordering an Asiatic river—while opening mollusks for food, were
attracted by their luster. And as man’s estimation of beauty developed,
he found in them the means of satisfying that fondness for personal
decoration so characteristic of half-naked savages, which has its
counterpart amid the wealth and fashion of the present day.
Pearls seem to be peculiarly suggestive of oriental luxury and
magnificence. It is in the East that they have been especially loved,
enhancing the charms of Asiatic beauty and adding splendor to barbaric
courts celebrated for their display of costume. From their possession of
the rich pearl resources it is natural that the people of India and of
Persia should have early found beauty and value in these jewels, and
should have been among the first to collect them in large quantities.
And no oriental divinity, no object of veneration has been without this
ornament; no poetical production has lacked this symbol of purity and
chastity.
In a personal memorandum, Dr. A. V. Williams Jackson, professor of
Indo-Iranian languages in Columbia University, states that it is
generally supposed that the Vedas, the oldest sacred books of the
Brahmans, contain several allusions to pearl decorations a millennium or
more before the Christian era, as the word _krisana_ and its
derivatives—which occur a half dozen times in the Rigveda, the oldest of
the Vedas—are generally translated as signifying “pearl.” Even if this
interpretation of the term be called into question on the ground that
the Hindus of the Panjab were not well acquainted with the sea, there
can be little or no doubt that the Atharvaveda, at least five hundred
years before the Christian era, alludes to an amulet made of pearls and
used as a sort of talisman in a hymn[1] of magic formulas.
Those two great epics of ancient India, the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata, refer to pearls. The Ramayana speaks of a necklace of
twenty-seven pearls, and has pearl drillers to accompany a great
military expedition.[2] An old myth recounts the offerings made by the
elements as gifts worthy of the deity: the air offered the rainbow, the
fire a meteor, the earth a ruby, and the sea a pearl. The rainbow formed
a halo about the god, the meteor served as a lamp, the ruby decorated
the forehead, and the pearl was worn upon the heart.
The literature of Hinduism frequently associates the pearl with Krishna,
the eighth avatar or incarnation of Vishnu, the most popular god of
Hindu worship. One legend credits its discovery to the adorable Krishna,
who drew it from the depths of the sea to adorn his daughter Pandaïa on
her nuptial day. Another version makes the pearl a trophy of the victory
of Krishna over the monster Pankagna, and it was used by the victor as a
decoration for his bride.
In the classic period of Sanskrit literature, about the first century of
the Christian era, there were abundant references to pearls, generally
called _mukta_ (literally “the pure”); and there are dozens of words for
pearl necklaces, circlets, strings, and ornamental festoons,
particularly in the dramas of Kalidasa—the Hindu Shakspere, who lived
about the third century A.D.—and of his successors.
In the Mahavansa and the Dipavansa, the ancient chronicle histories of
Ceylon in the Pali language, are several early Cingalese records of
pearl production and estimation.[3] The Mahavansa lists pearls among the
native products sent from Ceylon about 550 B.C., King Wijayo sending his
father-in-law gifts of pearls and chanks to the value of two lacs of
rupees; and notes that about 300 B.C., several varieties of Ceylon
pearls were carried as presents by an embassy to India.
[Illustration:
Ancient Chinese crown with pearls
]
[Illustration:
Ancient Chinese pearl rosary
]
[Illustration:
Chinese priests keeping guard over the tombs of the kings, in Mukden,
where the crowns are preserved
]
In the ancient civilization of China, pearls were likewise esteemed;
this is evidenced by the frequent mention of them in traditional
history, their employment in the veneration of idols, and as tribute by
foreign princes to the emperor. One of the very earliest of books, the
Shu King (dating from about 2350–625 B.C.), notes that, in the
twenty-third century B.C., Yü received as tribute oyster pearls from the
river Hwai, and from the province of King Kau he received “strings of
pearls that were not quite round.”[4] That ancient Chinese dictionary,
the Nh’ya, originating thirty centuries ago, speaks of them as precious
jewels found in the province of Shen-si on the western frontier.
Many fantastic theories regarding pearls are to be found in ancient
Chinese literature. Some writers credited them as originating in the
brain of the fabled dragon; others noted that they were especially
abundant during the reign of illustrious emperors, and they were used as
amulets and charms against fire and other disasters. Curious allusions
were made to pearls so brilliant that they were visible at a distance of
nearly a thousand yards, or that rice could be cooked by the light from
them. And one found about the beginning of the Christian era, near
Yangchow-fu, in the province of Kiang-su, was reported so lustrous as to
be visible in the dark at a distance of three miles.
In Persia, the popularity of pearls seems to date from a very early
period. Professor Jackson states that if they are not mentioned in the
extant fragments of the ancient Zoroastrian literature, the Avesta and
the Pahlavi, or by the Middle Persian books from the seventh century
B.C. to the ninth century A.D., it is probably a mere accident, due to
the character of the work or to the fragmentary condition of the
literature; for pearls were well known during that entire period, and
seem to be indicated in extant sculptures. The coin and the gem
portraits of Persian queens commonly show ear-pendants of these. The
remains of a magnificent necklace of pearls and other gems were recently
found by J. de Morgan in the sarcophagus of an Achæmenid princess
exhumed at Susa or Shushan, the winter residence of the kings of Persia.
This necklace, perhaps the most ancient pearl ornament still in
existence, dates certainly from not later than the fourth century B.C.,
and is now preserved in the Persian Gallery of the Louvre.[5] Even if we
had no other evidence, it would be natural to assume that the knowledge
of pearls was as wide-spread among the Iranians in antiquity as it was
among the Hindus, since the Persian Gulf, like the Indian Ocean, has
been famous for its fisheries from ancient times.
In the ruins of Babylon no pearls have been found; indeed, it would be
surprising if they could survive for so many ages in the relatively
moist soil which contains much saltpeter. Inlays of mother-of-pearl and
decorations of this material have been secured from the ruins of
Bismaya, which Dr. Edgar J. Banks refers to about 4500 B.C.
There is likewise little evidence that pearls were extensively employed
by the ancient Assyrians, notwithstanding that excavations at Nineveh
and Nimrud have furnished much information regarding their ornaments;
and the collars, bracelets, sword-hilts, etc., wrought in gold and
ornamented with gems, show that the jewelers’ art had made much
progress. This is not wholly trustworthy as determining the relative
abundance; for being of organic or non-mineral origin, pearls would not
have survived the burial for thousands of years so well as the crystal
gems. An inscription on the Nineveh Obelisk, which states, according to
Sir Henry Rawlinson, that in the ninth year of his reign Temenbar
received, as “tribute of the kings of the Chaldees, gold, silver, gems,
and pearls,”[6] shows that the sea-born gems were highly valued there.
The mother-of-pearl shell was in use as an ornament in ancient Egypt
certainly as early as the sixth dynasty (_circa_ 3200 B.C.), the period
of the Tanis Sphinx. In a recent letter from Luxor, where he is studying
the ruins of ancient Thebes, Dr. James T. Dennis states that he has
found several of these shells bearing cartouches of that period; and in
the “pan-bearing graves” of the twelfth dynasty (2500 B.C.), the shell
occurred not only complete, but cut in roughly circular or oblong
angular blocks and strung on chains with beads of carnelian, pottery,
etc.
So far as can be determined from the representations of ancient Egyptian
costumes, pearls do not seem to have been employed to any great extent
in their decoration. The necklaces, earrings, and other jewels found in
the tombs, which are composed largely of gold set with crystal gems,
contain the remains of a few pearls, but give no indication that they
were numerous. In fact, no evidence exists that they were used
extensively before the Persian conquest in the fifth century B.C.; and
probably it was not until the time of the Ptolemies that there began the
lavish abundance which characterized the court of Alexandria at the
height of her power.
The authorities differ in regard to the mention of pearls in ancient
Hebrew literature; although in the Authorized Version of the Old
Testament, this significance has been given to the word _gabîsh_ in Job
xxviii. 18, where the value of wisdom is contrasted with that of
_gabîsh_. Some writers claim that this word refers to rock crystal.
Other authorities are of the opinion that the word _peninim_ in Lam. iv.
7, which has been translated as “rubies,” actually signifies pearls. In
Gen. ii. 12, Prof. Paul Haupt has proposed to render _shoham_ stones by
pearls, since the Hebrew word translated “onyx,” if connected with the
Assyrian _sându_, might mean “the gray gem.” It does not appear that
they entered into the decorations of the Tabernacle and the Temple, or
were largely employed in the paraphernalia of the synagogue.
In the New Testament, however, there are numerous references to the
estimation in which pearls were held. In his teachings, Christ
repeatedly referred to them as typifying something most precious: “The
kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that
he had, and bought it” (Matt. xiii. 45, 46); and in “casting pearls
before swine,” in that great Sermon on the Mount (Matt. vii. 6). In
picturing the glories of the Heavenly City, St. John made the twelve
gates of pearls (Rev. xxi. 21); and what could better serve as portals
through the walls of precious stones?
In the Talmud, pearls are frequently mentioned, and usually as
signifying something beautiful or very costly, as “a pearl that is worth
thousands of zuzim” (Baba Batra, 146a); a “pearl that has no price”
(Yerushalmi, ix. 12d); the coats which God made for Adam and Eve were
“as beautiful as pearls” (Gen. R. xx. 12), and the manna was “as white
as a pearl” (Yoma, 75a). Their purchase formed one of the exceptions to
the law of _Ona’ah_ (overcharge), for the reason that two matched pearls
greatly exceeded the value of each one separately (Baba Mezi’a, iv. 8).
The high value attached to pearls by the ancient Hebrews is illustrated
by a beautiful Rabbinical story in which only one object in nature is
ranked above them. On approaching Egypt, Abraham hid Sarah in a chest,
that foreign eyes might not behold her beauty. When he reached the place
for paying custom dues, the collectors said, “Pay us the custom”; and he
replied, “I will pay your custom.” They said to him, “Thou carriest
clothes”; and he stated, “I will pay for clothes.” Then they said to
him, “Thou carriest gold”; and he answered, “I will pay for gold.” On
this they said to him, “Surely thou bearest the finest silk”; and he
replied, “I will pay custom for the finest silk.” Then said they, “Truly
it must be pearls that thou takest with thee”; and he answered, “I will
pay for pearls.” Seeing that they could name nothing of value for which
the patriarch was not willing to pay custom, they said, “It cannot be
but that thou open the box and let us see what is within.” So the chest
was opened, and the land was illumined by the luster of Sarah’s
beauty.[7]
The love which the early Arabs bore to pearls is evidenced by the
references to them in the Koran, and especially the figurative
description given of Paradise. The stones are pearls and jacinths; the
fruits of the trees are pearls and emeralds; and each person admitted to
the delights of the celestial kingdom is provided with a tent of pearls,
jacinths and emeralds; is crowned with pearls of incomparable luster,
and is attended by beautiful maidens resembling hidden pearls.[8]
The estimation of pearls among the art-loving Greeks may be traced to
the time of Homer, who appears to have alluded to them under the name
τρίγληνα (triple drops or beads) in his description of Juno; in the
Iliad, XIV, 183:
In three bright drops,
Her glittering gems suspended from her ears.
and in the Odyssey, XVIII, 298:
Earrings bright
With triple drops that cast a trembling light.
Classical designs of Juno usually show the three pear-shaped pearls
pendent from her ears. The ancient Greeks probably obtained their pearls
from the East through the medium of Phenician traders, and a survival of
the word τρίγληνα seems to exist in the Welsh _glain_ (bead), the name
having been carried to Britain by the same traders, who exchanged
textiles, glass beads, etc., for tin and salt.
The Persian wars in the fifth century B.C., doubtless extended the
acquaintance which the Greeks had with pearls, as well as with other
oriental products, and increased their popularity. One of the earliest
of the Greek writers to mention pearls specifically appears to have been
Theophrastus (372–287 B.C.), the disciple and successor of Aristotle,
who referred to them under the name μαργαρίτης (_margarites_), probably
derived from some oriental word like the Sanskrit _maracata_ or the
Persian _mirwareed_. He stated that pearls were produced by shell-fish
resembling the _pinna_, only smaller, and were used in making necklaces
of great value. In Pliny’s “Historia naturalis,” that great storehouse
of classical learning, reference is made to many other writers—mostly
Greeks—who treated of gems; but virtually all of these writings have
disappeared, except fragments from Theophrastus, Chares of Mytilene, and
Isidorus of Charace.
[Illustration:
GRECIAN PEARL AND GOLD NECKLACE
Of about third century B.C.
Now in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
]
From Greece admiration for pearls quickly extended to Rome, where they
were known under the Greek word _margaritæ_. However, a more common name
for this gem in Rome was _unio_, which Pliny explained by saying that
each pearl was unique and unlike any other one. The conclusion of the
historian Ammianus Marcellinus (330–395 A.D.), that it was because each
one was found singly in a shell,[9] seems scarcely correct. Claude de
Saumaise, the French classical scholar, thought that the common name for
an onion was transferred to the pearl, owing to its laminated
construction.[10] According to Pliny, the Romans used the word _unio_ to
distinguish a large perfect pearl from the smaller and less attractive
ones, which were called _margaritæ_.[11]
It was not until the Mithridatic Wars (88–63 B.C.) and the conquests by
Pompey that pearls were very abundant and popular in Rome, the great
treasures of the East enriching the victorious army and through it the
aristocracy of the republic. In those greatest spectacular functions the
world has ever known—the triumphal processions of the conquering
Romans—pearls had a prominent part. Pliny records that in great Pompey’s
triumphal procession in 61 B.C. were borne thirty-three crowns of pearls
and numerous pearl ornaments, including a portrait of the victor, and a
shrine dedicated to the muses, adorned with the same gems.[12]
The luxuries of Mithridates, the treasures of Alexandria, the riches of
the Orient were poured into the lap of victory-fattened Rome. From that
time the pearl reigned supreme, not only in the enormous prices given
for single specimens, but also in the great abundance in possession of
the degenerate descendants of the victorious Romans. The interior of the
temple of Venus was decorated with pearls. The dress of the wealthy was
so pearl-bedecked that Pliny exclaimed in irony: “It is not sufficient
for them to wear pearls, but they must trample and walk over them”;[13]
and the women wore pearls even in the still hours of the night, so that
in their sleep they might be conscious of possessing the beautiful
gems.[14]
It is related that the voluptuous Caligula (12–41 A.D.)—he who raised
his favorite horse Incitatus to the consulship—decorated that horse with
a pearl necklace, and that he himself wore slippers embroidered with
pearls; and the tyrannical Nero (37–68 A.D.), not content with having
his scepter and throne of pearls, provided the actors in his theater
with masks and scepters decorated with them. Thus wrote the observant
Philo, the envoy of the Jews to the Emperor Caligula: “The couches upon
which the Romans recline at their repasts shine with gold and pearls;
they are splendid with purple coverings interwoven with pearls and
gold.”
Yet not all the men of Rome were enthusiastic over the beautiful “gems
of the sea, which resemble milk and snow,” as the poet Manlius called
them. Even then, as now, there were some faultfinders. The immortal
Cæsar interdicted their use by women beneath a certain rank; Martial and
Tibullus inveighed against them; the witty Horace directed his stinging
shafts of satire against the extravagance. Referring to a woman named
Gellia, Martial wrote: “By no gods or goddesses does she swear, but by
her pearls. These she embraces and kisses. These she calls her brothers
and sisters. She loves them more dearly than her two sons. Should she by
some chance lose them, the miserable woman would not survive an
hour.”[15] Hear what stern old Seneca had to say: “Pearls offer
themselves to my view. Simply one for each ear? No! The lobes of our
ladies have attained a special capacity for supporting a great number.
Two pearls alongside of each other, with a third suspended above, now
form a single earring! The crazy fools seem to think that their husbands
are not sufficiently tormented unless they wear the value of an
inheritance in each ear!”[16]
The prices reported for some choice ones at that time seem fabulous. It
is recorded by Suetonius, that the Roman general, Vitellius, paid the
expenses of a military campaign with the proceeds of one pearl from his
mother’s ears: “_Atque ex aure matris detractum unionem pigneraverit ad
itineris impensas_.” In his “_Historia naturalis_,” Pliny says that in
the first century A.D., they ranked first in value among all precious
things,[17] and reports sixty million sestertii[18] as the value of the
two famous pearls—“the singular and only jewels of the world and even
nature’s wonder”—which Cleopatra wore at the celebrated banquet to Mark
Antony. And Suetonius[19] places at six million sestertii the value of
the one presented by Julius Cæsar as a tribute of love to Servilia, the
mother of Brutus, who thus wore
The spoils of nations in an ear,
Changed to the treasure of a shell.
Or, as St. Jerome expressed it in his “Vita Pauli Eremitæ”:
_Uno filo villarum insunt pretia._
We are told by Ælius Lampridius that an ambassador once brought to
Alexander Severus two remarkably large and heavy pearls for the empress.
The emperor offered them for sale, and as no purchaser was found, he had
them hung in the ears of the statue of Venus, saying: “If the empress
should have such pearls, she would give a bad example to the other
women, by wearing an ornament of so much value that no one could pay for
it.”
The word “margarita” was used symbolically to designate the most
cherished object; for instance, a favorite child. In an inscription
published by Fabretti, p. 44, No. 253, the word _margaritio_ has the
same significance. (Sex. Bruttidio juveni margaritioni carissimo, vixit
annis II mensibus VII, diebus XVIII.)[20]
While the ancient writers were familiar with the pearl itself, they knew
little of the fisheries, and related many curious stories which had come
to Athens and Rome. Pliny and Ælianus quoted from Megasthenes that the
pearl-oysters lived in communities like swarms of bees, and were
governed by one remarkable for its size and great age, and which was
wonderfully expert in keeping its subjects out of danger, and that the
fishermen endeavored first to catch this one, so that the others might
easily be secured. Procopius, one of the most entertaining of the old
Byzantine chroniclers, wrote of social relations between the
pearl-oysters and the sharks, and of methods of inducing the growth of
pearls.
The principal fisheries of antiquity were in the Persian Gulf, on the
coasts of Ceylon and India, and in the Red Sea. The pearls referred to
in ancient Chinese literature appear to have been taken from the rivers
and ponds of that country, while those in Cochin China and Japan seem to
have come from the adjoining seas. The pearls were distributed among the
nations in control of the fisheries, and from them, other people
received collections, either as presents, in conquest, or by way of
trade. History makes no mention of pearls having been obtained elsewhere
than in the Orient up to the time of Julius Cæsar, when small quantities
of inexpensive ones were collected in Britain by the invading Romans.
And in the first century A.D., Pliny states that small reddish pearls
were found about Italy and in the Bosphorus Straits near Constantinople.
A number of specimens of pearls of the artistic Greeks and of the
luxurious Romans are yet in existence, and some of these are in a fairly
good state of preservation. A notable and interesting example is a
superb Greek necklace of pearls and gold, referred to the third century
B.C., and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Several
earrings now in that museum, in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg, the
British Museum, the Louvre in Paris, and in the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts, are shown in this book. Some of these may have decorated ears that
listened to the comedies of Aristophanes, the tragedies of Euripides,
the philosophies of Plato, or the oratory of Demosthenes. A number of
classic statues have the ears pierced for earrings, notably the Venus de
Medici now in the Tribuna of the Uffizi, Florence; and a magnificent
pair of half-pearls is said to have decorated the Venus of the Pantheon
in Rome.[21] Pearl grape earrings are shown on the artistic intaglio by
Aspasios, representing the bust of the Athene Parthenos of Phidias,
which has been in the Gemmen Münzen Cabinet at Vienna since 1669.
The beautiful Tyszkiewicz bronze statuette of Aphrodite was acquired in
1900 by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and has even yet a pearl in a
fairly good state of preservation suspended from each ear by a spiral
thread of gold which passes quite through the gem and also through the
lobe of the ear. This statuette has been described as “the most
beautiful bronze Venus known.”[22] Professor Froehner considers that it
belongs nearer to the period of Phidias (_circa_ 500–430 B.C.) than to
that of Praxiteles (_circa_ 400–336 B.C.); but Dr. Edward Robinson does
not concur in this opinion, and refers it to the Hellenic period
(_circa_ 330–146 B.C.).
However, considering the very large accumulations, relatively few pearls
of antiquity now remain, and none of these is of great ornamental value.
Those in archæological collections and art museums are more or less
decayed through the ravages of time and accident to which they have been
subjected. While coins, gold jewelry, crystal gems, etc., of ancient
civilizations are relatively numerous, the less durable pearls have not
survived the many centuries of pillage, waste, and burial in the earth.
A well-known instance of this decay is found in the Stilicho pearls,
which owe their prominence to the incident of their long burial. The
daughters of this famous Roman general, who were successively betrothed
to the Emperor Honorius, died in 407 A.D., and were buried with their
pearls and ornaments. In 1526, or more than eleven centuries afterward,
in excavating for an extension of St. Peter’s, the tomb was opened, and
the ornaments were found in fair condition, except the pearls, which
were as lusterless and dead as a wreath of last year’s flowers.
II
MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY
II
MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY OF PEARLS
I’ll set thee in a shower of gold, and hail
Rich pearls upon thee.
_Antony and Cleopatra_, Act II, sc. 5.
The popularity of pearls in Rome has its counterpart in the Empire of
the East at Byzantium or Constantinople on its development in wealth and
luxury after becoming the capital of that empire in 330 A.D. Owing to
its control of the trade between Asia and Europe, and the influence of
oriental taste and fashion, enormous collections were made; and for
centuries after Rome had been pillaged, this capital was the focus of
all the arts, and pearls were the favorite ornaments. The famous mosaic
in the sanctuary of San Vitale at Ravenna, shows Justinian (483–565)
with his head covered with a jeweled cap, and the Empress Theodora
wearing a tiara encircled by three rows of pearls, and strings of pearls
depend therefrom almost to the waist. In many instances the decorations
of the emperors excelled even those of the most profligate of Roman
rulers. An examination of the coins, from those of Arcadius in 395 to
the last dribble of a long line of obscure rulers when the city was
captured and pillaged by Venetian and Latin adventurers in 1204, shows
in the form of diadems, collars, necklaces, etc., the great quantity of
pearls worn by them. The oldest existing crown in use at the present
time, the Hungarian crown of St. Stephen, which is radiant with pearls,
is of Byzantine workmanship.
Outside of Constantinople, the demand and fashion for pearls did not
cease with the downfall of the Roman Empire and the spoliation of Rome
in the fifth century. The treasures accumulated there, and the gems and
jewels, were carried away by the conquering Goths and scattered among
the great territorial lords of western and northern Europe.
In the ancient cities of Gaul, in Toulouse and Narbonne, the Ostrogoth
and the Visigoth kings collected enormous treasures. The citadel of
Carcassonne held magnificent spoils brought from the sacking of Rome in
410 by Alaric, king of the Ostrogoths, consisting in part of jewels from
the Temple, these having been carried to Rome after the spoliation of
Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Several beautiful objects of this and somewhat
later periods are yet in existence, notably the Visigothic crowns and
crosses, in the Musée de l’Hôtel de Cluny, Paris, the most beautiful of
which are probably the crown and the cross of Reccesvinthus.[23]
Even as the treasures of Rome were despoiled by the Ostrogoths and the
Visigoths, so, later, their collections were depleted by the military
operations of the Franks, when Narbonne was pillaged; when Toulouse was
sacked by Clovis, or Chlodowig, in 507; when the churches of Barcelona
and Toledo were despoiled by Childebert in 531 and 542; and by various
expeditions in succeeding years.
The military triumphs of the Franks placed them in the highest rank
among the peoples of Europe, in the sixth and seventh centuries, in the
possession of treasures of jewels which enriched their palaces and great
churches. And the taste which the triumphs of war had developed was
maintained by the trade carried on by the Jewish and Syrian merchants.
The inhabitants of Gaul were extremely fond of objects of art, of rich
costumes, and of personal decorations; and the courts of some of the
early kings rivaled in magnificence those of oriental monarchs.
Especially was this true during the reign of King Dagobert (628–638),
who competed in splendor with the rulers of Persia and India. His
skilful jeweler, Eligius (588–659), was raised to the bishopric of
Noyon, and eventually—under the name of St. Eloi—became one of the most
popular saints in Gaul. Under direction of this artistic bishop, the
ancient churches received shrines, vestments, and reliquaries superbly
decorated with pearls and other gems. Indeed, for several centuries
following the time of Eligius, the greatest treasures of jewels seem to
have been collected in the churches.
The use of gems in enriching regalia, vestments, and reliquaries in
Europe, advanced greatly during the reign of Charlemagne (768–814); and
princes and bishops competed with each other in the magnificence of
their gifts to the churches, sacrificing their laical jewels for the
sacred treasures. Few of the great ornaments of Charlemagne’s time are
now in existence in the original form. Doubtless the most remarkable
pieces are the sacred regalia of the great emperor, preserved among the
imperial treasures in Vienna.
[Illustration:
FRONT COVER OF ASHBURNHAM MANUSCRIPT OF THE FOUR GOSPELS
From the ninth century. One quarter of the actual dimensions.
Owned by J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq.
]
An artistic use for pearls at that time was in the rich and elegant
bindings of the splendidly written missals and chronicles, finished in
the highest degree of excellence and at vast expense. An artist might
devote his whole life to completing a single manuscript, so great was
the detail and so exquisite the finish. Vasari states that Julio Clovio
devoted nine years to painting twenty-six miniatures in the Breviary of
the Virgin now in the royal library at Naples. The library at Rouen has
a large missal on which a monk of St. Andoen is said to have labored for
thirty years. These books were among the most valued possessions of the
churches, and their bindings were enriched with gold and pearls and
colored stones. The wealthy churches had many such volumes; Gregory of
Tours states that from Barcelona in 531 A.D. Childebert brought twenty
“_evangeliorum capsas_” of pure gold set with gems. Several of these
superbly bound volumes are yet in existence, in the Basilica of St. Mark
in Venice; in the treasury of the cathedral at Milan; among the imperial
Russian collections in the Ourejenaya Palata at Moscow, etc.; and they
furnish probably the most reliable examples of artistic jewel work of
the Dark Ages.
The most remarkable specimen of these books in America is doubtless the
Ashburnham manuscript of the Four Gospels, now owned by J. Pierpont
Morgan, Esq., which affords an interesting example of the jeweler’s art.
For many centuries it belonged to the Abbey of the Noble Canonesses,
founded, in 834, at Lindau, on Lake Constance. After an extended
examination, Mr. Alexander Nesbit concluded that the rich cover of the
manuscript was probably made between 896 and 899 by order of Emperor
Arnulf of the Carolingian dynasty. Most of the ninety-eight pearls
appear to be from fresh water, and probably all of them were obtained
from the rivers of Europe. This is one of the few remaining pieces of
the magnificent ecclesiastical jeweling of that period.
After the death of Charlemagne, internal dissensions, separations and
the division of the Empire into the nations of Europe, annihilated
commerce, oppressed the people, and impoverished the arts. In the ninth
century, the Normans pillaged many of the palaces and churches in
Angoulême, Tours, Orléans, Rouen, and Paris, and destroyed or carried
away large treasures. The tenth and the eleventh centuries were indeed
the Dark Ages in respect to the cultivation of the arts; yet even during
that period the churches of western Europe received many gems from
penitent and fear-stricken subjects. The heart of man, filled with the
love of God, laid its earthly treasure upon the altar in exchange for
heavenly consolation. Pious faith dedicated pearls to the glorification
of the ritual; altars, statues, and images of the saints, priestly
vestments, and sacred vessels, were surcharged with them. The great
museums and the imperial collections contain some beautiful and highly
venerated objects of this nature.
In the meantime pearls of small size and of fair luster had been
collected in the rivers of Scotland, Ireland, and France, the headwaters
of the Danube, and in the countries north thereof. In England, as noted
in the preceding chapter, they were obtained by Cæsar’s invading
legions, who carried many to Rome. Ancient coins indicate that pearls
formed the principal ornament of the simple crowns worn by the early
kings of Britain previous to Alfred the Great.
The river pearls were not so beautiful as oriental ones; but, owing to
the ease with which they were obtained, they were employed more
extensively and especially in ecclesiastical decorations, the principal
use for pearls from the eighth to the eleventh century. Apparently
authentic specimens of fresh-water pearls of an early period are the
four now in the coronation spoon of the English regalia, which is
attributed to the twelfth century.
From the most ancient times until the overthrow of the Roman Empire,
practically the only use for pearls was ornamental; but after the eighth
century there developed a new employment for these as well as for other
gems. Natural history was little studied in Europe from the ninth to the
fourteenth century, except for the effect which its subjects had in
medicine and magic, which were closely allied. Largely through Arabic
influence, the practice of medicine had developed into administering
most whimsical remedies, among which gems, and especially pearls, played
a prominent part, and belief in the influence of these was as strong as
in that of the heavenly bodies. For this application, large demands had
arisen for pearls, which seem to have been prescribed for nearly every
ill to which the flesh was heir. On account of their cheapness, the
small ones—seed-pearls—were used principally; though larger ones were
preferred by persons who could afford them. While many of these
so-called medicinal pearls were obtained from the Orient, most of them
were secured from the home streams in the north of Europe and in the
British Isles.
After the decadence of Roman power in the East, the rulers of India and
Persia, through their control of the fisheries, again accumulated
enormous quantities of pearls. All of the early travelers to those
countries were astonished at the lavish display of these gems in
decorative costume.
The manuscript of Renaudot’s two Mohammedans, who visited India and
China in the ninth century, notes that the kings of the Indies were rich
in ornaments, “yet pearls are what they most esteem, and their value
surpasses that of all other jewels; they hoard them up in their
treasures with their most precious things. The grandees of the court,
the great officers and captains, wear the like jewels in their
collars.”[24]
[Illustration:
FRANCIS I, KING OF FRANCE, 1494–1547
Louvre, Paris
]
[Illustration:
ISABELLE DE VALOIS
By Pantoia de la Cruz, Prado Museum, Madrid
]
Inventories of some of the oriental collections of later times seem to
be extravagant fiction rather than veritable history. In that
interesting book dictated in a Genoese prison to Rusticiano da Pisa,
accounts are given by Marco Polo of great treasures seen by the first
Europeans to penetrate into China. He describes the king of Malabar as
wearing suspended about his neck a string of 104 large pearls and rubies
of great value, which he used as a rosary. Likewise on his legs were
anklets and on his toes were rings, all thickly set with costly pearls,
the whole “worth more than a city’s ransom. And ’tis no wonder he hath
great store of such gear; for they are found in his kingdom. No one is
permitted to remove therefrom a pearl weighing more than half a
_saggio_. The king desires to reserve all such to himself, and so the
quantity he has is almost incredible.”[25]
Later travelers give wonderful descriptions of this excessive passion
for pearls. Literature is full of this appreciation, and of the part
which these gems played in the affairs of the Orientals. Who has not
dwelt with delight upon those imperishable legends such as are embodied
in the Arabian Nights, of the pearl voyages by Sindbad the Sailor, of
the wonderful treasure chests, and of the superb necklaces adorning the
beautiful black-eyed women!
The returning Crusaders in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the
development of the knightly orders, had much to do with spreading
through Europe a fondness for pearls in personal decoration. Those who,
like Chaucer’s knight, had been with Peter, King of Cyprus, at the
capture and plunder when “Alexandria was won,” returned to their homes
with riches of pearls and gold and precious stones. And learning much
relative to decorative art from Moorish craftsmen, the jewelers of
western Europe set these in designs not always crude and ineffective.
Although they were well known and valued, pearls do not seem to have
been much used in England before the twelfth century, as the
Anglo-Saxons were not an especially art-loving people. The word itself
is of foreign derivation and occurs in a similar form in all modern
languages, both Romance and Teutonic; _perle_, French and German;
_perla_, Italian, Portuguese, Provençal, Spanish, and Swedish; _paarl_,
Danish and Dutch. Its origin is doubtful. Some philologists consider it
Teutonic and the diminutive of _beere_, a berry; Claude de Saumaise
derives it from _pirula_, the diminutive of _pirum_, a sphere; while
Diez and many others refer it to _pira_ or to the medieval Latin
_pirula_, in allusion to the pear shape frequently assumed by the
pearl.[26]
The word pearl seems to have come into general use in the English
language about the fourteenth century. In Wyclif’s translation of the
Scriptures (about 1360), he commonly used the word _margarite_ or
_margaritis_, whereas Tyndale’s translation (1526) in similar places
used the word _perle_. Tyndale translated Matt. xiii. 46: “When he had
founde one precious pearle”; Wyclif used “oo preciouse margarite.” Also
in Matt. vii. 6, Tyndale wrote, “Nether caste ye youre pearles before
swyne”; yet Wyclif used “margaritis,” although twenty years later he
expressed it “putten precious perlis to hoggis.” Langland’s Piers
Plowman (1362), XI, 9, wrote this: “_Noli mittere_ Margeri perles Among
hogges.” The oldest English version of Mandeville’s Travels, written
about 1400, contained the expression: “The fyn Perl congeles and wexes
gret of the dew of hevene”; but in 1447, Bokenham’s “Seyntys” stated: “A
margerye perle aftyr the phylosophyr Growyth on a shelle of lytyl
pryhs”; and Knight de la Tour (about 1450) stated: “The sowle is the
precious marguarite unto God.”
The word is given “perle” in the earliest manuscripts of those old epic
poems of the fourteenth century, “Pearl” and “Cleanness,” which have
caused so much learned theological discussion and which testify to the
great love and esteem in which the gem was held. The first stanza of
“Pearl” we quote from Gollancz’s rendition:
Pearl! fair enow for princes’ pleasance,
so deftly set in gold so pure,—
from orient lands I durst avouch,
ne’er saw I a gem its peer,—
so round, so comely-shaped withal,
so small, with sides so smooth,—
where’er I judged of radiant gems,
I placed my pearl supreme.[27]
The fourteenth-century manuscript in the British Museum gives this as
follows:
Perle plesaunte to prynces paye,
To clanly clos in gold so clere,
Oute of oryent I hardyly saye,
Ne proved I never her precios pere,—
So rounde, so reken in uche a raye,
So smal, so smothe her sydez were,—
Queresoever I jugged gemmez gaye,
I sette hyr sengeley in synglere.
And from a modern rendering of “Cleanness” we quote:
The pearl is praised wherever gems are seen,
though it be not the dearest by way of merchandise.
Why is the pearl so prized, save for its purity,
that wins praise for it above all white stones?
It shineth so bright; it is so round of shape;
without fault or stain; if it be truly a pearl.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries throughout Europe pearls were
very fashionable as personal ornaments, and were worn in enormous
quantities; the dresses of men as well as of women were decorated and
embroidered with them, and they were noted in nearly every account of a
festive occasion, whether it were a marriage, a brilliant tourney, the
consecration of a bishop, or the celebration of a victory in battle.
The faceting of crystal gems was not known at that time, and those
dependent on artifice for their beauty were not much sought after.
Although the diamond had been known from the eighth century, it was not
generally treasured as an ornament, and not until long after the
invention of cutting in regular facets—about 1450—did it attain its
great popularity.
In the Dark Ages, it was customary for princes and great nobles to carry
their valuables about with them even on the battle-fields; first, in
order to have them always in possession, and second, on account of the
mysterious power they attributed to precious stones. Since jewels
constituted a large portion of their portable wealth, nobles and knights
went into battle superbly arrayed. In this manner the treasures were
easily lost and destroyed; consequently, relatively few of the personal
ornaments of that period are preserved to the present time.
Among the greatest lovers of pearls in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries were the members of the ducal house of Burgundy, and
especially Philip the Bold (1342–1404), Philip the Good (1396–1467), and
Charles the Bold (1433–77), and some of the gems which they owned are
even now treasured in Austria, Spain, and Italy. When Duke Charles the
Bold, in the year 1473, attended the Diet of Treves, accompanied by his
five thousand splendidly equipped horsemen, he was attired in cloth of
gold garnished with pearls, which were valued at 200,000 golden
florins.[28] We are told that “almost a sea of pearls” was on view at
the marriage of George the Rich with Hedwig, the daughter of Casimir III
of Poland, at Landshut, in 1475. Among the many ornaments was a pearl
chaplet valued at 50,000 florins which Duke George wore on his hat, and
also a clasp worth 6000 florins.[29] Members of the related houses of
Anjou and Valois also held great collections. Nor in this account should
we omit some of the English sovereigns, including especially Richard II
(1366–1400), one of the greatest dandies of his day.
During the fifteenth century, enormous quantities of pearls were worn by
persons of rank and fashion. A remarkable 1483 portrait of Margaret,
wife of James III of Scotland, which is now preserved at Hampton Court,
shows her wearing such wonderful pearl ornaments that she might well be
called Margaret from her decorations. As this queen was praised for her
beauty, we fear the artist has scarcely done justice to her appearance;
or possibly since that period tastes have changed as to what on a throne
passes for beauty. Her head-dress is undoubtedly the most remarkable
pearl decoration which we have seen of that century.
The uxorious and sumptuous Henry VIII of England (1491–1547) spent much
of the great wealth accumulated by his penurious father, Henry VII, in
enriching the appearance of his semi-barbaric court. In this reign, the
spoliation of the Catholic cathedrals and churches contributed many
pearls to the royal treasury; and onward from that time, they were
prominently displayed among the ornaments of the women of rank in
England. Most of the portraits of Henry’s wives show great quantities of
these gems; many of them with settings doubtless designed by artistic
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543); and during the succeeding reigns
the women near the throne were commonly depicted with elaborate pearl
decorations.
The cold, unflattering portraits by Holbein of the court celebrities of
that period, not only of the gracious women and of the dandified men,
but of the clergy as well, show the prominence of pearls. Note his
portrait of Jane Seymour, of Anne of Cleves, of Christina of Denmark,
and the pearl-incrusted miter of Archbishop Warham of Canterbury.
An interesting story is told of Sir Thomas More, the learned chancellor
of Henry VIII, showing his view of the great display of jewels which
distinguished the period in which he lived:
His sonne John’s wife often had requested her father-in-law, Sir
Thomas, to buy her a billiment sett with pearles. He had often put
her off with many pretty slights; but at last, for her importunity,
he provided her one. Instead of pearles, he caused white peaze to be
sett, so that at his next coming home, his daughter-in-law demanded
her jewel. “Ay, marry, daughter, I have not forgotten thee!” So out
of his studie he sent for a box, and solemnlie delivered it to her.
When she, with great joy, lookt for her billiment, she found, far
from her expectation, a billiment of peaze; and so she almost wept
for verie griefe.[30]
Meanwhile, in the yet unknown America, pearls were highly prized, and
their magic charm had taken an irresistible hold on aborigines and on
the more highly civilized inhabitants of Mexico and Peru. In Mexico the
palaces of Montezuma were studded with pearls and emeralds, and the
Aztec kings possessed pearls of inestimable value. That they had been
collected elsewhere for a long time is evidenced by the large quantities
in the recently opened mounds of the Ohio Valley, which rank among the
ancient works of man in America. As in the Old World, so in the New,
they had been used as decoration for the gods and for the temples, as
well as for men and women.
The principal immediate effect of Columbus’s discovery and of the
commercial intercourse with the New World, was the great wealth of
pearls which enriched the Spanish traders. The natives were found in
possession of rich fisheries on the coast of Venezuela, and somewhat
later on the Pacific coast of Panama and Mexico, whence Eldorado
adventurers returned to Spain with such large collections that—using an
old chronicler’s expression—“they were to every man like chaff.” For
many years America was best known in Seville, Cadiz, and some other
ports of Europe, as the land whence the pearls came. Until the
development of the mines in Mexico and Peru, the value of the pearls
exceeded that of all other exports combined. Humboldt states that till
1530 these averaged in value more than 800,000 piastres yearly.[31] And
throughout the sixteenth century the American fisheries—prosecuted by
the Spaniards with the help of native labor—furnished Europe with large
quantities, the records for one year showing imports of “697 pounds’
weight” into Seville alone.
For two centuries following the discovery of America, extravagance in
personal decoration was almost unlimited at the European courts, and the
pearls exceeded in quantity that of all other gems. Enormous numbers
were worn by persons of rank and fortune. This is apparent, not only
from the antiquarian records and the historical accounts, but also in
the paintings and engravings of that time; portraits of the Hapsburgs,
the Valois, the Medicis, the Borgias, the Tudors, and the Stuarts show
great quantities of pearls, and relatively few other gems.
Probably the largest treasures were in possession of the Hapsburg
family, which furnished so many sovereigns to the Holy Roman Empire, to
Austria, and to Spain, and which, by descent through Maria Theresa,
continued to rule the Holy Roman Empire until its abolition in 1806, and
has since ruled Austria and Hungary.
A number of superb pieces of jewelry owned centuries ago by members of
this illustrious family are yet in existence; notably the buckle of
Charles V, and especially the imperial crown of Austria, made in 1602 by
order of Rudolph II.[32]
Two great women of that period are noted for their passion for pearls,
Catharine de’ Medici (1519–89), and Elizabeth of England (1533–1603). It
requires but a glance at almost any of their portraits, wherein they are
represented wearing elaborate pearl ornaments, to see to what an extent
they carried this fondness. And many other women were not far behind
them, among whom were Mary Stuart, Marie de’ Medici, and Henrietta
Maria. And not only by the women, but by the men also, pearls were worn
to what now seems an extravagant extent. Nearly all the portraits of
Francis I (1494–1547), Henry II (1519–59), Charles IX (1550–74), and
Henry III (1551–89) of France; of James I (1566–1625), and of Charles I
(1600–49) of England, and likewise of other celebrities, show a great
pear-shaped pearl in one ear. Many portraits also show pearls on the
hats, cloaks, gloves, etc.
When the Duke of Buckingham went to Paris in 1625, to bring over
Henrietta Maria to be queen to Charles I, he had, according to an
account in the “Antiquarian Repertory,” in addition to twenty-six other
suits, “a rich suit of purple satin, embroidered all over with rich
orient pearls, the cloak made after the Spanish mode, with all things
suitable, the value whereof will be twenty thousand pounds, and this, it
is thought, shall be for the wedding day at Paris.”
In the rich and prosperous cities of southern Europe, pearls were no
less popular. From its share of the spoils of the Byzantine Empire,
after its partition in 1204, pearls and other riches were plentiful in
Venice, and they were increased by the rapidly developing trade with the
Orient. In the rival maritime cities, Genoa and Pisa, the gem was
equally popular; and likewise in Florence “the Beautiful.” When Hercule
d’Este sought Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519) in marriage for his son, her
father, Pope Alexander VI, plunging both hands in a box filled with
pearls, said: “All these are for her! I desire that in all Italy she
shall be the princess with the most beautiful pearls and with the
greatest number.”[33]
Separated by three centuries of time and by the intervening simplicities
of puritanism and democracy, it is difficult for us to appreciate the
passion for pearls in Europe at that period, which may well be called
the Pearl Age.
[Illustration:
MARIA THERESA (1717–1780), QUEEN OF HUNGARY
By Martin de Mytens, 1742
]
The sumptuary laws which prevailed at different times in France,
England, Germany, and other countries, did not overlook this
extravagance; and an entire volume might be devoted to the efforts to
curb the excessive use. In France they were probably most stringent
during the reign of Philip IV (1285–1314), of Louis XI (1461–83), of
Charles IX (1560–74), of Henry III (1574–89), and of Louis XIII
(1610–43). In Germany almost every city had its special restrictions. A
sumptuary law of Ulm, in 1345, provided that no married woman or maiden,
either among the patricians or the artisans, should wear pearls on her
dresses; and another, in 1411, restricted them to “one pearl chaplet,”
and this should not exceed twelve _loth_ (half ounce) in weight. A
Frankish sumptuary law of 1479 provided that ordinary nobles serving a
knight at a tourney should not wear any pearl ornaments, embroidered or
otherwise, excepting one string around the cap or hat. The regulations
decreed by the Diet of Worms, in 1495, set forth that the citizens who
were not of noble birth, and nobles who were not knights, must withhold
from the use of gold and pearls. A similar provision was enacted by the
Diet of Freiburg in 1498, and likewise by the Diet of Augsburg in 1530,
which permitted the wives of nobles four silk dresses, but without
pearls. In the sumptuary law of Duke John George of Saxony, April 23,
1612, we read: “the nobility are not allowed to wear any dresses of gold
or silver, or garnished with pearls; neither shall the professors and
doctors of the universities, nor their wives, wear any gold, silver or
pearls for fringes, or any chains of pearls, or caps, neck ornaments,
shoes, slippers, shawls, pins, etc., with gold or silver or with
pearls.” Beadles, burgomasters, and those connected with the law-courts
were forbidden to wear chains of pearls and ornaments of precious stones
on their dresses, caps, etc., or slippers or chaplets with pearls.
Probably in no place were these laws more stringent than in the
art-loving republic of Venice from the fourteenth to the sixteenth
century. This seems remarkable in view of the fact that this city was
largely dependent for its wealth and prominence on commerce with the
East, of which pearls constituted a prominent item.
The earliest Venetian restriction that we have found regarding pearls
was made in 1299; when, in a decree determining the maximum number of
guests at a marriage ceremony and the extent of the bridal trousseau,
the grand council of the republic provided that no one but the bride
should wear pearl decorations, and she should be permitted only one
girdle of them on her wedding dress. This enactment was modified in
1306, but numerous other restrictions were substituted, notably in 1334,
1340, 1360, 1497, and 1562. These differed in many particulars: some
forbade ornaments or trimmings of pearls, gold, or silver on the dresses
of any women except a member of the Doge’s family; and other enactments
required that, after a definite period of married life, no woman should
be permitted to wear pearls of any kind. But an examination of the
documents and of the paintings of that period shows that these decrees
had little effect, and the luxury of the “Queen of the Adriatic” in the
use of pearls at the most brilliant epoch in her history is aptly
reproduced in the portraits by Giovanni Bellini, Lorenzo Lotto, the
great Titian, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, and other artists of the
highest rank. In the engraving by Hendrik Goltzius of a marriage at
Venice in 1584, not one of the many women present seems to be without
her necklace and earrings of pearls, and some of them have several
necklaces.[34] And the same appears true of the principal female figures
in Jost Amman’s noted engraving, “The Espousal of the Sea,” executed in
1565.[35]
As preservation of the republic became more difficult with declining
resources and with the continued growth of dazzling splendor, a
resolution in the Senate, dated July 8, 1599, set forth that “the use
and price of pearls has become so excessive and increases to such an
extent from day to day, that if some remedy is not provided, it will
cause injury, disorders, and notable inconvenience to public and private
well-being, as each one of this council in his wisdom can very easily
appreciate.” And then it was enacted: “That, without repealing the other
regulations which absolutely prohibit the wearing of pearls, it shall be
expressly enjoined that any woman, whether of noble birth or a simple
citizen, or of any other condition, who shall reside in this our city
for one year (except her Serenity the Dogaressa and her daughters and
her daughters-in-law who live in the palace), after the expiration of
fifteen years from the day of her first marriage, shall lay aside the
string of pearls around her neck and shall not wear or use, either upon
her neck or upon any other part of her person, this string or any other
kind of pearls or anything which imitates pearls, neither in this city
nor in any other city or place within our dominion, under the
irremissible penalty of two hundred ducats.”
And yet ten years later, on May 5, 1609, another law enacted in the
Senate stated:
Although in the year 1599 this council decided with great wisdom
that married women should be permitted to wear pearls for only
fifteen years after their first marriage, nevertheless it is very
evident that the desired end has not been attained, and the
extravagance has continued up to the present time and still
continues with the gravest injury to private persons. Therefore, as
it is necessary to remedy, by a new provision, not only this
considerable incommodity, but also to prevent in the future the
introduction into the city of a greater quantity of pearls than are
found here at present, it is enacted, that married women as well as
those who shall marry in the future (except the Serene Dogaressa and
her daughters and her daughters-in-law living in the palace) of
whatever grade and condition they may be, who have resided in this
city for one year, cannot wear pearls of any kind except for ten
years immediately following the day of their first marriage; and
after that period they must lay aside these pearls which they are
forbidden to wear on any part of their persons, at home or abroad,
and as well in this as in the other cities, lands, and other places
of our dominion, under the penalty of two hundred ducats. And if the
husband of the offending wife is a noble, he shall be proclaimed in
the greater council and declared a debtor to the office of the
governors of the revenue in the sum of twenty-five ducats for each
fine; and if he is a citizen or of any other condition, besides the
penalty of two hundred ducats and the fine of twenty-five ducats
above mentioned, he shall be banished for three years from Venice
and the Duchy, and the same for each offence. And pearls or anything
which imitates pearls, shall be forbidden to all other women, men
and boys or girls of every age and condition at all times and in all
places, under the same penalty of two hundred ducats. In the future
no one shall in any manner bring pearls to this city as merchandise,
under the penalty of their seizure and forfeiture. And the merchant
shall be imprisoned for five consecutive years; and if he flees, he
shall be banished from the city and district of Venice and from all
other cities, lands, and places of our dominion for eight
consecutive years.... And all who at present have pearls to sell are
required to deposit a list of them with the sumptuary office, so as
to avoid all fraud which could be practiced in this matter.
[Illustration:
PARTI
PRESE
NELL ECCELLENTISS
Conseglio di Pregadi.
_1599. Adi 8. Luglio, & 1609. 5. Maggio._
In materia di Perle.
Stampata per Antonio Pinelli,
Stampator Ducale.
_A S. Maria Formosa, in Cale del Mondo Novo._
]
A copy of the title-page of this enactment is presented above.
The decrees and edicts were not confined to Venice, or to Italy, France,
or Germany; they made their appearance quite generally throughout
western and northern Europe and the interdictions of the civil
authorities were strengthened by the voice of the bishops and other
clergy, especially in the imperial cities of southern Germany. Yet the
united authority of church and state was ineffectual in stemming the
tide of fashion and personal fancy, and whether or not pearls should be
worn became one of the much discussed questions of that period.
To the question, “Whether the statute and regulation of Bishop
Tudertinus, who had excommunicated all women who wore pearls, was
binding,” Joannes Guidius replied that many denied that this was so, and
made the subtle defense that “the women had not accepted it and all had
worn pearls, and it was considered that such a law was binding only when
it was accepted by those for whom it was intended.”[36]
And as to the validity of the statutes requiring that women should not
wear more than a definite number of pearls, he decided that “such a
statute is valid and in itself good. And if the question is put whether
every woman who infringes incurs the penalty, an answer may be gathered
from the sayings of the doctors, who distinguish between married and
unmarried women. They consider that an unmarried woman is obliged to
obey the statute and regulation or to incur the penalty. But as to a
married woman, if her husband approves, she should obey the statute; if,
however, the husband objects, then the wife ought to wish to obey the
statute, but in effect she should rather obey her husband, for she is
most immediately and strongly bound to do this.”[37] Aided by such
ingenious opinions as these, the women continued to follow their own
inclinations notwithstanding the opposition of church and state.
Other fine distinctions were drawn by the lawyers of that day regarding
ownership of gems under certain conditions. For instance, it was decided
that pearls given by a father to his unmarried daughter remained her
property after marriage because “they are given for a reason, namely to
induce a marriage”; yet “pearls handed to a wife by her husband are not
considered as her property, but must be given to his heirs, since it is
supposed that they were given only for her adornment. The same holds
good as respects pearls handed to a daughter-in-law by her
father-in-law.”[38]
However, the greed of fashion, which law-makers and bishops could not
arrest, was gradually satiated; and, influenced probably by the horrors
of the Thirty Years’ War, more simple taste prevailed in the latter part
of the seventeenth century.
In the meantime, improvements in cutting and polishing had greatly
increased the beauty and popularity of diamonds and other crystal gems,
and this adversely affected the demand for pearls. Furthermore, cleverly
fashioned imitations manufactured at a low cost also served to decrease
the relative rank and fashion of the sea-born gems. In the eighteenth
century, pearls were relatively scarce; the resources of the American
seas were largely exhausted, likewise the Ceylon and Red Sea fisheries
were not to be depended on, and practically the entire supply came from
the Persian Gulf, with a few from European rivers and the waters of
China. As a result, although they continued to be prized by
connoisseurs, pearls were not so extensively sought after by the rank
and file of jewel purchasers.
It should be noted, however, that from the most ancient times, the
princes of India and of Persia have had their pick and choice of the
output from Ceylon and the Persian Gulf; and the largest single
collections of the Western world have never equaled the possessions of
some of those rulers. Some Indian princes have loaded themselves with
thousands of pearls, and individual ornaments have been valued not only
by oriental, but by European experts, at several millions of dollars.
The great diamond resources of Brazil were discovered in 1727, and after
a few years these came on the market at the rate of 140,000 carats
annually. At that time ladies of rank did not esteem diamonds so highly
as pearls. This distinction was accentuated by Lord Hervey in his
account of the coronation, in 1727, of George II and his consort
Caroline, who wore not only the great pearl necklace inherited from
Queen Anne, but “had on her head and shoulders all the pearls she could
borrow of the ladies of quality at one end of the town, and on her
petticoat all the diamonds she could hire of the Jews and jewelers at
the other; so that the appearance and the truth of her finery was a
mixture of magnificence and meanness not unlike the _éclat_ of royalty
in many other particulars, when it comes to be nicely considered and its
source traced to what money hires or flattery lends.”[39] In a portrait
of Charlotte (1744–1818), wife of George III, the pearls and diamonds
appear equally popular.
On the entry of the British into possession of Ceylon in 1796, the
fisheries of that country were resumed with great success after thirty
years of idleness, resulting in very large outputs for several seasons.
But owing to exhaustion of the areas, they were soon reduced, and the
yield became small and uncertain.
About 1845, pearls came on the market from the Tuamotu Archipelago and
other South Sea islands, and the industry was revived on the Mexican
coast. The pearls from these localities are noted for their range of
coloration, and particularly for the very dark shades, black or greenish
black being especially prominent. But the fashion, and thus,
necessarily, the demand, had always been for white and yellow pearls;
consequently, these black ones were of little value in the markets until
about ten years later, when they became fashionable in Europe largely
through their popularity with Empress Eugénie of France, then at the
height of her power. To this queen, pearls owe much of their high rank
in fashion in the nineteenth century; and on her head they were royal
gems royally worn, as appears from Winterhalter’s portrait of her,
showing her magnificent necklace.
The discovery of the resources on the Australian coast about 1865, and
the development of the fishery there for mother-of-pearl, resulted in
many large white pearls coming from that coast. The search was confined
to the relatively shoal waters, until the introduction of diving-suits
about 1880. The use of these facilitated a considerable extension of the
fisheries not only on the Australian coast, but also in Mexico, the
Malay Archipelago, several of the South Sea islands, and some minor
localities.
In America, few jewels were worn previous to the Civil War, owing to the
absence of great wealth and to the simplicity of taste in personal
decorations. The rapid increase in wealth and luxury, on the termination
of that war, resulted in a great demand for gems, and the most brilliant
and showy ones were selected, especially diamonds. This demand was the
more readily supplied by the discovery of the South African mines, with
their great yield from 1870 to the present time. So popular did that gem
become that many a young man invested his first earnings in a
“brilliant,” and an enormous diamond in the shirt-front became the
caricatured emblem of a prosperous hotel clerk.
But in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, in Europe, as well as
in America and elsewhere where gems are worn, luxury found in pearls a
refinement, associated with richness and beauty, exceeding that of
diamonds and other crystal gems, and in the last few years they have
taken the highest rank among jewels. This change in fashion and the
increase in wealth among the people developed vastly greater demands and
consequently very much higher prices. These have resulted in greatly
extending the field of search, and during the last two or three decades
many new territories have been brought into production.
By far the most important of these new regions is the Mississippi Valley
in America, the pearl resources of which were made known about a score
of years ago. As the exploitation developed, the gems from these streams
added very largely to the supply, especially of the baroque or irregular
pearls, which have increased greatly in fashion in the last ten years.
[Illustration]
LADY ABINGER MRS. ADAIR
LADY WIMBORNE HON. MRS. RENARD GRÉVILLE
MARCHIONESS OF LANSDOWNE
LADY LONDONDERRY
BARONESS DE FOREST
Notwithstanding the popular idea that pearls are scarce owing to
depletion of the fisheries, they are doubtless produced in greater
quantities at present than ever before in the history of the world.
True, they were more plentiful in Rome after the Persian conquest, and
in Spain immediately following the exploitation of tropical America; but
it is highly probable that in no equal period have the entire fisheries
of the world yielded greater quantities than in the five years from 1903
to 1907 inclusive. Certain individual fisheries are now less productive
than at the height of their prosperity; those in the Red Sea do not
compare favorably with their condition in ancient times, the European
resources are nearly exhausted, the supplies from the Venezuelan coast
do not equal those obtained early in the sixteenth century, the yield
from Mexico is not so extensive as twenty-five years ago, and the same
is true of some other regions. On the other hand, the great fisheries of
Persia and Ceylon are yet very prosperous, the Ceylon fishery of 1905
surpassing all records, and the number of minor pearling regions has
largely increased.
The present value of pearls—which has advanced enormously since 1893—is
due to the extended markets and the increased wealth and fashion in
Western countries, rather than to diminished fisheries. The oriental
demand still consumes the bulk of the Persian and Indian output, and the
vast increase in wealth among the middle classes in America, Europe, and
elsewhere, has increased the demand tenfold over that of a century ago.
While women no longer appear ornamented from head to foot as in the
sixteenth century, pearls are in the highest fashion, and the woman of
rank and wealth usually prizes first among her jewels her necklace of
pearls.
III
ORIGIN OF PEARLS
III
ORIGIN OF PEARLS
Heaven-born and cradled in the deep blue sea, it is the purest of
gems and the most precious.
S. M. ZWEMER.
The origin of pearls has been a fruitful subject of speculation and
discussion among naturalists of all ages, and has provoked many curious
explanations. Most of the early views—universally accepted during those
centuries when tradition had more influence than observation and
experiment—have no standing among naturalists at the present time. And
although much information has been gained as to the conditions
accompanying their growth, and many theories are entertained, each with
some basis in observed fact, science does not yet speak with conclusive
and unquestioned authority as to the precise manner of their origin and
development.
Owing to the chaste and subdued beauty of pearls, it is not strange that
poets of many countries have founded their origin in tears—tears of
angels, of water-nymphs, of the lovely and devoted. Sir Walter Scott in
“The Bridal of Triermain” refers to—
The pearls that long have slept,
These were tears by Naiads wept.
In one of his most lovely and consoling thoughts, Shakspere says:
The liquid drops of tears that you have shed,
Shall come again, transform’d to orient pearl,
Advantaging their loan with interest
Of ten times double gain of happiness.
And we quote from Rückert’s “Edelstein und Perlen”:
I was the Angel, who of old bowed down
From Heaven to earth and shed that tear, O Pearl,
From which thou wert first-fashioned in thy shell.
To thee I gave that longing in thy shell,
Which guided thee and caused thee to escape,
O Pearl, from the bewitching sirens’ song.
In luster they so closely resemble the limpid, sparkling dewdrop as it
first receives the sun’s rays, that the ancients very naturally
conceived that pearls are formed from drops of dew or rain. The usual
legend is, that at certain seasons of the year, the pearl-oysters rise
to the surface of the water in the morning, and there open their shells
and imbibe the dewdrops; these, aided by the breath of the air and the
warmth of the sunlight, are, in the course of time, transformed into
lustrous pearls; but if the air and the sunlight are not received in
sufficient quantities, the pearls do not attain perfection and are
faulty in form, color, and luster. However remarkable and even absurd
this may seem at present, it appears to have been universally accepted
for centuries by the most learned men of Europe as well as by primitive
people who delight in the mystical and fantastic. This opinion was
recorded in the Sanskrit books of the Brahmans and in other oriental
literature. The classical and medieval writings of Europe contain
numerous references to it; and it is found even yet in the traditions
and folk-lore of some peoples.
In the first century A.D., Pliny wrote in his “Historia naturalis,”
according to Dr. Philemon Holland’s quaint translation:
The fruit of these shell fishes are the Pearles, better or worse,
great or small, according to the qualitie and quantitie of the dew
which they received. For if the dew were pure and cleare which went
into them, then are the Pearles white, faire, and Orient; but if
grosse and troubled, the Pearles likewise are dimme, foule, and
duskish; pale they are, if the weather were close, darke and
threatening raine in the time of their conception. Whereby (no
doubt) it is apparent and plaine, that they participate more of the
aire and sky, than of the water and the sea; for according as the
morning is faire, so are they cleere: but otherwise, if it were
misty and cloudy, they also will be thicke and muddy in colour. If
they may have their full time and season to feed, the Pearles
likewise will thrive and grow bigge: but if in the time it chance to
lighten, then they close their shells together, and for want of
nourishment are kept hungrie and fasting, and so the pearles keepe
at a stay and prosper not accordingly. But if it thunder withall,
then suddenly they shut hard at once, and breed only those
excrescences which be called _Physemata_, like unto bladders puft up
and hooved with wind, no corporal substance at all: and these are
the abortive & untimely fruits of these shell fishes.[40]
[Illustration:
PANAMA SHELL
(_Margaritifera margaritifera mazatlanica_)
With pearls attached
]
[Illustration:
VENEZUELA SHELL
(_Margaritifera radiata_)
Showing growth of pearls
]
Pliny’s views were probably derived from the ancient authorities of his
time, particularly from Megasthenes, Chares of Mytilene, and Isidorus of
Charace; and these curious fictions were incorporated by subsequent
writers and influenced popular opinion for many centuries. With scarcely
a single exception, every recorded theory from the first century B.C. to
the fifteenth century evidences a belief in dew-formed pearls.
This theory is referred to by Thomas Moore in his well-known lines:
And precious the tear as that rain from the sky,
Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea.
The Spanish-Hebrew traveler Benjamin of Tudela, in his “Masaoth” in
Persia (from 1160 to 1173), wrote: “In these places pearls are found,
made by the wonderful artifice of nature: for on the four and twentieth
day of the month Nisan, a certain dew falleth into the waters, which
being sucked in by the oysters, they immediately sink to the bottom of
the sea; afterwards, about the middle of the month Tisri, men descend to
the bottom of the sea, and, by the help of cords, these men bringing up
the oysters in great quantities from thence, open and take out of them
the pearls.”[41]
From the “Bustan,” one of the most popular works of Sadi, the Persian
poet (1190–1291 A.D.), Davie quotes:
From the cloud there descended a droplet of rain;
’Twas ashamed when it saw the expanse of the main,
Saying: “Who may I be, where the sea has its run?
If the sea has existence, I, truly, have none!”
Since in its own eyes the drop humble appeared,
In its bosom, a shell with its life the drop reared;
The sky brought the work with success to a close,
And a famed royal pearl from the rain-drop arose.
Because it was humble it excellence gained;
Patiently waiting till success was attained.
Even the usually well-informed William Camden (1551–1623), in whose
honor the Camden Historical Society of England was named, accepted the
theory of dew-formed pearls. He stated that the river Conway in Wales
“breeds a kind of shells, which being pregnated with dew, produce
pearl.”[42] Also, speaking of the Irt in county Cumberland, England, he
said: “In this brook, the shell-fish, eagerly sucking in the dew,
conceive and bring forth pearls, or (to use the poet’s word) shell
berries (_Baccas concheas_).”[43]
A recent letter from the American consul at Aden indicates that this
view is held even yet by the Arabs of that region. In giving their
explanation for the present scarcity in the Red Sea, he states: “There
is a belief among them that a pearl is formed from a drop of rain caught
in the mouth of the pearl-oyster, which by some chemical process after a
time turns into a pearl; and as there has been very little rain in that
region for several years past, there are few pearls.”
So firmly established throughout Europe was the belief in dew-formed
pearls, that its non-acceptance by the native Indians of America excited
the commiseration of the Italian historian Peter Martyr, in his “De Orbe
Novo,” one of the very first books on America, published in 1517. He
states: “But that they [pearls of Margarita Island on the present coast
of Venezuela] become white by the clearnesse of the morning dewe, or
waxe yelowe in troubled weather, or otherwise that they seeme to rejoice
in fayre weather and dear ayre, or contrary-wise, to be as it were
astonished and dymme in thunder and tempests, with such other, the
perfect knowledge hereof is not to be looked for at the hands of these
unlearned men, which handle the matter but grossly and enquire no
further than occasion serveth.”[44] Peter Martyr was distinguished for
his learning, was an instructor at the court of Spain at the height of
its power, and came in contact with the most enlightened men of Europe,
consequently it may be assumed that he reflected the best opinions of
his time.
It was not long before the aborigines of America were not alone in
discrediting the views which had prevailed in Europe for more than
fifteen hundred years. That practical old sailor Sir Richard Hawkins
concluded that this must be “some old philosopher’s conceit, for it can
not be made probable how the dew should come into the oyster.”[45] A
similar view is expressed by Urbain Chauveton in his edition of Girolamo
Benzoni’s “Historia del Mondo Nuovo,” published at Geneva in 1578. From
his reference to pearl-oysters on the Venezuelan coast, we translate:
[Illustration:
Shells from Venezuela (_Margaritifera radiata_) with attached pearls
]
[Illustration:
Exterior view of same
]
[Illustration:
X-ray photograph of shell, printed through exterior of shell and
showing encysted pearls
]
Around the island of Cubagua and elsewhere on the eastern coast, are
sandy places where the pearl-oysters grow. They produce their eggs
in very large quantities and likewise pearls at the same time. But
it is necessary to have patience to let them grow and mature to
perfection. They are soft at the beginning like the roe of fish; and
as the mollusk gradually grows, they grow also and slowly harden.
Sometimes many are found in one shell, which are hard and small,
like gravel. Persons who have seen them while fishing say that they
are soft as long as they are in the sea, and that the hardness comes
to them only when they are out of the water. Pliny says as much,
speaking of the Orientals in Book IX, of his Natural History, ch.
35. But as to that author and Albert the Great and other writers
upon the generation of pearls, who have said that the oysters
conceive them by means of the dew which they suck in, and that
according as the dew is clear or cloudy the pearls also are
translucent or dark, etc., etc.,—all this is a little difficult to
believe; for daily observation shows that all the pearls found in
the same shell are not of the same excellence, nor of the same form,
the same perfection of color, nor the same size, as they would or
must be if they were conceived by the dew all at one time. Besides
this, in many of the islands the Indians go fishing for them in ten
or twelve fathoms depth, and in some cases they are so firmly
attached to the rocks in the sea that they can be wrenched off only
by main strength. Would it not be difficult for them to inhale the
quintessence of the air there? It seems then that it is the germ and
the most noble part of the eggs of the oyster which are converted
into pearls rather than any other thing; and the diversities of
size, color, and other qualities, proceed from the fact that some
are more advanced than others, as we see eggs in the body of the
hen.[46]
The old theory of dew-formed pearls was illustrated even as late as 1684
on a medal struck in honor of Elena Piscopia of the Corraro family of
Venice. This bore an oyster-shell open and receiving drops of dew, and
underneath was engraved the motto “_Rore divino_” (By divine dew). Even
yet one hears occasionally from out-of-the-way places—as in the instance
reported by the American consul at Aden—of pearls formed from rain or
dew, notwithstanding that there seems to exist absolutely no
justification for it in scientific zoölogy.
Probably the most popular theory entertained from the fifteenth to the
seventeenth century was that pearls were formed from the eggs of the
oyster. This was intimated by Chauveton in the quotation above given,
and it was also referred to by many naturalists.
In an interesting letter, dated Dec. 1, 1673, and giving as his
authority the testimony of an eye-witness, “Henricus Arnoldi, an
ingenious and veracious Dane,” Christopher Sandius wrote: “Pearl shells
in Norway do breed in sweet waters; their shells are like mussels, but
larger; the fish is like an oyster, it produces clusters of eggs; these,
when ripe, are cast out and become like those that cast them; but
sometimes it appears that one or two of these eggs stick fast to the
side of the matrix, and are not voided with the rest. These are fed by
the oyster against her will and they do grow, according to the length of
time, into pearls of different bigness.”[47] This possibly hit the mark
with greater accuracy than the observations of the “ingenious and
veracious Dane” warranted, for he seems to have had quite a different
idea as to the manner in which the pearls are “fed by the oyster against
her will” from those generally entertained by naturalists at the present
time.
However, Oliver Goldsmith settled the matter by declaring briefly:
“Whether pearls be a disease or an accident in the animal is scarce
worth enquiry.”[48] Thus it seems that notwithstanding all that had been
written and the extended attention given to the subject, theory
prevailed to the almost complete exclusion of practical investigation,
with little intelligent advance over Topsy’s “’spect they just growed.”
Owing, doubtless, to the scarcity of pearl-bearing mollusks in their
vicinities, naturalists of Europe were somewhat slow in giving attention
to the origin of pearls. This is further accounted for by the fact that
the gems occur more frequently in old and diseased shells than in the
choice specimens which have naturally attracted the notice of
conchologists.
One of the first of the original observations made on this subject was
that by Rondelet, who, in 1554, advanced the idea that pearls are
diseased concretions occurring in the mollusca, similar to the morbid
calculi in the mammalia.[49]
The first writer to intimate the similarity in structural material or
substance between pearls and the interior of the shell in which they are
formed, appears to have been Anselmus de Boot (_circa_ 1600), who wrote
that the pearls “are generated in the body of the creature of the same
humour of which the shell is formed; ... for whenever the little
creature is ill and hath not strength enough to belch up or expel this
humour which sticketh in the body, it becometh the rudiments of the
pearl; to which new humour, being added and assimilated into the same
nature, begets a new skin, the continued addition of which generates a
pearl.”[50] The Portuguese traveler, Pedro Teixeira (1608), stated: “I
hold it for certain that pearls are born of and formed of the very
matter of the shell and of nothing else. This is supported by the great
resemblance of the pearl and the oyster-shell in substance and color.
Further, whatever oyster contains pearls has the flesh unsound and
almost rotten in the parts where the pearls are produced, and those
oysters that have no pearls are sound and clean fleshed.”[51]
Somewhat more than one hundred years later, this theory was confirmed by
investigations made by the famous physicist Réaumur (1683–1757).
Microscopic examination of cross sections of pearls show that they are
built up of concentric laminæ similar, except in curvature, to those
forming the nacreous portion of the shell. In a paper published by the
French Academy of Science in 1717,[52] Réaumur noted this condition, and
suggested that pearls are misplaced pieces of organized shell, and are
formed from a secretion which overflows from the shell-forming organ or
from a ruptured vessel connected therewith, and that the rupture or
overflow is ordinarily produced by the intrusion of some foreign or
irritating substance.
Sir Edwin Arnold calls attention to this theory in his beautiful lines:
Know you, perchance, how that poor formless wretch—
The Oyster—gems his shallow moonlit chalice?
Where the shell irks him, or the sea-sand frets,
He sheds this lovely lustre on his grief.
In pursuance of this idea, we find, in 1761, the Swedish naturalist
Linnæus, “the father of natural history,” experimenting in the
artificial production of pearls by the introduction of foreign bodies in
the shell, and meeting with some degree of success. His discovery was
rated so highly that it has been announced by some writers as the reason
why the great naturalist received the patent of nobility, which is
generally supposed to have been the reward for his services to science.
It seems that Linnæus’s discovery but verified the old saying that there
is nothing new under the sun, for later it was announced[53] that in
China—where so many inventions have originated—this idea had been put to
practical account for centuries preceding, and the crafty Chinaman had
succeeded in producing not only small pearly objects, but even images of
Buddha, with which to awe the disciples of that deified teacher.
The method consisted in slightly opening or boring through the shell of
the living mollusk and introducing against the soft body a small piece
of nacre, molded metal, or other foreign matter. The irritation causes
the formation of pearly layers about the foreign body, resulting, in the
course of months or of years, in a pearl-like growth. While these have
some value as objects of curiosity or of slight beauty, they are not
choice pearls, nor for that matter were those produced by Linnæus.
It will be observed that the theory of Réaumur, and also that of
Linnæus, required the intrusion of some hard substance, such as a grain
of sand, a particle of shell, etc., to constitute a nucleus of the
pearl; and this is the accepted explanation at the present time as to
the origin of many of the baroque or irregular pearls, and likewise the
pearly “blisters” and excrescences attached to the shell. But not so as
to the choice or gem pearls, those beautiful symmetrical objects of
great luster which are usually referred to in speaking of pearls.
Examinations of many of these have failed, except in rare instances, to
reveal a foreign nucleus of sand or similar inorganic substance. In
searching many fresh-water mussels, Sir Everard Home frequently met with
small pearls in the ovarium, and he further noticed that these, as well
as oriental pearls, when split into halves, often showed a brilliant
cell in the center, about equal in size to the ova of the same mollusk.
From these observations, in 1826 he deduced his “abortive ova” theory,
and announced:
A pearl is formed upon the external surface of an ovum, which,
having been blighted, does not pass with the others into the
oviduct, but remains attached to its pedicle in the ovarium, and in
the following season receives a coat of nacre at the same time that
the internal surface of the shell receives its annual supply. This
conclusion is verified by some pearls being spherical, others having
a pyramidal form, from the pedicle having received a coat of nacre
as well as the ovum.[54]
Naturalists generally accepted these conclusions, that pearls originate
in pathological secretions formed, either as the result of the intrusion
of hard substances, or by the encysting or covering of ova or other
objects of internal origin; and there was no important cleavage of
opinion until the development of the parasitic theory, as a result of
the researches of the Italian naturalist Filippi, and those following
his line of investigations. This theory is not severely in conflict with
those of Réaumur, Linnæus, Home, etc., but relates principally to the
identity of the irritating or stimulating substance which forms the
nucleus of the pearl.
In examining a species of fresh-water mussel, the _Anodonta cygnea_,
occurring in ponds near Turin, and especially the many small pearly
formations therein, Filippi observed that these were associated with the
presence of a trematode or parasitic worm, which he named _Distomum
duplicatum_, and which appears to be closely allied to the parasite
which causes the fatal “rot” or distemper in sheep. Under the
microscope, the smallest and presumably the youngest of these pearls
showed organic nuclei which appeared undoubtedly to be the remnants of
the trematode. In Anodonta from other regions, which were not infested
with the distoma, pearls were very rarely found by Filippi. In a
paper,[55] published in 1852, containing a summary of his observations,
he concluded that a leading, if not the principal, cause of
pearl-formation in those mussels was the parasite above noted; and in
later papers[56] he included such other forms as _Atax ypsilophorus_
within the list of parasitic agencies which might excite the
pearl-forming secretions, comparing their action to that of the
formation of plant-galls.
[Illustration:
Mexican pearl-oyster (_Margaritifera margaritifera mazatlanica_) with
adherent pearl
]
[Illustration:
Group of encysted pearls in shell of Australian pearl-oyster
(_Margaritifera maxima_)
]
American Museum of Natural History
[Illustration:
Mexican pearl-oyster (_Margaritifera margaritifera mazatlanica_) with
encysted fish
]
American Museum of Natural History
[Illustration:
Group of encysted pearls (Oriental)
]
[Illustration:
Reverse of same group, showing outline of the individual pearls
]
The discovery of the parasitic origin of pearls was extended to the
pearl-oysters and to other parasites by Küchenmeister[57] in 1856, by
Möbius[58] in 1857, and by several other investigators. Prominent among
these were E. F. Kelaart and his assistant Humbert, who, in 1859[59]
disclosed the important relation which the presence of vermean parasites
bears to the origin of pearls in the Ceylon oysters. These naturalists
found “in addition to the Filaria and Cercaria, three other parasitical
worms infesting the viscera and other parts of the pearl-oyster. We both
agree that these worms play an important part in the formation of
pearls.” Dr. Kelaart likewise found eggs from the ovarium of the oyster
coated with nacre and forming pearls, and also suggested that the
silicious internal skeletons of microscopic diatoms might possibly
permeate the mantle and become the nuclei of pearls. Unfortunately, Dr.
Kelaart’s investigations were terminated by his death a few months
thereafter.
In 1871, Garner ascribed the occurrence of pearls in the common English
mussel (_Mytilus edulis_) to the presence of distomid larvæ.[60]
Giard,[61] and other French zoölogists, made similar discoveries in the
case of Donax and some other bivalves. In 1901, Raphael Dubois confirmed
the observations of Garner, associating the production of pearls in the
edible mussels on the French coasts with the presence of larvæ of a
parasite, to which he gave the name of _Distomum margaritarum_, and
boldly announced: “La plus belle perle n’est donc, en définitive, que le
brillant sarcophage d’un ver.”[62]
Prof. H. L. Jameson, in 1902, disclosed the relation which exists
between pearls in English mussels (_Mytilus_) and the larvæ of _Distomum
somateriæ_.[63] The life history of this trematode, as revealed by Dr.
Jameson, is especially interesting from a biological standpoint, since
it is entertained by three hosts at different times: the first host is a
member of the duck family; the second is the Tapes clam (_Tapes
decussatus_), or perhaps the common cockle (_Cardium edule_), which
incloses the first larval stage, and the third is the edible mussel, in
which the second larval stage of the parasite stimulates the formation
of pearls. At the Brighton Aquarium and the Fish Hatchery at Kiel, Dr.
Jameson claims to have succeeded in artificially inoculating perfectly
healthy mussels with these parasites by associating them with infested
mollusks, and thereby producing small pearls.
From Dr. Jameson’s interesting paper we abridge the following account of
the manner in which the pearls are developed. The trematode enters
_Mytilus edulis_ as a tailless cercaria, and at first may often be found
between the mantle and the shell. The larvæ, after a while, enter the
connective tissue of the mantle, where they come to rest, assuming a
spherical form, visible to the naked eye as little yellowish spots about
one half millimeter in diameter. At first the worm occupies only a space
lined by connective-tissue fibrils, but soon the tissues of the host
give rise to an epithelial layer, which lines the space and ultimately
becomes the pearl-sac. If the trematode larva completes its maximum
possible term of life, it dies, and the tissues of the body break down
to form a structureless mass which retains the form of the parasite,
owing to the rigid cuticle. In this mass arise one or more centers of
calcification, and the precipitation of carbonate of lime goes on until
the whole larva is converted into a nodule with calcospheritic
structure. The granular matter surrounding the worm, if present, also
undergoes calcification. The epithelium of the sac then begins to shed a
cuticle of conchiolin, and from this point the growth of the pearl
probably takes place on the same lines and at the same rate as the
thickening of the shell.[64]
Fully as remarkable as the observations of Dr. Jameson are the results
claimed by Professor Dubois in experimenting with a species of
pearl-oyster (_M. vulgaris_) from the Gulf of Gabes on the coast of
Tunis, where they are almost devoid of pearls, a thousand or more shells
yielding on an average only one pearl. Conveying these to the coast of
France in 1903, he there associated them with a species of
trematode-infested mussel (_Mytilus gallo-provincialis_), and after a
short period they became so infested that every three oysters yielded an
average of two pearls.[65] This claim has not been without criticism;
but who ever knew scientists to agree?
In the pearl-oyster of the Gambier Islands (_M. margaritifera cumingi_),
Dr. L. G. Seurat found that the origin of pearls was due to irritation
caused by the embryo of a worm of the genus _Tylocephalum_, the life of
which is completed in the eagle-ray, a fish which feeds on the
pearl-oyster.[66]
In 1903, Prof. W. A. Herdman, who, at the instance of the colonial
government, and with the assistance of Mr. James Hornell, examined the
pearl-oyster resources of Ceylon, announced: “We have found, as Kelaart
did, that in the Ceylon pearl-oyster there are several different kinds
of worms commonly occurring as parasites, and we shall, I think, be able
to show that Cestodes, Trematodes, and Nematodes may all be concerned in
pearl formation. Unlike the case of the European mussels, however, we
find that in Ceylon the most important cause is a larval Cestode of the
Tetrarhynchus form.”[67]
In his investigation of the Placuna oyster in 1905, Mr. James Hornell
found that the origin of pearls was due to minute larva of the same
stage and species as that which causes the pearls in the Gulf of Manar
oyster.[68]
The spherical larvæ of this tapeworm sometimes occur in great abundance,
and there is evidence of forty having been found in a single
pearl-oyster. Mr. Hornell states that the living worm does not induce
pearl formation, this occurring only when death overtakes it while in
certain parts of the oyster. As a consequence, pearls are more numerous
in oysters which have been long infected, where the worms are older and
more liable to die. This parasitic worm has been traced from the
pearl-oyster to the trigger-fishes, which eat the pearl-oysters, and
thence into certain large fish-eating rays, where it becomes sexually
mature and produces embryos which enter the pearl-oyster and begin a new
cycle of life-phases.
It seems, therefore, that the latest conclusions of science appear
entirely favorable to the parasitic theory as explaining at least one,
and probably the most important, of the causes for the formation of
pearls; and that some truth exists in the statement that the most
beautiful pearl is only the brilliant sarcophagus of a worm. This
morphological change is not peculiar to mollusks, for in most animal
bodies a cyst is formed about in-wandering larvæ. Fortunately for lovers
of the beautiful, in the pearl-oysters the character of the cyst-wall
follows that of the interior lining of the shell, and not only
simulates, but far surpasses it in luster.
While the theory that pearls are caused by the intrusion of some unusual
substance has the evidence of actual demonstration in many instances,
and is unquestionably true to a large extent, yet microscopic
examination of some pearls suggests the theory that a foreign substance
is not always essential to their formation, and that they may originate
in calcareous concretions of minute size, termed “calcospherules.” As
regards their origin, Professor Herdman classifies pearls into three
sorts: (1) “Ampullar pearls,” which are not formed within closed sacs of
the shell-secreting epithelium like the others, but lie in pockets or
ampullæ of the epidermis. The nuclei may be sand-grains or any other
foreign particles introduced through breaking or perforation of the
shell. (2) “Muscle pearls,” which are analogous to gallstones, formed
around calcospherules at or near the insertion of the muscles. And (3)
“Cyst pearls,” in which concentric layers of nacre are deposited on
cysts containing parasitic worms in the connective tissue of the mantle
and within the soft tissues of the body.[69]
Even a particle of earth, clay, or mud may form the nucleus of a pearl.
This was illustrated a few years ago in a fine button-shaped pearl,
which was accidentally broken under normal usage and was found to
consist of a hard lump of white clay surrounded by a relatively thin
coating of nacre. More remarkable yet are the cases in which a minute
fish, a crayfish, or the frustule of a diatom has formed the nucleus.
Several instances have been described by Woodward, Gunther, Putnam,
Stearns, and others, where small fish have penetrated between the mantle
and the shell of the mollusk, and the latter has resented the intrusion
by covering the intruder with a pearly coating. In two or three
instances the secretion occurred in so short a time that the fish
suffered no appreciable decomposition, and its species is readily
identified by observation through the nacreous layer. Among the
remarkable specimens of this nature which have come under our
observation are two very curious shells received in March, 1907, from
the Mexican fisheries. One of these specimens shows an encysted fish, so
quickly covered and so perfectly preserved that even the scales and
small bones are in evidence; indeed, one can almost detect the gloss on
the scales of the fish; and in the other—with a remarkable comet-like
appearance—a piece of ribbed seaweed is apparently the object covered.
From the foregoing, it appears that the pearl is not a product of health
associated with undisturbed conditions, but results from a derangement
in the normal state of the mollusk. Unable to resist, to rid itself of
the opposing evil, it exercises the powers given to it by a beneficent
Creator and converts the pain into perfection, the grief into glory.
Nature has many instances of the humble and lowly raised to high degree,
but none more strikingly beautiful than this. One of the lowest of
earth’s creatures, suffering a misfortune, furnishes a wonderful lesson
upon the uses of pain and adversity by converting its affliction into a
precious gem symbolical of all that is pure and beautiful. As written by
a forgotten poet: “Forasmuch as the pearl is a product of life, which
from an inward trouble and from a fault produces purity and perfection,
it is preferred; for in nothing does God so much delight as in
tenderness and lustre born of trouble and repentance.” As the great
Persian poet Hafiz says:
Learn from yon orient shell to love thy foe,
And store with pearls the wound that brings thee woe.
IV
STRUCTURE AND FORMS
IV
STRUCTURE AND FORMS OF PEARLS
“This maskellez perle that boght is dere,
The joueler gef fore alle hys gold,
Is lyke the reme of hevenes clere”;
So sayde the fader of folde and flode,
“For hit is wermlez, clene and clere,
And endelez rounde and blythe of mode,
And commune to all that ryghtwys were.”
FOURTEENTH-CENTURY MSS. OF “PEARL,”
IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
As Kadir Munshi says, “pearls have no pedigree”; their beauty is not to
be traced to their origin, but exists wholly in the excellence of the
surroundings in which they develop.
The pearl-bearing mollusks are luxurious creatures, and for the purpose
of protecting their delicate bodies they cover the interior of their
shells with a smooth lustrous material, dyed with rainbow hues, and
possessing a beautiful but subdued opalescence. No matter how foul, how
coral covered, or overgrown with sponges or seaweeds the exterior may
be, all is clean and beautiful within. This material is nacre or
mother-of-pearl. It consists ordinarily of an accumulation of extremely
thin semi-transparent films or laminæ of a granular organic substance
called conchiolin, with the interstices filled with calcareous matter.
The nacre decreases in thickness from the hinge toward the lip of the
shell, and terminates a short distance from the extreme edge.
Next to the nacre is the middle layer or the shell proper. In species of
_Margaritifera_, this stratum is commonly formed of layers of calcareous
prisms arranged vertically to the shell surface. External to this middle
or prismatic layer is the epidermis or periostracum, the rough outer
coating of varying shades, usually yellow or brown. Where the waves are
rough, and the bottom hard and rocky, this covering is thick and heavy,
to afford greater protection; but where the waters are smooth and
gentle, and the bottom free from rocks, Nature—never working in
vain—furnishes only thin sides and slight defense. As is the case with
the nacre, the prismatic layer and the periostracum decrease in
thickness from the hinge to the edge, and the inside lip of the shell
shows the gradual union of the three superimposed layers. The two outer
layers are formed by the thick edge of the mantle, the remaining
portion—or nearly the entire surface—of this organ secretes the nacral
layer.
Not only is the interior of the shell made lustrous and beautiful, but
this tendency is exerted toward all objects that come in contact with
the soft body of the mollusk, either by intrusion simply within the
shell, or deeply within the organs and tissues of the animal itself. All
foreign bodies—such as small parasites, diatoms, minute pebbles,
etc.,—irritate the tender tissues of the mollusk, and stimulate the
pearly formation which in course of time covers them. At first the
nacreous covering is very thin; but with added layer after layer the
thickness is enhanced, and the size of the object increases as long as
it remains undisturbed and the mollusk is in healthful growth.
Chemically considered, aside from the nucleus, the structure of pearls
is identical in composition with that of the nacre of the shell in which
they are formed. Analyses have shown that those from the fresh-water
mussels of England and Scotland, and from the pearl-oysters of Australia
and of Ceylon, have nearly identical composition in the proportion of
about 5.94 per cent. of organic matter, 2.34 of water, and 91.72 per
cent. of carbonate of lime.[70] The specific gravity ranges from nearly
2 to about 2.75, increasing with the deposit of the nacreous coatings.
The following summary by Von Hessling[71] shows the results of certain
determinations of specific gravity:
Authority Specific Note
Gravity
Muschenbroet 2.750 at moderate temperature
Brisson 2.684 at 14° Réaumur
Möbius 2.686 4 fine pearls, weighing 2.396 gms.
Möbius 2.650 24 pearls, weighing 6.221 gms.
Möbius 2.336 63 brown pearls from Mazatlan, weighing 4.849
gms.
Voit 2.722 Bavarian pearls, 3–3⁄16 carats, medium quality
Voit 2.616 Bavarian pearls, 3⅝ carats, finer quality
Voit 2.724 Bavarian pearls, 1¾ carats, very fine
Voit 2.578 Bavarian pearls, gray, with some luster
Voit 2.765 Bavarian pearls, brown, ranking between good &
black
Voit 2.238 Bavarian pearls, poor black pearls, impure
[Illustration:
Cross section of an irregular pearl, magnified 80 diameters
]
[Illustration:
Cross sections of pearls, magnified 30 diameters
]
[Illustration:
Thin section of mother-of-pearl, magnified, showing sponge borings
which traversed the pearl shell
]
[Illustration:
Structure of conch pearl produced by fracturing, magnified 80
diameters
]
The distinctive characteristic, the great beauty of a true pearl, is its
luster or orient, which is a subdued iridescence, rather than the
glittering brilliance of the diamond; and unless the shelly growth be
lustrous it does not rank as a gem pearl, no matter how perfect its form
or beautiful its color. This luster is due to the structural arrangement
of the surface as well as to the quality of the material. The nacreous
material forming true pearls, and likewise mother-of-pearl, is commonly
deposited in irregular tenuous layers, very thin and very small in area
compared with the surface of the pearl. These laminæ overlap one
another, the surfaces are microscopically crumpled and corrugated, and
the edges form serrated outlines. The greater the angle which the laminæ
form with the surface, the closer will be these serrated outlines, and
where the plane of the exterior lamina is parallel with the plane of the
surface the lines are not present. This arrangement causes the waves of
light to be reflected from different levels on the surface, just as in a
soap bubble, and the minute prisms split the rays up into their colored
constituents, producing the chromatic or iridescent effect.
The cause is wholly mechanical, and an impression of the surface made in
very fine wax shows a similar iridescence. Also, if a piece of
mother-of-pearl be immersed in acid until the surface lime or shelly
matter is dissolved, the pellucid membrane shows the iridescence until
it is so compressed that the corrugations are reduced. About two score
years ago an Englishman invented steel buttons with similar minute
corrugations producing pearly effect, but the manufacture was
unprofitable, owing, principally, to their liability to tarnish.
In the shells of some mollusks—as the edible oysters (_Ostrea_) or the
giant clam (_Tridacna_),—there is almost a total absence of the crumpled
corrugated laminæ, and, consequently, there is little luster. In others
the nacre is of better quality, resulting in superior orient, and it
probably reaches its highest degree of perfection in the pearl-oyster
(_Margaritifera_).
As the curvature of the surface of pearls is greater, and the minute
striæ are more numerous, than in ordinary mother-of-pearl, it follows
that the iridescence is likewise greater.
Superior nacre is more or less translucent, depending on its quality;
and to the iridescence of the outer laminæ is added that of many
interior ones, so that the luster is vastly increased. The position of
the pearl within the shell may greatly affect the quality of the
material and, consequently, the orient. The choicest are commonly found
within the soft parts of the animal, and those of poorer quality are at
the edges of the mantle, or within the fibers of the adductor muscle of
bivalves.
The structure of pearls may be studied by examining thin cross sections
under the microscope, or by transmitted polarized light. It appears that
ordinarily a pearl is made up of many independent laminæ superimposed
one upon another “like the layers of an onion,” or, rather, resembling
the leaves near the upper part of a well formed cabbage. When subjected
to sufficient heat, the laminæ separate from each other, as do shells of
edible oysters and similar mollusks under like conditions. When broken
by a hammer, a pearl may exhibit this laminated formation. If not split
directly through the center, the central section may retain the
spherical form; and as this commonly remains attached to one of the
parts, its concave impression appears in the other portion of the broken
pearl. The outer laminæ of many pearls may be removed with a fair
prospect of finding a good subjacent surface, and this may be continued
until the size is greatly reduced. These laminæ are not always similar
in color or luster.
However, not all pearls are laminated in this manner. Instead of
superimposed layers, some of them exhibit a crystalline form, composed
of beautiful prismatic crystals radiating from the center to the
circumference. In at least one oriental pearl examined, these crystals
were in well defined arcs, and were further separated into concentric
rings of different degrees of thickness, depth of color, and distance
apart. Another specimen—a Scotch pearl—combined in separate layers both
the laminated form and the crystalline structure.
Dr. Harley points out that some crystalline pearls apparently originate
in mere coalescences of mineral particles, rather than in well defined
nuclei.[72] Microscopic sections of crystalline pearls convey the idea
that the prisms branch and interlace with one another, and also that in
some instances they are of fusiform shape. However, these appearances
seem to be due simply to the cross sections having cut the prisms at
different angles.
Pearls showing these types were exhibited at a meeting of the Royal
Society of London, June 8, 1887. That exhibit also contained a section
of a west Australian pearl of curiously complex crystalline formation;
instead of one central starting-point, it had more than a dozen
scattered about, from which the crystalline prisms radiated in all
directions.
Since the three superimposed layers of the shell are secreted by
separate parts of the mantle, _viz._, the nacre by the general surface,
the prismatic layer by the inner edge, and the epidermis by the outer
edge, it follows that if a pearl in course of formation is moved from
one of these distinctive portions of the palial organ to another, the
nature of its laminæ changes. Thus, if a pearl formed on the broad
surface of the mantle is moved in some way to the inner edge of that
organ, it may be covered with a prismatic layer; if then moved to the
outer edge it may receive a lamina of epidermis, and then by changing
again to the broad surface of the mantle it receives further coats of
nacre.
[Illustration:
Pearls from common clam (_Venus mercenaria_) of eastern coast of
America
]
[Illustration:
Pearl “nuggets” from the Mississippi Valley
]
[Illustration:
Wing pearls from the Mississippi Valley
]
[Illustration:
Dog-tooth pearls from the Mississippi Valley
]
The structure of pearls from univalve mollusks, such as the conch, the
abalone, etc., as well as those from some bivalves, as the Pinna, for
instance, differs from that of the true pearls formed in species of
Margaritifera. Instead of the alternate layers of conchiolin and of
carbonate of lime, many of these have an alveolar structure. When
greatly magnified, the surface of a Pinna pearl appears to be formed of
very small polygones, which, as decalcification shows, are the bases of
small pyramids radiating from the nucleus. The walls of these pyramids
are formed of conchiolin, and they are filled with carbonate of lime of
a prismatic crystalline structure. This is simply a modification of the
parallel laminæ in the Margaritifera pearls, for, as Dubois points out,
in some sections we can see portions where the alveolar formation has
proceeded for a time coincidentally with the lamellar form.
Pearls are affected by acids and fetid gases, and may be calcined on
exposure to heat. Their solubility in vinegar was referred to by the
Roman architect Vitruvius (“De Architectura,” L. viii. c. 3) and also by
Pausanias, a Greek geographer in the second century (“Hellados
Periegesis,” L. viii, c. 18); but it seems that there could be little
foundation for Pliny’s well-known anecdote in which Cleopatra is
credited with dissolving a magnificent pearl in vinegar and drinking
it—“the ransom of a kingdom at a draught”—to the health of her lover
Antony.[73] It is no more easy to dissolve a pearl in vinegar than it is
to dissolve a pearl-button—for the composition is similar, and one may
easily experiment for himself as to the difficulty in doing this. Not
only does it take many days to dissolve in cold vinegar the mineral
elements of a pearl of fair size, but even with boiling vinegar it
requires several hours to extract the mineral matter from one four or
five grains in weight, the acid penetrating to the interior very slowly.
And in neither case can the pearl be made to disappear, for even after
the carbonate of lime has dissolved, the organic matrix of animal
matter—which is insoluble in vinegar—retains almost the identical shape,
size, and appearance as before. If the pearl is first pulverized, it
becomes readily soluble in vinegar, and might be thus drunk as a lover’s
potion, but it would scarcely prove a _bonne bouche_.
Pearls assume an almost infinite variety of forms, due largely to the
shapes of the nuclei, and also to their positions within the mollusk.
The most usual—and, fortunately, also the most valuable—is the
spherical, resulting from a very minute or a round body as a nucleus and
the uniform addition of nacre on all sides. Of course, spherical pearls
can result only where they are quite free from other hard substances;
consequently they originate only in the soft parts of the mollusk and
not by the fixation of some nucleus to the interior surface of the
shell.
The perfectly spherical pearls range in weight from a small fraction of
a grain to three hundred grains or more, but it is very, very rare that
one of choice luster weighs more than one hundred grains. The largest of
which we have any specific information was that among the French crown
jewels as early as the time of Napoleon, an egg-shaped pearl, weighing
337 grains. The largest pearl known to Pliny in the first century A.D.
weighed “half a Roman ounce and one scruple over,” or 234½ grains Troy.
These very large ones, weighing in excess of one hundred grains, are
called “paragons.” The small pearls—weighing less than half a grain
each—are known as “seed-pearls.” The very small ones, weighing less than
1⁄25 of a grain, are called “dust-pearls.” These are too small to be of
economic value as ornaments.
Slight departures from the perfect sphere, result in egg shapes, pear
shapes, drop shapes, pendeloque, button shapes, etc. Some of these are
valued quite as highly at the present time as the spherical pearls, and
many of the most highly prized pearls in the world are of other than
spherical form. Indeed, pearls of this kind are found of larger size
than the perfectly round pearls. The egg-shaped pearl,[74] called “la
Régente,”—one of the French crown jewels sold in May, 1887—weighed, as
stated above, 337 grains. The great pear pearl described by
Tavernier—“the largest ever discovered”—weighed about 500 grains. A
button pearl received from Panama in 1906 weighed 216 grains.
Wider departures from the spherical form result in cylindrical, conical,
top-shaped, etc. Some pearls present the appearance of having been
turned in a lathe with intricate tooling. Remarkable examples of these
“turned pearls” have been found, competing in their circular perfection
with the best work of a jeweler’s lathe.
Many standard varieties of non-spherical, but normally shaped pearls,
are recognized by the fishermen and the jewelers. For instance, in the
nomenclature of the American fishermen, _bouton_, or button pearls are
divided into “haystacks” and “turtle-backs,” according to the height of
the projection. Also, certain imperfections result in distinguishing
names: “bird’s-eye” refers to a pearl having a little imperfection on
the best surface; “ring-arounds” have a dark or discolored ring about
them; and “strawberries” have numerous minute projections on the
surface.
During its growth, a spherical pearl may come in contact with a foreign
body, such as grit or a vegetable film, and the additional nacral layers
envelop the adjacent matter until it is entirely concealed within the
pearl, its position being recognized only by the excrescence on one
side, and, with continued increase in size, even this may be almost
overcome.
[Illustration:
ACTUAL SIZES OF PEARLS FROM ⅛ GRAIN TO 160 GRAINS
]
Sometimes double, triple, or multiple pearls are formed; each of these
may have a separate nucleus and grow independently for a time until they
adjoin each other; continuing to grow, they become so united as to form
a connected mass. The “Southern Cross” is a remarkable example of this.
It appears to consist of seven nearly spherical pearls attached to one
another in a straight line, and one projecting from each side of the
second in the row, thus forming a Roman cross.[75]
A few years ago, near Sharks Bay, on the coast of western Australia, a
cluster was found containing about 150 pearls closely compacted. This
cluster measured about one and a half inches in length, three quarters
of an inch in breadth, and half an inch in thickness.
When a growing pearl is very near to the nacreous lining of the shell,
the pressure between the two hard substances results in a rupture of the
pearl-forming sac and the epithelial layer of the shell, and the pearl
comes in actual contact with the nacre. The pearl gradually becomes
attached to the shell, and the under portion is prevented from growing
further; the upper or exposed surface receives other layers, resulting
in the formation of a _bouton_. As the shell around the pearl continues
to grow, it gradually closes about, and almost wholly conceals the
pearl. Since it is constantly wasting away on the exterior surface as it
grows on the interior, it follows that in time the shell passes the
pearl quite through to the outside, where it rapidly decays. Thus the
oyster virtually forces the annoying intruder directly through the wall
of its house instead of by way of the open door, and magically closes
the breach with its marvelous masonry.
These embedded pearls are generally faulty and of diminished luster,
but in the aggregate, large quantities of imperfect ones, and
especially half and quarter pearls, are secured in this manner.
Sometimes—particularly in the Australian fisheries—large pearls are
thus found, weighing twenty, forty, sixty, and even eighty grains; and
when the faulty outside layers of nacre are removed, a subjacent
surface of fine luster may possibly be revealed. In bivalves, these
adherent pearls are commonly in the deep or lower valve, except in
those unusual cases where the mollusks have been lying in a reverse
position. At the fisheries, the surfaces of the shells are carefully
inspected for evidence of pearly nodules, and these are broken open in
search for encysted objects. Cutters of mother-of-pearl occasionally
find embedded pearls of this kind which have escaped the vigilant eyes
of the fishermen.
We read of an instance in an important paper treating of the jeweling
trade of Birmingham: “A few years since [the paper was written in 1866]
a small lot of shells was brought to Birmingham, which either from
ignorance or mistake had not been cleared of the pearls at the fishery.
A considerable number were found and sold, and one especially was sold
by the man who had bought the shell for working into buttons, for £40.
The purchaser, we believe, resold the same for a profit of £160; and we
have heard that it was afterward held in Paris for sale at £800.”
A choice gem which was found in New York, in October, 1905, in an
Australian shell, sold finally for $1200.
The intrusion and continued presence of grains of sand or similar
material between the mantle and the shell causes the formation of nacre
over the foreign body, resulting in a _chicot_ (blister pearl), or
possibly a quarter or a half-pearl. The growth of a _chicot_ sometimes
results from the mollusk covering a choice pearl which has become
loosened from the soft tissues and adheres to the shell, as above cited.
Hence, it is sometimes desirable to break a _chicot_ to secure its more
valuable inclosure. In the account of his interesting pearling
experiences on the Australian coast, Henry Taunton states: “During the
first season’s shelling at Roebuck Bay, we came across an old worm-eaten
shell containing a large blister, which was removed in the usual manner
by punching a ring of minute holes around its base; a slight tap was
then sufficient to detach it. For many weeks it was untouched, no one
caring to risk opening it, for if filled with black ooze, which is
frequently the case, it would be of little value. At last, baffled in
his attempt to solve the problem, and emboldened by an overdose of
‘square face,’ the skipper gave it a smart blow with a hammer, which
cracked it open, and out rolled a huge pearl, nearly perfect, and
weighing eighty grains. A few specks and discolorations were removed by
a skilful ‘pearl-faker,’ and it was sold in London for £1500.”[76]
Blister pearls are also caused by the defensive or protective action of
the mollusk in resisting the intrusion of some animal, as a boring
sponge or a burrowing worm, which has begun to penetrate the outer
layers of the shell. This stimulation causes the mollusk to pile
nacreous material upon the spot, thus making a substantial mound closely
resembling a segment of a large pearl. This walling-out of intruders is
not the result of intelligent forethought or of instinct, analogous to
the repairing of a damaged web by a spider, or the retunneling of a
collapsed gallery by ants; it is a pathological rather than an
intelligent action.
[Illustration:
BROOCHES MADE OF PETAL, DOG-TOOTH, AND WING PEARLS
From the Upper Mississippi Valley
]
When the nucleus of a pearl is large and very irregular, it necessarily
follows that the deposited nacre roughly assumes the irregular outline
of the inclosed object. This is strikingly shown in pearls covering a
minute fish, a crayfish, or a small crab. Several specimens have been
found in which the species could be identified by examination through
the nacreous coating.
In the American Unios there is a strong tendency to produce elongated
pearls near the hinge of the shell, which are consequently known as
“hinge pearls.” The occurrence and form of these suggest that their
origin may not be due to nuclei, but that they result from an excess of
carbonate of lime in the water, and that the animal stores a surplus of
nacre in this convenient form. There are several standard forms of these
hinge pearls. Many are elongated or dog-toothed, some are hammer-shaped,
others resemble the wings of birds, the petals of flowers, the bodies of
fish, and various other objects. A large percentage of the pearls found
in Unios of the Mississippi Valley are of these types.
Some irregular pearls or baroques are very large, weighing an ounce or
more. A well-known example is the Hope pearl, described on page 463,
which weighs three ounces. These monster pearls sometimes assume odd
shapes, such as clasped hands, the body of a man, lion, or other animal,
etc.
Although baroques may have a pearly luster, they are not highly prized
unless unusually attractive, and they have little permanent value, apart
from their estimation in the eyes of admirers of the curious and unique.
They are used largely in _l’art nouveau_, and in forming odd and
fanciful objects of jewelry, the designer taking advantage of the
resemblance which they bear to common objects of every-day life, and by
additions of gold and other ornaments completing the form which nature
had merely suggested.
Some remarkable examples of baroque mountings have been produced, and a
few are to be found in most of the large pearl collections. In a single
case in the Imperial Treasury at Vienna are baroques forming the
principal parts or figures of a horse, stag, lamb, tortoise, lizard,
cock, dragon, butterfly, gondola, hippopotamus, female bust, and three
mermaids. Other well-known collections are those of the royal family of
Saxony in the Grüne Gewölbe at Dresden; those in the Palace of Rosenberg
at Copenhagen; in the Waddesden (Rothschild) collection of the British
Museum; among the jewels in the Louvre in Paris; with the treasures of
the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice; and in the museum of the University
of Moscow.
A remarkable pearl-like ornament more common in Asia than in the
Occident, is the _coque de perle_, which is an oval section of the
globose whorl of the Indian nautilus. The exterior or convex surface is
highly lustrous, but the material is very thin. It is commonly provided
with a suitable filling or backing of putty or cement to impart
solidity, and is used like a blister pearl. Sometimes two perfectly
matched _coques de perle_ are filled and cemented together, giving the
appearance of an abnormally large oblong or nearly spherical pearl.
The color of pearls has no connection with the luster. In general it is
the same as that of the shell in which they are formed. Black pearls are
found in the black shells of Mexico, and pink pearls in the pink-hued
_Strombus_ of the Bahamas. Ceylon pearls are seldom of any other color
than white, and Sharks Bays are almost invariably quite yellow or
straw-colored, while those of Venezuela are commonly yellowish tinged.
But from other localities, pearls simulate every tint of the rainbow, as
well as white and black. The most common, as well as the most desirable
ordinarily, is white, or rather, silvery or moonlight glint,—“_la gran
Margherita_,” as Dante calls it; but yellow, pink, and black are
numerous. They may also be piebald—a portion white and the rest pink or
brown or black. Some years ago there was on the market a large
bean-shaped pearl of great luster, one half of which was white and the
other quite black, the dividing-line being sharply defined in the plane
of the greatest circumference. The pearls from Mexico, the South Sea
islands, and the American rivers are especially noted for their great
variety of coloration, covering every known tint and shade, and
requiring such a master as Théophile Gautier to do justice to them.
Many theories have been advanced to explain the coloration of pearls.
When the old idea of dew formation prevailed, it was considered that
white pearls were formed in fair weather, and the dark ones when the
weather was cloudy. It was further considered that the color was
influenced by the depth of the water in which they grew: that in deep
water they were white, but where it was so shallow that the sunlight
easily penetrated, the pearls were more likely to be dark in color.
Tavernier curiously explained that the black pearls of Panama and Mexico
owed their color to the black mud in which the pearl-oysters of those
localities lived, and that Persian Gulf pearls were more inclined to
yellow than those of Ceylon, owing to the greater putrefaction of the
flesh before they were removed therefrom.[77] Two centuries ago the
color of a pearl was attributed to that of the central nucleus, and it
was concluded that if the nucleus was dark, the pearl would be of a
similar hue.[78] This theory has also been upset, for pearls are found
white on the exterior and quite dark within, and also with these
conditions reversed.
[Illustration:
GRAY PEARLS IN THE POSSESSION OF AN AMERICAN LADY AND BROOCH FROM
TIFFANY & CO.’S EXHIBIT, PARIS EXPOSITION, 1900
]
The color of a pearl is determined by that of the conchiolin, as appears
from its remaining unchanged after decalcification. While generally it
is the same as that of the mother-of-pearl at the corresponding point of
the shell in which it is formed, there are many exceptions to this, and
the reasons for the varying tints and colors are probably to be found in
the changes in position of the pearl, the ingredients of the water, the
health of the mollusk, accidents of various kinds, etc. These factors
will be referred to later in discussing the pearls from different
mollusks and regions; but in general it is no more easy to explain the
colors of pearls than it is to say why one rose is white and another is
yellow.
Medieval writers had much to say regarding unripe or immature pearls,
likening them to eggs in the body of a hen, which follow a uniform rate
of growth; and this idea is not entirely absent even in contemporaneous
writings. However, it is an interesting fact that the humble mollusks,
like the five wise virgins with prepared lamps, keep their gems perfect
in beauty and luster at all times. It matters not whether the pearl be
removed when it is only the size of a pinhead or not until it reaches
that of a marble, it is at all times a complete, a ripe, a perfect
pearl, and the largest surpasses the smallest only in the
characteristics and properties which are incidental to size. Imparting
perfection and completion every day, every moment, the mollusk utilizes
the added time simply in enlarging its beautiful work.
Although art has made wonderful progress in that direction, the pearl,
like truth, is not easily imitated. There is as much difference between
the ubiquitous imitations and the perfect gem as there is between a
chromolithograph and a silvery Corot, or between the effects of
cosmetics and the freshness of youth. While to the unskilled, or under
superficial inspection, the false has some of the properties of the
genuine, it is only necessary to place them side by side to make the
difference apparent. However clever the imitation may be in color, in
form, and in density, it always lacks in richness, in sweetness, and in
blended iridescence.
V
SOURCES OF PEARLS
V
SOURCES OF PEARLS
Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a poor house, as your
pearl in your foul oyster.
_As You Like It_, Act V, sc. 4.
In geographic range, the sources of pearls are widely distributed, each
one of the six continents yielding its quota; but the places where
profitable fisheries are prosecuted are restricted in area. First in
point of value, and possibly of antiquity also, are the fisheries of the
Persian Gulf, giving employment ordinarily to thirty thousand or more
divers. The yield in the likewise ancient fisheries of the Gulf of
Manaar is uncertain, but sometimes remarkably large. The Red Sea
resources are now of slight importance compared with their extent in the
time of the Ptolemies. Other Asiatic fisheries are in the Gulf of Aden,
about Mergui Archipelago, on the coast of China, Japan, Korea, and Siam,
and also in the rivers of China, Manchuria, and Siberia.
Aside from those produced in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the pearl
fisheries of Africa are of small extent. Some reefs exist on the lower
coast of the German East African territory and also in Portuguese East
Africa, but they have not been thoroughly exploited.
In most of the inshore waters of Australasia pearls may be secured; the
fisheries are most extensive on the northern coast of Australia, in the
Sulu Archipelago, and about the Dutch East Indies. Tuamotu Archipelago,
Gambier, Fiji, and Penrhyn are prominent in the South Pacific Ocean.
In the seas of Europe few pearls have been found, but the rivers have
yielded many; and although the resources have been greatly impaired,
many beautiful gems are yet found there.
South America contributes the important reefs on the coast of
Venezuela—the land of unrest and revolutions, whose fisheries were first
exploited by Columbus. Other South American countries in which pearls
are collected are Panama, Ecuador, Peru, etc. In North America, pearls
are found in the pearl-oyster of the Gulf of California, the abalone of
the Pacific coast, the queen conch of the Gulf of Mexico, and in the
Unios of most of the rivers, especially those of the Mississippi Valley.
Since pearly concretions partake of the characteristics of the shell
within which they are formed, it follows that practically all species of
mollusks whose shells have a well-developed nacreous lining yield pearls
to a greater or less extent. But the number of these species is
relatively small. They belong chiefly to the _Margaritiferæ_, or
pearl-oyster family of the sea, and to the _Unionidæ_, or family of
fresh-water mussels. Pearls occur also in some univalves, but not so
abundantly as in bivalves of the families mentioned. Broadly stated, we
may hope to find pearls within any mollusk whose shell possesses a
nacreous surface; and it is useless to search for them in shells whose
interior is dull and opaque, such as the edible oyster for instance.
The great bulk of the pearls on the market, and likewise those of the
highest quality, are from the _Margaritiferæ_, which are widely
distributed about tropical waters. Although these mollusks are spoken of
as pearl-oysters, they are not related in any way to the edible oysters
(_Ostrea_) of America and Europe.[79] The flesh is fat and glutinous,
and so rank in flavor as to be almost unfit for food, although eaten at
times by the poorer fishermen in lieu of better fare. The origin of the
name is doubtless due to the fact that in the somewhat circular form of
the shell they resemble oysters rather than the elongated mussels of
Europe, to which they are more nearly related in anatomy. Also in
that—like their namesakes—they are monomyarian, having only one adductor
muscle.
The two valves or sides of the pearl-oyster shell are nearly similar in
shape and almost equal in size; whereas in the edible oysters one valve
is thin and somewhat flat, while the other is thicker, larger, and
highly convex. In the latter, also, the hinge, or umbo, is an angular
beak; but in the pearl-oysters the umbo is prolonged by so-called ears
or wings into a straight line the length of which is nearly equal to the
breadth of the shell.
The byssus, or bunch of fibers, by which pearl-oysters attach themselves
to the bottom indicates their relationship to the mussels. The
possession of a small foot and somewhat extended migratory powers—at
least in the first years of growth—also distinguish them from the
sedentary edible oysters. But from an economic point of view, the
principal difference is the possession of a thick, nacreous, interior
lining in the shells of pearl-oysters, which is wholly lacking in the
edible species. Like their namesakes, the pearl-oysters are exceedingly
fertile, a single specimen numbering its annual increase by millions.
Commercially considered, the pearl-oysters are roughly divisible into
two groups, (1) those fished exclusively for the pearls which they
contain, and (2) those whose shells are so thick as to give them
sufficient value to warrant their capture independently of the yield of
pearls. The best examples of the first group are the pearl-oysters of
Ceylon and of Venezuela, and to a less extent those of the Persian Gulf,
the coast of Japan, and of Sharks Bay, on the Australian coast. Of the
second group, the pearl-oysters of Torres Straits and of the Malay
Archipelago are the most prominent members. Between these two groups are
the many species and varieties whose shells and pearls are more evenly
divided with respect to value, including those of Mexico, Panama, the
Red Sea, the South Sea islands, etc.
Some conchologists recognize a large number of species of
_Margaritiferæ_, while other authorities consider many of these as local
variations of the same species. There is much difference in the size,
color, and markings of the shells in different localities, owing to
varying geographical and physical conditions. The distinction of species
and the nomenclature herein adopted are those of Dr. H. L. Jameson, who
has recently revised and rearranged the collection of shells belonging
to this family in the British Museum of Natural History,[80] and to whom
we are indebted for descriptive notes relative to several of the
species.
The greatest pearl-producer in the family of pearl-oysters is the
_Margaritifera vulgaris_ of the Gulf of Manaar and the Persian Gulf, and
to a much less extent of the Red Sea. It occurs in various other inshore
waters of the Indian Ocean, and about the Malay Archipelago and the
coast of Australia and New Guinea, although it is not the principal
pearl-oyster of those waters. An interesting account of its immigration
into the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal was given by Vassel in
1896.[81]
This species is quite small, averaging two and a half inches in diameter
in Ceylon waters, and somewhat more in the Persian Gulf, whence large
quantities of the shell are exported under the name of “Lingah shell.”
The Ceylon variety has the nacreous lining almost uniformly white over
the entire surface, only the lip having a slightly pinkish ground color.
The exterior is marked by seven or eight reddish brown radial bands on a
pale yellow ground. In addition to its greater size, the Persian variety
is darker, and the lip of the shell has a reddish tinge.
For centuries the _Margaritifera vulgaris_ has sustained the great pearl
fisheries of Ceylon, India, and Persia, and at present yields the bulk
of pearls on the market, especially the seed-pearls and also those of
medium size. It produces relatively few large ones, rarely exceeding
twelve grains in weight. These pearls are commonly silvery white, and
for their size command the highest prices, because of their beautiful
form and superior luster. Excepting the Venezuelan species, this is the
only pearl-oyster which at present supports extensive fisheries
exclusively for pearls; in the fisheries for all other species the value
of the shells furnishes considerable revenue, and in some localities
this represents several times as much as the income from the pearls.
Ranking next to _Margaritifera vulgaris_ in extent of pearl production
is the _Margaritifera margaritifera_, which is widely distributed about
the tropical inshore waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans. It is very
much larger than the Lingah oyster, good specimens measuring seven or
eight inches in diameter, and the nacreous interior is usually of a
darker color. In addition to its yield of pearls, the shell of this
species is of value in the mother-of-pearl trade, and contributes
largely to the economic results of the fisheries. Indeed, in several
regions the shell is of more value than the pearls, which represent only
an incidental yield. As Jameson notes, the color and markings of the
shell, though extremely variable, generally suffice to distinguish this
species. The ground color of the exterior ranges through various shades
from yellowish brown to very dark brown. Its characteristic markings
consist of from ten to eighteen radial rows of white and yellow spots,
running from the umbo, or hinge, to the margin.
Several varieties of _Margaritifera margaritifera_ are recognized. The
type species occurs along the north coast of Australia, from Brisbane on
the east to Sharks Bay on the west; on the New Guinea coast; at Formosa;
and about many of the islands of the Pacific. The well-known “black lip
shell” of Australian waters is of this species; it shows a greenish
black on the margin of the nacre. The yield of this is very small
compared with that of the large pearl-oyster of Australia.
[Illustration:
SHELL OF PEARL-OYSTER WITH ATTACHED PEARL
(_Margaritifera margaritifera mazatlanica_)
From Costa Rica
]
The _Margaritifera margaritifera_ occurs on the eastern coast of Arabia
in two varieties, which differ somewhat from the type species. These
have been designated by Jameson as _M. margaritifera persica_ and _M.
margaritifera erythræensis_. These are much larger than the Lingah shell
of the Persian Gulf, but are smaller than the Australian species. The
percentage of pearls in them is less than in the Lingah species, but
from a commercial point of view this is to some extent offset by the
greater value of the shell. The _M. m. persica_ is more numerous in the
gulf than the _M. m. erythræensis_, and large quantities of the shell
are marketed in Europe. Formerly the shipments were made principally by
way of Bombay, hence the shell is known in the mother-of-pearl trade as
“Bombay shell.” The exterior is of a light grayish or greenish brown
color, with yellowish white radial bands. The nacre has a slightly
roseate tint, and the margin is greenish yellow. The pearls found herein
are more yellowish in color and attain a larger size than those from the
Lingah oyster.
The _M. m. erythræensis_ occurs also in the Red Sea and along the shores
of the Arabian Sea. Among mother-of-pearl dealers it is known as
“Egyptian shell” or “Alexandria shell,” owing to the fact that prior to
the opening of the Suez Canal shipments were commonly made by way of
Alexandria. The color of the nacre is darker than that of its related
variety in the Persian Gulf. In the trade, three grades of this shell
are recognized, classed according to the shade of color. The lightest
comes from Massowah and near the southern end of the Red Sea, and the
darkest from farther north, in the vicinity of Jiddah and Suakim.
The islands of the southern Pacific, and of eastern Polynesia
especially, yield another variety of _M. margaritifera_, to which the
name _M. m. cumingi_ has been given. The nacre is of a dark metallic
green, and in the mother-of-pearl trade the shell is designated as
“black-edged.” It attains a large size, only slightly smaller than the
large Australian species; many individual specimens measure ten inches
in diameter, and weigh six or seven pounds for the two valves. Belonging
to this variety are those oysters whose shells are known in the markets
of Europe and America as “Tahiti,” “Gambier,” and “Auckland” shells, the
name designating the port of shipment.
Yet another subspecies, the _M. m. mazatlanica_, occurs on the coasts of
Panama and Mexico, and especially in the Gulf of California. This is
likewise green-edged, and the exterior color is yellow or light brown.
This shell has been marketed in quantities since 1850, and is known in
the mother-of-pearl trade as “Panama shell.” It is smaller than the
Australian species, specimens rarely exceeding eight inches in diameter.
It yields a large percentage of the black pearls that have been so
fashionable in the last fifty years.
Since 1870, the largest pearls have been found mainly in a very large
species of pearl-oyster, _Margaritifera maxima_, obtained off the north
and west coasts of Australia, among the Sulu Islands, and elsewhere in
the Malay Archipelago. In the fisheries for this species, the
mother-of-pearl is the principal object sought, and the pearls are
obtained incidentally. It is the largest of all the members of this
family, reaching in exceptional cases twelve or thirteen inches in
diameter, and weighing upward of twelve pounds; while the Ceylon oyster
rarely exceeds four ounces in weight. So marked is this difference, that
the Australian species is often designated the “mother-of-pearl oyster,”
and the Ceylon species the “pearl-oyster.” Jameson notes that it differs
from the _Margaritifera margaritifera_, its nearest competitor in size,
in its much longer hinge, its shape, its lesser convexity, and in its
color and markings. As described by him, the color ranges from pale
yellowish brown to deep brown, with traces of radial markings of dark
brown, green, or red in the umbonal area. In its marginal region, the
shell is marked by a series of circumferential lines about one third of
a millimeter apart.
Several geographical varieties of this species are recognized in the
mother-of-pearl trade, differing principally in the coloring of the
interior surface. The chief commercial varieties are “Sydney” or
“Queensland,” “Port Darwin,” “West Australian,” “New Guinea,” “Manila,”
“Macassar,” and “Mergui.” The nacre of those from the Australian coast
is almost uniformly silvery white. That of the “Manila shell” is
characterized by a broad golden border surrounding the silvery white
nacre. The “Macassar shell” lacks the golden border of the “Manila
shell,” and is similar in its uniform whiteness to the “Sydney shell,”
but its iridescence is much greater.
The _Margaritifera carcharium_, from Sharks Bay, on the coast of
Australia, yields yellow pearls and small quantities of mother-of-pearl.
This species is small—three or four inches in diameter. The color is
grayish or greenish yellow, with several somewhat indistinct radial
bands of brownish green. The nacre has a yellowish green tint, with a
margin of pale yellow, with brown markings.
In the West Indies and on the Atlantic coast of tropical America,
especially the coast of Venezuela, occurs the _Margaritifera radiata_.
This species is quite small, and seems to be closely allied to the
Ceylon oyster. Like the latter, the nacreous interior is rich and
brilliant, but owing to its small size, the shell is wholly valueless as
mother-of-pearl. The principal and almost the only fishery for this
species is on the Venezuelan coast, in the vicinity of Margarita Island,
the islands of Cubagua, and Coche.
The coast of Japan yields the _Margaritifera martensi_, which occurs
among the numerous islands in the southern part of the empire, but does
not extend beyond 40° north latitude. This species is likewise small,
and closely resembles the pearl-oyster of Ceylon, from which it differs
principally in coloration. As noted by Jameson, brown and white
predominate in the exterior coloring, and the interior of the lip is
marbled with yellow ocher and chocolate brown, instead of pink, as in
the Ceylon shell.
There are numerous other species of pearl-oysters, but they are of
slight economic importance, and do not support fisheries of value.
As only a small percentage of the individual mollusks contain pearls, it
follows that vast quantities are destroyed without any return whatever,
and handling them merely adds to the expense of the industry, as well as
reduces the resources of the reefs. This could be obviated if it were
possible, without opening them, to determine the individual mollusks
containing pearls.
Among the several methods proposed for this purpose, especially
interesting is the use of X-rays, which was suggested by Raphael Dubois
of Lyons, France, in 1901.[82] The shells of some pearl-oysters—those of
Ceylon and of Venezuela for instance—are relatively thin, and it was
thought that by the means of the rays the presence of pearls could be
ascertained, and non-pearl-bearers could be saved from opening, and be
returned to the reefs without injury. Although the calcareous shell
partly interrupts the radiations, it is not difficult to recognize the
presence of large pearls.
The theory has never been found practical in application, owing largely
to the rough and irregular exterior of the shell and the small size of
the pearls. The presence of the larger pearls may be ascertained by this
method; but it is exceedingly probable that a very large percentage of
the small ones, and especially the seed-pearls, would be overlooked.
Furthermore, if in their sixth year oysters contain no pearls, the
probability of appearance therein later is very small, and little
benefit would result from their return to the water. As to saving the
trouble of opening the non-pearl-bearing mollusks, labor in the pearling
regions is usually inexpensive, and this cost is far more than offset by
the reasonable certainty of securing practically all the small as well
as the large pearls by the present method of operation. Owing to the
greater thickness and the economic value of the large pearl-oysters—as
those of Australia or of Mexico, for instance—the application of X-rays
to them is obviously impractical. However, when pearl-oyster culture
becomes a highly developed industry, with personal ownership in those
mollusks returned to the water, some method such as this might be of
great value.
Pearls are yielded by various species of _Unionidæ_ or _Naiades_
occurring in the rivers of America, Scotland, Saxony, Bavaria, Norway,
Sweden, Russia, France, China, etc. These mollusks exist exclusively in
the fresh-water streams, lakes, and ponds, and quickly die when
submerged in salt water. The _Unionidæ_ are of particular interest in
America, as it is here that this group is most abundant, and nearly
every stream east of the Rocky Mountains contains more or less of them.
The Mississippi basin abounds in Unios, or “clams,” as they are known to
the fishermen of that region, and furnishes about 400 of the 1000
recognized species of this important family.
The Unios are most abundant in clear, running water, where the bottom is
gravelly or sandy. The interiors of the shells are iridescent, and vary
greatly in tint, exhibiting many delicate shades of color from silvery
white to straw color, pink, purple, brown, etc.
About five hundred species of American fresh-water mussels have been
recognized by conchologists. Many of these differ from one another so
very slightly that they are scarcely distinguishable from an examination
of the shells themselves, or even from the descriptions, and a detailed
index to the complete list is of little economic importance. The
professional fishermen and the shell-buyers take the trouble to name
only the species with which they deal, which includes only about
twenty-five species, all of which are margaritiferous, though some to a
greater extent than others. In the pearling regions a popular
nomenclature exists, the names given by the fishermen having reference
to the shape, color, etc.
The niggerhead (_Quadrula ebena_) is the most numerous in the
Mississippi, and it is extensively used in button manufacture. The thick
shell of this species is almost round, with a black outer surface and a
pearly white interior. At maturity it averages about four inches in
diameter and four ounces in weight. Owing to its uniform whiteness and
the flatness of its surface, it is well adapted to button manufacture,
and for this purpose more than twenty thousand tons are taken in the
Mississippi Valley every year. When the fishery originated, the
niggerhead was very abundant in some places, and especially between La
Crosse and Burlington. From a single bed near New Boston, Illinois,
measuring about 200 acres in area, 7500 tons, or about 70,000,000
individual shells, were removed in three years. In 1897, a bed of 320
acres near Muscatine furnished 500 tons, or about 4,750,000 shells. This
species occasionally yields valuable pearls.
Two species of Unios, _Quadrula undulata_ and _Q. plicata_, are known
among the fishermen as “three-ridges.” The former is also known as the
“blue-point” from the fact that the sharp edge is usually tinged faint
blue on the inside. Although not the best for button manufacture, the
shells yield the greatest number of pearls.
[Illustration:
PINNA OR WING SHELL (_Pinna seminuda_)
One third natural size
]
[Illustration:
PEARL-OYSTER OF CEYLON (_Margaritifera vulgaris_)
Natural size
]
A species somewhat similar to the niggerhead is the bullhead
(_Pleurobema æsopus_). This shell is thick and opaque, the nacre is not
so iridescent as that of the niggerhead, nor does it yield pearls of
such good quality. These two species are not evenly distributed over the
bottom of the streams, but occur in great patches or beds, sometimes
several feet in thickness and covering many hundreds of acres. Some of
the beds are several miles in length, and they may be separated by
twenty or thirty miles in which the mollusks are so scarce that
profitable fishing can not be made; but usually the reefs are smaller
and more closely situated.
The sand shells (_Lampsilis_)—of which there are several species—do not
occur in large beds, but are scattered over the sandy beaches and
sloping mud-banks. In shape they are narrow and long, adults measuring
five or six inches in length. Owing to the small waste in cutting, due
to uniformity in thickness, these shells are sold to button
manufacturers for more than the niggerhead, which in turn is more
valuable than the bullhead.
The buckhorn (_Tritigonia verrucosa_) is very long and narrow; on the
dark brown exterior it is rough, as is the horn from which it takes its
name, while the interior shows a beautiful display of colors. This is
not found in beds, but lies scattered among other species. It sells at a
relatively high price—usually in excess of $20 per ton—for button
manufacture.
Another species is the butterfly (_Plagiola securis_), which is very
prettily marked on the outside with faintly colored dotted stripes of
varying length. Over a background of dark yellow run black stripes to
the outer edge of the shell, with dark dots between the stripes. The
shell is small and thick, and like the sand shell and the buckhorn, is
found in small quantities. Owing to the beauty and permanency of its
luster, this shell is in demand for button manufacture, and its pearls
are often very beautiful.
Other well-known species are the pancake (_Lampsilis alatus_), the
maple-leaf (_Quadrula wardi_), and hackle-back (_Symphynota
complanata_). On the Atlantic seaboard, the principal species in which
pearls have been found are _Unio complanata_; the _Alasmodon arcuata_,
which has hinge teeth, and a species of Anodon. Pearls from the _Unio
complanata_ are usually smaller but more lustrous than those from either
of the other species.
Among the many fresh-water mussels are found some remarkable conditions
of animal life. Probably the most curious is the parasitic stage of
certain species. When hatched from the egg, each one of these is
provided with hooks or spines, by means of which it attaches itself to
the gills or fins of a swimming fish and becomes embedded therein. After
confinement in this cyst for a period of two months or more, the small
mollusk works its way out and falls to the bottom of the river or pond,
where its development continues along lines more conventional to
molluscan life.
In most of the species of Unios the sexes are separate; but it has been
determined that in some the individuals are provided with both sets of
sexual organs. It is claimed by some naturalists that certain species
may change from one sex to another; yet this does not seem to have been
positively established.
Not the least interesting of the habits of the Unios is the manner in
which they “walk,” bushels of them changing their habitation in a few
hours. The shell opens slightly and the muscular tongue-like “foot” is
thrust out, and by pressure of this on the bottom, the mollusk is
propelled in a jerky, jumpy movement with more speed than one would
suppose possible for the apparently inert creature.
The number of eggs produced by an individual in one season ranges from a
few hundred in some species to many millions in others, as in the
_Quadrula heros_, for instance. Most of the fresh-water mollusks are of
slow growth, reaching maturity in six or eight years, and it is believed
that if undisturbed they live to be from fifteen to fifty years old;
indeed, some writers credit them with attaining an age of one hundred
years.
While outwardly there is no positive indication of the existence of
pearls, they are relatively scarce in young mollusks, and likewise in
those having a normal, healthy appearance, with smooth exterior free
from blemishes, and they are found generally in the older, irregular,
and deformed shells, which bear excrescences and the marks of having
parasites. However, some of the choicest pearls have come from shells
relatively young and apparently in perfect condition.
It has been pointed out that with the fresh-water Unios there are three
indications on which the fishermen to some extent rely for determining
the presence of pearls from the outward aspects of the shell. There are,
first, the thread or elevated ridge extending from the vertex to the
edge; second, the kidney-shape of the shell, and third, the contortion
of both valves toward the middle plane of the mollusk.
A single mollusk may contain several small pearls,—more than one hundred
have been found,—but in such cases usually none has commercial value.
Ordinarily only one is found in the examination of very many shells. Of
these objects it may be truthfully said that “many are found, but few
are chosen,” few that are of first quality or are worthy of a fine
necklace. In many instances, several pounds of cheap pearls would be
gladly exchanged for a choice gem weighing an equal number of grains.
On the Atlantic seaboard of America, the Anodontas, or “mussels,” as
they are known locally, are more numerous than the Unios. They prefer
the still waters of the ponds and lakes, rather than the swift currents
of the streams. The shell is much thinner than that of the Unios, and it
is usually not so brilliant in color and iridescence; consequently the
pearly concretions obtained from them are less lustrous.
The rivers of Europe, and of Asia also, contain numbers of pearl-bearing
mussels. In many localities the yield of pearls has at times attracted
attention and produced much profit, though probably never equaling the
present extent of the Mississippi River finds. The principal
pearl-bearer of Europe is the _Unio margaritifera_, the shell of which
has been of some local importance in the manufacture of pearl buttons.
In Great Britain it is known as the pearl-mussel; in France as the
_moule_ or _huître perlière_; in Germany as _perlenmuschel_; in Belgium
as _paarl mossel de rivieren_; in Denmark as _perle-skiael_; in Sweden
as _perlmussla_; in Russia as _schemtschuschuaja rakavina_, and in
Finland as _simpsuckan cuosi_. The _Unio margaritifera_ likewise exists
in Siberia, and possibly elsewhere in Asia. Other species of Unio exist
there and in Mongolia, Manchuria, etc., as, for instance, _U.
mongolicus_, _U. dahuricus_, etc. A leading species in eastern China,
the _Dipsas plicatus_, has long been extensively employed in the
artificial production of pearly objects or culture pearls.[83] Unio
pearls show less uniformity of tints than those derived from the
pearl-oysters. They present an extended series of shades, corresponding
to those on the interior of the shells, from almost perfect white
through various tints of cream, pink, yellow, bright red, blue, green,
russet, and brown. The metallic shades are numerous, especially the
steels and the coppers.
Most of the members of the _Mytilidæ_ family, which includes the marine
mussels, are of slight luster; and the pearly concretions found in them
are of the grade known as “druggists’ pearls,” so-called because,
formerly, they were used in a powdered form in astringent and other
medicines. However, some of these mussels on the European coast yield
pearls that are fairly lustrous. The white and the pink are most
numerous, but purple, red, bronze, and yellow are by no means uncommon.
A few pearls are also obtained from the sea-wings or wing-shells
(_Pinna_), the silkworms of the sea, found in the Red Sea, the
Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, the southern coast of America, and
elsewhere. These shells are narrow at the umbo, or hinge, long, and
fan-shaped; they are generally brittle, and present a horn-like
appearance. The interior is commonly of a silvery reddish or
orange-colored hue, and this tint is imparted to the pearls. The most
characteristic feature of the _Pinna_ is the thick rope of silky fibers,
from four to ten, and sometimes twenty or more inches in length,
constituting the byssus, a remarkable provision by means of which it
anchors itself to the bottom and thus outrides the storm. Formerly the
byssus was gathered in Sicily, washed in soap and water, dried, corded,
and fabricated into gloves and similar articles of a fine texture. The
finished garments were of a beautiful golden brown color, resembling the
burnished gold on the backs of some splendid flies or beetles.
The yield of _Pinna_ pearls is very small. A few are obtained from the
Mediterranean, especially on the Adriatic coast. These are usually
rose-tinted or reddish in color, but of diminished orient, and inferior
in size. _Pinna_ pearls are also reported from the Isle of Pines and
from New Caledonia, where they are commonly very dark, almost black in
color.
The window-glass shell (_Placuna placenta_), the _vitre chinoise_ of
some writers, yields a few small, irregularly shaped pearls of a dull
leaden color. It occurs in the inshore waters of the Indian and the
southwestern Pacific oceans; fisheries are prosecuted in Tablegram Lake,
near Trincomali, on the northeast coast of Ceylon; on the coast of
Borneo, especially at Pados Bay, and to a less extent in some other
localities. This mollusk is quite distinct from the true pearl-oyster,
and in adult life is devoid of the byssus, living on the muddy bottom of
the shallow waters. The shell is almost circular, the right valve is
quite flat, and the left only slightly convex. It is remarkable for its
transparency, especially in the first year of growth, when the beating
of the heart of the mollusk is visible through it. Reaching maturity in
about two years, the shell becomes white and translucent, resembling
pressed isinglass somewhat in its texture. It then measures about six or
seven inches in length, and nearly the same in width. The outside is
rough; the interior is glazed over and has a subdued pearly luster. It
is so thin and transparent that with a strong light very coarse print
can be read through it. It is commonly used in the East Indies as a
substitute for glass in windows, admitting a soft mellow light into the
room. For this purpose it is usually cut into small rectangular or
diamond-shaped pieces, about five or six square inches in area, and
these are inserted into sash frames. It forms a good economical
substitute for glass, not only in windows of native residences, but also
in lanterns and the like.
[Illustration:
SHELL AND PEARLS OF THE COMMON CONCH
(_Strombus gigas_)
Of Florida and the West Indies
]
The giant clam (_Tridacna gigas_) of tropical waters yields a few large
opal-white symmetrical pearls, with faint luster and of little value.
The transversely oval shell of the _Tridacna_, with its great squamous
ribs, is probably the largest and heaviest in existence, single pairs
weighing upward of 500 pounds. It is found in tropical seas, and
especially in the Indian Ocean. It is much used for ornament,
particularly for fountain-basins, and for _bénitiers_, or holy-water
fonts. A beautiful pair used as _bénitiers_ in the Church of St. Sulpice
in Paris is said to have been a gift of the Republic of Venice to
Francis I. There seems to be no established fishery for this mollusk,
and the pearls very rarely come on the market. About four years ago in
New York City an effort was made to market one weighing about 200
grains. The owner represented that it was a “cocoanut pearl,” and
offered to sell it for $2000; whereas its actual value was probably not
over $10 or $20, and that only for a museum collection.
Pearls of slight luster also occur in the quahog, or hard clam (_Venus
mercenaria_), of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Although these
are rare, they are generally of good form, and some weigh upward of
eighty grains each. They are commonly of dark color, purplish,
ordinarily, but they may be white, pale lilac, brown, and even purplish
black, or black. The white ones—which so nearly resemble ivory buttons
as readily to pass for them at a casual glance—are of little value; but
fine dark ones have retailed at from $10 to $100 each. There is little
demand for them, for unless the color is very good, they possess slight
beauty, lacking the orient peculiar to choice pearls. Pearls have also
been reported from the edible clam of the Pacific coast of America.
Shelly concretions are found in the edible oyster of America (_Ostrea
virginica_), as well as in that of Europe (_O. edulis_); but these are
commonly objects of personal interest or of local curiosity, rather than
of artistic or commercial value, as they are lacking in luster and
iridescence. Most of them are dull or opal-white, some are purple, and a
few are white on one side and purple on the other. As many as fifty of
these formations have been found in a single oyster. Sometimes they are
of odd appearance, suggesting the human eye or face, and recently one
was found which bore a striking resemblance to a human skull.
Notwithstanding many news items to the contrary, it is doubtful whether
the choicest pearl from an edible oyster would sell for as high as $20
on its own merits; professional shuckers have opened thousands of
bushels of oysters without finding one which would sell for ten cents.
Among univalves, the most prominent pearl-producer is probably the
common conch or great conch (_Strombus gigas_) of the West Indies and
the Florida coast, which secretes beautiful pink pearls of considerable
value. This is one of the largest of the univalve shells, some
individuals measuring twelve inches in length, and weighing five or six
pounds. The graceful curves and the delicate tints of lovely pink color
make it exceedingly attractive. The conch abounds in the waters of the
West Indies, especially in the Bahamas, where many thousands are
annually taken for the shell, which forms quite an article of commerce.
The flesh is esteemed as food and is also used for bait; and it is
particularly in preparing for these purposes that the pearls are found,
as no established fisheries exist for the pearls alone.
The ear-shells or abalones (Haliotidæ) found on the coasts of
California, Japan, New Zealand, and other localities in the Pacific,
secrete pearly concretions, sometimes with fine luster, but usually of
small value. These shells resemble in general outline the form of the
human ear. Distinguishing characteristics are the flatly-spiral
bowl-like shape, and the regular series of holes in the back near the
distal margin, for the admission of water to the respiratory organs. The
holes are on the left side and parallel with the columellar lip, and
those nearest the apex close up as the shell increases in size. The
shells are rough externally, but beautifully nacreous within. In variety
and intensity of coloring, the nacre is superior to that of the
pearl-oysters, but it is not so harmonious, and it does not form so
thick and flat a layer.
Abalone pearls are especially interesting on account of their brilliant
and unusual colors. Green predominates, but blue and yellow also occur.
Although commonly very small, some of the well formed ones exceed
seventy-five grains in weight, and those of irregular shape may be very
much larger. The ear-shells also produce many irregular pearly masses.
Although these are without an established commercial value, their
beautiful greenish or bluish tints adapt them for artistic jeweled
objects, such as the body of a fly or of a beetle.
Similar concretions are found in species of turbos and turbinella,
especially the Indian chank (_Turbinella rapa_), which yields pink and
pale red pearls. The pearly nautilus (_Nautilus pompilius_) yields a few
yellowish pearls, especially those taken in Australian waters; but from
the paper nautilus—“the sea-born sailor of his shell canoe”—no pearls
are obtained, owing to the non-lustrous nature of the shell.
In bygone days, especially in Asia, and also to some extent in Europe,
pearls were credited as coming from many non-molluscan sources. The
Rabbis had the idea that they came also from fish, as noted in the story
of a tailor who was rewarded by finding a pearl in one which he bought
(Gen. R. xi. 5). The Raganighantu of Narahari, a Kashmir physician of
about 1240 _A.D._, reported them as coming from bamboos, cocoanuts,
heads of elephants, bears, serpents, whales, fish, etc.;[84] although it
conceded that these were deficient in luster, which is recognized as the
characteristic feature of pearls. We understand, therefore, that this
use of the word signifies only hard concretions of a spherical form. In
the apology for his book, prison-bound Bunyan wrote:
A pearl may in a toad’s head dwell,
And may be found in an oyster shell.
The crystal gems—the diamonds, rubies, etc.—are practically unlimited in
their longevity, existing thousands of years unchanged in condition.
Except those which have been discovered by man, the earth contains about
as many as it ever did, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that in
course of time a considerable percentage of the total will be
discovered. But in the seas as well as in the rivers, the longevity of
pearls is greatly restricted, and
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear[85]
to run their course of existence and decay unseen and unknown.
Perishable while in the seas, almost as cereals and fruits on land, the
harvest must be gathered with promptness or it is wasted. And it seems
probable that only a small percentage of the beautiful gems produced in
the waters have gladdened the sight of man.
With considerable hesitancy we have attempted to estimate the number of
persons employed in the pearl fisheries of the world, and the aggregate
local value of their catch. For two or three regions, this is not a
matter of great difficulty. For instance, the divers employed in the
Ceylon fishery are numbered each season, and the auction sales of their
catch furnish a reasonably satisfactory basis for determining the value
of the output. Likewise in Australia, Venezuela, and some minor
localities, the fishermen are numbered; but the reports are less
satisfactory as to the value of the pearls. In the Persian Gulf, the Red
Sea, the Gulf of California, and the islands of the Pacific, where
pearl-diving is a profession and a regular source of livelihood, the
number of employees is fairly constant. But in the rivers and ponds of
America, as well as of Europe and of Asia, where neither experience nor
costly equipment is required for the industry, and pearls to the value
of very many thousands of dollars are obtained by men, women, and even
children, on pleasure bent, as well as in the widely fluctuating
professional fisheries, the problem is far more difficult.
Contending with these many difficulties, we venture to present the
following estimate of the number of persons employed in the pearl
fisheries of the world, and the value of the output in 1906.
Localities. Pearls Shells
Fishermen Local Local
No. Values. Values.
Asia:
Persian Gulf 35,000 $4,000,000 $110,000
Ceylon[86] 18,500 1,200,000 40,000
India 1,250 100,000 95,000
Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, etc.[87] 3,000 200,000 150,000
China, Japan, Siberia, etc. 20,000 400,000 50,000
——————— —————————— ——————————
Total 77,750 $5,900,000 $445,000
Europe:
British Isles 200 15,000
Continent of Europe 1,000 100,000 3,000
——————— —————————— ——————————
Total 1,200 $115,000 $3,000
Islands of the Pacific:
South Sea islands 4,500 125,000 500,000
Australian coast[88] 6,250 450,000 1,200,000
Malay Archipelago 5,000 300,000 800,000
——————— —————————— ——————————
Total 15,750 $875,000 $2,500,000
America:
United States rivers 8,500 650,000 350,000
Venezuela 1,900 275,000 10,000
Mexico 1,250 210,000 200,000
Panama 400 40,000 75,000
Miscellaneous 1,000 75,000 25,000
——————— —————————— ——————————
Total 13,050 $1,250,000 $660,000
======= ========== ==========
Grand total 107,750 $8,140,000 $3,608,000
Our returns do not represent the annual output of pearls in the values
best known to gem buyers. The difference in price between pearls in the
fisherman’s hands in the Persian Gulf or at the Pacific islands, and
that for which they are exchanged over the counters in New York or
Paris, is nearly as great as the difference in value of wool on the
sheep’s back and of the same material woven into fashionable fabrics.
For each dollar received by the fisherman, the retail buyer probably
pays three; and it is not unreasonable to suppose that the pearls herein
represented probably sold ultimately for an aggregate of $24,420,000.
This summary falls far short in giving a correct idea of the importance
of the pearl fisheries in furnishing a livelihood to humanity; for it
takes no consideration of that great body of men who contribute
incidentally to the prosecution of the fisheries, such as shell-openers,
pearl-washers, watchmen, cooks, laborers, etc. In the Ceylon pearl
fishery of 1906, for instance, our estimate shows 18,500 fishermen; but
there were 40,000 persons engaged at the pearl camp alone, and many
others were given employment in boat-building, supplying provisions,
selling the pearls, etc., and this does not include the wives and
children depending on the industry for sustenance. Indeed, it seems not
unreasonable to estimate that instead of only the 18,500 fishermen,
85,000 persons were in a large measure dependent for their livelihood on
the Ceylon fishery in 1906.
Estimated on the same basis, we have a total of 500,000 persons
depending largely on the pearl fisheries of the world for their support.
Thus we see that pearl buyers and pearl wearers not only gratify a
commendable admiration for the beautiful, but contribute largely to the
economic balance whereby one class of humanity either sustains or is
dependent upon another, even though these classes be so widely separated
as the crown of Russia from the half-starved diver of the tropical seas.
How strange is the providence of God, who, by granting the pearl to the
poor Arab, the Tamil of India, the South Sea Islander, and the forgotten
Selang of Mergui, makes the greatest and wealthiest in the world
contribute to their support.
VI
PEARLS FROM ASIA
THE PERSIAN GULF, FISHERIES OF INDIA, CEYLON PEARL FISHERIES, RED SEA
AND ARABIAN SEA, CHINA, JAPAN, SIBERIA, ETC.
VI
THE PEARL FISHERIES OF THE PERSIAN GULF
Dear as the wet diver to the eyes
Of his pale wife, who waits and weeps on shore,
By sands of Bahrein in the Persian Gulf;
Plunging all day in the blue waves; at night,
Having made up his toll of precious pearls,
Rejoins her in their hut upon the shore.
SIR EDWIN ARNOLD.
The pearl fisheries of the Persian Gulf are the most famous and valuable
in the world, and have been prosecuted for more than two thousand years.
A translation by that eminent Assyriologist, Jules Oppert, of a
cuneiform inscription on a broken obelisk, erected presumably by a king
of Nineveh, seems to indicate a very early origin for these
fisheries.[89] Professor Oppert’s translation is:
In the sea of the changeable winds (_i.e._, the Persian Gulf),
his merchants fished for pearls;
In the sea where the North Star culminates,
they fished for yellow amber.
The earliest writing of Europeans on the East refer to these fisheries.
An account of them was given by the Greek writer Megasthenes, who
accompanied Seleucus Nicator, the Macedonian general, in his Asiatic
conquests, about 307 B.C. Shortly afterward they were noted by the Greek
historian, Isidorus of Charace, in his account of the Parthian Empire.
Extracts from Nearchus preserved by Arrian also mention them. Ptolemy
speaks of the pearl fisheries which existed from time immemorial at
Tylos, the Roman name for the present Island of Bahrein. These resources
were well known in the days of Pliny. In his “Historia Naturalis,” Book
IX, ch. 35, he says: “But the most perfect and exquisite [pearls] of all
others be they that are gotten about Arabia, within the Persian
Gulf.”[90] Pliny states also (Book VI, ch. 25) that Catifa (El Katiff),
on the Arabian coast opposite Bahrein, was the center of an important
fishery.
In the ninth century these fisheries were noted by Massoudi, one of the
earliest Arabian geographers.[91] In the latter part of the twelfth
century they were visited and described by the Spanish-Hebrew traveler,
Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela.[92] The Arabian traveler, Ibn Batuta, wrote of
them about 1336.[93] In 1508 they were noted in the account of Lodovico
Barthema’s expedition to the Island of Ormus. According to him:
At three days’ journey from this island they fished the largest
pearls which are found in the world; and whoever wishes to know
about it, behold! There are certain fishermen who go there in small
boats and cast into the water two large stones attached to ropes,
one at the bow, the other at the stern of each boat to stay it in
place. Then one of the fishermen hangs a sack from his neck,
attaches a large stone to his feet, and descends to the bottom—about
fifteen paces under water, where he remains as long as he can,
searching for oysters which bear pearls, and puts as many as he
finds into his sack. When he can remain no longer, he casts off the
stone attached to his feet, and ascends by one of the ropes fastened
to the boat. There are so many connected with the business that you
will often see 300 of these little boats which come from many
countries.[94]
Shortly following the visit of Barthema, the Portuguese under
Albuquerque took possession of the principal ports of the Persian Gulf,
and they imposed heavy taxes on the pearl fishery throughout the century
of their retention. While under their jurisdiction, the fisheries were
visited and described by J. H. van Linschoten in 1596, who wrote:
The principall and the best that are found in all the Orientall
Countries, and the right Orientall pearles, are between Ormus and
Bassora in the straights, or Sinus Persicus, in the places called
Bareyn, Catiffa, Julfar, Camaron, and other places in the said Sinus
Persicus, from whence they are brought into Ormus. The king of
Portingale hath also his factor in Bareyn, that stayeth there onlie
for the fishing of pearles. There is great trafficke used with them,
as well in Ormus as in Goa.[95]
[Illustration:
Cargo boat in pearl fishery of the Persian Gulf
]
[Illustration:
Huts of mats and palm leaves, the homes of the pearl fishermen at
Menamah, Bahrein Islands, Persian Gulf
]
This was the Ormus where the treasures of the Orient were gathered in
abundance, the half-way house between the East and the West, making it
one of the greatest emporia of the world. So renowned was its wealth and
commerce that it was a saying among the Portuguese, were the whole world
a golden ring, Ormus would be the jeweled signet. It was built on an
island, supported a population of 40,000 persons, and was particularly
well situated as a distributing point for the pearls, which enriched the
argosies of Portugal, and contributed so largely to
the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Show’rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
which Milton celebrates in “Paradise Lost.” This wonderful Ormus, in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries one of the wealthiest places in the
world, is now only a fishing village of less than a hundred huts.
It was at Ormus, nearly a century later, in 1670, that the shrewd old
jewel merchant, Tavernier, whose acquaintance with gems doubtless
equaled that of any man of his time, saw what he called “the most
beautiful pearl in the world”; not so much for its size, for it weighed
only 48¼ grains, nor for its regularity in form, but because of its most
wonderful luster.[96]
In describing the fisheries, which had been retaken by the Persians in
1622, Tavernier wrote in 1670, according to Ball’s translation:
There is a pearl fishery round the island of Bahren, in the Persian
Gulf. It belongs to the King of Persia, and there is a good fortress
there, where a garrison of 300 men is kept.... When the Portuguese
held Hormuz [Ormus] and Muscat, each boat which went to fish was
obliged to take out a license from them, which cost fifteen
_abassis_ [$5.45], and many brigantines were maintained there, to
sink those who were unwilling to take out licenses. But since the
Arabs have retaken Muscat, and the Portuguese are no longer supreme
in the Gulf, every man who fishes pays to the King of Persia only
five _abassis_, whether his fishing is successful or not. The
merchant also pays the king something small for every 1,000 oysters.
The second pearl fishery is opposite Bahren, on the coast of Arabia
Felix, close to the town of El Katif, which, with all the
neighboring country, belongs to an Arab prince.[97]
During the century following Tavernier’s time, the fisheries were
vigorously prosecuted, owing to the impoverished condition of the reefs
in India and America, and to the large demand for pearls, not only by
the Oriental courts, but by the wealth and fashion of Europe. Except for
the last four years, when the Ceylon fishery was very productive,
throughout the eighteenth century the Persian Gulf was almost the only
important source of supply for pearls. For several years following the
reopening of the Ceylon fishery in 1796, that region diverted some of
the attention which the Persian waters had been receiving, but it was
not long before these regained their ascendancy.
In 1838, Lieutenant J. R. Wellsted, an officer in the British India
service, reported that the fisheries of the gulf employed 4300 boats,
manned by somewhat more than 30,000 men.[98] Of these boats, 3500 were
from the Island of Bahrein, 100 from the Persian coast, and the
remaining 700 from the Pirate Coast situated between Bahrein and the
entrance to the Gulf of Oman. Lieutenant Wellsted estimated the value of
the pearls secured annually as approximately £400,000, which is somewhat
less than the average value of the output in recent years.
Twenty-seven years later, according to Sir Lewis Pelly,[99] who was in
the Indian service from 1851 to 1877, there were 1500 boats at Bahrein,
and the annual return from the whole fishery was £400,000, the same as
previously reported by Wellsted. In 1879, the value of the output was
estimated at £600,000 by the British Resident, Colonel Ross, and at
£800,000 by Captain L. E. Durand, of the British Protectorate of the
Persian Gulf. Owing to the increased market value, the average output in
the last five years has amounted to approximately four million dollars
annually. This refers to the local value only, which is greatly
increased by the time the pearls leave the markets in Bombay and Bagdad.
The Persian Gulf is nearly 600 miles long, with an average width of
somewhat more than 100 miles. The Strait of Ormus—thirty to sixty miles
wide—connects it with the Gulf of Oman, which opens directly into the
Arabian Sea. The depth of water rarely exceeds thirty fathoms. Oyster
reefs are well distributed throughout the gulf, and are in greatest
abundance on the Arab side between the 24th and 27th degrees of north
latitude and the 50th and 54th degrees of east longitude, at a distance
of from a few hundred yards to sixty miles from the shore, and
especially in the vicinity of the Bahrein Islands. The oysters are
scattered over level areas of coral rock and sand, with depths ranging
from two to eighteen fathoms.[100] The divers rarely descend in deeper
water than twelve fathoms, notwithstanding that valuable pearls are
apparently obtainable at greater depths.
Although the British Protectorate extends over the Persian Gulf,
insuring the peaceful prosecution of the fisheries and the settlement of
intertribal contentions by the government resident, the fisheries are
under the regulations of the maritime Arab sheiks. The restrictions
imposed by these, however, are principally with a view to collecting a
revenue from each boat employed. The total amount realized thereby is
unknown, but there is good reason for supposing that it is considerable.
[Illustration:
AGHA MOHAMMED (1666–1725)
Founder of the present Persian dynasty
From a Persian manuscript in the library of Robert Hoe, Esq.
]
[Illustration:
SHAH SULAIMAN (1647–1694)
From a Persian manuscript in the library of Robert Hoe, Esq.
]
The fisheries are carried on during the greater part of every year,
presenting a strong contrast to the Ceylon fishery, which is prosecuted
usually less than forty days, and in only about one year in three on an
average. This is especially remarkable when it is considered that no
particular care is taken of the Persian reefs and, except for certain
tribal restrictions, the fishermen may work whenever and wherever they
choose. Owing to the extended area over which the fishing is prosecuted
and the existence of undisturbed breeding-oysters in the deeper waters,
the reefs are not readily exhausted, notwithstanding the tens of
millions of mollusks annually removed therefrom.
The fisheries are at their height from June to September, when nearly
every person on the coast is interested in some capacity, if not in
fishing, at least in furnishing supplies, cleaning shells, buying
pearls, etc. In April and May the water on the deep banks is so cold
that the fishermen confine their efforts to the more shallow areas.
During the winter months, the cold weather and the northwesterly gales
interfere with the work, except such as is prosecuted in the smaller
bays and inlets.
The pearling operations are financed mostly by Indian _bunnias_, or
traders, principally from Bombay, who furnish capital for equipment,
supplies of food, etc., and who purchase the pearls in gross lots. These
men bear very hard on the fishermen, furnishing the supplies and buying
the pearls almost at their own prices; and the poor divers who explore
the depths and secure the pearls derive from their exertions little more
than the crudest necessaries of life, and are usually in debt to the
traders.
The actual fishing operations are carried on mainly by the maritime
tribes of Hasa and Oman, including those on the Pirate Coast. The
inhabitants of the Bahrein Islands and the adjacent shores have been
devoted to pearling from time immemorial; but the Wahabis of the Pirate
Coast—the _Ichthyophagi_ of Ptolemy’s time—have more recently, under the
persuasive influence of British gunboats and magazine-rifles,
substituted pearling for their two-century inherited life of fanatical
piracy. Referring to these people in his quaint sketches of Persia
eighty years ago, Sir John Malcolm wrote: “Their occupation is piracy,
and their delight murder, and to make it worse they give you the most
pious reasons for every villainy they commit. They abide by the letter
of the sacred volume, rejecting all commentaries and traditions. If you
are their captive and offer all to save your life, they say, “No! It is
written in the Koran that it is not lawful to plunder the living; but we
are not prohibited from stripping the dead. So saying they knock you on
the head.”[101] Most of the Wahabi pearlers congregate in the mat-hut
settlements of Dobai, Abu Thubi, and Ras-el-Kheima, located at the
mouths of creeks which form fairly good harbors for the small boats. The
Batina coast also furnishes some pearl fishermen, these coming
principally from Fujaira, Shenas, Sohar, Suaik, and Sib.
The headquarters for the pearling fleet are at Bahrein Island, the
largest of the insular group bearing the same name, the islets of
Moharrek, Sitrah, and Nissan completing the group. This is the early
home of Chaldean civilization, and one of the traditional sources of the
Phenicians, and whence came that fish-god who—according to the
Babylonian myth—bore the ark over the deluge. This island, the center of
the greatest pearl fishery in the world, is half way down on the
southern side of the Persian Gulf, and twenty miles from the mainland of
“Araby the blest.” It is about twenty-eight miles in length, and ten in
width at the widest part. The population approximates 60,000, all
Moslems, except about 100 Banyan traders from Sindh, India. The northern
half of the island is described as of great beauty, being a garden of
pomegranate, lemon, citron, and quince-trees, and especially the
magnificent date-palms, with numerous springs furnishing an abundance of
excellent fresh water. The principal settlement, Manama, with about
10,000 inhabitants, is poorly built, the houses consisting mostly of
huts of mats and palm leaves; yet it presents a better appearance than
any other settlement along this coast.
The one great industry, and the center of all interest throughout this
region, is the pearl fishery. The present conditions are precisely as
Palgrave wrote in 1863: “It is from the sea, not from the land, that the
natives subsist; and it is also mainly on the sea that they dwell,
passing amid its waters the one half of the year in search of pearls,
the other half in fishery or trade. Hence their real homes are the
countless boats which stud the placid pool, or stand drawn up in long
black lines on the shore, while little care is taken to ornament their
land houses, the abodes of their wives and children at most, and the
unsightly strong boxes of their treasures. ‘We are all, from the highest
to the lowest, slaves of one master—Pearl,’ said Mohammed bin Thanee to
me one evening; nor was the expression out of place. All thought, all
conversation, all employment, turns on that one subject; everything else
is merely by-game, and below even secondary consideration.”[102]
[Illustration:
ARAB PEARL-DIVERS AT WORK IN THE PERSIAN GULF
]
According to recent returns, the Persian Gulf fisheries employ about
3500 boats,[103] large and small, of which 1200 of the best are owned at
Bahrein, 700 on the coast of El Hassa from El Katar to Kuweit, and the
remaining 1600 are from various parts of the gulf, and especially from
the Pirate Coast east of El Katar. They measure from one to fifty tons.
The smaller ones, with three to fifteen men each, work near the shores;
the larger, carrying fifteen to thirty men, fish over the whole gulf,
remaining out for weeks at a time. These craft are very picturesque with
their artistic rigs and spoon-shaped sails, and when the fishery is at
its height the scene is one of rare interest. The boats from Bahrein are
of excellent construction made by native workmen using local materials,
with home-woven sailcloth and rigging of twisted date-fiber. Each of the
larger ones usually evidences a lingering trace of Semitic influence in
its _kubait_, or figurehead, covered with skin of the sheep or goat
sacrificed in the launching ceremonies.[104] The boats from El Hassa and
the Pirate Coast are usually smaller and less substantial than those
from Bahrein, the fishermen from the latter place far surpassing those
of the mainland in civilization and industrial wealth.
The fleet is manned by approximately 35,000 fishermen. In addition to
the _nakhoda_, or captain, who is often the owner of the boat, the crew
consists of _ghoas_ or divers, who are mainly Arabs and Sedees, and
_sebs_, or rope-tenders, who are usually Bedouins or Persians and attend
the divers and perform other duties. Many Hindus from India, and
flat-nosed, sable-hued Negroes from the east coast of Africa find
employment here. On each of the larger boats is a general utility man,
known as _el musully_, literally the “prayer-man,” who, in addition to
various other duties, relieves those _sebs_ who stop to pray.
Among the fishermen are all types and classes to be met with in this
part of the world, with the usual contingent of the lame, the halt, and
the blind. There are a number of fishermen who have been maimed and
mutilated by shark bites. A surprisingly large number of men who have
become totally blind engage in diving, and they usually do fairly well
where the oysters are abundant on the reefs. And one or two unfortunate
divers are reported who continue the work even though handicapped by the
loss both of a leg and of eyesight, this interfering less with their
diving than with their movements on land.
The fishery in this region owes absolutely nothing to modern
civilization in the method of securing the pearls from the depth of the
sea; it is carried on to-day practically as it was six hundred years
ago, and probably has been without important variation for two thousand
years. Aside from a loin-cloth, the diver is devoid of clothing except
that rarely, early in the season when _polypi_ abound, he is enveloped
in a cotton overall as a protection. Over each finger and thumb he wears
a shield or stall (_khubaat_, or finger-hat), about two inches long,
made of flexible leather, to protect the fingers from the sharp shells
and coral-growths. As each fisherman usually wears out at least two sets
of these shields each season, it will be seen that a very large quantity
of them is required to supply the entire fleet.
The divers use stones on which they descend feet foremost. Although this
is less spectacular than the method of diving practised by the natives
of the South Sea islands, it enables the fisherman to reach the bottom
more speedily and with far less effort. The diving-stones range in
weight from thirty to fifty pounds each, depending largely on the depth
of water and the weight of the fisherman. They are somewhat oval in
shape, and have one end perforated to admit a rope. Immediately above
the attachment is formed a loop, resembling a stirrup, to receive the
diver’s foot. When prepared for the day’s work, each stone is suspended
by a stout rope over outriggers projecting from the side of the boat,
and by a slip-knot is temporarily held four and a half or five feet
below the surface of the water. A very stout diver may have a stone
affixed to his waist to overcome his greater buoyancy. Usually two
divers use one stone together and descend alternately. Each one has an
attendant in the boat who assists him in ascending, and looks after the
ropes, baskets of shells, etc.
In preparing for descent, the fisherman takes hold of the rope from
which the diving stone is suspended, puts one foot in the loop just
above the stone and places the other foot in the rim of a net basket,
eighteen inches wide, made of coir rope. When ready, he signals his
attendant, inhales several good breaths, closes his nostrils with a
_fitaam_ or nostril-clasp of flexible horn attached to a cord around his
neck, raises his body somewhat above the surface to give force to the
descent, releases the slip-knot retaining the stone, and sinks rapidly
to the bottom. Immediately disengaging his foot from the stone, he
throws himself in a stooping position on the ground and collects as many
oysters as possible during the fifty seconds or more in which he is able
to remain under water. When near his limit of endurance, he hastily
gives a signal jerk to the rope attached to the basket, and the watchful
attendant hauls him up as speedily as possible, the diver frequently
quickening the ascent by hand over hand movement up the rope. When near
the surface, he lets go of the rope and with his arms close to his body
pops above the surface puffing and blowing. The contents of the net bag
are emptied into a large basket by the attendant, and the dead shells
and other refuse are separated from the live oysters and thrown back
into the sea, the diver having worked too rapidly at the bottom to
discriminate closely as to what he gathered.
In the meantime, the stone has been drawn up and suspended by the
slip-knot in its customary position and the diving partner is resting at
the surface preparatory to descending. Thus, diving alternately at
intervals of five or six minutes, each fisherman descends thirty or
forty times in an ordinary day’s work. The number of oysters gathered at
each descent depends on such conditions as their abundance, the depth
and clearness of the water, etc. It ranges from none to fifty or more,
but ordinarily ten or twelve is a good average. As the men commonly work
on shares, the shells brought up by each diver or by each pair of divers
are kept separate.
The best type of Arab divers are very careful of themselves, drying the
body thoroughly with towels on coming out of the water, taking intervals
of rest during the day’s work; and even while in the water between dives
they may enjoy the luxury of a cheroot or pipe, or possibly a cigarette
may pass from mouth to mouth of several men.
When pursuing their work, the divers are abstemious. After devotions at
sunrise and a light breakfast of perhaps dates or rice and coffee, they
begin fishing. About noon they knock off for coffee, prayers, and an
hour’s siesta, and then resume work for several hours. When the day’s
work is over and they have faced Meccaward with the customary prayers,
they rest and eat a substantial meal, commonly of dates and fish roasted
over a charcoal fire.
In equal depths the Arab fishermen remain under water longer than those
of India who resort to the Ceylon fishery, but this is partly
counterbalanced by the latter descending somewhat more frequently. When
preparing for a lengthy dive, the fisherman imbibes large quantities of
air, opening his mouth and inhaling large volumes.
The length of time a diver remains submerged in the average depth of
seven or eight fathoms rarely exceeds sixty seconds, although some may
remain seventy, eighty, and even ninety seconds on special occasion. A
fully substantiated instance is reported from Manaar of an Arab diver
having remained 109 seconds in seven fathoms of water. This occurred
April 13, 1887, and was witnessed and reported[105] by Captain James
Donnan, the inspector of the fishery. Wellsted reports[106] a diving
contest in the Persian Gulf in which only one man, of the hundreds who
competed, remained down 110 seconds; the depth, however, is not noted.
There are numerous reports of much longer stays than these; indeed, a
study of the published evidence bearing upon the subject furnishes
surprising results. Ribeiro wrote, in 1685, that a diver could remain
below while two _credos_ were repeated: “_Il s’y tient l’espace de deux
credo._”[107] In his interesting account of the Ceylon fishery, Percival
stated that the usual length of time for divers to remain under water
“does not much exceed two minutes, yet there are instances known of
divers who could remain four or even five minutes, which was the case
with a Caffre boy the last year I visited the fishery. The longest
instance ever known was of a diver who came from Anjango in 1797, and
who absolutely remained under water full six minutes.”[108] Le Beck
says, that in 1797, he saw a diver from Karikal remain down for the
space of seven minutes.[109] The merchant traveler, Jean Chardin,
reported in 1711 that the divers remain up to seven and a half minutes
under water: “_Les plongeurs qui pêchent les perles sont quelquefois
jusqu’à demi-quart-d’heure sous l’eau._”[110]
In 1667, the Royal Society of London addressed an inquiry on this
subject to Sir Philiberto Vernatti, the British Resident at Batavia in
the East Indies. Vernatti’s reply gave certain details regarding the
Ceylon fishery, but did not touch upon the length of diving because, as
he stated, he could not “meet with any one that can satisfy me, and
being unsatisfied myself, I cannot nor will obtrude anything upon you
which may hereafter prove fabulous; but shall still serve you with
truth.”[111] Two years later, and presumably after investigation,
Vernatti reported: “The greatest length of time that pearl-divers in
these parts can continue under water is about a quarter of an hour; and
that by no other means than custom; for pearl-diving lasts not above six
weeks, and the divers stay a great while longer at the end of the season
than at the beginning.”[112]
[Illustration:
Photograph, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, MOHAMMED ALI, SHAH OF PERSIA
Wearing the Kajar crown
]
The anatomist Diemerbroeck relates[113] the case of a pearl diver who,
under his own observation, remained half an hour at a time under water
while pursuing his work; and this was seriously adopted without comment
by John Mason Goode in his “Study of Medicine.”[114] Ibn Batuta, “the
Doctor of Tangier,” wrote about 1336 that “some remain down an hour,
others two hours, others less.”[115] A still earlier writer, Jouchanan
ibn Masouiah,[116] in his book on stones, states that “the diver, when
he dives, places upon his nose a _masfâsa_ lest water should enter into
him, and breathes through the fissure, and remains under water for half
an hour.” According to Sebaldus Rau[117] this _masfâsa_ was an article
resembling a hood or cap, which the diver placed over his nose. It was
made of some impervious material and had a projection so long that it
reached to the surface of the water. The same writer believes that this
object was alluded to by Aristotle (“De part. animal.,” _Lib._ II, c.
16), where he likens the trunk of the elephant to the instrument used by
certain divers for aiding their respiration, so that they could remain
longer in the water and draw in air from above the surface.[118] And
here we cease pursuit of further records, lest our faith in recorded
testimony be too severely tested.[119]
A superficial inspection of the above evidence, from the one or two
hours noted by Ibn Batuta about the year 1336, to the half an hour of
Diemerbroeck in 1672, the quarter of an hour of Vernatti in 1669, the
seven and one half minutes of Chardin in 1711, the six minutes of
Percival in 1803, to the 110 seconds of the present time, seems to
indicate very clearly a gradual but somewhat remarkable decrease in the
ability of the Asiatic divers, and that the pearl fishermen of the
present day are very different creatures from their ancestors. And
especially is this so when it is considered that the above records are
not isolated reports selected for the particular purpose of showing a
decrease in the length of diving; on the contrary they are authoritative
and representative publications of their respective periods. We do not
recall having seen in any report issued previous to 1675, an intimation
that the limit of time was less than ten minutes.
However, a careful consideration of the subject leads to the belief that
there has been no serious decrease in the length of time that the Arab
and Indian divers remain under water, and that either the writers were
misinformed or that the individual cases reported were extremely
exceptional. Ibn Batuta’s instance of one to two hours could easily be
caused by a mistake in copying Arabic manuscript, or in the translation.
The case related by Diemerbroeck in which a pearl diver remained
submerged half an hour, is more perplexing, especially as the physician
reports that this was done under his own observation. The numerous
reports of five or six minutes may have been based on a very exceptional
case.
These statements are viewed as highly incredible by men who have spent
scores of years at the fisheries. A man may remain submerged for several
minutes, but the conditions are vastly different from the activities of
pearl-gathering at a depth of ten fathoms, where the pressure of the
water is nearly thirty pounds to the square inch, and the slightest
exercise is fatiguing. Unless the time is taken by a watch, it is easy
to overestimate the stay; the seconds pass very slowly when one is
waiting momentarily for the appearance of the diver’s head above the
water, and certainly to the nearly exhausted fisherman with straining
chest and palpitating heart, the last few seconds must seem extremely
long indeed. An instance is noted in which an Arab diver remained
submerged seventy-one seconds, and on his reappearance, naïvely inquired
if he had not been down ten minutes. It seems doubtful whether the 110
seconds herein noted has been greatly exceeded, in recent years at
least, by Arab or Indian divers, who do not appear to equal the
semi-amphibious natives of the South Sea islands in their exploits.
One of the most curious features of the pearling industry is the manner
in which the fishermen secure supplies of drinking water. In the
vicinity of Bahrein, numerous fresh-water springs exist at the bottom of
the gulf in depths of two or three fathoms, and the fishermen dive into
the depth of the salt water down to where the fresh water is springing
forth and there fill a skin or other suitable receptacle which they
bring to the surface. By running a pipe down near the bottom in the
vicinity of one of these springs, an abundance of fresh water may be
pumped into the boat.
Three species—or at least three varieties—of pearl-bearing oysters are
obtained in the Persian Gulf. These are known locally as _mahar_,
_sudaifee_, and _zinni_. Of these, the _mahar_ or Lingah oyster, which
corresponds to the Ceylon pearl-oyster, yields the greatest quantity of
pearls, and those of the finest quality. It measures three or three and
a half inches in diameter, and is found in deeper water than the others.
The _sudaifee_ and the _zinni_, which are larger, yield pearls in much
smaller quantities than the _mahar_.
On large boats, which remain out for two or three weeks at a time, the
oysters are left on deck overnight, and the following morning they are
opened by means of a curved knife (_miflaket_), four or five inches in
length. The smaller boats working near shore convey the catch to the
land for the opening and searching for pearls.
The Persian Gulf pearls are commonly not so white as those from Ceylon,
but they are found of larger size, and it is believed in Asia that they
retain their luster for a greater length of time. Many of the Persian
Gulf pearls, especially those from _sudaifee_ and _zinni_ shells, have a
distinctly yellow color. Tavernier made a curious explanation of this.
He stated:
As for the pearls tending to yellow, the color is due to the fact
that the fishermen sell the oysters in heaps, and the merchants
awaiting sometimes up to 14 or 15 days till the shells open of
themselves, in order to extract the pearls, some of these oysters
lose their water during this time, decay, and become putrid, and the
pearls become yellow by contact. This is so true that in all oysters
which have retained their water, the pearls are always white. They
are allowed to open of themselves, because if they are opened by
force, as we open our oysters in the shell, the pearls may be
damaged and broken. The oysters of the Manar Strait open of
themselves, 5 or 6 days sooner than those of the Gulf of Persia,
because the heat is much greater at Manar, which is at the tenth
degree of North latitude, while the island of Bahrein is at about
the twenty-seventh. And consequently among the pearls which come
from Manar there are few yellow ones found.[120]
Tavernier was more familiar with the pearls themselves than with the
methods of the fishery. The yellow color is not due to contact with the
putrefactive flesh, and is independent of the manner of opening. In
fact, if putrefaction caused the yellow color, this shade would be far
more prevalent in the Manaar or Ceylon pearls than in those from
Bahrein, for practically all of the Ceylon oysters are permitted to
putrefy, whereas only a portion of those in the Persian Gulf are opened
in this manner. Furthermore, notwithstanding that it is nearer the
equator, the heat at Manaar during the pearling season is not to be
compared with that at Bahrein when the season is at its height, for the
Persian Gulf during July and August is notorious as one of the hottest
places on the globe.
While the great bulk of the pearls are either white or yellowish, these
fisheries yield a few pink, bluish, gray, and occasionally even black
pearls. These unusual colors are not especially prized. A curious and
remarkably detailed story has gone the rounds in which the qualities of
Persian and Ceylon pearls are compared, to the disparagement of the
latter, and during the last hundred years few accounts have been
published of this fishery without recording it. We notice it first in
Morier’s “Journey through Persia in 1808 and 1809,”[121] but possibly it
antedated that report. The statement is that the pearls of Ceylon peel
off, while those of Persia are as “firm as the rock on which they grow”;
and though they lose in color and luster one per cent. annually for
fifty years, they still lose less than those of Ceylon, and at the
expiration of the fifty years they cease to diminish in appearance.
The pearl output in the Persian Gulf at the present time appears from
the official returns to exceed four million dollars annually at local
valuation. The exports in 1903 were reported at £827,447, and in 1904,
£1,077,241. It is generally understood that all of the pearls are not
entered in the official figures, and the valuations in the markets of
Asia and Europe are greatly in excess of these amounts. The profits of
the fishery are divided among a great number of persons. A large
percentage goes to the shrewd _bunnias_ from India, who finance the
fishery operations, and who, by all sorts of tricks connected with
advances of supplies, valuation of the catch, etc., manage to make a
very good thing out of the business. It is nothing unusual for the
valuation of a lot of pearls to double and even treble after leaving the
hands of the fishermen.
While many of the gulf pearls—and especially of the small seed-pearls—go
to Bagdad, the great bulk of them are sold to representatives of Hindu
and Arab merchants of Bombay for shipment to that city, which to the
Bahrein fisherman is the heart of the outside world. Few of the pearls
go directly into Arabia or Persia, as the certain sale in the larger
Bombay market is preferable to a sometimes higher but less regular price
in other markets. Indeed, pearls may usually be purchased at a less cost
in India than a stranger would be obliged to pay at Bahrein. The Bombay
merchants “sow the earth with Orient pearl,” dealing direct with London,
Paris and Berlin, and with the oriental jewelers. Most of the yellow
pearls find oriental purchasers, with whose dark complexions they
harmonize better than the silvery white ones. They are also more popular
because of a belief existing throughout the East that they are less
likely to lose their luster with the lapse of years.
The shell of the pearl-oysters is not used locally, but large quantities
are exported to Europe for manufacture. Although it is the smallest and
cheapest produced in the gulf, yet, owing to the enormous quantity taken
for their pearls, the shell of the _mahar_ (_Margaritifera vulgaris_)
constitutes the bulk of the exports. Formerly most of the shipments were
made from the harbor of Lingah, hence it is known in the markets of
Europe as “Lingah shell.” But in the last three or four years, much of
it has been transported to Europe via Bander Abbas and Bushire. A German
firm at Bahrein is extensively employed in exporting this shell, and
several Indian merchants are also engaged in the trade. The total
exports in 1906 amounted to 3262 tons, valued at $26,408 according to
the port returns, but worth about $135,000 in Europe. Very large
quantities are received in London, and over 2500 tons have been offered
at auction in a single year. This shell is very small, averaging about
three inches in diameter and about one and a half ounces in weight. It
is the cheapest of all mother-of-pearl. The best quality sells in London
for ten to twenty shillings per hundredweight, but the ordinary grade is
worth usually less than nine shillings, and sometimes as low as three
shillings per hundredweight. America formerly imported it, but few lots
have been received since the exploitation of the Mississippi shell about
fifteen years ago.
The shell of the larger species of pearl-oysters in the Persian Gulf is
worth considerably more than the “Lingah shell,” selling in Europe for
£12 to £60 per ton, yet manufacturers consider it as furnishing only
poor qualities of mother-of-pearl. Several hundred tons are exported
annually. It measures six or seven inches in diameter and is used
principally in making cheap grades of buttons.
THE PEARL FISHERIES OF CEYLON
Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls must dive below.
DRYDEN, _All for Love_, Prologue.
Second in extent to those of Persia only, are the intermittent and
uncertain pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar. This is an arm of the
Indian Ocean, from 65 to 150 miles in width, separating the island of
Ceylon from the southernmost part of India. The pearl-oyster banks—known
locally as paars—are situated off the northwest coast of Ceylon and also
in the vicinity of Tuticorin on the Madras coast of the mainland. The
Ceylon fisheries are under the control of the colonial government of the
British Empire, and those of the mainland are monopolized by the Madras
government. Notwithstanding the fact that they are outside of the
three-mile limit established as the bound of national jurisdiction,
exclusive privileges are exercised over these fisheries by the
respective governments,[122] and poaching vessels are liable to seizure
and punishment.
Though possibly not so ancient as those of Persia, the Ceylon pearl
fisheries are of great antiquity. References to them occur in Cingalese
records dating from 550 B.C. Pliny, Ptolemy, Strabo, and other ancient
writers speak of their importance.
The “Periplus of the Erythræan”—written about the end of the second
century A.D.—refers to these fisheries, and states that, owing to the
dangers involved, it was customary to employ convicts therein. In the
days of the “Arabian Nights,” under the name “Serendib,” this was the
scene of the pearling adventures of Sindbad the Sailor, and the
reputation of the valuable pearl resources is reflected in those
wonderful tales.
The first extensive description we have of the Gulf of Manaar fisheries
was given by the Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, who visited the region
about 1294. He wrote:
The pearl fishers take their vessels, great and small, and proceed
into the gulf where they stop from the beginning of April till the
middle of May. They go first to a place called Bettelar, and then go
60 miles into the Gulf. Here they cast anchor and shift from their
large vessels into small boats. You must know that the many
merchants who go divide into various companies, and each of these
must engage a number of men on wages, hiring them for April and half
of May. Of all the produce they have first to pay the king, as his
royalty, the tenth part. And they must also pay those men who charm
the great fishes to prevent them from injuring the divers whilst
engaged in seeking pearls under water, one-twentieth of all that
they take. These fish-charmers are termined _Abraiaman_; and their
charm holds good for that day only, for at night they dissolve the
charm so that the fishes can work mischief at their will. These
_Abraiaman_ know also how to charm beasts and birds and every living
thing. When the men have got into the small boats they jump into the
water and dive to the bottom, which may be at a depth of from 4 to
12 fathoms, and there they remain as long as they are able. And
there they find the shells that contain the pearls, and those they
put into a net bag tied round the waist, and mount up to the surface
with them, and then dive anew. When they can’t hold their breath any
longer they come up again, and after a little down they go once
more, and so they go on all day. These shells are in fashion like
oysters or sea-hoods. And in these shells are found pearls, great
and small, of every kind, sticking in the flesh of the shell-fish.
In this manner pearls are fished in great quantities, for thence in
fact come the pearls which are spread all over the world. And I can
tell you the King of that State hath a very great receipt and
treasure from his dues upon those pearls.[123]
That quaint old missionary bishop, Friar Jordanus, in his “Mirabilia
Descripta, or the Wonders of the East” (_circa_ 1330), reports that
“more than 8000 boats” were sometimes employed for three months
continually in these fisheries, which were then prosecuted under the
jurisdiction of the Cingalese kings of Kandy, and that the quantity of
pearls taken was “astounding and almost incredible.”[124]
[Illustration:
THE “PRINCE OF PEARLS”: THE LATE RANA OF DHOLPUR IN HIS PEARL REGALIA
]
This number of boats seems entirely too large, especially in view of the
fact that Jordanus secured his information at second hand; but it leaves
the impression that the fisheries of that period were of great
importance.
When the Portuguese, attracted by the wealth of its resources, obtained
control of this region about 1510, they exacted from the local rulers an
annual tribute in pearls and spices. Later they conducted the fisheries
on their own account, permitting the native fishermen to retain one
fourth of the catch as compensation for their work, and dividing the
remainder into three equal portions, for the king, the church, and the
soldiers, respectively.
Linschoten, who visited India about 1590, leaves this interesting
account of the fishery at that time:
“There are also other fishings for pearle, as between the Iland of
Seylon, and the Cape de Comoriin, where great numbers are yearlie
found, for that the King of Portingale hath a captaine there with
soldiers that looketh unto it; they have yearlie at the least above
3 or 4 thousand duckers [divers], yt live onlie by fishing for
pearles, and so maintaine themselves.” He describes the methods of
fishing, which appear to be similar to those of the present time,
and adds: “When they have made an end of the day’s fishing, all the
fishers with the captaine, soldiers, laborers and watchmen for the
king, goe together, and taking all the pearls [pearl-oysters] that
are caught that day they divide them into certaine heaps, that is,
one part for the king, another part for the captaine and soldiers,
the third part for the Jesuits, because they have their Cloyster in
that place, and brought the countrie first into the Christian faith,
and the last part for the Fishers, which is done with Justice and
Equalitie. This fishing is done in the Summer tyme, and there
passeth not any yeare but that divers Fishers are drowned by the
Cape de Comoriin (which is called the King’s fishing) and manie
devoured by fishes, so that when the fishing is done there is great
and pitiful noyse and cry of women and children heard. Yet the next
yeare they must do the same work againe, for that they have no other
means to live, as also for that they are partlie compelled thereunto
by the Portingales, but most part because of the gaine.”[125]
The best description we have seen of the Ceylon fisheries at the time of
the Portuguese occupation, is that of Caesar Frederick, a Venetian
trader, who referred to the period from 1563 to 1581. Frederick
reported, according to Hickocke’s translation in the Hakluyt edition:
The sea that lieth between the coast which descendeth from Cao
Comori, to the lowe land of Chilao, and from Island Zeilan, they
call the fishing of Pearles, which fishing they make every yeare,
beginning in March or April, and it lasteth fiftie dayes, but they
doe not fishe every yeere in one place, but one yeere in one place,
and another yeere in another place of the same sea. When the time of
this fishing draweth neere, they send very good Divers, that goe to
discover where the greatest heapes of Oisters bee under water, and
right agaynst that place where greatest store of Oisters bee, there
they make or plant a village with houses and a Bazaro, which
standeth as long as the fishing time lasteth, and it is furnished
with all things necessarie, and nowe and then it is neere unto
places that are inhabited, and other times farre off, according to
the place where they fishe. The fishermen are all Christians of the
countrey, and who so will may goe to fishing, paying a certain dutie
to the king of Portugall, and to the Churches of the Friers of Saint
Paule, which are in that coast. All the while that they are fishing,
there are three or foure Fustes armed to defend the Fishermen from
Rovers. It was my chance to bee there one time in my passage, and I
saw the order that they used in fishing, which is this. There are
three or foure Barkes that make consort together, which are like to
our litle Pilot boates, and a little lesse, there goe seven or eight
men in a boate: and I have seene in a morning a great number of them
goe out, and anker in fifteene or eighteene fadome of water, which
is the ordinarie depth of all that coast. When they are at anker,
they cast a rope into the sea, and at the end of the rope, they make
fast a great stone, and then there is readie a man that hath his
nose and his eares well stopped, and annointed with oyle, and a
basket about his necke, or under his left arme, then he goeth downe
by the rope to the bottome of the Sea, and as fast as he can hee
filleth the basket, and when it is full, he shaketh the rope, and
his fellows that are in the Barke hale him up with the basket: and
in such wise they go one by one untill they have laden their barke
with oysters, and at evening they come to the village, and then
every company maketh their mountaine or heape of oysters one distant
from another, in such wise that you shall see a great long rowe of
mountaines or heapes of oysters, and they are not touched until such
time as the fishing bee ended, and at the ende of the fishing every
companie sitteth round about their mountaine or heape of oysters,
and fall to opening of them, which they may easilie doe because they
bee dead, drie and brittle: and if every oyster had pearles in them,
it would be a very good purchase, but there are very many that have
no pearles in them: when the fishing is ended, then they see whether
it bee a good gathering or a badde: there are certaine expert in the
pearles whom they call Chitini, which set and make the price of
pearles according to their carracts [carats or weight], beautie, and
goodnesse, making foure sorts of them. The first sort bee the round
pearles, and they bee called Aia of Portugale, because the
Portugales doe buy them. The second sorte which are not round, are
called Aia of Bengala. The third sort which are not so good as the
second, they call Aia of Canara, that is to say, the kingdome of
Bezeneger. The fourth and last sort, which are the least and worst
sort, are called Aia of Cambaia. Thus the price being set, there are
merchants of every countrey which are readie with their money in
their handes, so that in a fewe dayes all is brought up at the
prises set according to the goodnesse and caracts of the
pearles.[126]
A remarkable instance of the immutability of custom in the Orient is
found in the fact that, except in a few minor particulars, Frederick’s
account, written more than three centuries ago, could serve as a
description of the methods of the fisheries in recent years. The
industry was then very extensive, as appears from an account shortly
afterward (about 1608) by Pedro Teixeira, who reported[127] that from
400 to 500 boats were employed, and from 50,000 to 60,000 persons
resorted to the fishery.
In 1658, possession of Ceylon and India passed from the Portuguese to
the Dutch, who for a time continued the pearl fisheries after the manner
practised by their predecessors; but owing to contentions as to the
details of management, they soon resorted to leasing them each year to
the highest bidder, or to several bidders, for a definite money payment.
The successful bidders prosecuted the industry in the same manner as the
government had previously done, employing the same native fishermen and
compensating them with one fourth of the oysters secured. Under the
Dutch rule the fisheries were very unprofitable, and particularly so
during the last seventy years of their authority. There was practically
no fishing from 1732 to 1746, and there was also a suspension—but not
entirely from lack of oysters or of pearls—from 1768 until the territory
passed into the control of the British in 1796.
The colonial government of the British Empire continued the Dutch policy
of leasing, only restricting the limits of territory and season for
fishing. Many objections were found to this method. It was difficult to
regulate the business properly, and there were no reliable means of
determining its proceeds and conditions. At length in 1835, the
government began to operate the fishery on its own account, as the
Portuguese had done two hundred years before, allowing the fishermen one
fourth of the oysters taken by them and selling the remaining three
fourths for the benefit of the treasury. In this way the full value of
the resources was realized without mystery, deception, or concealment,
and the plan worked satisfactorily for all concerned.
Owing, presumably, to the long period in which they had lain
undisturbed, the Ceylon oyster reefs were in excellent condition at the
beginning of British rule. In 1796 the government derived a revenue of
Rs.1,100,000 therefrom, and in 1797 the revenue was Rs.1,400,000; these
two years were by far the most productive during the first century of
British occupation.
Several very interesting reports on the industry were prepared about
that time. Especially to be noted among these were the accounts by Henry
J. LeBeck in 1798;[128] by Robert Percival in 1803;[129] and by James
Cordiner in 1807,[130] to which reference is made for detailed accounts
of the fisheries of that period.
The Ceylon fishery was prosecuted about every other year from 1799 to
1809, and the annual returns ranged from £15,022 in 1801 to £84,257 in
1808. From 1810 to 1813, inclusive, there was a blank so far as receipts
were concerned. In 1814 the fishery was very good, bringing in a revenue
of £105,187. With the exception of very slight returns in 1815, 1816,
and 1820, no oysters were then obtained until 1828. Excepting 1832 and
1834, the industry was prosecuted each year from 1828 to 1837, the
revenue to the government averaging about £30,000 annually. Then came a
long blank of seventeen years, for there was no fishing from 1838 to
1854, and likewise from 1864 to 1873. Indeed, so depleted had the beds
throughout the Gulf of Manaar become in 1866, that serious consideration
was given to the possibilities of securing seed oysters from the Persian
Gulf for restocking the reefs; but fortunately this was rendered
unnecessary by the discovery soon afterward of a few oysters on several
reefs on both the Ceylon and the Malabar coasts.
From 1855 to 1863, and also from 1874 to 1881, the returns were only
ordinary, the highest being £51,017 in 1863, and £59,868 in 1881,—the
best year since 1814; and during these two periods fishing was entirely
omitted in nearly one half the seasons. There were five lean years from
1882 to 1886, and the 1887 fishery was only fair, with a yield of
£39,609. But the returns for 1888 were large, amounting to £80,424; and
those for 1891 were even greater, being £96,370, representing a yield of
44,311,441 oysters. No oysters were caught from 1892 to 1902, inclusive.
In 1903, the fishery was profitable, yielding 41,180,137 oysters, and
the share of the government amounted to £55,303; and in 1904 the yield
was almost the same, being 41,039,085 oysters and a revenue of £71,050
to the government.
In 1905 occurred the greatest fishery in the modern history of Ceylon.
The season extended from February 20 until April 21, giving forty-seven
working days, exclusive of Sundays and five days of bad weather, the
longest period in over half a century.[131] The boats employed numbered
318, with 4991 divers and 4894 attendant _manduks_. The yield of oysters
exceeded all records, amounting to 81,580,716 in number, or nearly twice
as many as in any previous year within the period of British occupation.
The prices at which these sold ranged from Rs.24 to Rs.124 per thousand,
with an average of Rs.48.89 for the entire season. The government
received Rs.2,510,727 as its share of the revenue, which was twice as
much as in any previous year since the British have been in control, and
doubtless the largest received by any government in the history of the
industry. The oysters falling to the share of the divers must have sold
for at least Rs.1,255,363 (since 1881 the divers have received one third
of the catch as their compensation, instead of one fourth). The profits
of the merchants, who purchased and opened the government oysters as
well as those of the divers, doubtless amounted to fully as much, making
a total of Rs.5,021,453, or nearly $2,000,000 as a low estimate of the
local value of the pearls secured at Ceylon in 1905.
Owing to the great success in 1905, an enormous number of persons
flocked to the camp at the beginning of the season in 1906. Employment
was given to 473 boats, the largest number on record, and over 8600
divers were engaged, with an equal number of attendants. Owing to
unfavorable weather and the great quantity of oysters removed in 1905,
the catch in 1906 was less than in that record year, amounting to
67,150,641 in number, from the sale of which Rs.1,376,746 was realized.
The prices covered a wide range. For the large Cheval oysters, even
Rs.276, Rs.291, and Rs.309 per 1000 were received. The inferior, stunted
oysters from the Muttuvaratu paar ranged from Rs.20 to Rs.41 per 1000,
and even at these prices many buyers sustained losses. On the other hand
considerable money was made by the buyers of those from Cheval, in which
some very large and beautiful pearls were found.
The results of the 1907 fishery were surprisingly good, excellent prices
being obtained. The proceeds from the sale of two thirds of the
21,000,000 oysters amounted to Rs.1,040,000, or just under $350,000. The
fishery lasted thirty-six working days. Only 173 boats were used, as it
was considered that a fleet of this size is fully as large as can be
employed advantageously to the greatest satisfaction of all interested.
According to the compilations of the colonial secretary’s office, the
gross revenue to the government from 1796 to 1907, inclusive, amounted
to £2,098,830. If to this be added the fishermen’s share and the
merchants’ compensation, we have a total of about £4,200,000 or
$21,000,000 as the local value of the pearls produced in Ceylon during
the period of British occupation. The value of these in the markets of
Asia and Europe was undoubtedly very much greater.
In many respects the Ceylon pearl fisheries are the most interesting in
the world. Owing to their ready accessibility and thorough organization,
they are far better known than any others. Reliable data exist as to the
number of oysters taken during each season since 1854, and it is
possible to estimate roughly the pearls obtained therefrom. Throughout
the 112 years of British occupation, and previously to some extent under
the successive rule of the Cingalese kings, of the Portuguese, and of
the Dutch, for centuries, the reefs were annually examined by official
inspectors, and fishing was permitted only in those years when they
appeared in satisfactory condition.
A noticeable feature of these fisheries is their uncertainty, a
prosperous season being followed by an absence of fishing sometimes
extending over ten years or more. This is not of recent development.
Over eight hundred years ago a total cessation of yield for a
considerable period was recorded[132] by Albyrouni, who served under
Mahmud of Ghazni. He stated that, in the eleventh century, the oysters
which formerly existed in the Gulf of Serendib (Ceylon) disappeared
simultaneously with the appearance of a fishery at Sofala in the country
of the Zends, where previously the existence of pearls had been unknown;
hence it was conjectured that the pearl-oysters of Serendib had migrated
to Sofala.
In the 249 years since Ceylon passed from the dominion of the Portuguese
in 1658, there have been only sixty-nine years in which the pearl
fisheries were prosecuted. During the last century there were only
thirty-six regularly authorized fisheries. Enormous quantities of
oysters have appeared on the reefs, giving rise to hopes of great
results, only to end in disappointment, owing to their complete
disappearance. In the fall of 1887, for instance, examination of one of
the reefs revealed an enormous quantity of oysters, covering an area
five miles in length by one and a half miles in width, with “600 to 700
oysters to the square yard” in places. It was estimated by the
inspection officials that there were 164,000,000 oysters, which exceeded
the total number taken in the preceding sixty years, and which should
have yielded several million dollars’ worth of pearls in the following
season, according to the usual returns. But some months later not an
oyster was to be found on this large reef, the great host presumably
having been destroyed by action of the sea. Numerous reasons are
assigned for the failure of promising reefs. Those most frequently heard
are that the currents sweep the oysters away, that they are devoured by
predaceous enemies, that they are covered by the shifting bottom, or
that they voluntarily move to new grounds.
The oysters are found in well-known and permanently located banks or
paars in the upper end of the Gulf of Manaar, in the wide shallow
plateau off the northwest end of the island and directly south of Adams
Bridge. The hard calcrete bottom is formed mostly of sand combined with
organic remains in a compact mass and with more or less coral and shell
deposits. The density of the water, as determined by Professor Herdman
(to whose important and valuable report[133] we are indebted for much
information), is fairly constant at 1.023, and the temperature has a
normal range of from 82° to 86° F. during the greater part of the year.
The charts and records refer to about twenty paars, but most of these
have never yielded extensively, either to the English or to the Dutch.
In the aggregate, they cover an area fifty miles in length and twenty
miles in width. Most of them are from five to twenty miles from the
shore, and at a depth of five to ten fathoms. The principal paars are
Cheval, Madaragam, Periya, Muttuvaratu, Karativu, Vankalai, Chilaw, and
Condatchy. Only three have afforded profitable fisheries in recent
years, _i. e._: Cheval, Madaragam and Muttuvaratu.
The other paars are of practically no economic value at the present
time. They become populated with tens of millions of oysters, which
mysteriously disappear before they are old enough for gathering.
Especially is this true of the Periya paar, which is about fifteen miles
from the shore, and runs eleven miles north and south, varying from one
to two miles in width. Frequently this is found covered with young
oysters, which almost invariably disappear before the next inspection,
owing, probably, to their being covered by the shifting bottom caused by
the southwest monsoon. The natives call this the “Mother paar,” under
the impression that these oysters migrate to the other paars.
The Ceylon government has given very careful attention to all matters
affecting the prosperity of the pearl resources. It has maintained a
“Pearl Fishery Establishment,” consisting of a superintendent, an
inspector and numerous divers, attendants, and sailors. The inspector
examines the paars, determines when and to what extent they should be
fished, and directs the operations. The superintendent conducts the work
on shore, divides and sells the oysters, etc. The expense of this
establishment has approximated $40,000 per annum when there has been a
fishery, and about $22,500 without fishery expenses.
It has been decided by naturalists that Ceylon oysters less than four
years old produce very few marketable pearls; in the fifth, and again in
the sixth year the value of the yield doubles, and in the seventh it is
supposed to increase fourfold. Beyond that age there appears to be
little increase, and there is the risk of the oysters dying, and of the
pearls deteriorating or becoming lost. Eight years seems to be the
natural limit of life. While experience has shown that the most
profitable period for taking the pearl-oysters is when they are from
five to seven years old, the mollusks are liable to disappear,
especially after the fifth year, and the danger of waiting too long is
as great as that of beginning too early. The fishing on any particular
bank is determined by various circumstances and conditions, and is
permitted only after careful examination.
The different beds are inspected from time to time, and no fishing is
permitted until the condition of the pearl-oysters on the particular
reef thrown open seems to warrant the most valuable returns. In the
examination of a bed apparently in suitable condition, several thousand
oysters—usually eight or ten thousand—are taken up and the pearls found
therein are examined and valued. If they average Rs.25 or Rs.30 per
thousand oysters, profitable results may be expected, provided there is
a sufficient quantity of oysters on the bed. This method of determining
the fishery is very ancient. Tavernier wrote, about 1650, “before they
fish, they try whether it will turn to any account by sending seven or
eight boats to bring 1000 oysters each, which they open, and if the
oysters per 1000 yield five _fanos_ or above, they then know the fishing
will turn to account.”[134] And much the same method was described by
Ribeiro in 1685.
When it has been decided to hold a fishery, public notice is given by
advertisement, stating which of the many paars or reefs will be open,
and the estimated quantity of oysters to be removed, the number of boats
that will be given employment, and the date for beginning the season and
the length of time it will probably last. This notice is usually given
in December preceding the fishery, and it is the signal for preparation
by tens of thousands of persons in this part of Asia, and especially on
the Madras and the Malabar coasts of India, and on the coast of Arabia.
The fishermen, the merchants, and the multitude of artisans, mechanics,
and laborers who contribute to the industry, set their homes and
business in order so that they may attend. We give the notice issued in
1907, both in Cingalese and in English.[135]
[Illustration:
THE LATE MAHARAJAH OF PATIALA
]
Early in February the area to be gleaned is again examined, the limits
of the oysters are charted and buoyed off, the number that may be
obtained is estimated as accurately as possible, and valuation samples
are collected. Several thousand oysters are taken up, the pearls are
removed, examined, and valued by uninterested experts, and the results
are published, so that prospective buyers may have a reliable idea as to
their value. Otherwise this would not be possible until the merchants
had washed some of their own purchases, which ordinarily would not be
for a week or ten days after the opening of the season.
The fishery usually begins late in February or early in March, as the
sea is then relatively calm, the currents least perceptible, and there
is less danger of storms. It is prosecuted from a temporary settlement
or camp on the sandy shore at a place conveniently near the reefs. The
important fisheries of the five years ending in 1907, were centered at
the improvised settlement known as Marichchikadde. Although prosecuted
from the coast of Ceylon, relatively few Cingalese attend compared with
the large numbers who assemble from India, Arabia, and elsewhere.
A week or two before the opening of the season, the boats begin to
arrive, sometimes fifty or more in a single day, laden with men, women
and children, and in many cases with the materials for their huts. In a
short time the erstwhile desolate beach becomes populated with thousands
of persons from all over the Indian littoral, and there is the noisy
traffic of congregated humanity, and a confusion of tongues where before
only the sound of the ocean waves was heard. Beside the eight or ten
thousand fishermen, most of whom are Moormen, Tamils, and Arabs, there
are pearl merchants—mainly Chetties and Moormen, boat repairers and
other mechanics, provision dealers, priests, pawnbrokers, government
officials, koddu-counters, clerks, boat guards, a police force of 200
officials, coolies, domestic servants, with numbers of women and
children. And for the entertainment of these, and to obtain a share of
the wealth from the sea, there are jugglers, fakirs, gamblers, beggars,
female dancers, loose characters, with every allurement that appeals to
the sons of Brahma, Buddha or Mohammed. Natives from the seaport towns
of India are there in thousands; the slender-limbed and
delicate-featured Cingalese with their scant attire and unique
head-dress; energetic Arabs from the Persian Gulf; burly Moormen, sturdy
Kandyans, outcast Veddahs, Chinese, Jews, Portuguese, Dutch,
half-castes, the scum of the East and the riffraff of the Asiatic
littoral, the whole making up a temporary city of forty thousand or more
inhabitants.[136]
THE
Ceylon Company of Pearl Fishers,
LIMITED.
NOTICE
Is hereby given that a Pearl Fishery will take place at
Marichchukkaddi, in the Island of Ceylon, on or about February 20,
1907.
The Banks to be fished are—
The Karativu, Dutch Moderagam and Alanturai Pars, estimated to contain
21,000,000 oysters, sufficient to employ 100 boats for twenty-one days
with average loads of 10,000 each per day.
The Northwest and Mid-West Cheval, estimated to contain 2,000,000
oysters, sufficient to employ 100 boats for two days with average
loads of 10,000 oysters.
The Muttuvaratu Par, estimated to contain 8,000,000 oysters,
sufficient to employ 100 boats for eight days with average loads as
before stated: each boat being fully manned with divers.
2. It is notified that fishing will begin on the first favourable day
after February 19. Conditions governing the employment of divers will
be issued separately.
3. Marichchukkaddi is on the mainland, eight miles by sea south of
Sillavaturai, and supplies of good water and provisions can be
obtained there.
4. The Fishery will be conducted on account of the Ceylon Company of
Pearl Fishers, Ltd., and the oysters put up to sale in such lots as
may be deemed expedient.
[Illustration]
A populous town springs up with well-planned and lighted streets and
vast numbers of temporary abodes of all sorts, according to the means
and the caste of the occupants, some of them just large enough for two
or three persons to creep into. Although made mostly of poles, mats,
_cajans_ or plaited fronds of the cocoanut tree, they furnish ample
shelter for the locality and season, the uncertainty of the fishery from
year to year being sufficient argument against expensive and substantial
buildings. Numerous wells and cisterns yield water for the use of all.
Sanitary measures are strictly enforced, with a liberal use of
disinfectants. At a considerable distance southward from the settlement
are constructed the private _toddis_, or inclosures, for decomposing the
oysters and washing the pearls therefrom. Nearer the camp or settlement
itself are the police court, the jail, the bank, the post and telegraph
offices, the auction room, the hospital and the cemetery—all to endure
through a strenuous six weeks of toil and labor, of money-getting and
gambling, and then the inhabitants “fold their tents like the Arabs, and
silently steal away,” leaving the debris to the shore-birds and the
jackals.
The fishing fleet consists of several hundred boats[137] of various rigs
and sizes. These are interesting on account of their picturesque
appearance and also their remarkable diversity of types in hull and
rigging: there is the broad and roomy Jaffna dhoney, commonly painted
black; the lugger-like Paumben boat; the very narrow and speedy
canoes,—not unlike the single masted bugeyes of the Chesapeake
region—from Kilakarai and neighboring villages, most noticeable owing to
their great number and their bright colors—red, green, or yellow; the
clumsy looking, single masted Tuticorin lighters, sharp sterned and
copper bottomed, the largest boats in the fleet, ranging in capacity
from twenty to forty tons each; and, most singular of all, the three
masted great canoes from Adirampatnam and Muttupat on the Tanjore coast,
pale blue in color and with curved prow. In addition to these standard
types, added novelty is imparted by a few boats of design so odd and
fantastic as would be conceived only by the mind of an oriental builder.
Reaching the camp at the beginning of the season, these boats are
examined by the officials as to condition and equipment and, if found
satisfactory, are registered and numbered. When the quantity of oysters
to be removed is small, many more boats may arrive than is necessary or
than can find profitable employment. Formerly when this occurred a
lottery was held to determine those to be employed. More recently the
officials have endeavored to engage all boats passing the inspection,
although to do so might necessitate arranging the fleet into two
divisions, each fishing on alternate days. In 1874, the boats were
arranged in three divisions, the red, blue and green, with fifty boats
in each; in 1879, and again in 1881, there were two divisions, the red
and the blue; and likewise in 1880, in 1903 and in 1906 there were two,
the red and the white divisions. Of the 318 boats employed in the 1905
fishery, 143 were from Kilakarai, seventy-four from Jaffna, thirty-five
from Tuticorin, thirty-four from Paumben, nine from Manaar, six from
Negapatam, five from Colombo, four each from Tondi and Kayalpatam, and
one each from Devipatam, Adrapatam, Ammopatam, and Koddaipatam.
The number of persons on each boat ranges from about twelve to
sixty-five, with an average for the entire fleet of about thirty-five
men per boat. This includes the _sammatti_, or master, who represents
the owner; the _tindal_, or pilot; the _todai_, or water-bailer, who is
very necessary on these leaky craft, and who also takes charge of the
food and drinking water; at times a government inspector or “boat
guard”; and from five to thirty divers, with an equal number of
_manducks_, or attendants.[138] The _sammattis_, _tindals_, and _todais_
are nearly all from the coast of southern India. The “boat guards” or
inspectors are natives of Ceylon, and are employed by the government to
prevent the fishermen from opening the oysters. Most of the _manducks_
are from the Indian coast.
Of the 4991 divers employed in 1905, 2649 were Moormen or Lubbais from
Kilakarai, Tondi, etc., on the Madura coast; 923 were Arabs; 424 were
Erukkalampiddi Moormen from Ceylon, and the remaining 995 were Tamils
from Tuticorin, Rameswaram and elsewhere on the Madras coast, Malayalans
from the Malabar coast, with small numbers from other localities on the
Asiatic coasts.
Among the 8600 divers in 1906, were 4090 Arabs, the largest number of
those people employed in recent years. In 1905 there were only 923 Arab
divers, in 1904 only 238, and previously the number was much less. Some
have worked on the Ceylon coast since 1887, but most of them are newly
arrived from Bahrein and Kuweit, where they received their training as
pearl-divers. They are very energetic and skilful fishermen, far
surpassing the Tamils, coming early in the season and staying late, and
working on many days when rough seas deter the Indian divers from
venturing out.
The Erukkalampiddi divers of Ceylon are by no means so energetic or
steady in work as the Arabs, and commonly desert the fishery before the
close. The Tamil divers belong to the Parawa and Kadeiyar castes.
The season in the Ceylon fishery is very short, only about six or eight
weeks at the most; and the holidays and storms usually reduce the number
of actual working days to less than thirty. In no other pearl fishery of
importance is the season less than four months in length, and in most of
them it extends through more than half of the year. Owing to this
restricted time, there is greater activity in the Ceylon fishery
compared with the value of the output than in any other pearl fishery in
the world.
Although the season is short, it is strenuous. Arising shortly after
midnight, the thousands of fishermen breakfast, perform their devotions
and prepare to get under way so as to reach the reefs about sunrise.
There each boat takes its position on the ground allotted for the day’s
work, and which has been marked in advance by buoys topped with flags;
and shortly afterward, on a signal from the guard vessel, the diving
commences. This is carried on in the same manner as already described
for the Persian Gulf, except that the Indian divers do not use
nose-clips, only compressing the nostrils with the fingers during the
descent. Rarely do they descend to a greater depth than ten fathoms.
The divers work in pairs, each pair using a single diving stone in
common, and descending alternately, precisely as in the Persian Gulf. It
is remarkable what few changes have occurred in the methods of the
fishery in the last six centuries; the description[139] of Marco Polo,
who visited the region about 1294, and of writers somewhat more recent,
indicating that, in the main features, it was then conducted in the same
manner as at the present time.
An exception to the usual mode of diving is practised by the Malayalam
fishermen, who, in some seasons—as in 1903, for instance—attend in large
numbers from Travancore and northward on the Malabar coast. These men
are rather low in skill and physical endurance.[140] They dive head
foremost from a spring-board, and even with this assistance,—or possibly
we should say, handicapped by this method,—they find the average depth
of eight fathoms too great for them to work in with much comfort, rarely
remaining under water longer than forty-five seconds.
The number of oysters secured on each visit to the bottom ranges from
nothing to seventy-five or more, averaging between fifteen and fifty.
This depends not only on the ability of the fishermen, but also on the
abundance of oysters and the ease with which they may be collected.
Sometimes they are held together in loose bunches of five to ten in
each, and a diver can easily gather one hundred in the short length of
time he remains submerged. In other localities they may be somewhat
firmly attached individually to the bottom, so that some force is
necessary to release them, thus reducing the possible quantity.
Ordinarily one dive clears a space of several square yards.
[Illustration:
Unloading oysters from the vessels into the kottus, at Marichchikadde,
Ceylon
]
[Illustration:
The pearling fleet on the shore at Marichchikadde, Ceylon
]
[Illustration:
Hindu workmen preparing to drill pearls, Marichchikadde, Ceylon
]
Since 1904, a steamer has been employed each season by the government
for dredging oysters in connection with experiments in oyster-culture.
The officer in charge of this work concludes that “dredging is
economically a more sound method of fishing than is diving.”[141] This
view is disputed by the superintendent of the fishery, who points out
that the average catch by the steamer when dredging mature oysters only
slightly exceeds that of an ordinary diving boat, and the cost of
maintenance and operation is vastly greater.[142] A remarkable tribute
to the skill of the nude divers, brought out by this discussion, is
that, during some days when they were at work, the sea was too rough for
dredging by the steamer, notwithstanding that she was a typical Grimsby
or North Sea trawler of 150 tons measurement, built in 1896.[143]
A rough comparison of the Ceylon method of catching pearl-oysters with
that practised by the American oyster-growers may not be uninteresting.
On a basis of 400 to the bushel, the total Ceylon catch of 81,580,716
pearl-oysters in 1905 represents a trifle more than 200,000 bushels, or
about the quantity annually produced by each of the half dozen leading
oyster-growers of this country. Each one of these growers requires only
about three steamers, at a total cost, maybe, of $25,000, and manned by
twenty-five men; instead of one steamer at a cost of $25,000 and 318
diving boats manned by 10,000 men, which was the equipment in Ceylon. To
be sure, the conditions under which the work is prosecuted are
different—however, not so entirely unlike as might be supposed—and the
American season is about six months long instead of the two months in
Ceylon; but the comparison is presented simply as a suggestion of the
possibilities of dredging on the Ceylon reefs.
Until 1885, one of the most novel features of the fishery was the
employment of shark-charmers or “binders of sharks” (_kadal-kotti_ in
the Tamil language, _hai-banda_ in Hindustani), whose presence was
rendered necessary by the superstition of the Indian divers. The
fishermen placed implicit reliance upon the alleged supernatural powers
of these impostors, resembling in some respects that reposed in the
“medicine men” by the American Indians, and would not dive without their
supervision. It is unknown at what period the influence of these
semi-priests developed, but at the time of Marco Polo’s visit about
1294, they were in the full bloom of their authority, receiving one
twentieth of the total catch of oysters,[144] which amounted to a very
considerable sum. It is probable that the number of shark-charmers was
then quite large, some writers more recently referring to one for each
boat. During the Portuguese occupation the number was reduced to twelve,
and at the beginning of the British influence, it was further reduced to
two.
Interesting descriptions have been given of the methods by which these
men exercised their alleged powers. In 1807, Cordiner stated:
One goes out regularly in the head pilot’s boat. The other performs
certain ceremonies on shore. He is stripped naked, and shut up in a
room, where no person sees him from the period of the sailing of the
boats until their return. He has before him a brass basin full of
water, containing one male and one female fish made of silver. If
any accident should happen from a shark at sea, it is believed that
one of these fishes is seen to bite the other. The divers likewise
believe that, if the conjurer should be dissatisfied, he has the
power of making the sharks attack them, on which account he is sure
of receiving liberal presents from all quarters.[145]
Amusing stories are told of the shrewdness displayed by these fellows in
inventing explanations to redeem their credit when a fisherman became a
victim of the sharks. These accounts are by men who evidently bore no
good-will toward the shark-charmers, and it would be of interest to hear
from the other side; but we have been unable to find any one who has
appeared in print in their defense.
The British government, in its policy of noninterference with the
superstitions or semi-religious customs of the natives, tolerated these
seeming impostors, owing, probably, in a measure, to the fact that the
superstitious belief in their necessity was favorable to the
preservation of the resources, since it restricted poaching on the
reefs. However, the government endeavored to prevent an extravagant
misuse of the influence, and restricted the compensation of the
shark-charmers to one oyster per day from each diver. Later, they were
remunerated by the government, and were not allowed, under any pretense
whatever, to demand, exact, or receive oysters or any other compensation
from the boatmen, divers, or any other persons. And, finally, in 1885,
the shark-charmers were done away with entirely, after having exacted
their toll for upward of six centuries at least.
The dangers to which the Ceylon divers are exposed have been greatly
exaggerated, and especially the risks from sharks. Poets tell how “the
Ceylon pearler went all naked to the hungry shark,” and the struggle of
the diver has been a favorite theme with sensational writers. As a
matter of fact, the trouble from this source is very slight, and the
occupation is less dangerous than that of most of the deep-water
fisheries, not to be compared, for instance, with that of the winter
haddock-fishery off the New England coast. Even in 1905, when 4991
divers and an equal number of assistants were employed in pearling, not
a single fatal accident was reported, and although much rough weather
prevailed, not a fishing boat was lost. In the important fishery of
1904, with 3049 divers, only one fatal accident occurred, this was an
elderly Moorman, whose death at the bottom was apparently due either to
apoplexy or to exhaustion from remaining under water too long.
The superintendent of the fishery reported that not a single shark was
seen during the 1904 season.[146] According to the statement of Sir
William Twynam, whose Ceylon pearl fishing experience and observation
equal those of any European, he has never known of a diver being carried
off by a shark, and has heard of only one case—“which was a very
doubtful one.”[147] Prof. James Hornell, the inspector of pearl banks,
reported in 1904: “During all the months I have spent upon the pearl
banks during the last two years and a half I have never had a glimpse of
a shark dangerous to man. Several times the boatmen have caught basking
sharks of considerable size, but all were of a species that lives almost
entirely upon small crustaceans.”[148] The late Mr. A. M. Ferguson wrote
in 1887: “I think it is pretty certain that in the whole course of the
Ceylon fisheries only two human beings have fallen victims to these
fierce fishes.”[149]
The diving continues until a signal is given from the guard vessel about
twelve or one o’clock, this time depending largely on the beginning of
the sea breeze which roughens the water and interferes with the work,
and likewise serves to speed the passage of the sail vessels to the
shore. Occasionally the breeze is unfavorable, and the boatmen are
obliged to row for miles, delaying their return in some instances until
nightfall. Then the shore is lighted up to guide them to the landings,
and extra precautions are maintained to prevent them from getting away
with some of the oysters in the darkness.
It is claimed—and doubtless with much truth—that it is not unusual for
the boatmen to take advantage of the time spent in reaching the shore to
surreptitiously open many of the oysters and extract the pearls
therefrom, throwing the refuse back into the sea. It would appear from
some authorities that this is a general practice. One official—and
probably the one in the best position to know—reported in 1905 that more
than 15,000,000 oysters, or nearly one fifth of the enormous catch
during that season, were illicitly opened.[150] However, this statement
is strongly disputed by the superintendent of the fishery, who states:
As a matter of fact the opening of oysters that goes on in the boats
is of a much more casual description than this. The divers
occasionally pick out some of the best looking oysters that happen
to be conspicuous, or some that open, and look inside them. It is
quite possible that a valuable pearl might be found in this way, but
the chances are against it. It is hardly likely that the divers
would throw into the sea an enormous quantity of perfunctorily
examined oysters in which they have a share and which contain
pearls, while they were aware that immediately on landing they could
get good prices for their shares.[151]
The government officials have endeavored to put a stop to whatever
looting may exist, searching boats and occupants at the shore, revoking
the license of any boat showing evidence of oysters having been opened
or carrying knives or other appliances for that purpose. The fishermen
are alleged to resort to all sorts of devices to secrete their illicit
find of pearls, concealing them in the nose, ears, eyes, and other parts
of the body, and even hiding them in parcels in the furled sails or
attached to the embedded anchor. In some seasons—as in 1904 and 1905—the
government employed a guard for each boat. But serious criticism has
been made of the integrity of these guards, who, with compensation of
only one rupee per diem, could scarcely be expected to resist the action
of thirty or forty fishermen and report their doings, when by silence
they would have much to gain, and “the guards simply add to the number
of thieves on board” was reported by one superintendent.
Doubtless the most interesting sight in the Ceylon fishery is afforded
by the return, about mid-afternoon, of the hundreds of novel,
sail-spreading boats running before the wind and crowded with turbaned
fishermen dressed in their few brilliant rags, and each anxious to be
the first at the wave-washed beach, where they are welcomed by an equal
if not greater number of officials, merchants, laborers, and camp
followers, gathered on the shore to learn the result of the fishery. The
fantastic appearance of the boats, the diversified costumes of the
people, the general scene of animation, afford a view which for novelty
is rarely equaled even in the picturesque Orient.
The average number of oysters brought in daily by each boat is about
10,000. Some days when the weather is unfavorable many of the boats
return empty; on other days they may have 25,000 or more. In 1905 the
maximum catch in one day for one boat was 29,990, while in 1904 a single
boat brought in 37,675 oysters. The catch by the entire fleet one day in
1905 was 4,978,686 oysters, or an average of 16,485 for each of the 302
boats out on that occasion.
Each person taking part in the fishery receives as his compensation a
definite portion of the oysters. By government regulations, published in
1855 and yet operative, each _sammatti_, _tindal_, and _todai_ receives
daily one dive of oysters from each diver in the boat to which they are
respectively attached. In some instances the hire of the boat is paid
for in cash—about Rs.1.50 per day from each diver,—but in most cases
either one fifth or one sixth of each diver’s portion is devoted to this
purpose. After these provisions have been made, each diver gives one
third of his remaining portion to his _manduck_, retaining the balance
for himself. The Moormen divers from Kilakarai commonly contribute one
dive daily to the mosque of their native town,[152] in addition to the
portions given to the _sammatti_, _tindal_, and _todai_. Previous to
1855, the Hindu temples of the Madras Presidency were allowed to operate
a certain number of boats on their own account, but this led to so many
abuses that it was abolished.
After the boats are run up on the firm, hard beach, all the oysters are
removed by the crews of the boats into the government _koddu_ or
palisade, a large wattle-walled and palm-thatched inclosure with square
pens, each bearing a number corresponding to that of each boat. This is
done under close supervision to prevent a diversion of the oysters from
the regular channels, which otherwise would be relatively easy among the
animation and excitement caused by the thousands of persons about the
landing-place.
Within the government inclosure, the oysters taken by each boat are
divided by the fishermen themselves into three portions as nearly equal
as possible. This applies not only to the oysters falling to the share
of the divers and _manducks_, but also to those set apart for the
_sammatti_, _tindals_, and _todais_, for hire of the boat and even for
the Kilakarai mosque. An official indicates one of these as the share of
the fishermen, who at once remove their portion from the inclosure
through a narrow gate on the landward side. By this arrangement a
satisfactory division of the oysters is secured and all cause for
complaint or unfairness is removed. Previous to 1881, the fishermen
received only one fourth of the catch as compensation for their work;
but in that year their portion was increased to one third, at which it
has since remained.
As soon as the fishermen pass out of the government _koddu_ with their
quota, they are met by a crowd of natives eager to buy the oysters in
small lots, and frequently at so many per rupee—ranging from eight to
twelve ordinarily. This “outside market” is one of the many interesting
features of the camp, for there are few persons on the shore who do not
risk small sums in testing their fortunes in this lottery. And a
wonderful lottery it is too, in which a man may risk a few coppers and
win a prize worth hundreds of dollars. A poor Tamil once bought five
oysters for half a rupee, and in one of them he found the largest pearl
of the season. Any not sold among this eager, animated throng are at
once marketed with a native buyer. The diver then hastens to immerse
himself in one of the bathing tanks provided for the purpose. It is
claimed that if this bath is omitted after immersion all the morning in
the salt water of the gulf, the diver is liable to fall ill; and a
sufficient supply of fresh water for this purpose is an important factor
in the arrangement of the camp.
Owing to their sale in much smaller lots, or as we may say, at retail,
the fishermen succeed in getting relatively high prices for their
oysters, and their earnings exceed one half of the government’s share.
In 1905 this amounted to probably £86,000, or an average of about $1350
for each of the 318 boats. However, some crews made very much more than
this, with a corresponding decrease for the others. Although 1905 was a
record year for large returns, even in an ordinary season pearl fishing
is relatively profitable, as a skilled diver earns five or six times as
much as a common laborer in Ceylon. The regulations particularly forbid
the employment of divers for a monetary consideration instead of for a
share of the oysters according to the established custom.
The remaining two thirds of the oysters in the _koddu_ are the property
of the government. These are combined and counted. At nine o’clock each
evening they are sold at auction, and by noon of the following day all
have been removed, and the inclosure is ready for the incoming catch.
At the auction the number of oysters to be sold that evening is
announced, and bids are invited. Some one starts the bidding at, maybe,
Rs.20 or 25, and this is advanced by successive bids until the limit
appears to be reached, which may possibly be Rs.50 or 60. The successful
bidder is permitted to take as many oysters in multiples of 1000 as he
chooses; and after he is supplied, other merchants desiring them at that
particular price are accommodated. If there is no further demand for
them at that price, the bidding on the remaining oysters is begun
precisely as at first, and when the maximum bid is reached, all
merchants willing to give that amount are furnished with as many as they
wish in multiples of 1000 as before. If this does not exhaust the
oysters, the bidding on the remainder is started up again, and so on
until all are sold.[153] No one knows at the time whether he is buying a
fortune in gems or only worthless shells.
[Illustration:
Indian pearl merchants ready for business
]
[Illustration:
Children of Persian pearl dealers
]
The prices at which the oysters are sold at auction may differ greatly
from the estimated valuation of the samples secured in the February
examination. For instance, in 1905 the valuation of the South Madaragam
oysters was Rs.17.86 per 1000, yet the auction sales on the first day
began at Rs.53 and went up to Rs.61 per 1000, or three times the
valuation; and about the same general proportion of increase prevailed
for the oysters from the remaining banks, a result of great advances in
the market for pearls.
The auction prices for the different lots and from day to day are fairly
constant. But the shrewd Indian merchants know their business well and
keep in close touch with the yield, so that there are many variations in
the selling price that are puzzling to the uninitiated. A somewhat
higher estimation is placed on the oysters from certain banks, and also
on those from rocky portions of a particular reef, owing to their
reputation for yielding a larger percentage of pearls. The estimation of
particular oysters varies to some extent according to the amount of
adhering rock and coral growth. As already shown, the prices in 1906
covered the remarkable range of from Rs.20 to 309 per 1000.
Superstitious belief in luck also has its influence, and a buyer may
consider a certain day as unfavorable for him and abstain from bidding
on that occasion; or considering a particular day as lucky, he may bid
very high to secure a considerable portion of the sales.
The prices in different seasons vary greatly. In 1860, the average was
Rs.134.23 per 1000, which was unprecedentedly large; the nearest to this
was Rs.79.07 in 1874 and Rs.49 in 1905. In 1880, the average price per
1000 was only Rs.11, which was the lowest ever recorded. The records for
individual days greatly exceed these limits. The highest figures at
which oysters have sold on any one day was Rs.309 per 1000 in 1906, the
equivalent for each oyster of 10½ cents in American money. In 1874, the
price reached Rs.210 per 1000, and in 1905, the maximum price was
Rs.124, or about 4¼ cents for each oyster.
The oyster-buyers are principally wealthy Chetties from Madura, Ramnad,
Trichinopoli, Parambakudi, Tevakoddai, Paumben, Kumbhakonam, and other
towns of southern India. These are quite different from the scantily
clothed Naddukoddai Chetties so common in Ceylon. Many of them are
fashionably dressed in semi-European costume, with walking-stick, patent
leather boots, and other evidences of contact with Europe. Smaller
quantities of oysters are purchased by Moormen of Kilakarai, Ramnad,
Bombay, Adrampatam, Tondi, etc. A few oysters are also purchased by the
Nadans or Chánár caste people of Perunali, Kamuti, and Karakal. Over 99
per cent. of the 50,346,601 oysters sold by the government in 1905 were
secured by Indian buyers, and less than one per cent. by Cingalese. A
few of the oysters—from two to five per cent.—are sent to Indian and
Ceylon ports, but most of them are opened at the fishing camp.
The purchaser of only a small number of oysters may open them at once by
means of a knife, and with his fingers and eyes search for the pearls.
By this method very small pearls may be easily overlooked, and it is
scarcely practicable in handling large quantities of oysters. These are
removed to private inclosures known as _toddis_ or _tottis_, situated
some distance from the inhabited portions of the camp; where, exposed to
the solar heat, they are permitted to putrefy, and the fleshy parts to
be eaten by the swarms of big red-eyed bluebottle flies, and the residue
is then repeatedly washed.
Shakspere may have had in view some such scene as this when he spoke of
the “pearl in your foul oyster.” The lady who cherishes and adorns
herself with a necklace of Ceylon pearls would be horrified were she to
see and especially to smell the putrid mass from which her lustrous gems
are evolved. The great quantity of repulsive bluebottle flies are so
essential to success in releasing the pearls from the flesh, that a
scarcity of them is looked upon as a misfortune to the merchants.
However, except it may be at the beginning of a fishery, there is rarely
ever a cause for complaint on this score, for commonly they are so
numerous as to be a great plague to persons unaccustomed to them,
covering everything, and rendering eating and drinking a difficult and
unpleasant necessity, until darkness puts a stop to their activities.
But the intolerable stench, impossible of description, the quintessence
of millions of rotting oysters, fills the place, and makes existence a
burden to those who have not acquired odor-proof nostrils. This animal
decomposition seems almost harmless to health; indeed, the natives
evidently thrive on it, and eat and sleep without apparent notice of the
nauseous conditions. And yet vegetable decomposition in this region is
usually followed by fatal results. Notwithstanding sanitary precautions
and the usual quarantine camp and hospitals, cholera occasionally
becomes epidemic and puts a stop to the fishery, as was the case in
1889; but this probably was due more to the violation of ordinary
sanitary laws than to the decaying oysters.
In a large _toddi_ the oysters are placed in a _ballam_, or a dug-out
tank or trough, fifteen or twenty feet long and two or three feet deep,
smooth on the inside so that pearls may not lodge in the crevices. This
tank is covered with matting, and the _toddi_ is closed up, sealed, and
guarded for a week or ten days, when the fly maggots will have consumed
practically all of the flesh tissues, leaving little else than the
shells and pearls. The tank is then filled with sea water to float out
the myriads of maggots. Several nude coolies squat along the sides to
wash and remove the shells. The valves of each shell are separated, the
outsides rubbed together to remove all lodgments for pearls, and the
interior examined for attached or encysted pearls. The washers are kept
under constant supervision by inspectors to prevent concealment of
pearls; they are not permitted to remove their hands from the water
except to take out the shells, and under no circumstances are they
allowed to carry the hands to the mouth or to any other place in which
pearls could be concealed.
After the shells have been removed, fresh supplies of water are added to
wash the debris, which is turned over and over repeatedly, the dirty
water being bailed out through sieves to prevent the loss of pearls.
After thorough washings, every particle of the _sarraku_, or material at
the bottom of the _ballam_, consisting of sand, broken pieces of shell,
pearls, etc., is gathered up in a cotton cloth. Later the _sarraku_ is
spread out on cloths in the sun to dry, and the most conspicuous pearls
are removed. When dry, the material is critically examined over and over
again, and winnowed and rewinnowed, and after it seems that everything
of value has been secured, the refuse is turned over to women and
children, whose keen eyes and deft fingers pick out many _masi-tul_ or
dust-pearls; and even after the skill of these has been exhausted, the
apparently worthless refuse has a market value among persons whose
patience and skill meets with some reward. It is due largely to the
extreme care in the search that so many seed-pearls are found in Ceylon.
And this leads to a discussion of what is commonly known in Ceylon as
the “Dixon washing machine.” This is an invention of Mr. G. G. Dixon who
constructed it at Marichchikadde in 1904 and 1905, at a total cost to
the government of about Rs.162,000,[154] including all expenses
incidental to the experiment. The machine involves two separate
processes; the first consists in separating the shells from the soft
portion of the oysters, and the second in recovering the pearls from the
resultant _sarraku_ after it has been dried. In 1905, about 5,000,000
oysters were put through this machine,[155] but with what result has not
been announced.
The shells having pearls attached to the interior surface are turned
over to skilled natives, who remove the valuable objects by breaking the
shell with hammers, and then with files and other implements remove the
irregular pieces of attached shell and otherwise improve the appearance.
In no fishery in the world is the average size of the pearls secured
smaller, nor is the relative number greater than in that of Ceylon. It
is rare that one is found weighing over ten grains, and the number
weighing less than two grains is remarkable. For roundness and orient
they are unsurpassed by those of any region. However, Ceylon pearls
worth locally Rs.1000 ($400) are by no means abundant. The most valuable
one found in the important fishery of 1904, is said to have been sold in
the camp for Rs.2500. The fishery of 1905 yielded one weighing 76½
_chevu_, and valued at Rs.12,000.
The quantity of seed-pearls obtained in the Ceylon fishery exceeds that
of any other—probably all other parts of the world. The very
smallest—the _masi-tul_,—for which there is no use whatever in Europe,
have an established value in India, being powdered for making _chunam_
for chewing with betel. Those slightly larger,—_tul_ pearls—for which
also there is no market in Europe, are placed in the mouth of deceased
Hindus of wealth, instead of the rice which is used by poorer people.
The great bulk of the Ceylon pearls are silvery white in color, but
occasionally yellowish, pinkish, and even “black” pearls are found,
although the so-called “black” pearls are really brown or slate-colored.
In some seasons these are relatively numerous, as in 1887, for instance.
Notwithstanding the large product at the fishery camp, it is difficult
to purchase single pearls or small quantities there at a reasonable
price, the merchants objecting to breaking a _mudichchu_, or the lot
resulting from washing a definite number of oysters.
The shells obtained in the Ceylon fisheries do not possess sufficient
thickness of lustrous nacre for use as mother-of-pearl, and are mostly
used for camp-filling. A few are burned and converted into _chunam_,
_i.e._: prepared lime for building purposes, or to be used by natives
for chewing with the betel-nut. Forty or fifty years ago, before the
large receipts of mother-of-pearl from Australia and the southern
Pacific, there was a good market for the shell for button manufacture
and the like, but since 1875 only the choicest have been used for this
purpose, and these are worth only about $25 per ton delivered in Europe.
It will be observed that up to the close of the season of 1906, the
Ceylon fisheries were operated by the colonial government as a state
monopoly. In 1904, proposals were made to the British colonial office by
a London syndicate with a view to leasing the fisheries for a term of
years. The original suggestion was that they should be leased for thirty
years in consideration of an annual rental of £13,000 or Rs.195,000,
together with a share of the net profits after payment of a reasonable
rate of interest on the investment; and later it was suggested that the
rental be Rs.100,000 a year and twenty per cent. of the profits after
seven per cent. on capital had been paid to the shareholders. But the
government preferred a definite money payment without any rights to
share in the profits realized; and after lengthy negotiations this was
fixed at Rs.310,000 annually, with certain preliminary payments.
Accordingly, on November 30, 1905, a preliminary agreement was executed
between the crown agents for the colonies, acting on behalf of the
government of Ceylon, and representatives of the Ceylon Company of Pearl
Fishers, Limited. On February 27, 1906, this agreement was confirmed and
made effective by special ordinance[156] of the governor and legislative
council of Ceylon, and the crown agents were authorized to execute the
lease as of January 1, 1906.
The principal financial terms of this lease required the company to
purchase the expensive Dixon pearl-washing machine at a cost of
Rs.120,000, which was Rs.42,000 less than it cost the government during
the preceding two years; to purchase at a cost of Rs.62,501 the
steamship _Violet_, which the government had used in its experimental
oyster-culture; to reimburse the government each year the amount spent
in policing, sanitation and hospital services at the fishery camp, which
had in some individual seasons amounted to more than Rs.200,000; to
expend each year from Rs.50,000 to Rs.150,000 in the development of
pearl-oyster culture; and to pay an annual rental of Rs.315,000, a rate
based roughly on the average return of the preceding twenty years,
including the record year of 1905.
The company was authorized to take up the pearl-oysters by means of
divers, or by steam dredges, or by such other mechanical means as might
appear most advantageous, and to carry on such experiments with the
immature oysters as appeared most conducive to the profitable working of
the fisheries, provided they do nothing to make the resources less
valuable at the expiration of the lease.
One of the most interesting features of the lease is that relating to
the power of the colonial government to grant an exclusive right of
fishing on the banks outside the three-mile limit. The question of this
exclusive right arose in 1890, but was not conclusively determined.
Fearing lest this authority did not exist, the terms in which the right
of fishing was conveyed were carefully chosen by the attorney general to
protect the government from liability “should any international question
arise”;[157] and the government leased to the company “all the right or
privilege which the lessors have hereto exercised and enjoyed of fishing
for and taking pearl-oysters on the coasts of Ceylon between Talaimannar
and Dutch Bay Point, to the intent that the company _so far as the
lessors can secure the same_ may have the exclusive right, liberty and
authority to fish for, take and carry away pearl-oysters within the said
limits.... But nothing in this lease shall be taken to make the lessors
answerable in damages if _owing to any cause beyond the control of the
lessors_ the company is prevented from fully exercising and enjoying
such exclusive right and privilege.”[158]
In the meantime, while the negotiations were in progress, there occurred
the very profitable fishery of 1905, from which the colonial government
derived a revenue of Rs.2,510,727, or approximately eight times the
proposed annual rental; and before the lease was finally concluded
occurred the fishery of 1906, with its revenue of Rs.1,376,746. While it
is true that a succession of barren seasons prevailed from 1892 to 1902,
yet, as the revenue in 1903 was Rs.829,548, and in 1904 it was
Rs.1,065,751, there was, in the four years ending in 1906, a revenue to
the government of Rs.5,782,772, or nearly as much as the total amount to
be derived from the lease during the twenty years it was to run. These
figures seemed to furnish strong reasons for retaining such a valuable
source of revenue, with its possibilities of still greater expansion
under the supervision and direction of specialists in the employ of the
government.
Many of the inhabitants of Ceylon saw in this a decided objection to the
lease, and there was a general feeling of indignation in the colony,
with public meetings in protest, and the like. In reply to a memorial
prepared at one of these meetings held in Colombo, Lord Elgin, the
British secretary of state for the colonies, wrote under date of May 9,
1906:
The memorialists have protested against the lease on the double
ground that a lease on any terms is contrary to the best interests
of Ceylon, and that the rent agreed upon is “under existing
circumstances wholly inadequate.” There must always be in cases of
this kind a difference of opinion as to whether a fixed annual sum,
with immunity from all expense and sundry other advantages, is or is
not preferable to continuing to face all the risks for the sake of
all the profits. In the present instance the lease appears to me to
have been drafted with a sincere desire to safeguard to the utmost
the property and interests of the Colony.
[Illustration:
Street scene in Marichchikadde, the pearling camp of Ceylon
]
[Illustration:
Return of the fleet from the pearl reefs to Marichchikadde, Ceylon
]
It may be true that the development of the fishery upon a scientific
system affords good prospect of a greater return in the future than
has been obtained in the past, and affords at least the hope that
the barren cycles which have been so common in the past will not
recur to the same extent. But the operations necessary to that end
are of a highly technical and experimental character, and I am very
doubtful whether any machinery which could be set in motion by the
Government would be suited to develop processes at once so doubtful
and so delicate. In twenty years’ time the Colonial Government will
receive back the fishery, not only intact, but in the most perfect
state to which commercial enterprise and scientific methods can
raise it, and, in the meanwhile, a regular and substantial payment
is assured. Twenty years are no doubt a considerable period in the
lifetime of individuals; but if within that time all the resources
that science can contribute toward systematic development of the
fisheries have been applied and thoroughly tested, the period will
not, I think, be regarded as excessive or unfortunate in the history
of a fishery which has lasted for more than two thousand years.[159]
The Ceylon Company of Pearl Fishers, Limited, with a paid up capital of
£165,000, has just entered into possession of its lease, and it is
uncertain what changes will be made in the methods of the fishery or
what measure of success will follow the attempts at pearl-oyster culture
and the growth of pearls. The attention of the pearling interests of the
world is now directed to the work of this company in the development of
its magnificent leasehold, and it seems not unlikely that greater
changes will be made in the methods of the industry during the ensuing
decade than have occurred in the whole of the last ten centuries.[160]
A curious fishery, with the _Placuna placenta_ for its object, exists in
Tablegram Lake, a small bay in northeastern Ceylon adjacent to the
magnificent harbor of Trincomali, which Nelson declared to be “the
finest in the world.” At intervals during the nineteenth century, the
Ceylon government leased the Tablegram Lake fishery to native bidders
for a period of three consecutive years. In 1857, Dr. Kelaart visited
the place and calculated that in the three years preceding, eighteen
million oysters had been removed.[161] Owing to scarcity of the mollusk,
no fisheries have existed since 1890, but from 1882 to 1890 they were
regularly leased at an average of Rs.5000 for each term of three years.
Prof. James Hornell, who made a careful examination in 1905, reported
that if the business were carried on providently and systematically, “it
should become the source of a fairly regular annual revenue to
Government of from Rs.10,000 to Rs.12,000, possibly even more.”[162]
The _Placuna_ oysters are caught by Moormen divers, who are scarcely
equal physically to the pearl fishery in the sea. They rarely descend
more than four fathoms, and most of the work in Tablegram Bay is in less
than two fathoms. Each diver returns with from one to five or more
oysters, depending on their abundance, and receives one half of the
catch as his share of the proceeds. Unlike the method in the
pearl-oyster fishery of Ceylon, the _Placuna_ oysters are opened while
fresh, this work being performed by coolies, who are compensated at the
rate of about Rs.3 per 1000.
THE PEARL FISHERIES OF INDIA
There are two moments in a diver’s life:
One, when a beggar, he prepares to plunge;
Then, when a prince, he rises with his prize.
ROBERT BROWNING.
Notwithstanding the great fame of the pearl fisheries of India, those
prosecuted within the limits of British India proper are of small
extent. The only pearl resources within the empire are the rarely
productive reefs on the Madras coast in the vicinity of Tuticorin, the
relatively modern fisheries of Mergui Archipelago, and some small reefs
of only local importance on the Malabar coast and in the Bombay
presidency.
The celebrity of India in connection with the pearl fisheries has never
rested on the extent of those within the territorial limits or under the
control of this government. It originated in the fact that it is largely
Indian capital which finances the fisheries of Ceylon and of the Persian
Gulf; nearly all of the divers and others employed in Ceylon are from
the coast of this empire, and most of the pearls are purchased by
merchants of Bombay, Madura, Trichinopoli, and other large towns. Thus,
from an economic and industrial point of view, the pearl fisheries of
Ceylon, and to a less extent those of the Persian Gulf, have contributed
to the fame and to the wealth of the Empire of India.
The pearl fisheries off Tuticorin in the Madras presidency have been
referred to incidentally in the account of the fisheries of Ceylon. They
are separated by only a few miles of water, and are prosecuted by the
same fishermen and in precisely the same manner. Consequently, it is
difficult to discuss them separately, especially in their early history
and during the time that this part of the world was under the rule of
the Portuguese and later of the Dutch.
[Illustration:
The pearling regions in Ceylon and British India
]
The fisheries of the Madras coast compete in antiquity with those of
Ceylon. Indeed, from the time of Ptolemy to the seventeenth century, the
industry seems to have been prosecuted largely from the Madras side of
the gulf, centering at Chayl or Coil on the sandy promontory of Ramnad.
This place appears to be the Κόλχοι of Ptolemy, the Ramana Koil of the
natives, as well as the Cael of the travelers of the Middle Ages. But
during the last three hundred years, the Ceylon side has been the scene
of the greatest pearling operations; and from the Madras coast, the
fisheries have not been prosecuted except at long intervals, averaging
once in fifteen or twenty years.
Owing to the scarcity of oysters and to other causes, the fishery was
prosecuted on the Madras coast in only eight years of the whole period
from 1768 to 1907. These years of productivity were 1822, 1830, 1860,
1861, 1882, 1889, 1890, and 1900; and even then the yield was relatively
small. The largest was 15,874,500 oysters in 1860, from which the Madras
government derived a revenue of Rs.250,276; and about half as many
oysters were obtained in 1861 with a revenue of Rs.129,003. Numerous and
prolonged experiments in conserving the reefs and in cultivating the
oysters have been made without success. The reason usually given for the
greater wealth of oysters on the Ceylon side is, that it is more
sheltered from the strong currents which sweep down the Bay of Bengal
into the Gulf of Manaar and impinge directly on the coast of the
mainland.
The headquarters of the fishery are at Tuticorin, near to Madura, the
Benares of the south, the holy “City of Sweetness” which the gods have
delighted to honor from time immemorial. But the camp is commonly
erected of palmyra and bamboo on the barren shore several miles distant
from Tuticorin. The 1890 fishery was at Salápatturai, and that of 1900
at a place which received the mouth-filling name of Veerapandianpatanam.
The preparations for pearling at Tuticorin are similar to those on the
Ceylon coast. In the autumn the reefs are examined by government
inspectors, and if the conditions seem to warrant a fishery in the
following spring, arrangements are made therefor and the proper
notification issued. The announcement follows the general plan of that
in Ceylon. The following, from the Fort St. George “Gazette,” Madras,
January 16, 1900, is a copy of the notification preceding the last
fishery which has occurred:
Notice is hereby given that a pearl fishery will take place at
Veerapandianpatanam on or about the 12th March, 1900.
1. The bank to be fished is the Theradipulipudithapar, estimated to
employ 100 boats for twenty days with average loads of 7,000 oysters
per day.
2. It is therefore recommended that such boat owners and divers as
may wish to be employed shall be at Tuticorin on or before the 1st
of March next and anchor their boats abreast of the government
flagstaff; the first day’s fishing will take place on the 12th of
March, weather permitting.
3. The fishery will be conducted on account of Government, and the
oysters put up for sale in such lots as may be deemed expedient.
4. The arrangements of the fishery will be the same as have been
usual on similar occasions.
[Illustration:
PEARLS PRESENTED BY THE IMAM OF MUSCAT TO PRESIDENT VAN BUREN
Now in the United States National Museum, Washington, D. C.
]
5. Payments to be made in ready money in rupees or in Government of
India notes. Checks on the Bank of Madras or Bank Agencies will be
received on letters of credit being produced to warrant the drawing
of such checks.
6. All particulars can be obtained on application to the
Superintendent of Pearl Fisheries, Tuticorin.
Sd/—J. P. BEDFORD,
_Collector_.
Tinnevelly Collector’s Office,
16th November 1899.
On the long sweep of desolate shore at a place convenient to the reefs,
a temporary camp is erected, just as is done on the Ceylon coast.
However, this camp is not nearly so large, only about one fourth or one
fifth the size of that on the eastern side of the gulf. It resembles the
larger one in the quarters for divers and merchants, the bazaars, the
bungalows for the officials, the hospital, the sale and washing
inclosures, etc.; in addition to these is the temporary Roman Catholic
chapel.
The divers are mainly of the Parawa caste from Tuticorin, Pinnacoil,
Pamban, etc. on the Madras coast. Although influenced by many Hindu
superstitions, they are nominally Roman Catholics, as evidenced by the
scapulars suspended from the neck, their ancestors having been converted
and baptized through the zealous work of that prince of missionaries,
St. Francis Xavier, in the sixteenth century. Even yet a chapel at
Pinnacoil is held in special reverence by these people as a place where
the saintly father preached. Professor Hornell writes that the present
hereditary head of this caste is Don Gabriel de Croos Lazarus Motha Vaz,
known officially as the Jati Talaiva More, or Jati Talaivan. He resides
at Tuticorin, and is largely the intermediary between the government and
the Parawa fishermen.
In the details of its prosecution, the Madras fishery differs in no
important particular from that of Ceylon. The boats are manned and
operated in precisely the same way; they fish in the morning only,
taking advantage of the prevailing favorable winds; the divers carry the
oysters into the government inclosure, and divide them into three equal
lots, of which they receive one; the share of the government is
auctioned daily, the divers disposing of theirs as they choose; and the
oysters are rotted and washed in the same manner as in Ceylon.
In addition to the fishery for pearl-oysters at Tuticorin, two other
species of pearl-producing mollusks are collected in the Madras
presidency; one of these is a species of mussel (_Mytilus smaragdinus_,
according to Dr. Edgar Thurston of the Madras Museum), which is
collected from the estuary of the Sonnapore River near Berhampore; and
the other is the _Placuna placenta_, found in many places in this
presidency, and especially in Pulicat Lake and in the vicinity of
Tuticorin.
The Sonnapore mussels, which are small and bright green in color, are
found adhering to the masses of edible oysters in depths of ten or
twelve feet of water. They are caught in a novel manner, as described in
a letter from the acting collector of customs at Ganjam. Thrusting a
long bamboo pole deep into the bottom of the reef, the fisherman dives
down, and holding on to this bamboo, breaks off as large a mass of the
oysters as he can bring to the surface in one hand, helping himself up
the bamboo pole with the other. Removing the mussels from the mass, he
opens them with a suitable knife and by running his thumbs and fingers
over the flesh tissues, detects the pearls therein. These pearls are of
very inferior quality and of little ornamental value. They are sold
mostly for chunám and for placing in the mouth of deceased Hindus.
Along the west coast of India, in the Bombay presidency, a few pearls
are found at various places, but the output is of slight value. The most
important of these is off the coast of Nawanagar, on the south side of
the Gulf of Cutch, where the true pearl-oyster is found.
According to the “Jamnagar Diwan,” the yearly value of the Nawanagar
fisheries is about Rs.4000. This is smaller than formerly, as the reefs
are in a depleted state; to give them a chance to recuperate, a close
season was established in 1905. The oysters are found along a coast-line
eighty miles in length extending from Mangra, near Jodya Bunder, to
Pindera in the Gulf of Cutch, and also about the islands of Ajad, Chauk,
Kalumbar, and Nora, which are also situated in the Cutch Gulf. They are
not procured by diving, but are gathered off the rocks when the tide is
out. During the monsoon, the collection is limited to eight days in the
month; _i.e._, from the twelfth to the fifteenth of each half according
to the Hindu calendar.
The fisheries are by law restricted exclusively to the _waghers_ of ten
villages, which are Varinar, Sashana, Sika, Balachedi, Jhakher, Sarmat,
Bharana, Salaya, Chudesar, and Bedi. The collection of the pearls is
left entirely to these men, who at Divala—the Hindu new year—bring all
the pearls gathered by them to the durbar. There an estimate is made of
their value, one fourth of which is paid to the _waghers_, and the
pearls are turned over to the representatives of the state treasury for
sale. This method of conducting the industry has been long established.
In recent years the government experimented in farming out the revenue,
but the old custom has been resumed in order to placate the native
fishermen.
A few pearl-oysters are also found on the Ratnagiri coast below Bombay,
and likewise at Kananur in the Malabar district. In 1901–1902, there was
some local excitement about pearls found at Belapur and quantities were
reported as collected; but since then little has been heard of the
industry in that region.
Elsewhere on the west coast of India, pearls are obtained from the
so-called “window-glass” shell, of the genus _Placuna_. The individual
shells are flat, thin, and transparent, and are still used in Goa and
vicinity as a substitute for glass in windows. This mollusk is abundant
from Karachi, near the Baluchistan border, to the Kanara district south
of Bombay; and wherever it occurs in any abundance it is collected for
the sake of the small pearls found therein.
Of the fishery at Karachi, Mr. E. H. Aitken writes: “It is farmed out by
Government for a good sum. In 1901, the amount realized was Rs.3650 for
a period of three years; but the lessee lost heavily, and in 1904 the
highest offer for a similar period of three years was Rs.1851. Pearls
may be found in as many as ten to twenty per cent. of the mature
mollusks.” Pearls are far more numerous in the _Placuna_ than in the
pearl-oysters, but few of them are of sufficient size or luster to be
used as ornaments, ranking with the so-called medicinal pearls of
Europe. They are much softer in texture than the pearls of the
Margaritiferæ. The largest are commonly of irregular form, with the
surface slightly botryoidal or like the “strawberry” pearls of the
Mississippi. While not often used as ornaments, they are highly valued
by the Hindus in calcined or powdered form for medicinal purposes, and
especially to be chewed with the betel-nut, and are also used in the
original form in funeral rites, a small quantity being placed in the
mouth of a deceased person.
In the Mergui Archipelago, which is within the territory of lower Burma
and under the jurisdiction of the government of British India, patches
of pearl-oyster reefs are scattered over an area roughly computed at
11,000 square miles, taking 97° 40′ as the western boundary. They occur
principally in the strong tidal passages among the islands. The bottom
is formed largely of porphyritic granite interspersed with sand and
thinly covered with corals, coral cups, the long whip-like black coral
(_Antipathes arborea_), and other submarine animal and vegetable
growths.[163] These constitute a home most favorable to the growth and
development of molluscan life.
Of the several species of pearl-bearing mollusks occurring in the Mergui
Archipelago, by far the most important is the “mok,” or large Australian
pearl-oyster (_Margaritifera maxima_). The shell attains a maximum size
of about thirteen inches in diameter, and the nacre is of a milky or
silvery color. This species occurs in its two varieties of “golden lip”
and “silver edge,” the former being in greater abundance. The “silver
edge” shell is the more valuable owing to its uniformity of coloring,
and the pearls found therein are of superior luster and orient.
The “pate goung,” or Lingah pearl-oyster (_Margaritifera vulgaris_), is
similar to that of the Gulf of Manaar. It is circular in shape and
measures about two and one half inches in diameter. The nacre is
silvery, with slight yellowish tinge. Many of the pearls from this
species are of a silvery color, but most of them are yellowish or
golden. The fishery for this mollusk is of little importance compared
with that for the larger pearl-oyster, which is the species referred to
in Mergui when not otherwise mentioned.
The pearl fisheries of Mergui originated with the Selangs or Salangs, a
nomadic race of maritime gipsies, the last remnants of whom live among
the three thousand islands of this group. They are supposed to be of
Malay descent; but their early history is unknown, and they are rapidly
passing away in the conflict of existence with the neighboring peoples.
Probably in no part of the world are the pearl fisheries prosecuted by a
more primitive class of men. With their women and children, they live
mainly in roomy dug-out boats; but during the southwest monsoon they
erect temporary shelters on the shore, these consisting of a few frail
sticks, supporting coverings of braided mats, and floors of bamboo
strips.
They have few wants and derive a livelihood principally from gathering
and bartering shells, pearls, cured _thadecon_, and nests of the
sea-swallow (Collocalia). Within depths of six or eight fathoms they are
fairly good divers, both the men and the women, but their physical
endurance is slight. Their trade is mostly with Chinese merchants who
visit them in small vessels. No information exists as to when the
Selangs first found profit in searching for pearls; but it was probably
many centuries ago, and for a long time they made contributions of them
to the Buddhist rulers of Burma.
Shortly after the acquisition of Mergui Archipelago in 1826,
representatives of the British government brought experienced divers
from southern India to examine more fully the resources which the
Selangs had made known; but as only seed-pearls were secured, the
government concluded that they would yield an insignificant revenue, and
the attempt to develop these resources was given up.[164]
However, the Selangs continued to fish in their primitive fashion; and
as the market for the shell developed, the profits increased. But their
wants were easily appeased, and the increased profits were
counterbalanced by decreased activities. Old traders among the islands
tell of the opportunities of those days when choice pearls could be
obtained for a pinch of opium or for a few ounces of tobacco.
Far from the highways of the world, the Selangs remained undisturbed in
their beautiful seas until nearly twenty years ago. Meanwhile, 800 miles
distant, Singapore had arisen from a desert shore to the rank of a great
seaport, and the headquarters for the pearl fishery of the Malay
Archipelago and of the northwestern coast of Australia. In this fishery
the vessels were well equipped and depended on the use of diving
apparatus rather than on nude divers.
Beginning about 1888, some of these vessels made occasional visits to
the Mergui pearl-oyster reefs, and usually with very profitable results.
This was the first instance in which diving apparatus was successfully
introduced on any part of the Asiatic coast from the Red Sea to Malacca
Strait. So great was the profit that nearly every one on the lower coast
of Burma with sufficient capital or credit hastened to obtain a boat and
diving equipment. The success of some of these early ventures was
remarkable, single pearls worth $3000, $5000, and even $10,000 each
being secured. The reefs in the shoal waters were rapidly depleted, to
the great disadvantage of the nude Selangs, who can do little in deep
water.
With a view to deriving a revenue from these well-equipped vessels, the
government of Burma in 1898 divided the 11,000 square miles of pearling
territory into five definite areas known as “blocks.” The area within
each of these blocks was surveyed, marked, and charted; and the
financial commissioner from time to time determined as to each block
whether licenses for pearl fishing should be issued, or whether the
exclusive right therein should be leased. These leases were disposed of
either by inviting tenders and granting the lease to any of the persons
who might tender, or by public auction, as the financial commissioner
might direct. By the terms of the lease, the lessee was obliged to
register at the office of the deputy commissioner of finance the number
of boats and pumps employed by him; to declare by letter, at the end of
each month, the number, weight, and estimated value of all
mother-of-pearl shell and pearls collected during the month, and to
refrain from taking any mother-of-pearl measuring less than six inches
from lip to hinge.
Outside the limits of blocks in which the exclusive pearl fishing was
leased, licenses to use diving implements were granted in such number
and on payment of such fees, not exceeding Rs.1000 per apparatus, as
might from time to time be fixed, every such license expiring on June 30
next following the date on which it was granted, and no license was
transferable.
The five blocks in which the Mergui pearling rights were leased are of
large area, averaging somewhat over 2000 square miles each. The lessees
customarily granted permits to subsidiary fishermen to operate in their
respective blocks, on payment of a royalty, this ranging in amount from
12½ to 25 per cent. of the mother-of-pearl secured, and the pearls found
were the absolute property of the fishermen.
Until 1900 the pearling rights were leased by blocks as above noted.
Rights to catch trochus, green snail shells, and sea-slugs, were
included in the lease. It was noticed that European pearlers always
sublet the trochus and green snail rights, and it was decided to auction
these separately; while as regards pearling proper the auction system
was abolished in that year in favor of a system of licensing individual
vessels for a fee of Rs.400 each. The right to collect pearls by nude
diving was thought for some time to have been left free; but
subsequently it was auctioned along with the rights to collect green
snails, trochus and sea-slugs.
The following summary, compiled from data furnished by Mr. I. H. Burkill
of the Indian Civil Service, shows the extent of the pearl and shell
fisheries of Mergui for a series of years.
Year. No. of Revenue from Revenue from Reported Value of
Pumps. Pumps. Auction Rights. Yield.
Rs. Rs. Rs.
1904 70 28,000 22,500 149,239
1905 77 30,800 14,200 131,921
1906 80 32,000 15,300 124,798
1907 76 30,400 19,700
The local headquarters of the industry are at Mergui, but most of the
supplies are drawn from Maulmain and Rangoon, or from the more distant
Singapore, where the industry is financed. The season extends from
October to April or May, when the southwest monsoon begins and puts a
stop to the fishery on this exposed coast.
The boats used are mostly of Burmese build. They measure from 25 to 35
feet in length, and 7 or 8 feet in width, and have 18 to 24 inches of
draft, with curved or half-moon shaped keels, and with high square
sterns. Owing to the very light draft and the amount of free-board, they
are deficient in weatherly qualities; but are fast sailors before the
wind and are easily rowed from place to place. For this reason they are
especially suited to the industry in Mergui, because during the pearling
season calms and light winds prevail and oars form the principal motive
power, especially in the channels and passageways between the islands
where the tides are frequently very swift.
If a number of boats are of the same ownership, a schooner of thirty to
one hundred tons’ capacity is commonly provided as a floating station
and base of supplies for them; the gathering of such a fleet presents an
interesting sight, like a great white hen among her brood of chickens.
[Illustration:
FROM THE TREASURY OF THE EMIR OF BOKHARA
Necklace and earrings. Property of an American lady
]
Most of the boats are from Mergui, and are chartered at a monthly rate
of from Rs.105 to Rs.120 each, including a crew of four or five Burmans
with their subsistence, consisting principally of rice and salted fish;
the charterer is further required to pay each member of the crew four
annas, or one rupee, for each day actually employed in operating the
diving pump. In addition to these men, each boat carries one diver and
an attendant, commonly known as “tender.” The boat is sailed or rowed by
the crew, as directed by the diver; and while the latter is submerged,
the boat and crew are under the supervision of the attendant.
The divers are the most important men in the fleet, for on their ability
and efficiency depends the success of the enterprise. A very
considerable portion of them are natives of the Philippine Islands,
although many Japanese have been employed recently, and the number is
increasing. The compensation is at the rate of £2 to £4 per month, and
£20 for each ton of mother-of-pearl secured. The attendants are likewise
mostly Manilamen, but many Malayans and Burmans are employed; the wages
range from Rs.50 to Rs.80 per month, including provisions. The peculiar
duties of the attendant are to help the diver into his dress, place the
shoulder leads into position, screw on the helmet, and especially to
receive and respond to signals and to direct the movements of the vessel
in accordance therewith.
The scaphander, or diving dress, is composed of solid sheet rubber,
covered on both sides with canvas. The head-piece is made of tinned
copper, and is fitted with three glasses, one at the front and one on
each side, so as to afford the diver as wide a view as is consistent
with strength of construction. It has a valve by which he can regulate
the pressure of the atmosphere. The dress has a double collar, the inner
portion coming up around the neck, and the other hermetically fastened
to the breastplate. The breastplate is likewise made of copper. The suit
is connected with the air-pump by means of a stout rubber tube which
enters the helmet, and through which air is supplied to the diver
incased therein. This air-tube consists of three or four lengths—each of
fifty feet—of light hose, commonly called “pipe.” This is buoyant so
that it may be easily pulled along, and may not readily foul among the
rocks. However, when working on very rough bottom with sharp-edged
stones, the lower length is of stouter material in order to resist the
chafing on the bottom. Before descending, the air-line is loosely coiled
around the diver’s arm to prevent a sudden strain on it when it is
tightened, and a signal-line is attached to his waist to enable him to
communicate with the men above.
In fishing, if the current is slight, the boat is permitted to drift
therewith, and if there is little or no current, it is propelled by oars
as may be required. The diver—fully dressed in the rubber suit with
helmet, etc.,—goes overboard easily by means of a Jacob’s ladder of five
or six rungs on the port side of the boat, and is lowered by an
attendant, who gives close attention to the lines, the crew having
manned the pump in the meantime. On reaching bottom, the diver walks
along, following the course of the moving boat and swinging his
shoulders from side to side to take in a wide vision in his search for
oysters. In clear water he can discover them at a distance of
twenty-five or thirty feet, even when fifteen fathoms below the surface;
but sometimes the water is so clouded that it may be necessary for him
to go almost on hands and knees to see them, and when the seaweeds are
thick and high, he may locate them almost as much by feeling as by
sight. Owing to this difficulty in seeing the oysters, the work is
suspended in rough weather and for many days following. The catch is
placed in a sack or basket of quarter inch rope, which is raised when
filled, emptied, and returned to the bottom by means of a rope.
Finding the shell is by no means an easy matter, and much natural
hunter-craft is necessary. Of a neutral color, it is not at all
conspicuous as it lies on a gray coral bed, itself covered with coral or
sponge or hidden in dense masses of gorgeous seaweeds. Still less
visible is the shell on a muddy bottom, for there it embeds itself and
exposes only half an inch or so of the “lip.” As the boat is impelled by
the tide, the diver may have to walk rapidly in a swinging gait; and if
he should stumble or fall while stooping to pick up the shell, recovery
of balance may be difficult. He must be constantly on the alert and has
many dangers to avoid. Sharks are numerous in these clear tropical
waters; but although disaster sometimes results, they are timid, a
stream of air bubbles from the sleeve of the dress sending them away in
fright. More fruitful sources of danger are fouled air-pipes, broken
pumps, falling into holes, and especially paralysis from recklessly deep
diving.
When the diver wishes to come up, he closes the escape valve in his
helmet; his dress fills and distends with air, causing a speedy return
to the surface, and the tender hauls him alongside by means of the
life-line. After “blowing” for a few minutes with the helmet removed,
and usually enjoying the indispensable cigarette, he returns to the
bottom.
When the Mergui reefs were first exploited by diving apparatus, the bulk
of the shells were secured from depths of ten to twelve fathoms. These
shallow reefs have been exhausted, temporarily, at least, and the divers
now work in deeper water, fifteen, twenty, and even twenty-five fathoms,
if the bottom is very uneven and rocky. Many shells are found in the
depressions between the large boulders, which may be twenty or thirty
feet deeper than the surrounding areas.
The oysters are opened by means of the long-bladed working-knife of the
country, known as _dah-she_. The flesh is thrown into a large basket or
washtub, where it is searched by the proprietor of the boat, who takes
each piece between the hands and squeezes and feels through every part
of it. After the flesh has been carefully examined, the sediment at the
bottom of the tub is washed and panned to obtain those pearls which have
fallen through the flesh tissues. The Mergui pearls are commonly of good
color and luster, and compare favorably with those from the Sulu
Archipelago or the Dutch East Indies.
The sea-green shell of the snail (_Turbo marmoratus_) is gathered in
large quantities by the nude diving Selangs, who barter it to Chinese
traders at the equivalent of Rs.8 or 10 per 100 in number. The flesh is
also dried and disposed of to these traders under the name of
_thadecon_, at about Rs.3 per _viss_ of 3.33 pounds. This mollusk yields
a few greenish yellow pearls.
In 1895, three pearl reefs were discovered off the Bassein coast in the
district of Irawadi.[165] These proved fairly remunerative for one
season and a portion of another, when they were abandoned.
THE PEARL FISHERIES OF THE RED SEA, GULF OF ADEN, ETC.
Under the Ptolemies, and even long after—under the Califs—these were
islands whose merchants were princes; but their bustle and glory
have since departed from them, and they are now thinly inhabited by
a race of miserable fishermen.
JAMES BRUCE (1790).
The Red Sea was one of the most ancient sources of pearls, furnishing
these gems for centuries before the Christian era, and particularly
during the reign of the Ptolemies. These pearls were alluded to by
Strabo, Ælianus, and other classical writers. Although the prominence of
the fisheries has suffered by comparison with those of Persia and
Ceylon, the yield has been more or less extensive from the days of
Solomon up to the present time.
Of the several pearl-yielding mollusks in the Red Sea and on the
southeast coast of Arabia, the largest and best known is that called
“sadof” by the Arabs, and which has been identified by Jameson as
_Margaritifera m. erythræensis_. This is closely related to the large
species in the Persian Gulf. It is commonly four or five inches in
diameter, and in exceptional instances attains a diameter of eight
inches and a weight of three pounds or more. In addition to its size, it
is distinguished by a dark green coloring about the edges, and a more or
less greenish tint over the nacreous interior surface; this color is
darker in the vicinity of Jiddah and Suakin than at the southern end of
the sea, or in the Gulf of Aden. This species occurs singly rather than
congregated in beds or reefs. Although it is found in depths of fifteen
fathoms or more, most of the fishing is in less than five fathoms of
water.
[Illustration:
Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, the pearling center of the world
]
The “sadof” yields pearls only rarely, and is sought principally for the
shells, which afford good qualities of mother-of-pearl, the pearls
furnishing an additional but always looked-for profit to the regular
source of income. As in other regions, there is no constant relation
between the value of the pearls and the quantity of mollusks taken. The
oysters of some reefs are comparatively rich in certain years; while in
other seasons or on other reefs the mollusks may be numerous but yield
very few pearls.
The second species of importance in the Red Sea is similar to the Lingah
oyster and is known to the Arabs as “bulbul.” This is much smaller than
the “sadof,” averaging less than three inches in diameter. It is
collected for the pearls exclusively, the shells being too small for
industrial use; but only 3 or 4 per cent. of the individuals yield
pearls.
It is claimed by writers of authority that it is the red Pinna pearl
from this sea that is referred to in the Scriptures under the name
_peninim_ as the most precious product, and which has been translated as
rubies.[166] The shell is extremely fragile, and the nacreous interior
is white tinged with a beautiful red. It is of little importance in the
commercial fisheries of the Red Sea at the present time.
The “sadof” is more scattered and less numerous than the “bulbul”; and
in order to save much useless diving, it is customary to inspect the
bottom before descending. Therefore, operations are largely restricted
to calm weather, when the water is sufficiently clear to enable the
divers to sight the individual oysters on the bottom. In recent years,
water-telescopes have been used to assist in locating them. The most
popular form consists of a tin can with a sheet of glass inserted in the
bottom. The glazed end of the tin is submerged several inches below the
surface, affording a far-reaching and much clearer vision. In this
fishery the divers work from small canoes (_uri_), each manned by two
men, one of whom rows while the other leans over the bow and searches
for the oysters. When one is sighted, he dives into the water for it,
and then returns to the boat to resume the search.
The pearling season begins commonly in March or April, and continues
until about the end of May; it is renewed in the autumn, continuing
through September and October.[167] The vessels employed are of two
varieties: _dhows_ carrying from twenty to eighty men each, and the much
smaller _sambuks_ or sail-boats without decks, each with from six to
twenty-five men, most of whom are Negro slaves. Many of the large
vessels are from the Persian Gulf. The _sambuks_ are owned principally
by Zobeid Bedouins inhabiting the coast between Jiddah and Yambo, and
also the islands near the southern end of the sea, which are very
hot-beds of pearls, shells, religious frenzy and half famished Arabs and
Negro slaves.
The “bulbul” oysters are taken in nearly the same manner as in the
Persian Gulf. When the vessel is located over the reef, each diver
descends, commonly with a short stick of iron or hard wood, with which
he releases the oysters within reach; placing them in a sack, he is
pulled up by an attendant when his breath is nearly exhausted.
The fisheries are prosecuted along both sides of the Red Sea and in the
channels among the islands, from the Gulf of Akabah to Bab-el-Mandeb.
They are especially extensive among the Dahlak Islands on the coast of
the Italian colony Eritrea, where the population is largely supported by
them. This was the center of the industry during the time of the
Ptolemies and in the early Christian era. The fisheries are also
important in the vicinity of Jiddah, the port of entrance for Mecca and
Medina, holiest places of Islam. They likewise exist near Kosseir at the
northern end of the sea, and at Suakin, Massawa, the Farsan Islands, and
Loheia, near the lower end. They are carried on by Arabs, who succeed in
evading efforts at control on the part of the local governments. Even on
the African side, the Arab fishermen predominate, for the native
Egyptian has never evinced much fondness for venturing on the sea.
On the southeast coast of Arabia, pearl fishermen are to be found at the
various harbors from Aden to Muscat. Their fantastic dhows are met with
in the harbor of Makalla, and also in that of Shehr. On the Oman coast,
the ports of Sur and of sun-scorched Muscat do a considerable pearling
business, not only locally but to the Sokotra Islands, and even on the
coast of East Africa and Zanzibar, the trading baggalas adding pearling
and illicit slave-trading to their many sources of income. A number of
these traders, each with an instinct for pearls equal to that of a
trained hound for game, visit the fishing centers at intervals, and
exchange needful commodities for pearls and shells.
The Arab pearl-divers of the Red Sea have been noted for the depths to
which they can descend. Lieutenant J. R. Wellsted, of the Indian Navy,
who had unusual facilities for acquaintance with their exploits,
reported that in the Persian Gulf the fishermen rarely descended beyond
eleven or twelve fathoms, and even then they exhibited signs of
exhaustion; but that in the Red Sea they go down twice that depth. Among
the most noted of these divers of the last century was old Serúr, who
attracted the notice of many travelers. Lieutenant Wellsted states that
he saw him descend repeatedly to twenty-five fathoms without the
slightest evidence of distress; that he frequently dived in thirty
fathoms, and is reported to have brought up mud from the bottom at a
depth of thirty-five fathoms, which is about the record, the pressure of
the water being nearly 90 pounds to the square inch. His sons were also
remarkably expert; one of them when scarcely thirteen years of age would
descend to a depth of twenty-five fathoms.[168]
[Illustration:
CARVED “JERUSALEM SHELL” FROM THE RED SEA
In the collection of Dr. Bashford Dean
]
An interesting story of an Arab’s diving ability is told by Lieutenant
Wellsted: “In 1827, we were cruising in the sloop _Ternate_ on the pearl
banks. Whilst becalmed and drifting slowly along with the current,
several of the officers and men were looking over the side at our Arab
pilot, who had been amusing himself in diving for oysters. After several
attempts, his search proved unsuccessful. ‘Since I cannot get oysters I
will now,’ said he, ‘dive for and catch fish.’ All ridiculed the idea.
He went down again, and great was our astonishment to see him, after a
short time, rise to the surface with a small rock-fish in each hand. His
own explanation of the feat was, that as he seated himself at the
bottom, the fish came around and nibbled at his skin. Watching his
opportunity, he seized and secured his prey by thrusting his thumb and
forefinger into their expanded gills.”[169]
Owing to the character of the fishery and the lack of government
supervision, it is extremely difficult to determine accurately the
extent of this industry in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. All over
this coast extends the influence of the Hindu traders, who finance the
fisheries and purchase most of the catch. The pearls are sent mostly to
Bombay, and are not reported in the official returns of the Red Sea
ports. The fishermen are suspicious of outside inquiries, and are far
from anxious to impart reliable information. Probably the best estimates
of the catch are to be obtained from Bombay merchants, from whom A.
Perazzoli learned in 1898 that pearls to the value of 2,000,000 lire
($400,000) were carried from the Red Sea to Bombay each year.[170] In
the last four or five years the output has been smaller than usual,
owing to disturbed political conditions.
The annual product of “Egyptian” and “Bombay” shells in these fisheries
is usually upward of 1000 tons, worth from $100 to $600 per ton,
according to quality. Most of these go to Austria and France, only about
200 tons reaching London each year. Owing to the dark color and the lack
of thickness in the nacreous layer, they are scarcely suitable for
anything else than button manufacture. Many of them are sent to
Bethlehem and Jerusalem, where they are cut into various shapes for
crosses, crucifixes, wafer-boxes, beads, and nearly every conceivable
article in which mother-of-pearl is manufactured. Many of the choicest
shells are incised with scriptural or allegorical designs for sale to
tourists as well as for export. The best of the engraved shells sell for
$10 to $50, and the cheaper ones for less than $1 each. This industry is
of great importance in Bethlehem, giving employment to a considerable
percentage of the eight thousand inhabitants of the village.
Doubtless in no pearl fishery in the world are greater hardships endured
than in the Red Sea and along the coast of the Arabian Gulf. In
practically every other region, the industry is carried on under
government supervision, and there is little opportunity for
ill-treatment of the humbler fishermen. But the fanatics who control the
fishery on the Arabian coast—untrammeled by authorities and responsible
to none—show little consideration for the poor divers, and particularly
for the unfortunate black slaves brought from the coast of Africa.
These pearl fishermen lead a very eventful life, the divers especially.
They see some wonderful sights down below the surface-plant life and
creeping things and enemies innumerable. Dropping from the sun-scorched
surface down into the deep cool waters, everything shows “a sea change,
into something rich and strange,” just as the eyes of the drowned man in
Ariel’s song are turned into pearls and his bones into coral.
And there are enemies innumerable. The terrible sharks, prowling about
near the bottom, prove a source of perpetual uneasiness, and in the
aggregate many fishermen are eaten by these bloodthirsty tigers of the
sea. There are horrible conflicts with devil-fish equaling that in
Hugo’s “Toilers of the Sea.” The saw-fish is also a source of danger,
particularly in the Arabian Gulf, and instances are reported in which
divers have been cut in two by these animals, which sometimes attain a
length of twelve or fifteen feet, and possess a saw five feet long and
three inches broad, armed on each edge with teeth two inches in length.
Another menacing peril is the giant clam (_Tridacna gigas_), a monster
bivalve, whose shell measures two or three feet in diameter, and is
firmly anchored to the bottom. This mollusk occurs on many of the
Asiatic pearling grounds. Lying with the scalloped edges a foot or more
apart, a foot or a hand of the diver may be accidentally inserted. When
such a fate befalls a fisherman, the only escape is for him to amputate
the member immediately. Once in a while on the pearling shores a native
may be found who has been maimed in this manner, but usually the
unfortunate man does not escape with his life.
[Illustration:
CAP OF STATE, FROM LOOTING OF SUMMER PALACE, PEKIN, IN 1860
Now in South Kensington Museum
]
THE PEARL FISHERIES OF CHINA, JAPAN, SIBERIA, ETC.
Do churls
Know the worth of Orient pearls?
Give the gem which dims the moon
To the noblest or to none.
EMERSON, _Friendship_.
It appears from ancient Chinese literature, noted in the first chapter
of this book, that pearl fisheries have existed in the rivers of China
for several thousand years. The Chinese also derived pearls from the
sea, and especially from the coast of the province of Che-kiang. Little
is known of the early fisheries, but the fragmentary literature contains
so many allusions to pearls as to lead us to believe that they were of
considerable extent and importance.
It is related that about 200 B.C., a pearl dealer at Shao-hing, an
ancient city between Hang-chau and Ning-po, on the shore of Hang-chau
Bay, furnished to the empress a pearl one inch in diameter, for which he
received five hundred pieces of silver; and to an envious princess the
same dealer sold a “four-inch pearl.” A hundred years later, the
reigning emperor sent an agent to the coast to purchase “moon pearls,”
the largest of which were two thirds of an inch in diameter.
In the tenth century A.D., Mingti, one of the most extravagant of the
early monarchs, used so many pearls—not only in his personal decoration
but on his equipage and retinue,—that after a formal procession the way
would be rich in the jewels which dropped from the gorgeous cortège.
About 1000 A.D., an embassy to the emperor brought as tribute an
ornament composed of strings of pearls, and also 105 liang (8¾ lbs.) of
the same gems unmounted.
An interesting story is told of “pearl-scattering” by an embassy to the
Chinese court from a Malayan state about 1060. Following the customs of
their country, the ambassadors knelt at the threshold of the audience
chamber, and then advanced toward the throne, bearing a golden goblet
filled with choice pearls and water-lilies wrought of gold. These they
scattered upon the floor at the feet of the emperor; and the courtiers,
hastening to pick them up, secured ten hang (15 oz.) of pearls.[171]
The Keh Chi King Yuen, a Chinese encyclopedia, describes a pearl fishery
in the southern part of Kwang-tung province, in the department of
Lien-chau and near the city of Hóhpú. Fishing began in the spring, and
was preceded by conciliating the gods through certain sacrifices, in
order that the weather might be propitious and that no disaster might be
suffered through sharks and other agencies. The five sacrificial
animals,—horses, cattle, sheep, swine, and fowls,—were presented; but
ordinarily paper images of these were economically substituted, as
equally acceptable to the Chinese rulers of destiny. In the details of
the diving, the fishery resembled somewhat that prosecuted about the
same period in the Gulf of Manaar. The diver was let down by a rope, and
after collecting the mollusks and placing them in a basket, he was drawn
up at a given signal. Much complaint was made that the divers would open
the mollusks, extract the pearls and conceal them in the mouth before
returning to the surface.
The business became so perilous and the loss so great, that about the
beginning of the sixteenth century, according to the same encyclopedia,
dredges were adopted. These at first were simple rakes; later large
dredges were trailed along between two boats, by means of which great
quantities of shells were gathered. So important was the industry that
an officer was designated by the viceroy of Canton to collect a revenue
therefrom. It does not appear that pearls have been collected in
considerable numbers on this part of the Chinese coast for very many
years, probably not since the advent of Europeans.
Pearls are yet found in the river mussels in all parts of eastern Asia,
from Siberia to the Indian Ocean, and from the Himalayas to the Pacific.
It is represented that they are not from the _Unio margaritifera_, the
common river-mussel of Europe, but from other species, such as _Unio
mongolicus_, _U. dahuricus_, _Dipsas plicatus_, etc. It is quite
impossible to obtain a reliable estimate of the total number of persons
employed, or the output of pearls in China, but these items are
certainly very much larger than the average Occidental believes.
In the vicinity of Canton the _Dipsas plicatus_ has been used for
centuries by the Chinese in the production of artificial pearls, this
industry giving employment to thousands of persons.[172]
The pearl-mussel fishery is of importance in Manchuria, where it has
been carried on for hundreds of years, not only by the citizens, but by
the military department on account of the government, and especially in
the streams which flow into the Songari, a tributary of the Amur.
Jacinth relates that in case of a deficit, the officers and subalterns
were punished by a deduction from their pay, and also by corporal
chastisement.[173] Witsen speaks of the pearls from the River Gan, a
tributary of the Amur, and also from the islands of the Amur, the
boundary river of Manchuria. Pearl fisheries were established at these
places by the Russians nearly two centuries ago.[174]
Pearls become finer and more plentiful the further we penetrate into
Manchuria; and they are numerous in the lake of Heikow or Hing-chou-men,
“Black Lake” or “Gate of Precious Gems,” where they have long been
exploited for the account of the emperor of China.
The occurrence of pearls in many parts of Asiatic Russia was noted by
Von Hessling. In northern Siberia, according to Witsen, writing in
1705,[175] pearls were found in the waters about the town of Mangasea on
the Turuchan; and Von Middendorf notes that they were found in the
Tunguska River, which flows into the Yenisei. Whether, however, they
come from the _Unio margaritifera_ is considered doubtful by Von
Middendorf. Witsen referred to their occurrence in the rivers and
streams of Irkutsk and Onon, and this is confirmed by several writers of
more recent times. Pallas says that the mussels found there are quite
large, and speaks of the Ilim, which flows into the Angara, as another
river where they occur.
Ancient books relating to Japan repeatedly allude to the occurrence of
pearls on the coasts of that country. They are mentioned in the Nihonki,
of the eighth century, the oldest Japanese history.
Tavernier wrote about 1670: “It is possible that of those who have
written before me concerning pearls, none have recorded that some years
back a fishery was discovered in a certain part of the coasts of Japan,
and I have seen some of the pearls which the Dutch brought from thence.
They were of very beautiful water, and some of them of large size, but
all baroques. The Japanese do not esteem pearls. If they cared about
them it is possible that by their means some banks might be discovered
where finer ones would be obtained.”[176]
In 1727, Kaempfer wrote that pearls, called by the Japanese _kainotamma_
or shell jewels, were found in oysters and other mollusks almost
everywhere about Saikokf. Every person was at liberty to fish for them.
Formerly the natives had little or no value for them, till they learned
of their estimation by the Chinese, who were ready to pay good prices
for them, their women being very proud of wearing necklaces and other
ornaments of pearls. “The largest and finest pearls are found in the
small sort of oysters, called _akoja_, which is not unlike the Persian
pearl-oyster. These are found only in the seas about Satzuma and in the
Gulf of Omura (Kiusiu). Some of the pearls weigh from four to five
candareens[177] and these are sold for a hundred kobans each.[178] The
inhabitants of the Loochoo Islands buy most of those about Satzuma,
since they trade to that province. Those found on the Gulf of Omura are
sold chiefly to the Chinese and Tunquinese, and it is computed that they
buy for about 3000 taels[179] a year. This great profit occasioned the
strict orders, which were made not long ago by the princes both of
Satzuma and Omura, that for the future there should be no more of these
oysters sold in the market with other oysters, as had been done
formerly.”[180]
Kaempfer also noted that the Japanese obtained pearls from the yellow
snail shell and from the _taira gai_ (Placuna) in the Gulf of Arima, and
especially from the awabi or abalone (Haliotis). This mollusk was much
sought after for food, being taken in large quantities by the
fishermen’s wives, “they being the best divers of the country.”[181]
Of the several species of pearl-oysters which occur in the coastal
waters of Japan, the only one of importance at present is the
_Margaritifera martensi_. While this occurs in very many localities, it
is most numerous among the southern islands, where some fine pearls have
been secured. The fishery for this species was quite extensive thirty or
forty years ago, and the reefs were largely depleted. For nearly a score
of years it has been used in growing culture pearls, an account of which
is given on pages 292, 293.
A few pearls are obtained from several other bivalve mollusks in Japan.
Among the collections of the present writers are pearls from
_Margaritifera martensi_, collected at Bay Agu; from _M. panasisæ_,
about the Liu-kiu Islands; from _Pecten yezocusis_, in Sokhaido; from
_Mytilus crasitesta_, in the Inland Sea, and from North Japan, and from
a species of Dipsas found in Lake Biwa.
While the pearl fisheries of Japan are not of great importance in any
single locality, the distribution of the reefs is so extensive that the
aggregate yield is considerable.
The awabi or ear-shell (_Haliotis gigantea_), found on the coast of
Japan, Korea, etc., yields many pearly forms. This species is much
smaller than the California abalones. It has a fairly smooth, nacreous
surface, but its value is depreciated by the great size of the marginal
perforations, which render useless for commercial purposes all of the
shell external to the line of perforations. While its opalescent tints
make it desirable for manufacturing into certain styles of buttons and
buckles, its principal use is for inlaying work or marquetry, for which
it is especially adapted, owing to its fineness of texture and beauty of
coloring even when reduced to thin sheets.
[Illustration:
FISHING FOR THE AWABI (ABALONE) SHELLS AT WADA-NO-HARA, JAPAN
]
Probably the most interesting of the abalone fisheries is that on the
shores of Quelpaerd Island, about sixty miles south of the Korean coast,
which is prosecuted largely by the women. Dressed only in a scanty
garment, these women swim out to the fishing grounds, distant several
hundred yards in some cases, carrying with them a stout knife and a
small sack suspended from a gourd. On reaching the reefs, they dive to
the bottom—sometimes to a depth of six or eight fathoms—and by means of
the knife, remove the abalones from the bottom and place them in the
sack. They may remain out an hour, diving repeatedly until the sack is
filled, when they swim back to the shore. Pearls are found only rarely;
in one lot of one hundred shells, only five were found bearing pearls;
two with three pearls each, two with two pearls each, and one with a
single pearl. The flesh of this mollusk after it has been cleaned and
dried, is quite popular as an article of diet. Although white when
fresh, the color changes to a dark red. The pieces of dried flesh, in
the form of flat reddish disks four or five inches in diameter, are
fastened on slender sticks—about ten to each stick—and displayed in the
grocery shops in Seul and other cities.
In the Gulf of Siam on the Asiatic coast, pearls are obtained from a
small oyster with a thin shell, presumably a variety of the Lingah
oyster. The beds have not yet been thoroughly exploited, as the Siamese
do not especially value pearls, attributing some superstitious
sentiments of ill luck to them. However, from time to time Chinese
traders have bought them from the Malay divers and sold them at great
profit in the Singapore market. The known beds occur chiefly in the
northern part of the gulf, on the west coast, and extend in a narrow
belt for a distance of about one hundred miles. The fishing is
prosecuted by nude divers in shallow water. A recent letter from Dr. K.
Van Dort, a mining engineer of Bangkok, Siam, states that in 1906 in six
weeks, with the aid of half a dozen divers he was able to collect 720
grains’ weight of pearls, mostly small ones, but including one of 20
grains, one of 14 grains, two of 12 grains each, and seven over 9 grains
in weight. He reports that the total value of the large ones in Bangkok
was $1500, but the small ones could not be sold to any advantage, as
they are little prized by the Siamese. The shells are of no commercial
value, as they are too thin for industrial use other than for inlaid
work. Some fine old specimens of marquetry in which these shells were
used exist in the Buddhist temples at Bangkok. This art of inlaying is
almost lost among the Siamese, and there is said to be only one man in
the king’s palace who can lay any claims to proficiency in working
mother-of-pearl shell.
VII
PEARLS FROM THE AFRICAN COASTS
VII
EAST AFRICAN PEARL FISHERIES
The Islanders with fleecy curls,
Whose homes are compass’d by the Arabian waves;
By whom those shells which breed the orient pearls
Are dived and fish’d for in their green sea caves.
TASSO, _Jerusalem Delivered_.
The principal pearl fisheries of the coasts of Africa are those
prosecuted in the Red Sea, between this continent and Asia. These have
already been described in the preceding chapter, among the Asiatic
fisheries; for, although situated between the two continents, they are
prosecuted largely by Arabs rather than by natives of the western shores
of the sea.
Other than those in the Red Sea, the only pearl resources in Africa
which have received attention are on the eastern coast, south of the
Gulf of Aden. Little information exists as to the origin of these
fisheries. In a paper published by the Lisbon Geographical Society,
January, 1903, Señor Ivens Ferranz states that, according to tradition,
in remote times the Ibo Archipelago, on the northeast coast of
Portuguese East Africa, was inhabited by a Semitic colony, which located
there to fish for pearls, and these were carried through the Red Sea to
King Solomon. He adds that there is little doubt that, after the great
emigration which started from the Persian Gulf in 982 and founded
Zanzibar, Kilwa, and Sofala on this coast, some Arabs engaged in fishing
for pearls about the islands near Sofala.
In 1609 Joao dos Santos wrote that on the sandy sea bottom about the
Bazaruto Islands, which are about 150 miles south of Sofala, there were
many large oysters which bore pearls, and the natives fished for them by
diving in practically the same manner as in the Persian Gulf.[182]
In a personal memorandum, Sir Robert Edgcumbe states that in the very
early times of Portuguese exploitation on the eastern coast of Africa,
pearl fishing was carried on in these waters. For a long period the
tenure of power exerted by the Portuguese was of a feeble character;
they practically occupied no position of importance on the mainland, but
seized upon stations on the islands which offered decent harbors. Thus
their chief settlements, such as Mozambique and Ibo, were on islands
lying off the coast, and until recent years they made no serious attempt
to occupy the mainland.
Arabs and Banyans carried on the commercial traffic of the country, as
they still do, and they were more truly the masters of this coast than
were the Portuguese, who were little more than nominal rulers. Trading
to and from India in their small dhows, the Arabs and Banyans had full
knowledge of the value of pearls, and undoubtedly secured all that were
obtainable. But they observed no restrictions, and without doubt—for a
time, at any rate—greatly impaired the productive power of the
fisheries.
The principal pearl reefs of East Africa, so far as known at present,
extend along the coast of the German East African territory from the
Province of Uzaramo to the Rovuma River, the southern limit of that
territory, and also into Portuguese East Africa as far south as Pemba
Bay, a total distance of about 300 miles. Along much of this coast,
there are islands lying from one to two miles off shore, and between
these islands are barriers of reefs, which create a series of lagoons.
In these lagoons, protected by the islands and the reefs from the
influence of the surf formed by the Indian monsoons, there are large
patches of coral rock and groups of living coral, which form excellent
attachments for the pearl-oysters.
It is only recently that serious attention has been paid to these pearl
resources, although year by year a considerable number of pearls have
been collected by the natives and sold to Arabs and Banyans, who have
sent them chiefly to India by way of Zanzibar. The natives of these
parts are not very expert in diving, and they collect the oysters
principally by wading out as far as they can at low tide. They do not
wait for the mollusks to attain a proper age, and as a result they find
few pearls of large size. Many parcels of pearls fished in this very
elementary way pass through the custom-house, where they are subject to
a small duty for export, and others are smuggled out of the country.
Quantities of seed-pearls are sent to India, where they are used
principally as a medicine and in cosmetics; and occasionally there are
rumors that some choice pearls have been discovered.
In the German territory a concession of the fisheries was granted a few
years ago to Dr. Aurel Schulz; and, although we are not in position to
say what success he has met with, it is reported that he has secured a
considerable number of pearls under four grains in weight, of fair shape
and quality and of good marketable value.
A concession of the pearl fishery on the Portuguese coast north of Ibo
has been granted to the East African Pearl Company. For this company an
examination of the resources is now being made by Mr. James J. Simpson,
acting under direction of Prof. W. A. Herdman, of the Liverpool
University, the technical advisor of the Ceylon Company of Pearl
Fishers.
At least four species of pearl-bearing mollusks exist here; these are
_Margaritifera vulgaris_, _M. margaritifera_, _Pinna nobilis_, and a
species of Perna, named in the order of their importance. A preliminary
report of Mr. Simpson (supplied through the courtesy of Sir Robert
Edgcumbe), states that among the Ibo Islands about one half of the
bottom is sandy and the other half is covered with detached pieces of
coral rock, groups of living corals, masses of nullipore, and expanses
of fixed seaweed. On all of these in the shoal waters, there is such an
abundance of pearl-oysters (_M. vulgaris_) that a single diver, by
simply descending and bringing up a few in his hands each time, can
secure about 200 in fifteen minutes. Oysters also occur singly on the
sandy bottom, but not so abundantly. Within the three-year-old oysters
there are many seed-pearls. It is evident that there has been an
extensive removal of large oysters in recent years and that large pearls
were then found; but the depredations of the natives now prevent the
mollusks from attaining an age and size which render them useful as
pearl-bearers.
Said Mr. Simpson in his report: “The women here play great havoc on the
reefs by going out daily and collecting the pearl-oysters at low tide.
All along the coast from Muliga Point to Arimba the shores are covered
with shells. At one place we came across a heap of freshly-opened
oysters which consisted of thirty or forty thousand at the lowest
estimate; while an older heap contained between forty to sixty millions.
Four women who were fishing on the reefs while we were there had over
two thousand oysters in their baskets. Thus it is evident that immense
quantities are annually destroyed. And the worst feature is that out of
those destroyed, not one per cent. were over two years old.”
It is the intention of the East African Pearl Company, as soon as the
investigation of the resources is completed, to police the fishing
grounds so as to put an end to the removal of immature oysters, which
yield only seed-pearls, and to permit them to attain maturity. In
addition to this, it is their purpose to utilize the extensive beds of
oysters lying in comparatively deep water, which are now inaccessible to
the natives owing to their lack of diving skill.
Sir Robert Edgcumbe writes that it is impossible to say more at present
than that these fisheries at one time bore a high repute, and that the
oysters have continued to exist in multitudes though fished by the
natives in the immature state; and there is every indication that if
properly policed and worked in a scientific way these fisheries should
once again become of much importance. The fact that the pearl-bearing
oysters are found there in large quantities, notwithstanding that they
have been poached without restriction by the natives, indicates that
only proper management and policing are necessary to make them valuable
and productive.
On the lower coast of Portuguese East Africa, pearl fishing has been of
some local importance. The reefs are most extensive about the Bazaruto
Islands, previously referred to as about 150 miles south of Sofala. In
1888, when famine prevailed on this coast, the inhabitants of this
archipelago, of both sexes and of all ages, fished for the large
pearl-oysters (known locally as _mapalo_), selling their catch at
Chiloane to Asiatic traders, who gave them a handful of rice for a large
basket of the mollusks. It was estimated that during two months of that
year, pearls to the value of eighty _contos_ ($83,500) were taken.[183]
In 1889 three British subjects attempted to renew the fishery by using
dredges, but without success, owing, it is said, to the great weight of
the implements.
The Kafirs of Bazaruto continue to fish irregularly, but their catch is
not of importance. These pearls are carried by traders to Zanzibar,
Muscat, and Bombay. The American consul writes that some years ago the
Portuguese government granted a concession to a company of American
fishermen to exploit the Bazaruto reefs, but the attempt to work the
concession failed through “bad management, lack of funds, heavy
expenses, and political difficulties,” a combination apparently
sufficient to wreck a similar attempt in the most favorable locality.
The American consul at Tamatave states that in 1907 the government of
Madagascar awarded two grants for pearl fisheries, covering the entire
western coast, a distance of one thousand miles, excepting two hundred
miles, for which two grants were given in 1906. Apparently no effort was
made to develop the earlier grants; the later ones may be operated,
perhaps jointly. These concessions are personal, and may not be sold or
transferred without the governor-general’s consent. The use of divers,
machinery, dredges, and other apparatus, and the building of necessary
stations are allowed, if there be no interference with navigation,
fishing, or coast travel. An annual tax is to be paid, with a stated
increase each year, and revised according to the success of the
enterprise. A report must be sent yearly to the governor-general. The
grants may be revoked if work is not begun within a stated period; if
the work is needlessly abandoned during one year, or if the tax is not
paid. Whenever the interests of the colony or of the public service
require it, the privilege may be withdrawn without indemnity.
VIII
EUROPEAN PEARL FISHERIES
THE BRITISH ISLES, THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE
VIII
PEARL FISHERIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES
And Britain’s ancient shores great pearls produce.
MARBODUS (_circa_ 1070).
The occurrence of pearls in the British Isles was known two thousand
years ago, and frequent references to them were made in Roman writings
of the first and second centuries of the Christian era.
In his “Lives of the Cæsars,” the biographer Suetonius, after speaking
of the admiration which Julius Cæsar had for pearls, states that their
occurrence in Britain was an important factor in inducing the first
Roman invasion of that country in 55 B.C.[184] If this be true, the
English-speaking people owe a vast debt of gratitude to these pearls in
bringing their Briton ancestors in contact with Roman civilization; and
the influence which they have thus exercised on the world’s history has
been greater than that of the pearls from all other regions or, we might
add, than all other jewels.
The naturalist Pliny (23–79) stated: “In Brittaine it is certain that
some do grow; but they bee small, dim of colour, and nothing orient. For
Julius Cæsar (late Emperor of famous memorie) doth not dissimble, that
the cuirace or breastplate which he dedicated to Venus mother within her
temple was made of English pearles.”[185]
This decoration of pearls was a very proper offering to the goddess who
arose from the sea.
The historian Tacitus noted in “Vita Agricolæ” that the pearls from
Britain were dusky or brownish (_subfusca ac liventia_).[186] In his
commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, Origen (185–253), one of the
Greek fathers of the church, described the British pearls as next in
value to the Indian. Their surface, he stated, was of a golden color,
but they were cloudy and less transparent than those from India.
We have no certain information whether the pearls secured by the Romans
were from the edible mussel (_Mytilus edulis_) of the sea-coast or from
the Unios of the fresh-water streams. Tacitus’s statement that they were
collected “as the sea throws them up,” seems to locate them on the
sea-coast; but conditions in modern times make it appear more probable
that they were from the fresh waters.
Some of the very early coins of the country indicate that pearls were
used to ornament the imperial diadem of the sovereigns of ancient
Britain. In “Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum,” the celebrated
English monk, Bede (673–735) surnamed “The Venerable,” enumerated among
other things for which Britain was famous in his day, “many sorts of
shell-fish, among which are mussels, in which are often found excellent
pearls of all colours; red, purple, violet and green, but mostly
white.”[187] And Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, in his lapidarium, written
about 1070, refers to the British pearls as equaling those of Persia and
India. About 1094 a present of an Irish pearl was made to Anselm,
Archbishop of Canterbury, by Gilbert, Bishop of Limerick.[188]
In the twelfth century there was a market for Scotch pearls in Europe,
but they were less valued than those from the Orient.[189] An ordinance
of John II, King of France, in August, 1355, which confirmed the old
statutes and privileges of goldsmiths and jewelers, expressly forbade
mounting Scotch and oriental pearls together in the same article, except
in ecclesiastical jewelry (Orfèvre ne peut mettre en œuvre d’or ne
argent parles d’Ecosse avec parles d’orient se ce n’est en grands
joyaulx d’église).[190]
Writing in the sixteenth century, the historian William Camden
(1551–1623) stated in his “Britannia”:
[Illustration:
OLD PRINT SHOWING FOUR METHODS OF CATCHING PEARL-BEARING MOLLUSKS
Reproduced from “Margaritologia, sive Dissertatio de Margaritis,” by
Malachias Geiger, Monachii, 1637
]
The British and Irish Pearls are found in a large black Muscle....
They are peculiar to rapid and stony rivers; and are common in
Wales, and in the North of England, and in Scotland, and some parts
of Ireland. In this country they are called by the vulgar _Kregin
Diliw_, i.e. Deluge shells; as if Nature had not intended the shells
for the rivers; but being brought thither by the Universal Deluge,
they had continued there, and so propagated their kind ever since.
Those who fish here for Pearls, know partly by the outside of these
Muscles, whether they contain any; for generally such as have them
are a little contracted or distorted from their usual shape. A
curious and accomplished Gentleman, lately of these parts, showed me
a valuable Collection of the Pearls of the Conway River in Wales;
amongst which I noted a stool-pearl [button-pearl], weighing
seventeen grains, and distinguished on the convex side with a fair
round spot of a Cornelian colour, exactly in the center.[191]
In 1560 “large handsome pearls” were sent from Scotland to Antwerp.[192]
In 1620 a great pearl was found in the Kellie Burn, in Aberdeenshire.
This was carried to King James by the provost, who was rewarded with
“twelve to fourdeen chalder of victuals about Dunfermline, and the
Customs of Merchants’ goods in Aberdeen during his life.” No record
appears of the reward paid to the finder; possibly it was not worth
recording.
In 1621 the Privy Council of Scotland issued a proclamation that pearls
found within the realm belonged to the Crown; and conservators of the
pearl fisheries were appointed in several of the counties, including
Aberdeen, Ross, and Sutherland. It was the duty of the conservators,
among other things, to nominate experts to fish for pearls during July
and August, “when they are at chief perfection.” The conservators and
fishermen were compensated by selling those pearls of ordinary quality,
but “the best for bignesse and colour” were to be remitted to the king.
It was reported to the Privy Council that the conservator in
Aberdeenshire did very well in the first year. “He hath not only taken
divers pearls of good value, but hath found some in waters where none
were expected.” The first parliament of Charles I abolished these
privileges.
Robert Sibbald, physician to Charles II, wrote that he had seen a
necklace of Scotch pearls which was valued at two thousand crowns; they
were “larger than peas, perfectly round, and of a brilliant
whiteness.”[193]
It is said that Sir Richard Wynne of Gwydir presented to Catherine of
Braganza, queen of Charles II of England, a pearl from the Conway in
Wales, which is said to be even yet retained in the royal crown. In his
“Faerie Queene” (1590), Spenser speaks of the
Conway, which out of his streame doth send
Plenty of pearles to deck his dames withal.
The White Cart River in Scotland, on which the city of Paisley is
situated, was distinguished, according to Camden, “for the largeness and
the fineness of the Pearls that are frequently found hereabouts and
three miles above.”[194] And the pearls from Irton in Cumberland,
England, were so noted at that time that “fair as Irton pearls” became a
byword in the north country. In their history of Westmoreland and
Cumberland,[195] Nicolson and Burn state that “Mr. Thomas Patrickson,
late of How of this county (Cumberland), having employed divers poor
inhabitants to gather these pearls, obtained such a quantity as he sold
to the jewellers in London for above £800.” But in 1794 Hutchinson[196]
stated that none had been seen for many years past.
Pearl fishing in Ireland was of some consequence in the seventeenth
century. Speaking of the Slaney River, Solomon Richards, in a
description of Wexford about the year 1656, said: “It ought to precede
all the rivers in Ireland for its pearle fishing, which though not
abundant are yet excellent, for muscles are daily taken out of it about
fowre, five and six inches long, in which are often found pearles, for
lustre, magnitude and rotundity not inferior to oriental or any other in
the world.”[197] In 1693 Sir Robert Redding wrote that there were four
rivers in the county of Tyrone in northern Ireland which abounded in
pearl-mussels, all four emptying into Lough Foyle and thence into the
sea. They were also to be found in several rivers in the adjacent
Donegal County. Redding gave an interesting description of the fishery:
In the warm months before harvest is ripe, whilst the rivers are low
and clear, the poor people go into the water and take them up, some
with their toes, some with wooden tongs, and some by putting a
sharpened stick into the opening of the shell; and although by
common estimate not above one shell in a hundred may have a pearl,
and of these pearls not above one in a hundred be tolerably clear,
yet a vast number of fair merchantable pearls, and too good for the
apothecary, are offered to sale by those people every summer assize.
Some gentlemen of the country make good advantage thereof, and I
myself, whilst there, saw a pearl bought for £2, 10s. that weighed
36 carats, and was valued at £40, and had it been as clear as some
others produced therewith it would certainly have been very
valuable. Everybody abounds with stories of the good pennyworths of
the country, but I will add but one more. A miller took a pearl,
which he sold for £4, 10s. to a man that sold it for £10 to another,
who sold it to the late Lady Glenanly for £30, with whom I saw it in
a necklace; she refused £80 for it from the late Duchess of Ormond.
The young muscles never have any pearl in them. The shells that have
the best pearls are wrinkled, twisted, or bunched, and not smooth
and equal, as those that have none. And the crafty fellows will
guess so well by the shell, that though you watch them never so
carefully, they will open such shells under the water, and put the
pearls in their mouths, or otherwise conceal them. Yet sometimes
when they have been taking up shells, and believing by such signs as
I have mentioned, that they were sure of good purchase, and refused
good sums for their shares, they found no pearl at all in them. Upon
discourse with an old man that had been long at this trade, he
advised me to seek not only when the waters were low, but on a
dusky, gloomy day also, lest, said he, the fish see you, for then he
will shed his pearl in the sand; of which I believe no more than
that some muscles have voided their pearls, and such are often found
in the sands.[198]
[Illustration]
MADAME NORISCHKINE DUCHESSE ELIZABETH DAUGHTER OF GENERAL SOBELIEFF
NÉE STRAUDMAN (CONSTANTIN) FIRST COUNTESS BEAUHARNAIS
For several years following 1760, the Scotch pearl fisheries were of
considerable local value. The zoölogist, Thomas Pennant, wrote of them
several times in his “Tour of Scotland.” Referring to the Tay and Isla
rivers, then as now the center of the Scotch pearling, he states: “There
has been in these parts a very great fishery of pearl, got out of the
fresh-water muscles. From the year 1761 to 1764, £10,000 worth were sent
to London, and sold from 10s. to £1 6s. per ounce. I was told that a
pearl had been taken there that weighed 33 grains. But this fishery is
at present exhausted, from the avarice of the undertakers. It once
extended as far as Loch Tay.”[199] And he adds later that, some years
preceding, a pearl fishery was prosecuted in Loch Dochart with great
success and the pearls were esteemed the fairest and largest of any.
From 1770 to 1860 the pearl resources of Scotland remained almost
dormant, and Scotch pearls were rarely met with in the markets. In 1861
a German merchant, who was acquainted with the beauty of these gems,
traveled through the districts of Tay, Doon and Don, obtaining a great
number which the poor people kept for their own pleasure, not esteeming
them of any market value, and interested the fishermen in searching for
the mussels. The seemingly high prices which he paid and the abundance
of the pearls sent hundreds of persons to the rivers and small brooks.
Those who were otherwise employed during the day devoted hours of the
long summer nights to diligent search after the coveted shells; while
boys and old persons, who were without regular avocations, waded day
after day where there was a probability of reward. In the course of a
short time pearls, good, bad and indifferent, reached the originator of
the movement at Edinburgh, from Ayrshire, from Perthshire, and from the
Highland regions far beyond the Grampians. He was soon the possessor of
a collection which, for richness and variety, had seldom been surpassed.
A trade in these gems was developed, the patronage of royalty was
obtained, and once more Scotch pearls became fashionable, and their
vogue was enhanced by the fondness which Queen Victoria entertained for
them.
In addition to the rivers named, pearls were found in the Forth, the
Teith, the Ythan, and the Spey in eastern Scotland. The summer of 1862
was most favorable for pearling, owing to the dryness of the season and
the low water, and unusually large quantities of pearls were found, the
prices ranging ordinarily from 10s. to £2 6s. Queen Victoria is said to
have purchased one for forty guineas; others were bought by Empress
Eugénie and by the Duchess of Hamilton. A necklace of them was sold for
£350 in 1863.[200] The value of the entire catch in Scotland in 1864 was
estimated at £12,000 to the fishermen, the yield being unusually large
in that season owing to the unprecedented drought which permitted access
to the deep beds of the rivers. In some of the streams the resources
were quickly depleted, but in others the fisheries yielded profitable
returns for many years. While most of the pearls were small, some of
them were choice and of considerable individual value, ranging from £5
to £150, and £500 is said to have been paid for one fine specimen.
The pearl-mussel of the British Isles (_Unio margaritifera_) has a
thick, coarse and unsightly shell, from 3 to 7 inches in width and 1½ to
2½ inches in length from the umbo to the lip. The rough exterior is dark
brown, and it is sometimes twisted, distorted and barnacled.
It generally lies scattered and detached over the pebbly bottoms, but it
also exists in reefs or beds which are sometimes of considerable extent.
These occur usually where a stretch of water is still and deep, and
oftentimes where the depth places the mussels beyond the reach of the
fishermen. Apart from the pearls it contains, the mussel is of no
economic value except that in some localities the mollusk is used for
bait in cod-fishing.
In recent years the pearl-mussel has been numerous in several of the
rivers of Scotland, such as the Tay, Earn, and Teith in Perthshire; the
Dee, the Don, and the Ythan in Aberdeenshire; the Spey and Findhorn in
Inverness-shire, and also the classic Doon of Burns, the Nith, the Annan
and others in southern Scotland; however, it is rare in the Clyde and
the Tweed.
The Teith has long been famed for pearl-bearing, though like other
rivers it has become nearly fished out. The Tay produces many pearls,
yet as a rule they are not of the best class. Some of its tributaries,
as the Tummel and the Isla, also bear pearls; those in the Isla are
usually fine and rank higher than those from the Tay. The Earn is also
famous for the fine quality of its pearls, but the whole river was
robbed of its wealth some years ago by a body of professional fishermen,
and it has not yet recovered from the raid; few pearls now exist there
save in the deeper pools, where doubtless may still be hid “full many a
gem of purest ray serene.”
In Ireland pearls have been found principally in the rivers of counties
Kerry, Donegal, Tyrone, Antrum, etc. In an article in “The Field,”
December 10, 1864, Mr. F. T. Buckland stated that they abound near
Oughterard, and that a man called “Jemmy the Pearl-catcher,” who lived
there, told him that he knew when a mussel had a pearl in it even
without opening the shell, because “she [the mussel] sits upright with
her mouth in the mud, and her back is crooked,” that is, corrugated like
a ram’s horn. Pearls are yet found in several localities in the Emerald
Isle, notably in the river Bann in the northeastern part and in the
beautiful Connemara district in western Ireland. In 1892 the Bann
yielded one of the choicest pearls that ever came from Ireland. Within
the last twelve months Lady Dudley, wife of the Viceroy of Ireland,
presented to Queen Alexandra a number of pearls from the Connemara.
These were mounted in a green enameled brooch, and excited so much
admiration that an active demand for similar gems quickly developed in
County Galway.
Mr. D. MacGregor, a well-known jeweler of Perth, to whom we are indebted
for much information relative to pearls in Scotland, states that no
attention whatever is given to conserving the mussel; on the contrary,
the waters are unscrupulously despoiled by the greedy pearl fisherman
who destroys all that he finds, since, by chance, they may yield the
coveted gem. Immense numbers are thus wantonly destroyed, which if
allowed to grow and propagate would be more likely to contribute to the
pearl yield, as it is well known that it is the aged mussels in which a
pearl is most likely to be found. There is no close time, and so
extensive have been the raids upon the mussels in recent years that they
have been rapidly exterminated in places accessible to the fishermen;
and should the spoliation continue and extend to the deep waters, the
pearl-mussel may soon become extinct.
Pearl fishing is not prosecuted throughout the year, as it can be
carried on only in the dry season when the waters are low. There are a
number of professional fishermen who search in their favorite streams,
and sometimes very profitably, as much as £200 having been gained in a
single season by one fisherman. One of the most noted of these was
“Pearl Johnnie,” who a few years ago hailed from Compar-Angus, in
Perthshire, and who styled himself “Pearl Fisher to the Prince of
Wales,” by reason of some dealings he once had with his Royal Highness.
He was very successful in his experience of more than thirty years.
There is little mystery in the search; skill does not always avail, and
men, women and children are rewarded or disappointed indiscriminately.
The bed of the stream is searched until the patches of mussels are
discovered, and this is usually the most tedious part of the work. These
may be in very shoal water, where a small boy has only to wade with
water above his knees and pick up the mussels by stooping; but more
frequently the water covers a man’s hips, and at times he is immersed
almost to the shoulders.
The equipment of a pearl fisherman is simple. If he wades, he commonly
wears long boots with tops reaching to his breast. Provided with a pole
five or six feet long having a cleft at the lower end, and with a tube
several inches in diameter with the lower end closed by a glass, he
invades the home of the pearl-mussel. Thrusting the tube or water glass
beneath the surface, he scans the bed of the stream, and when a mussel
is sighted, the cleft pole is brought into use and it is picked up by
means of these primitive tongs. Owing to the close resemblance which the
pearl-mussel bears to the stones in the riverbed, good eyesight is
required to avoid overlooking it. A bag by the fisher’s side receives
the catch; and when this is well filled, he goes to the bank of the
stream and opens his lottery, in the great majority of cases to find
that he has drawn a blank.
A boat is seldom used, simply because it is not available, but in the
tidal waters it is indispensable. The “box” is a risky device for
fishing in the deeper waters. It is a small contrivance, somewhat like
the ancient British coracle, in which the fisherman sits or lies over on
his chest; venturing out in the deeper parts which can not be waded, he
carefully peers through the tube and draws up his find with the long
cleft stick. This is a tiresome method, but some places can not be
readily fished in any other manner.
In Aberdeenshire, Perthshire, etc., there are a few men who regularly
spend the season “at the pearls.” The knowing ones dispose of their best
finds to wealthy residents or to strangers and tourists who frequent the
vicinity. In addition to these experienced fishermen, many of the idlers
and unemployed about the riverside towns, and also the farm servants in
the country, search the waters in their neighborhood in the hope of
picking up some gems. But very often it is severe and disappointing
labor, for the pearl-seeker may travel far and endure privation and
hardships for days, and yet, after destroying hundreds and even
thousands of mussels, he may be rewarded with only a little almost
worthless dross; but again and again he returns to the elusive game,
inspired by the “hope which springs eternal in the human breast.”
[Illustration:
The Valley of the Tay
]
[Illustration:
The River Earn
Photographs by The Raeburn Portrait Studio, Perth, Scotland
SCOTCH PEARL RIVERS
]
The British pearls are in great variety of colors, but most of them are
practically valueless on account of the absence of orient or luster; for
one possessing the white pearly luster, fifty may be found of a dull
color and devoid of value. Many of these opaque pearls are dark,
lusterless brown, and handfuls of them sell for only a few shillings. A
large percentage are of a grayish or milky color, or of a bluish white
tinge; these seldom attain much value unless aided by excellence of
shape and purity of skin. A few are of a dark, fiery tint and of great
luster. Sometimes the pearl is of a beautiful pink tint, sometimes of a
light violet, or other exquisite shade. The fine pink ones are very rare
and are highly prized. The best are those having the sweet, pure white
light which constitutes the inimitable loveliness of a pearl; but few of
them are found even in the most favorable seasons, and usually these are
from the streams in the northeastern counties and some of the streams in
the southwest. Very few combine the qualities of perfection in shape and
luster; and the product of many seasons might be examined in vain to
furnish enough pearls to make a well-matched necklace of gems weighing
from five to ten grains each. But occasionally beautiful specimens are
discovered, weighing fifteen or twenty grains or more. One found in
Aberdeenshire a few years ago, perfect in shape and luster, weighed
twenty-five grains, and sold at first hand for £50. Another one, found
at the confluence of the Almond and the Tay in 1865, weighed thirty
grains.
While most of these pearls are sold to jewelers in Edinburgh, Aberdeen,
Inverness, Perth, and other towns, many of the finest specimens have
gone into the possession of prominent Scotch and English families, who
have a fancy for collecting them. Queen Victoria possessed a fine
collection of Scotch pearls, choice specimens of many years’ search,
obtained almost exclusively from the Aberdeenshire waters which murmur
round her beautiful Highland home. In 1907, a Scotch pearl was sold in
Perth for the sum of £80; this was of a good luster with a bluish tint,
it was spherical, measured seven sixteenths of an inch in diameter, and
weighed twenty-one grains.
The falling off in the yield of pearls in some streams is credited to a
certain extent to the building of bridges and the consequent abandonment
of fords. This is based on the theory that injury to the mollusk has
something to do with the production of pearls, and that they are to be
found more plentiful about fords and places where cattle drink. The
theory is beautifully stated by the lamented Hugh Miller: “I found
occasion to conclude that the Unio of our river-fords secretes pearls so
much more frequently than the Unionidae and Anadonta of our still pools
and lakes, not from any specific peculiarity in the constitution of the
creature, but from the effects of the habitat which it chooses. It
receives in the fords and shallows of a rapid river many a rough blow
from the sticks and pebbles carried down in time of flood, and
occasionally from the feet of men and animals that cross the stream
during droughts, and the blows induce the morbid secretions, of which
pearls are the result. There seems to exist no inherent cause why
_Anadon cygnea_, with its beautiful silvery nacre—as bright often, and
always more delicate, than that of _Unio margaritiferus_—should not be
equally productive of pearls; but secure from violence in its still
pools and lakes, and unexposed to the circumstances that provoke
abnormal secretions, it does not produce a single pearl for every
hundred that are ripened into value and beauty by the exposed,
current-tossed Unionidae of our rapid mountain rivers. Would that
hardship and suffering bore always in a creature of a greatly higher
family similar results, and that the hard buffets dealt him by fortune
in the rough stream of life could be transmitted, by some blessed
internal pre-disposition of his nature, into pearls of great
price.”[201]
The small blue mussel (_Mytilus edulis_) of the British seas yields
opaque pearls of a deep blue color, but most of them are more or less
white in some part. Sometimes a shell is found in which a blue pearl
will be adhering to the blue lip of the shell while a dull white one
adheres to the white portion of the shell. These pearls are commonly
flattened on one side, doubtless where they have been adjacent to the
shell. None of them is of more than very slight value.
Probably the principal fishery for the salt-water mussel pearls is that
in the estuary of the Conway in Wales. These are mostly quite small and
well answer the designation of seed-pearls, although a few are of fair
size. In color most of them range from dirty white to the dusky or
brownish tint noted by Tacitus eighteen centuries ago, but a few are of
a pure silvery tint. In some seasons London dealers have agents at
Conway for purchasing these pearls. The price is usually from eight to
thirty shillings per ounce.
THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE
Après l’esprit de discernement, ce qu’il y a au monde de plus rare,
ce sont les diamants et les perles.
LA BRUYÈRE, _Les caractères_.
Pearls occur in species of mussels found in the streams and lakes of
Europe, in some of which the fisheries have been of considerable local
interest. It appears that these resources were exploited by the Romans,
then by the Goths and the Lombards, and later the natives continued to
draw forth the treasures which lay hidden about their homes. These
pearls have attracted attention up to the present time; and while they
do not compare with those of the seas, either in quality or in aggregate
value, yet they are prized on account of their intrinsic worth as well
as because they are a product of the fatherland. In the densely
populated valleys, the rivers are so polluted by refuse and sewage that
the mollusks have been greatly depleted; but in the streams of clear,
cool water, draining the mountain regions of France, Germany, Austria,
and also in the rivers of Norway, Sweden, Russia, etc., the fisheries
are not unimportant.
The most celebrated of the pearl fisheries in France are those of the
Vologne, a small river in the extreme eastern part of the country, in
the department of Vosges. Its sources are in Lake Longmere in the Vosges
mountains on the Alsace frontier, and it flows into the Moselle at
Jarmenil, between Remiremont and Épinal. While the pearl-mussel occurs
to some extent in nearly the whole length of this river, and, indeed, is
to be met with in the wild brooks and forest streams of nearly all the
mountainous parts of France, it is most abundant in the vicinity of
Bruyères, where the Vologne receives the waters of the Neuré. These
resources were described in 1845 by Ernest Puton,[202] and in 1869 by D.
A. Godron;[203] to whom—and especially to Godron—we are indebted for
much of our information.
The fisheries of the Vologne have been celebrated for nearly four
centuries. Writing in 1530, Volcyr stated: “In the river Vologne between
Arche and Bruyères, near the ancient castle of Perle, beautiful pearls
are found. In the opinion of jewelers and artists they closely resemble
the oriental.”[204] A few years later Francis Reues wrote: “There is
near the Vosges mountains in Lorraine a river fertile in pearls, yet
they are not very brilliant. The strange thing is that the quality which
they lack by nature is supplied by the aid of pigeons, which swallow
them and restore them purer than before.”[205] In a publication of 1609,
this little river is represented in the frontispiece by the figure of a
nymph bearing many pearls, while beneath is the emblem: _Vologna
margaritifera suas margaritas ostentat_.[206]
In his paper above noted, Godron recites several orders issued from 1616
to 1619 by the Duke of Lorraine, who then had jurisdiction over the
present department of Vosges, showing that a high value was attached to
these pearls and that the resources were well looked after. Writing in
1699, Dr. Martin Lister alluded to the many pearls taken from the rivers
about Lorraine and Sedan. A Paris merchant showed him a fresh-water
pearl of 23 grains, valued at £400, and assured him that he had seen
some weighing 60 grains each.[207]
In 1779 Durival gave an extensive account[208] of the Vologne fishery.
He records that for sixty years pearls had been abundant, but at the
time he wrote they were very scarce.
Puton states that, in 1806, when taking the baths at Plombières in the
Vosges, Empress Josephine formed a great liking for the Vologne pearls,
and at her request some of the mussels were sent to stock the ponds at
Malmaison. It does not appear that any favorable result followed this
transplanting.
Owing to the extensive fisheries, the mussels became so scarce that in
1826, when the Duchesse d’Angoulême was visiting in the Vosges, it was
impossible to secure enough pearls to form a bracelet for her. This
scarcity has continued up to the present time; and yet in the aggregate
many pearls have been secured, so that there are few prominent families
in the neighborhood who do not possess some of them. They are especially
prized as bridal presents to Vosges maidens.
While the Vologne pearls are of good form and of much beauty, they do
not equal oriental pearls in luster. The color is commonly milky white,
but some of them have a pink, yellow, red, or greenish tint. In size
they rarely exceed 4 grains. The Nancy museum of natural history
possesses one which weighs 5¼ grains and measures 6½ mm. in diameter.
In western France, according to Bonnemere,[209] the pearl-mussel is
widely diffused, and in the aggregate many pearls are secured therefrom.
They are somewhat numerous in the river Ille near its union with the
Vilaine at Rennes; though small, these are commonly of good color and
luster. In the department of Morbihan and that of Finistère, many pearls
have been secured, especially in the Steir, the Odet, and in the
Stang-Alla near Quimper. Small pearls, frequently of some value, are
found in the Menech near the town of Lesneven, a few miles northeast of
Brest, the great naval port of France.
[Illustration:
GREAT CAMEO PEARL, ACTUAL SIZE 22 INCHES
Sold at auction in Amsterdam in 1776 for 180,000 florins. Note great
baroque pearl forming body of the swan at the base, diameter 1.37
inches
]
The _Unio sinuatus_ (_pictorum_), the _mulette_ of the artists, which
has a shorter and smaller shell than the pearl-mussel, has also yielded
many small pearls of good quality, as well as shells for manufacturing
purposes. This species has been regularly exploited in the Adour, in the
Charente, in the Gironde and its tributaries—the Garonne and the
Dordogne and their affluents, and in some other streams in western
France.
There is a pearl fishery in the Charente River near the western coast of
France, and likewise in the Seugne, a small tributary entering it from
the south. The mussel is known locally under the name of _palourde_. In
an account of this fishery,[210] Daniel Bellet states that in the
Seugne, where the water is shallow and clear, the mussel is secured by
entering the pointed end of a wooden staff or stick between the valves
of the open shell as the mollusk lies feeding on the bottom; as the
shell is immediately closed tightly upon the intruding stick, it is
easily removed from the water.
In the deeper waters of the Charente, the fishery is prosecuted on a
larger scale. Until recently, the _palourdes_ were caught by means of a
dredge towed by a small boat, which was raised from time to time and the
catch removed. Ten or fifteen years ago the scaphander or diving
apparatus was introduced, requiring seven men for its operation, and by
its use large catches have been made. The mussels are taken to the bank
and there boiled for a time to cause the shells to open, so that the
contents may be easily removed.
The shells are examined one by one to find any pearls that may adhere
thereto, and then the flesh of the mollusk is crushed between the
fingers to locate pearls contained in the mass; this is done largely by
children, working under competent supervision. Many pearls of fairly
good size and luster are obtained. The flesh of this mollusk is edible
and well-liked in southwestern France; and the shells are also of value
in the manufacture of buttons and similar objects.
In Germany the pearl fisheries are most important in streams of the
southern districts, in Bavaria, Saxony, and Silesia. The pearl-mussel in
these waters is not so abundant as formerly; yet, owing to the care
which has been given to these resources, it is probably as numerous here
as in any other part of the continent. The mussel rarely occurs singly,
generally in small beds or banks contiguous to each other, and in some
favorable regions these are extensive.
The pearl fisheries of Bavaria have been prominent since the sixteenth
century. They exist principally in the districts of Upper Franconia
(_Oberfranken_) and Upper Palatinate (_Oberpfalz_), the several
tributaries of the Danube between Ratisbon and Passau, and in those
tributaries of the Main and the Saale which rise in the Bavarian
mountains, such as the Oelsnitz, the Lamnitz, Schwesnitz, Grünebach,
Vils, and the Perlbach; also in the district of Lower Bavaria, where in
nine districts alone there are one hundred pearl-bearing streams and
lakes, of which the most important are the Regen, the Isar, and the
Ilz.[211]
Early in the sixteenth century, the river Ilz had the reputation of
yielding the choicest pearls in Lower Bavaria. The right to them was
reserved to the bishop of Passau, and a decree was made in 1579 that
persons convicted of poaching on these reserves should be hanged.[212]
Since that time there have been few decades in which the gems have not
been found in the woodland brooks and mountain streams that flow through
the ravines and past quaint, interesting castles of the wonderful
Bavarian highlands. Most of the prominent families in this beautiful
region have collections of native pearls, and there is still some trade
in them in picturesque Passau, at the junction of the Danube, the Ilz
and the Inn.
Tavernier wrote about 1670: “As for the pearls of Scotland, and those
which are found in the rivers of Bavaria, although necklaces are made of
them which are worth up to 1000 _écus_ (£225) and beyond, they cannot
enter into comparison with those of the East and West Indies.”[213]
The official returns for the Bavarian fisheries, dating from the latter
part of the sixteenth century, were examined by Von Hessling in 1858. He
noted many gaps in the statements of the yearly returns, partly on
account of the loss of the records and partly because the pearls were
delivered directly into the hands of the princes. The results of the
first fisheries are recorded in the district of Hals for the years
1581–99, in Viechtach for 1581–83 and 1590–93, and in Weissenstadt and
Zwiesel for 1583. The range of the fisheries was enlarged through the
discovery of new areas during the first half of the seventeenth century;
but this was offset by the bad seasons and by disturbed conditions
during the Thirty Years’ War. From 1650 to 1783 the pearls in the forest
lands of the Palatinate were exploited regularly and uninterruptedly,
with the exception of the district of Wetterfeld and that of Neunburg
vor dem Wald, where they were prosecuted for a few years only. From 1783
to 1814, they were almost entirely neglected, and the take was confined
to a few streams in Upper Palatinate and in the Bavarian forests. In the
former episcopal principality of Passau, where, according to general
accounts, the waters were rich in pearls, the records were scanty
previous to 1786; this was probably owing to the fact that the head
gamekeeper was obliged to transmit the catch of pearls directly to the
prince-bishop. The records for the fisheries in the districts of Rehau
and Kulmbach began with the year 1733.
From these fragmentary returns—making no estimate for the years for
which there were no figures available—Von Hessling found that from 1600
to 1857 there were taken 15,326 pearls of the first class, which were
clear white in color and of good luster; 27,662 pearls of the second
class, which were somewhat deficient in luster, and 251,778 pearls of
the third or poorest class, or “_Sandperlen_,” which, though of poor
quality, had sufficient whiteness and luster to be used as ornaments.
Had the records been complete, these figures would probably have been at
least fifty per cent. greater, or a total of about 445,000 pearls in the
257 years. In the last forty-three years of this period, for which the
records are fairly complete, the annual average was 208 pearls of the
first, 395 of the second, and 3091 of the third class, a total each year
of 3694 pearls of all grades. This was divided among the districts as
follows:
ANNUAL AVERAGE
District First class Second class Third class Total
Upper Franconia 13 34 52 99
Upper Palatinate 38 77 207 322
Lower Bavaria 157 284 2832 3273
——— ——— ———— ————
Total 208 395 3091 3694
Probably the most interesting of the pearl fisheries in Germany are
those prosecuted in the extreme southwestern part of the kingdom of
Saxony, in the picturesque region known as Vogtland. This is not on
account of their extent, for the output rarely exceeds $2000 in value in
any season; but because for nearly three hundred years they have been
conducted with the utmost care and regard for the preservation of the
resources. Indeed, a record exists of practically every pearl obtained
for nearly two centuries.
The waters in which the Saxon Vogtland fisheries are prosecuted are the
Elster River, from the health resort of that name to a short distance
below Elsterberg; its tributaries, the Mülhaüser, Freiberger, and
Marieneyer brooks; the Hartmannsgrüner and the Triebel brooks, the
Trieb, the Meschelsgrüner, the Teil, and Loch brooks, and twenty-five or
more small ponds.
For most of the data relative to these fisheries, we are indebted
to J. G. Jahn’s “Die Perlenfischerei im Voigtlande,” Oelsnitz,
1854; to Hinrich Nitsche’s “Süsswasserperlen, Internationale
Fischerei-Ausstellung zu Berlin,” 1880, and to O. Wohlberedt’s
“Nachtrag zur Molluskenfauna des Königreiches Sachsen,”
“Nachrichtsblatt der deutschen Malakozoologischen Gesellschaft,”
Frankfurt-am-Main, 1899, pp. 97–104.
In the year 1621, the electoral prince, Johann Georg I, reserved the
pearl fishery of the Vogtland in Saxony as a royal privilege, and
appointed Moritz Schmerler as superintendent and fisherman. From that
time until the present, this fishery has remained a royal prerogative;
and, remarkable to state, except at the close of the seventeenth century
when the father-in-law of a Schmerler enjoyed the privilege, all the
superintendents of the fishery—twenty-four persons in number—have been
direct descendants of the second pearler, Abraham Schmerler, who, in
1643, succeeded his brother Moritz. The present superintendent Julius
Schmerler has been in charge since 1889.
This fishery is conducted in accordance with regulations of the chief
inspector of forests for the district of Auerbach. The present
regulations date from June 15, 1827. In compliance therewith an
inspection is made of the waters each spring to remove all obstructions
and debris that would injure the resources; and, if necessary, entire
beds of mussels are removed from one locality to another which appears
more favorable. No mussels are opened at that time, for the real search
for pearls does not begin until the season is far advanced and the
fishermen can wade up to the waist in the water without discomfort.
Dr. Nitsche states that the whole pearling district is not searched over
every year, but is divided into 313 sections, each one constituting a
day’s work for three fishermen, and rarely are more than twenty or
thirty of these fished in any one year. Thus each section or district is
permitted to rest and recuperate for ten or fifteen years before it is
again invaded. Every mussel is opened carefully by hand, with the aid of
a peculiarly constructed iron instrument. By inserting the edge of this
between the nibs of the shell and turning it at right angles, the valves
are opened sufficiently to determine whether a pearl is contained
therein. If none is observed, the instrument is released and the mussel
returned uninjured to the water; but if a pearl is found within, the
shell is forced open and the find removed. In case small pearls are
observed which give promise of growing larger in time, they are not
removed, but the year is marked upon the shell with the opening
implement and the mussel returned to the water. It often happens that
good pearls are later removed from shells marked in this manner.
Complete records exist of the yield of this fishery during each year
since 1719, when the Vogtland passed to the electorate of Saxony. The
following is a summary of these records arranged in series of twenty
years each.
[Illustration]
DOWAGER CZARINA OF GRAND DUCHESS VLADIMIR GRAND DUCHESS MARIE
RUSSIA PAVLOVNA
Years Half
Clear clear Sand Damaged Average
pearls pearls pearls pearls Total per year
No. No. No. No. No. No.
1720–1739 1,809 727 1,201 552 4,289 214
1740–1759 1,412 578 484 281 2,755 138
1760–1779 1,042 272 427 219 1,960 98
1780–1799 1,261 243 357 179 2,040 102
1800–1819 1,603 261 325 203 2,392 120
1820–1839 1,659 340 326 326 2,651 133
1840–1859 1,884 610 387 505 3,386 169
1860–1879 1,618 682 450 514 3,264 163
1880–1899 471 394 86 373 1,324 66
1900–1905 79 161 22 86 348 58
—————— ————— ————— ————— —————— ———
Total in
186 years 12,838 4,268 4,065 3,238 24,409
Average per
year 69 23 22 17 131
In recent years the development of manufacturing industries in Saxony
and the resultant pollution of the water has greatly reduced the
abundance of the mollusks and consequently the output has been much
restricted. The average annual yield in the twenty years ending in 1879
was 163 pearls; in the twenty years ending in 1899 it was 66 pearls, and
in the six years ending in 1905 the annual average was 58 pearls. Owing
to high water, there was no fishing in 1888; and with a view to
permitting the resources to recuperate, the fishery was suspended from
1896 to 1899, inclusive. Omitting these five years, the average yield
during each season in the two decades ending 1899 was 88 pearls.
At the end of each season, the pearls secured are turned over to the
director of forestry for the district of Auerbach; by him they were
formerly sent to the royal cabinet of natural history, or to the royal
collection at Dresden, but since 1830 they have been sent to the royal
minister of finance, by whom they are sold each year. The total proceeds
from these sales now amount to about 55,000 marks.
In former times, according to Dr. Nitsche, it was customary to use these
pearls in making royal ornaments. This was the origin of the famous
Elster necklace, consisting of 177 pearls, now in the art collection in
the Grüne Gewölbe in the palace at Dresden. Another assortment in that
collection consists of nine choice, well-matched pearls, weighing 140
grains. For a necklace of Saxon pearls, the property of a duchess of
Sachsen-Zeitz, the sum of 40,000 thalers ($28,400) is said to have been
refused.
In Prussian Silesia the pearl-mussel is found in the upper tributaries
of the Oder, especially in Bober River from Löwenberg to the sources
among the foot-hills of the beautiful Riesengebirge, in the Lusatian
Neisse to Görlitz, the Queiss above Marklissa, and in the Juppel as far
as Weidenau. The Queiss has been famous for its pearls since the
sixteenth century, and even yet specimens of great beauty are obtained
therefrom. As long ago as 1690, Ledel complained of the diminution of
the number of mollusks owing to their wilful destruction by children;
and in 1729 the government issued a rescript in Upper Lusatia
(_Oberlausitz_) recommending the care of the young mollusks.[214]
Pearls are also found in the White Main a short distance from its
source, in the head waters of the Saale, and in numerous other
mountain-draining streams of middle Germany. Indeed, references could be
made to the discovery of pearls in nearly every stream of Germany at
some time during the last three or four centuries.
The records of pearl fisheries in the province of Hanover were traced by
Von Hessling as far back as the sixteenth century, when they were
prosecuted in the Aller, Ovia or Om, Lua or Low, and in the Seva in the
district of Lüneburg. During the reign of Christian Ludwig (1641–65) and
in that of George William (1666–1705), pearl fishing was carried on by
the state, and old records of the former district of Bodenteich note the
customs and practices of that period and of earlier times, and the
implements employed. In 1706, for instance, 265 clear and 292 imperfect
pearls were taken by three official fishermen from the Gerdauerbach.
Gradually, however, owing to indifferent management, the brooks yielded
less and less; the government seems to have entirely abandoned
supervision of them, so that, according to Taube’s “Communication,”[215]
slight results were obtained in 1766; indeed, only a few pearls could be
shown as curiosities.[216]
Regarding the condition of the Hanoverian pearl-brooks, especially of
those in the vicinity of Uelzen, Möbius wrote: “Uelzen lies at the
confluence of eleven small rivulets, three of which, the Wipperau, the
Gerdau and the Barnbeck, contain pearl-mussels. Fishing has been pursued
here for centuries, and there exists an old regulation of the sixteenth
century in regard to the pearl fisheries in the Ilmenau. Even at the
present day, hundreds of pearls are found here which command a good
price when they are bright and of good form. These either have a silvery
sheen or they are of a reddish color. The season for fishing is during
the months of July and August. The pearls are usually found in deformed
shells. Their shape varies greatly; most of them are flat on one side.
Naturally those which are spherical are the best, but the pear shapes
are highly prized.” Möbius frequently failed to find one pearl in a
hundred shells, but at other times he came across six or eight in this
quantity. Most of the mussels are found in the deepest places,
especially near the banks of the streams. One end of the shell usually
projects out of the sand. The fisherman is represented as feeling about
the bottom with his feet, and when he finds a shell, he seizes it
between his toes, picks it out, and then places it in the basket
suspended from his neck.[217]
[Illustration:
MITER OF PATRIARCH NIKON
Presented by the Czar Alexis Mikhailovitch and the Czarina Marie
Illiinichna. Decorated largely with European fresh-water pearls. Now
in the treasury of the Patriarchs, Moscow.
]
In Baden and in Hesse are small pearl fisheries. In 1760, Elector
Maximilian III sent to Mannheim, then in the Palatinate, eight hundred
living pearl-mussels from the Bavarian forests, and again in 1769, he
sent four hundred mussels from Deggendorf on the Danube, so that they
might be established in the Palatinate. The mussels were placed in the
Steinbach not far from Heidelberg, where they thrived so well that
fishing was instituted in 1783. Soon, however, most of the mussels
became buried in the sand, and the remainder were transplanted into a
quieter portion of the Steinbach, between Kreutzsteinach and Schönau,
about five miles northeast of Heidelberg. Here they seem to have been
forgotten, and were left undisturbed until, about 1820, a fine pearl
valued at two louis d’or was found near Schönau. This discovery soon led
to such reckless exploitation that the government reserved the fishery
as a state monopoly. The mussels were examined and sorted, and a portion
of the brook was specially prepared for their reception. However, the
cost of supervision was greater than the proceeds of the fishery, and
the business was rented to private parties for a very small amount. This
was paid as late as 1840 by the Natural History Society of Mannheim, the
annual rate then being ten florins.
An effort was made nearly two hundred years ago to develop the pearl
fisheries in Hesse. In 1717, Landgrave Prince William requested his
cousin, Duke Moritz of Saxony, to send a pearl fisherman “to examine
some streams in his territory where mussels have been found and to
determine whether they are fitted for pearl fishing and whether
fisheries can be established.”[218] In the following year, a member of
the famous Schmerler family from the Saxon fisheries was sent to Cassel,
but with what result is unknown.
When the pearling excitement developed at Schönau about 1820, Landrath
Welker, of Hirschhorn on the Neckar, requested the grand duke of Hesse
to place him in charge of the fishery, and when the proposition was
declined, he formed a small company for pearl-culture. In 1828 his
company had 558 mussels, 88 of which showed pearl formations; in 1833,
out of 651, 98 contained such objects, and in 1851, 117 mussels were
found with pearl formations out of 867 examined.[219] Owing to the
policy of the company in selling the pearls only among the members
thereof, the profits were altogether insufficient to cover the expenses,
and gradually the fishery dwindled down until it was prosecuted only as
a pastime.
Pearls are found in the province of Schleswig-Holstein, which formerly
belonged to Denmark, but since 1866 has been a part of the kingdom of
Prussia. Möbius relates that the Bavarian soldiers in 1864 collected
large quantities of pearls from the streams of this province and sold
many of them to jewelers in Hamburg.[220] Most of them were of good form
and luster; milky white was the prevailing tint, but some were pink and
others were rose-tinted.
In Austria, pearl fisheries are most important in the province of
Bohemia, where they are prosecuted in the headwaters of the Moldau from
Krumau, a few miles above Budweis, to below Turenberg, and to a much
less extent in its tributary, the Wottawa, on the northeastern slopes of
the Böhmer Wald or Bohemian Forest mountains. From very early times the
right of fishery belonged to those domains and estates through which the
streams flow, as for example, the cloister of Hohenfurth, the domain of
Rosenberg, of Krumau, etc. The Schwarzenberg family formerly drew a
considerable revenue therefrom. Over a hundred years ago the fishery was
actively prosecuted by Count Adolph Schwarzenberg, who exhibited at the
Bohemian Exposition, held in Prague in 1791, an interesting collection
of shells, apparatus employed in the fishery, and many beautiful pearls
obtained from his domains. The fisheries of the Wottawa were noted in
1560 by the Swiss naturalist Konrad von Gesner,[221] and again in 1582
by the district treasurer, Wolf Huber von Purgstall. In 1679, Balbinus
referred to the excellent qualities of the pearls, estimating the value
of many of them at twenty, thirty, and even one hundred golden florins
each. He described the methods by which they were taken, and also
complained of the destruction of the reefs by depredations of
poachers.[222]
The Wottawa or Otawa River has long had linked with its name the epithet
“the gold- and pearl-bearing brook.” Formerly, along its shores gold
washing was more or less carried on, as well as the fresh-water
pearl-mussel industry. At the present time, every third or fourth year,
these mussels are gathered, by means of small, fine-woven nets, from the
bed of the river, and a goodly number of pearls are collected.
The reefs in the Moldau from Hohenfurth to Krumau were almost entirely
ruined in 1620 by the troops who were cantoned there when the Bohemian
Protestants were overthrown near the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War,
and they never regained the reputation they formerly enjoyed. According
to the Vienna “Handels- und Börsenzeitung,” the output of the pearls
fifty years ago in the upper Moldau, in the Wottawa, and in the
Chrudimka—a tributary of the Elbe—reached in some years the sum of one
million florins in value, and as much as eighty and sometimes even one
hundred and twenty florins were paid for an individual specimen.[223]
These pearls closely resemble those from Passau in Bavaria, and some
approach the oriental gems in luster.
In the archduchy of Austria, pearls occur in several of the tributaries
of the “beautiful blue Danube.” They are especially important in streams
within the former district of Schärding, such as the Ludhammerbach, the
Ranzenbergerbach, the Glatzbachenbach, the Brambach, the
Schwarzbergerbach, the Mosenbach, and the Hollenbach; those in the
former district of Waizkirchen, including the Pirningerbach, the
Kesselbach, and many of their tributary brooks, and the Michel, the
Taglinsbach, the Fixelbach, and the Haarbach, in the domain of
Marbach.[224] Fishing in the Pirningerbach and the Kesselbach was
prosperous about 1765, and Empress Maria Theresa received a beautiful
necklace and bracelets of the pearls therefrom. In the district of
Marbach, the fishing was prosecuted as long ago as 1685 for the account
of the archbishop of Passau.
In Hungary from time immemorial, the native pearls have been popular
with the Magyar women, and very many yet exist in the old Hungarian
jewelry worn with the national costume. A century ago there was scarcely
a family of local prominence which did not possess a necklace of pearls,
although these were frequently not of choice quality or of considerable
size. With a falling off in the output of the native streams there has
been a great increase in the quantity of choice oriental pearls
purchased by the wealthy families, and some of the most costly necklaces
in Europe are now owned here.
In the kingdom of Denmark no pearl fisheries are now prosecuted, but
three centuries ago the gems were taken in the Kolding Fjord in the
province of Veile, Jutland. The great Holberg, who ranks first in Danish
literature, wrote that the governor of the castle at Kolding employed as
a pearl fisherman a Greenlander who had come to Denmark in 1605 or 1606,
and who “had given the governor to understand that in his native land he
was accustomed to fish for pearls.” Being required to work continuously,
both winter and summer, he fell ill and died, and as no one else wished
to pursue the occupation, the fishery ceased.[225]
In many of the Norwegian brooks, pearl fishing has been carried on for
two or three centuries, and often with satisfactory results. It appears
from ordinances dated November 10, 1691, May 14, 1707, and May 28, 1718,
that the fisheries were under special supervision as a royal prerogative
of the queen of Denmark.[226] Jahn notes that in 1719 and in 1722, Saxon
pearl fishermen were sent for. In 1734 Charles VI of Denmark requested
the elector of Saxony to send one of the pearl fishermen of Vogtland to
examine the brooks of Norway in reference to the pearl resources, and to
determine the practicability of establishing fisheries there. In
response to this request, C. H. Schmerler was sent to Copenhagen and
thence to Christiania, where he began an investigation of the Norwegian
waters, the governor himself attending at the beginning of the work. So
great was the estimation of its importance, that Schmerler was soon
afterward received in audience by the king and queen of united Denmark
and Norway at Frederiksborg palace near Copenhagen, and was awarded a
gift of one hundred ducats and a life-pension.[227]
In 1751, according to Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen, the Norwegian pearl
fisheries were placed under the jurisdiction of the diocese of
Christiansand. Among the principal pearling regions at that time were
the Gon, Närim and Quasim rivers in the Stavanger district or amt; the
Undol, Rosseland and other brooks in the Lister and Mandal province; and
several streams in the district of Nadenäs.[228]
The returns from the Norwegian fisheries gradually decreased. After 1768
the rights were leased, and the revenue therefrom was paid into the
royal treasury. Owing to small returns, this source of revenue received
less and less attention, and about a century ago it was altogether
neglected, although from time to time choice finds were made. Due to
unusually low water in 1841, a number of valuable pearls were found near
Jedderen in the province of Christiansand, some selling as high as $300
each; several of these were shown at the London Industrial Exhibition by
the diocese of Christiania.
[Illustration:
PANAGIA OR ORNAMENT WORN ON THE BREAST OF A BISHOP IN RUSSIA
]
The pearl fisheries of Sweden were noted, nearly four centuries ago, by
Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala.[229] The gems were sought for by
expert fishermen in the interior districts, and were brought in large
quantities to the coasts for sale, the women and girls of all classes,
rich and poor, using them extensively in personal decoration.
The celebrated Linnæus left a detailed account of the method by which
mussels were caught in Sweden nearly two centuries ago. He wrote: “In
the summer season, if the water is shallow, the fishermen wade in the
stream and gather the mussels with their hands. Should the water be
deeper, they dive for the mussels and place such as they find in a
vessel made of birch bark, which they carry with them. Sunny days are
selected, because then they can see deeper into the water. But, should
this not suffice, they traverse the river on rafts which are painted
white beneath so that the bed of the stream may be illumined by the
reflected light. The men lie prone on the rafts and look down into the
depths so that they may immediately seize with wooden tongs the mussels
which they discover. Or else, hanging by their hands to the rafts, they
seize them in the water with their toes. If the water is too deep even
for this, they dive and feel around on the bottom with their hands until
it becomes necessary to rise again to the surface in order to breathe.
However, out of a hundred mussels, scarcely one contains a good pearl;
but sometimes as many as twenty pearls of the size of a grain of sand
are found in one shell. Many of the larger pearls are reddish or dark,
but occasionally a beautiful white pearl is hidden under such a
covering; although, naturally, it is rare that this is altogether
perfect. It has been noted that mussels seven years old contain pearls;
and in each of two mussels eighteen years old, a pearl was found
attached to the shell.”[230]
The list of streams in Sweden from which pearls were taken, as noted by
Olaf Maimer, J. Fischerstein, and Gissler[231] a century and a half ago,
seems to cover nearly all the rivers and brooks which flow from the
mountains of this beautiful country.
In Russia the love for the pearl has been almost as great as in Persia
and India. During the Middle Ages, pearls were worn upon the clothes of
nearly all well-to-do Russians. The great head-dresses of the women were
ornamented with them; and they were used in decorating the stoles,
vestments, crosses, and the priceless relics in the churches.
The pearl-mussel is found in very many of the Russian streams. It occurs
throughout Archangel, in most of the rivers which flow into the White
Sea, into Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega, and the Baltic Sea; and likewise in
the Volga watershed. Von Hessling states that east of the Volga its
southern boundary extends to Lat. 56°, while on the west it extends
further southward, so that in the region of the Dnieper it reaches Lat.
51°. The extreme southern limit is near the mouth of the Don, about 47°
north latitude.[232]
In northern Russia pearls are secured in the provinces of Livonia.
Esthonia, and Olonetz, and in the grand duchy of Finland, where they
have been sought after for three centuries or more. Most of them are
bluish gray in color and they attain a maximum weight of about twelve
grains. Although not equaling the oriental gems, these pearls are of
good quality and are highly esteemed, not only by the peasants but by
the nobility and by the royal family of Russia. For reference to most of
the historical data relative to the fishery in Livonia, we are indebted
to an account written by H. Kawall.[233]
So long ago as 1612, Dionysius Fabricius compared the pearls of Livonia
with those of India. Said he: “Nor should I omit to mention that there
are rivers in Livonia wherein large pearls are produced in shells; and I
myself have seen some as large as the oriental, especially when they are
well grown. But because the peasants of this region are too ignorant to
determine with certainty when they mature, they are unable to collect
them properly, and therefore the pearls have become rarer.”[234]
According to Mylius,[235] in the seventeenth century, when Livonia
belonged to Sweden, the pearl resources received attention from the
government. Charles IX of Sweden decreed October 22, 1694, that the
pearls therefrom should not be exported but should be sold to officers
of the crown at a definite price. In 1700, an inspector of the fishery
in Livonia, whose name was Krey, reported that the peasants collected
pearls secretly from the small rivers and brooks, and forwarded them to
Moscow for sale. As the peasants objected to selling them to the king’s
commissioners at the prices fixed, the fishery soon dwindled in extent.
However, on the annexation of Livonia to Russia in 1712, and the removal
of these restrictions, it revived and became of local importance during
the last years of the reign of Peter the Great.
In 1742 the Livonian fishery was reorganized at the suggestion of a
Swede named Hedenberg. Furnished by the government with funds and an
escort, he began an exploration of the pearl-bearing waters, commencing
with Lake Kolk, where he secured many pearls of value, some of which
were presented to Empress Elizabeth.[236]
The fishery then came into great favor. To the nobility of Livonia, in
whose domains the brooks were situated, the crown accorded sixty rubles
for each half ounce of choice pearls secured, and for every half ounce
of the second class, thirty rubles; but the nobles were obliged to
renounce their rights to the fisheries and to permit the lakes and
brooks to be guarded by imperial soldiers. Owing to the very great
destruction of mussels which yielded no pearls, a reward was offered to
any one who would discover a method of determining from external
characteristics those individual shells which contain gems of value.
In 1746, when the Empress Elizabeth passed the summer in Livonia, large
quantities of pearls from the neighboring brooks were presented to her.
But, owing to the cost of supervision, the expenditures soon exceeded
the revenues and the government abandoned the guard and dismissed the
fishermen. Little by little the search decreased, and by 1774 relatively
few pearls were found.[237]
According to Hupel, the Schwarzbach River, near Werro, was celebrated
for its pearls, which were noted for their size and beauty; one of the
tributaries of this river is named Perlenbach (Pearl Brook). The Ammat
and Tirse streams, and forty other brooks and lakes also yielded them.
Pearls of slight value were likewise produced in the Palze and the
Rause, near Palzmar; the Paddez, a tributary of the Evest which empties
into the Düna, and the Voidau and the Petribach, each of which flows
into the Schwarzbach. Near the Tirse was a very old road house,
patronized by the peasants, which from time immemorial had borne the
name Pehrlu-kroghs (Pearl Tavern).
Formerly some of the brooks of Esthonia on the Gulf of Finland, and
principally those near Kolk and the adjacent lakes, furnished beautiful
pearls. From these waters came the beautiful necklace which is yet an
heirloom in the Kolk family. The choicest of these weighed from five to
ten grains, and the color was grayish blue. The Emperor Alexander I is
said to have received a present of pearls collected in the vicinity of
Tammerfors, in the government of Tavastehus, in the grand duchy of
Finland. The development of manufacturing in that region, however, has
destroyed most of the mussels.
Von Hessling notes that in the province of Olonetz, pearls are found in
the Poventshanka, in the Ostjor, and in the Kums, where they are secured
by the neighboring peasants who sometimes make valuable finds.[238] When
the brooks dry up, the mussels are easily secured; old inhabitants note
that on one occasion of this kind many superb pearls were found in the
Poventshanka, and a necklace of them was presented to the Empress
Catherine Alexievna. These pearls rarely leave the province in which
they are collected, as the inhabitants are fond of using them for
personal decoration. Young girls attend to the fishing, and workmen
pierce them for about two copecks each. Choice ones sell for thirty to
one hundred rubles apiece.
In the government of Archangel pearls have been collected for centuries
from the streams flowing into the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean. An
extended account of the fisheries of this region was given by Von
Middendorff.[239] He states that the _Unio margaritifera_ inhabits all
the rivers in which the descent is not too rapid, and especially in the
Tjura, the Tuloma, the Kovda, Kereda, the Kanda, etc. The fisheries have
been conducted exclusively by the shore Laplanders; but they have been
neglected in recent years owing to the small returns. Von Hessling notes
that the pearls are dull in color; in the opinion of the fishermen this
is caused by the mysterious influence of the copper money which they
carry with them. The Tuloma was formerly a productive river; its pearls
were sold in Kola, whence they were carried to Archangel, 335 miles
distant, where they were pierced by expert workmen. The Tjura also
yielded many pearls; but since a Laplander was drowned while fishing for
them, a legend has spread that the spirit of the river guards the
pearls, and the natives hesitate about seeking them.
Probably the occurrence of so many in the home streams had much to do
with developing in Russia that great love for the pearl which has made
it the national ornament, all classes finding pleasure in its
possession. While the superb gems treasured by the nobility are mostly
from oriental seas, a considerable percentage of those worn by the
peasantry are from the native waters. An interesting account of this
fondness among a certain class of Russian women—the Jewesses of Little
Russia—was given sixty years ago by the German traveler Kohl.
[Illustration:
RUSSIAN BOYARD LADIES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, SHOWING CAPS AND
OTHER ORNAMENTS OF PEARLS
]
In Alexandria, a small city in the government of Kherson in South
Russia, a Jew kept a café, and his charming daughter served us with
coffee. We paid her compliments on her beautiful eyes and teeth. But
she seemed to be much less vain of these natural ornaments than of
the acquired ones in the magnificent glittering pearl-cap which she
wore upon her head. For all the women through South and Little
Russia even as far as Galicia wear a certain stiff, baggy cap which
is very disfiguring, and is covered all over with a great number of
pearls, upon a foundation of black velvet. It is called a “mushka.”
This cap, with very unimportant modifications, has almost always the
same form; the only difference is that, in the case of the wealthy,
the pearls are larger, and sometimes a number of small pearls and
precious stones are suspended here and there, set in the same way as
the earrings of our ladies. It is common for them to wear half their
fortune on their heads in this way. For these caps generally cost
from five hundred to one thousand roubles, and many are worth five
or six thousand and even more; they wear them every day, holidays as
well as ordinary days, and strut around the kitchens and cellars
with their “mushka.” They spend their last penny in order to secure
such a pearl-cap, and even when they are clad in rags their head is
covered with pearls. In order to furnish the requisite material for
this wide-spread fashion, the commerce in pearls of Odessa, Taganrog
and some other places in southern Russia is not unimportant. There
may live in the region where the pearl-caps of which I speak are
worn at least 2,000,000 Jewesses. Let us estimate that among them
there are but 300,000 adults, and that only half of these, 150,000,
wear pearl-caps (only the most indigent and the most aristocratic do
not wear the “mushka”); let us then estimate the average value of
such a cap at only five hundred roubles—these are the lowest minima
and fall far short of the real figures—and we have a total capital
of 76,000,000 roubles, which the Jewesses of this region wear upon
their heads. Naturally the annual diminution of this capital is
small, since these pearls are transmitted from the mothers to their
daughters and granddaughters. Still, if we estimate that they last
for a century, the necessary yearly contribution amounts to nearly
one million. It is, however, probable that a much larger capital is
employed in the commerce of pearls. They are, for the most part,
oriental and come by way of Turkey and Odessa or else by way of
Armenia and Tiflis. We inquired of our beautiful Jewess whether she
was not in perpetual dread on account of her pearl-cap, and how she
protected it from thieves. She answered that she wore it on her head
all day and at night placed it in a casket which rested under her
pillow. So that the whole short life of these Jewesses of the
steppes revolves around their pearl-cap as the earth does around the
sun.[240]
Several species of marine mollusks on the coasts of Europe yield pearly
formations, but none of much ornamental or commercial value. Probably
the most interesting of these are from the Pinna on the Mediterranean
coasts, and especially on the coast of Sardinia and the shores of the
Adriatic. An interesting collection of these Pinna pearls was furnished
to the writers by Alexandro Castellani of Rome.
IX
ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC
SOUTH SEA ISLANDS, AUSTRALIAN COASTS, MALAY ARCHIPELAGO
IX
PEARL FISHERIES OF THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS
Sea-girt isles,
That, like to rich and various gems, inlay
The unadorned bosom of the deep.
MILTON.
Gathering pearl shells and pearls is the principal industry of the
semi-amphibious natives of the hundreds of palm-crowned and foam-girdled
islands of the southern Pacific, commonly known as the South Sea
Islands. Among these the most prominent for pearl fishing are the
Tuamotu Islands or Low Archipelago, the Society Islands, the Marquesas,
the Fiji Islands, Penrhyn or Tongareva, and New Caledonia. These are
under the protection of the French government, except Fiji and Penrhyn,
which belong to Great Britain.
Almost ever since the South Sea Islands have been known to civilization
they have contributed pearls; and the fishery has been one of the
principal industries, not only for the natives, but also for the not
inconsiderable number of sailors who, preferring the lotus on shore to
the salt pork and monotony of ship life, have yielded to the insular
attractions and formed domestic ties. The industry has been especially
extensive during the last seventy years, when there has been a
profitable market for the shells. Most of the natives—men, women, and
children—follow it for a living. Domestic duties rest very lightly upon
the women, and many of these, and even young girls, find employment in
diving, in which at moderate depths these dusky mermaids are nearly, if
not quite as expert as the men and boys.
Tahiti, the largest of the eleven Society Islands, is the center of the
pearling industry of French Oceanica. It is situated in about Lat. 17°
S. and Long. 150° W., and has an area of approximately 410 square miles
and a population of 11,000, nearly one half of whom live in Papeiti, the
principal town. This is one of the most agreeable of the “Summer Isles
of Eden,” Nature furnishing food in abundance, and climate and social
customs requiring little in the way of dress and habitation.
Notwithstanding its importance as the headquarters of the pearling
industry, few pearl-oysters are caught at Tahiti, most of them coming
from the archipelagoes of Tuamotu, Gambier, and occasionally Tubai.
The Tuamotu Archipelago is the scene of the principal pearl fisheries of
the South Seas; and from the local importance of this industry the group
is sometimes called the Pearl Islands. These coral-formed islands are
strung out for a distance of 900 miles in a northwest and southeast
direction, and extend from Lat. 14° to 23° S. and from Long. 136° to
149° W. They number about seventy-eight, many of them made up of small
atolls only a few feet above the surface of the ocean, and with an
aggregate area of about 360 square miles. The total population is
approximately 6000, with many visitors from Tahiti and other neighboring
islands during the pearling season. The principal products are pearl
shell and pearls, copra, and cocoanut oil; and nearly one half of the
islands yield nothing but shell and pearls. The chief port is Fakarava
on an island of the same name, and the trade is almost entirely with
Tahiti.
As the Tuamotus are of coral formation, they produce little vegetable
growth, and the people seem often on the brink of starvation, forming a
striking contrast with those of the neighboring Society Islands. Drawing
their subsistence entirely from the sea, except for the native cocoanuts
and breadfruit, these people have, at times, been in great straits for
food, and it was doubtless severe hunger that drove them to the acts of
cannibalism with which they have been charged. And the sea which
supplies them with food has also visited them with great destruction. As
recently as January, 1903, a great storm swept over this group, drowning
over 500 of the inhabitants, and destroying a very considerable portion
of the pearling fleet and other property.
The pearl-oyster reefs of the Tuamotu Archipelago are very extensive,
only eight or ten of the islands failing to contribute to the supply.
They occur in the protected lagoons of the atolls, where the bottom is
well covered with coral growth, with numerous elevations and depressions
of various sizes; and it is about the bases and in the recesses of these
coral growths that the best shells are usually found. Most of them are
of the black-edged variety of _Margaritifera margaritifera_, which here
attains a great size, reaching a diameter of twelve inches in extreme
cases.
While pearl-oysters are found about nearly all of the Tuamotu Islands,
the reefs are richest at Hikueru or Melville Island. When that lagoon is
open it is the scene of the greatest operations, and it is credited with
nearly one half of the total product of the archipelago. At the opening
of the season, this is the resort of fishermen from all over the group,
even from a distance of five hundred miles, and thousands of natives
camp in temporary leaf-thatched huts among the cocoanut-palms on the
beach, those from the different islands congregating in isolated
settlements. As many as five thousand persons are sometimes brought
together in this way.
[Illustration:
THE PEARLING REGIONS IN OCEANIA AND MALAYSIA
]
The volcanic-formed Gambier Islands, with high peaks reaching, in one
instance, an altitude of over 1200 feet, present a striking contrast to
the Tuamotu atolls. This group consists of five large and several small
islands, surrounded by a coral reef of an irregular triangular figure.
The 1100 inhabitants of the Gambier Islands derive a large percentage of
their support from the pearl fishery. The patches of pearl-oysters are
located between the islands and the barrier reefs. They are numerous
about the island of Mangareva, which is well surrounded by them on the
north, east, and southeast. Oysters from the reef of Tearae, which
extends from the eastern point of Mangareva to the small island of
Aukena, a distance of two miles, are especially rich in pearls. On this
reef, where the water is from one to four fathoms in depth, the mollusks
are small, rarely exceeding five or six inches at maturity, but the
shell is very thick and coral covered; these yield many pearls. In
greater depths, the oysters attain a larger size, but they yield few
pearls.
The first white man to attempt the exploitation of the pearl resources
of the Tuamotus appears to have been Mörenhout. In a voyage to the
Oceanic Islands in 1827, he learned of the great wealth of pearl shell,
and applied to Queen Pomaré at Tahiti for permission to employ the
natives in the fishery. With an eye to business, she required a fee of
$5000 for herself before granting the desired authority.[241]
Considering this excessive, Mörenhout attempted to deal with the natives
without permission of the dusky queen, but under these adverse
conditions he found the trade unsatisfactory and soon abandoned it.
In 1830, and the years immediately succeeding, desultory pearling
voyages were made from Valparaiso, Chile, and these were followed by
expeditions from America and elsewhere. An interesting account of the
trade at that time is contained in Lucatt’s “Rovings in the Pacific from
1837 to 1849,” published in London in 1851.
The Mormon influx in 1846 resulted in a further development of the pearl
fishery; and Grouard, the local leader of that denomination, is credited
with making a fortune in the business.
From the beginning of the industry up to 1880, when control of the
islands passed to the French government, it is estimated that about
15,000 tons of pearl-oysters were secured. The extent of the fishery
during the few years preceding 1880 made such drains upon the
productiveness of the reefs that many of them gave signs of exhaustion.
With a view to adopting methods for conserving the industry, so
essential to the welfare of the natives, the French Ministry of Marine
and Colonies in 1883 inaugurated an investigation of its condition, and
of the possibilities for improvement. This was made under the immediate
direction of G. Bouchon-Brandely, whose interesting report[242] contains
much data on this subject.
As a result of these investigations and recommendations, a restricted
season for fishing was adopted, and only a portion of the reefs was
thrown open each year, a decree of the governor, published in the
“Journal Officiel” of the colony, determining the islands in which the
fishery might be prosecuted. This interdiction, known locally as
_rahui_, is for the purpose of permitting the oysters to develop, and
thus prevent the exhaustion of the reefs.
By decree of January 24, 1885, a restriction was made against taking
shells measuring less than 17 centimeters in diameter on the interior
nacre, or weighing less than 200 grams per valve. But this was repealed
in 1890, and since then there has been no restriction on the size of the
oysters that may be fished.
The pearl fishery and the isolated leper station are the principal
claims which attract the attention of the outside world to the island of
Penrhyn or Tongareva, one of the Manahiki group, in Lat. 9° S., and
Long. 158° W. This desolate atoll island consists of a ring of land a
few hundred yards in width, inclosing a lagoon nine miles long and five
miles wide, and it produces little else than pearls and pearl shell. The
white gravelly shore yields little vegetation except cocoanuts, which
share with fish in furnishing sustenance to the semi-amphibious natives.
At Penrhyn the pearl fishery is carried on in the clear, limpid waters
of the atoll where the oysters are undisturbed by storms. The shells
belong mostly to the golden-edged variety, and are of good quality, the
value in London ranging from £100 to £250 per ton. Relatively few pearls
are found, amounting in aggregate value to only about one fourth of the
value of the shells. These are the principal objects of the fishery; the
finding of pearls is incidental, but careful search is always made for
them, and some choice specimens have been secured.
On the coast of New Caledonia, pearling is of recent origin, dating as
an industrial enterprise from 1897, although previous to that time some
shells and pearls had been secured by native beach-combers. This island
is 220 miles in length and 30 in width, situated 850 miles southeast of
Australia, and about the same distance from New Zealand. It is a French
colony, and has been used by that government as a penal settlement since
1864.
In 1897, rich beds of pearl-oysters were discovered off the west coast
of this island. They are most numerous between the shore and the barrier
reefs on the west coast from Pouembout River to Gomen Bay, and
especially about the small island of Konienne at the mouth of the
Pouembout River. They are also abundant among the Loyalty Islands off
the eastern coast of New Caledonia, and especially at the island of
Lifu.[243] The shell is similar to that from Torres Straits, and the
yield of pearls is very large. Several concessions have been obtained to
exploit these beds, one of them covering 130 miles in length. The
industry is carried on by means of scaphanders, in a manner similar to
that of Torres Straits. Virtually all of the catch is sent to France.
The natives of the South Sea Islands, and particularly of Penrhyn and
the Tuamotu group, are doubtless the most expert divers in the world.
This can be readily appreciated by those who have read of Hua Manu in C.
W. Stoddard’s thrilling narrative, or have heard the story of the brown
woman who swam for forty hours in a storm with a helpless husband on her
back. Accustomed to the water from infancy, these human otters swim all
day long as readily as they would walk, go miles from shore without a
boat in search of fish which they take by means of baited hook and line,
and boldly attack a shark single-handed. Seemingly fabulous stories are
told of their descending, unaided, 150 feet or more beneath the surface,
and remaining at lesser depths for nearly three minutes, far surpassing
any modern records of the divers of India.
The water in the South Seas is wonderfully clear, enabling the fishermen
to detect small objects at considerable depths, and especially so when
using the water-telescope, similar to that employed in the Red Sea
fisheries. By immersing this to a depth of several inches and cutting
off the light from the upper end as he gazes through it down into the
waters, the fisherman can readily inspect the bottom at a depth of
fifteen fathoms, and thus locate the shells before he descends.
The diving is quite unlike that in Ceylon and Arabia. The men do not
descend on stones, but swim to the bottom. The diver is stripped to his
_paréu_ or breech-clout, his right hand is protected by a cotton mitten
or by only a wrapping of cotton cloth, and in his left hand he carries a
pearl shell to assist in directing his movements and in detaching the
oysters at the bottom. In preparing for a deep descent, he sits for
several minutes in characteristic attitude with hands hanging over
knees, and repeatedly inflates his lungs to the fullest capacity,
exhaling the air slowly through his mouth. After five or six minutes of
“taking the wind,” the diver inhales a good breath, drops over the
gunwale into the water to give him a start, and descends feet foremost.
At a distance of twelve or fifteen feet below the surface, gracefully as
an otter or a seal, he bends forward and turns head downward and, with
limbs showing dimly in frog-like motion, he swims vertically the
remaining distance to the bottom. There he assumes a horizontal position
and swims slowly just above the ground, searching critically for
suitable oysters, in this way traversing a distance possibly of fifty
feet or more. When he has secured an oyster, or his breath is
approaching exhaustion, he springs from the ground in an erect position
and rapidly swims upward, the buoyancy of his body hastening his ascent
so that he pops head and shoulders above the surface, and falls back
with laboring pulse and panting breath. In case the dive has been
unusually extended, a few drops of blood may trickle from the nose and
mouth. His find—consisting frequently of nothing and rarely of more than
one oyster—is carried in a cocoanut fiber sack suspended from the neck,
or is held in the left hand, or may be hugged beneath the left arm.
Ordinarily in actual fishing operations, the fishermen do not descend to
greater depths than fifteen fathoms, and remain from sixty to ninety
seconds. Writing in 1851, a trader who had spent several years in
collecting pearls and pearl shells among the Tuamotus stated: “I timed
several by the watch, and the longest period I knew any of them to keep
beneath the water was a minute and a quarter, and there were only two
who accomplished this feat. Rather less than a minute was the usual
duration. It is unusual for them to attempt deep diving; and let the
shells be ever so abundant, they will come up and swear there are
none.”[244]
However, in mutual contests or in special exhibitions, reports of
twenty, twenty-three, and even twenty-five fathoms are numerous, and
they have repeatedly been timed two and a half to three minutes.
Bouchon-Brandely speaks of a woman at Anaa, one of the Tuamotus, who
would go down twenty-five fathoms and remain three minutes under
water.[245] This seems very unusual, but there are numerous reports of
two and a half minutes at about seventeen or eighteen fathoms. In
October, 1899, at Hikueru Island, another of the Tuamotu group, a young
native made an exhibition dive for the officers of the United States
Fish Commission steamship _Albatross_. He reached bottom at a depth of
102 feet under the boat’s keel, and remained submerged two minutes and
forty seconds. The water was so transparent that he was clearly seen
from the surface. After he touched bottom at that great depth, he calmly
picked over the coral and shells to select a piece to bring up.[246] The
diver was ready to go down again only a few minutes after he came up.
In his work on French Oceanica, Chartier states: “There are three women
well known in the archipelago [of Tuamotu] who have no equals elsewhere;
they explore the depth at twenty-five fathoms and remain not less than
three minutes before reappearing at the surface.”[247] However, these
unusual depths and extensions of time are dangerous, and care must be
taken or serious results follow. Most of the catch is obtained in about
ten fathoms of water.
At the request of the writer, Mr. Julius D. Dreher, American Consul at
Tahiti, made inquiries among the South Sea Islands in regard to the
record of the best divers, and wrote as follows:
Mr. J. L. Young, who has lived in these islands for thirty years,
informs me that he has never seen a diver remain under water longer
than 80 seconds, and that at a depth of twelve to fifteen fathoms.
At one time he tested a man who claimed to be able to stay under for
three minutes, yet this man could hold his breath on land less than
80 seconds by the watch.
Elder Joseph F. Burton, who has spent many years as a missionary in
these islands, states that once in Hikueru, of the Tuamotu group, he
went out in a boat with the divers to time them. The best record
made was 107 seconds, but he was informed that there were better
divers on the island than those he tested. He thinks the water was
ten to twelve fathoms in depth. A native of Takaroa, named Metuaro,
told Mr. Burton that he could stay under water three minutes or
longer. When these divers come up they take a breath and immediately
put their head under water to prevent headache.
Mr. J. Lamb Doty, formerly Consul and now Vice-Consul at Tahiti, who
has spent eighteen years here, is willing to be quoted as affirming
that he once timed a diver who remained under water 2 minutes 35
seconds.
Mr. Henry B. Merwin, a leading trader with the Tuamotu Islands, is
willing to be quoted as saying that he saw a diver remain under
water 4 minutes 45 seconds by the watch. This is generally regarded,
so far as my inquiries go, as improbable; but most persons
interviewed believe that men do remain under water 2½ to 3 minutes.
A native of Takaroa, named Tai, assured me in the presence of others
that there were twenty men in that island who could remain under
water 2½ to 3 minutes at a depth of twenty fathoms. He claimed to be
able to stay 3 minutes at that depth.
[Illustration:
Pearl-divers of the Tuamotu Archipelago; men, women and children dive
in these waters
]
[Illustration:
Settlement of pearl fishermen at Hiqueru, Tuamotu Archipelago
]
Diving-suits, or scaphanders, have been used at most of the South Sea
Islands, but in a very irregular manner. In 1890 the use of scaphanders
was restricted in the Tuamotu group, and by decree of December 28, 1892,
it was interdicted altogether with a view to preserving the industry to
the natives, as it represents their principal means of livelihood. The
suit commonly employed at Penrhyn consists of a helmet and a jumper,
neither boots nor trousers being worn. Owing to the absence of weights
on the feet, it rarely but nevertheless sometimes happens that a diver
turns upside down, and the unwieldy helmet keeps him head downward while
the air rushes out under the bottom cord of the jumper and he is
suffocated. Also, when a good patch of shells has been located, the
temptation to remain down too long is great, and paralysis often
results. On the whole, these diving-suits have proven very dangerous to
the light, graceful swimmers of these southern seas, to whom they are
about as much of an impediment as was Saul’s armor to the shepherd lad
who slew the giant with the simple pebble from a sling.
And there are dangers also in nude diving, even to those who have spent
a lifetime about the water. Sharks and sting-rays and devil-fish there
are in abundance, and many of them know the taste of diver’s flesh; on
the other hand many a daring South Sea Islander could tell of a fierce
combat more thrilling than even those pictured by Victor Hugo. One of
the chief advantages of the diving-suit is that in case a shark comes
along, the diver can bide his time until the fish is ready to leave, or
he can frighten it away by ejecting air bubbles from the sleeve of his
suit or by other demonstrations; whereas a nude diver is obliged to seek
the air without delay, and in the retreat is seized by the fish who,
human like, has his appetite increased by the visible retreat of the
object of his desire.
Not Schiller nor Edgar Allan Poe ever conjured up a picture more
ghastly than that of a Penrhyn diver caught like a rat in a trap by
some huge, man-eating shark or fierce kara mauua, crouching in a
cleft of the overhanging coral, under the dark green gloom of a
hundred feet of water, with bursting lungs and cracking eyeballs,
while the threatening bulk of his terrible enemy looms dark and
steady, full in the road to life and air. A minute or more has been
spent in the downward journey; another minute has passed in the
agonized wait under the rock.... Has he been seen?... Will the
creature move away now, while there is still time to return? The
diver knows to a second how much time has passed; the third minute
is on its way; but one goes up quicker than one comes down, and
there is still hope.... Two minutes and a half; it is barely
possible now, but—the sentinel of death glides forward; his cruel
eyes, phosphorescent in the gloom, look right into the cleft where
the wretched creature is crouching, with almost twenty seconds of
life still left, but now not a shred of hope. A few more beats of
the laboring pulse, a gasp from the tortured lungs, a sudden rush of
silvery air bubbles, and the brown limbs collapse down out of the
cleft like wreaths of seaweed. The shark has his own. (Beatrice
Grimshaw in the “Graphic.”)
At the end of the day’s work, the catch is opened by means of a large
knife, and carefully searched for the much prized pearls. Usually the
fisherman finds none; occasionally he discovers a small round one or a
large baroque, and at long intervals—possibly once in two or three
years—his search is rewarded with a fine pearl for which he may receive
$50 or $60, and there is always the chance that the very next oyster
will disclose a gem which will make him independent for the remainder of
his life; and if no pearls whatever are found, there are the shells, the
sale of which furnishes sufficient to purchase tobacco, knives,
fish-hooks, the gaudy cotton cloths, the flour and other simple articles
of food, and especially rum, that fatal gift of civilization which has
been the curse of so many primitive peoples.
Some of the individual pearls secured have been remarkably large,
weighing 100 grains and over. Returning visitors from Tahiti, with views
magnified doubtless in proportion to the distance of the objects of
their description, credited Queen Pomaré with the possession of some
sufficiently large to be used for billiard-balls. Sixty years ago superb
pearls could be obtained from the natives for a few gallons of rum or a
small number of pieces of cheap calico, and several shrewd traders made
great profits in the business. But as trade at the islands was open to
vessels of all nationalities, the competition increased, with the result
that the natives gradually learned the high estimation in which pearls
are held, and in recent years it has not been unusual for one of medium
grade to sell higher in Oceanica than it would in Europe.
It is difficult to form a reliable estimate of the value of the pearling
industry of the South Sea Islands. The Tuamotu group, with 4000
fishermen, yields, in an average season, about 450 tons of
mother-of-pearl, worth about £65,000 in London, where most of it is
marketed. The yield at the remaining French islands is less than that of
the Tuamotus. Probably the total yield of mother-of-pearl in all the
South Sea Islands is not far from 900 tons, worth about $700,000.
No statistics whatever are available regarding the yield of pearls, and
the estimates sent from the islands are small compared with those made
by London and Paris firms who import the pearls. A large number of
persons living in Papeiti and many traders visiting the islands depend
very largely on pearl-dealing for a livelihood. From the yield of pearl
shell and estimates made by dealers, we are inclined to put the value of
the pearls secured in an average season from all the South Sea Islands
at about $125,000, only a small portion of which goes to the fishermen
themselves, the greater part representing profits of the traders.
PEARL FISHERIES OF AUSTRALIA
Ocean’s gem, the purest
Of nature’s works! What days of weary journeyings,
What sleepless nights, what toils on land and sea,
Are borne by men to gain thee!
UNKNOWN.
As regards area of distribution the most extensive pearl-oyster grounds
of the world are situated on the northern and western coasts of
Australia. These are located within the jurisdictions of Queensland,
Western Australia, and South Australia; and extend in irregular patches
from near Cooktown on the northeast almost to Fremantle at the
southwest, a distance of nearly 3000 miles. Those in Queensland are
commonly known as the Torres Straits fisheries, as they are especially
important there; but they extend a considerable distance beyond each end
of the strait, and pearling expeditions are made from the limits of the
Great Barrier coral reef northward to the vicinity of New Guinea.[248]
Those of Western Australia are commonly spoken of as the Northwest
fisheries.
The fisheries of Queensland and of Western Australia are approximately
equal in extent, as regards number of vessels, boats, and men employed,
and the quantity and value of the catch, with the advantage slightly in
favor of the Northwest fishery in the last four or five years. In 1905,
according to the official figures, the Queensland fishery gave
employment to 348 vessels and 2850 men, and yielded shell and pearls
worth £135,000, which was the smallest output since 1890. The Western
Australia fishery, exclusive of Sharks Bay, employed 365 vessels in
1905, and about the same number of men as in Queensland, and yielded
£196,000 worth of shell and pearls. The fishery of South Australia
employed about 60 vessels and 375 men, and yielded about £25,000 worth
of shell and pearls. This makes for the whole of Australia, except
Sharks Bay hereinafter noted, a total of 773 vessels, 6075 men, and an
output worth £356,000. It should be understood that the South Australia
fishery is not prosecuted on the southern coast of the continent, but on
the northern coast, in what is known as the Northern Territory of South
Australia.
Three species of pearl-oysters are found in Australian waters. The
largest species, _Margaritifera maxima_, which is by far the most
important and widely distributed, occurs to a greater or less extent
throughout the whole of this region. This yields the standard
motherof-pearl of commerce. Although the pearls which it yields are
among the largest and finest in the world, this mollusk is sought more
particularly for the shell, the value of which from season to season
averages three or four times as much as that of the pearls. Ordinarily
this shell is uniformly white over the entire inner surface, and is
commonly known locally as “silver lip”; but some “golden-edged” shell
occurs on the muddy grounds in narrow passages between the islands on
the northwest coast.
While this species is gregarious, it is not located in densely covered
beds, but is scattered in patches over the reefs. Some of these are
miles in length and contain scores of tons, but visually they are very
much smaller. The oysters occur principally on rocky bottom, and also on
clay and sand when well covered with seaweeds, but are rarely found on
muddy ground. They are most numerous in the channels where the current
is strong. The small oysters are generally loosely attached by the
byssus to rock, gravel or other shells; while the mature ones lie
loosely on the bottom or slightly turned in the sand.
The second species of the Australian pearl-oysters, _Margaritifera
margaritifera_, is smaller, rarely exceeding eight inches in diameter
and a weight of two pounds. The distinguishing characteristic is the
black edge bordering the inner surface of the shell, whence it acquired
the local designation “black lip.” This variety is not rare in
Queensland, and in Western Australia its range extends as far as
Champion Bay in Lat. 29° S. However, the catch is small compared with
that of the _Margaritifera maxima_, amounting to only two or three per
cent. in Queensland. In 1905, the export of “silver lip” and
“golden-edged” from Thursday Island was 527 tons, and of “black lip”
only 11 tons; in 1904, these figures were 778 and 7 respectively. In
Western Australia the percentage of yield is much larger than this.
The third species, _Margaritifera carcharium_, is confined almost
entirely to the limits of Sharks Bay, on the extreme western coast of
Australia. At maturity it is the smallest of the three, averaging three
or four inches in diameter, and about equals in size the Lingah
pearl-oyster of the Persian Gulf. The percentage of pearls therefrom is
relatively greater than from the larger variety; but, owing to its small
size and lack of thickness, the shell is of little commercial value. The
value of the output in recent years has approximated two or three
thousand pounds sterling, which is very much less than formerly, the
value of the shell having greatly decreased since the introduction of
the Mississippi shell in button manufacture.
The pearl fishery on the coast of Australia originated about 1861. It
appears that an American sailor named Tays was the pioneer in the
business; and on his death by drowning, the business was conducted by
his partner named Seubert.[249] This was on the northwest coast, and the
output reached the market by way of Singapore. At first the oysters were
so abundant in shallow water that they could be picked up at low tide,
and beach-combing was profitable, especially when carried on with cheap
native labor. As the beach-beds became exhausted, the natives were
encouraged to wade out to greater depths, and soon they became
accustomed to “bob under” for those oysters visible from the surface.
The Australian blacks were thus taught to dive, and in 1867 diving from
boats in two or three fathoms was attempted with such success that in
the following year the practice was generally adopted, the depth in
which they worked gradually extending to six or eight fathoms. In diving
from a boat, the men imitated “bobbing under” which they had practised
in shoaler water; they slipped off the gunwale feet foremost, and when
six or eight feet below the surface, turned and swam downward.
Owing to the close labor relations existing between the natives and the
sheep-raisers of northwestern Australia, the latter were brought into
the business, and for a number of years pearling and sheep-raising were
closely associated. The blacks were employed in various duties in
connection with raising and shearing sheep, and it was important to find
some occupation for them when ranch-work was slack, not only for their
own subsistence but for the protection of the herdsmen and their
property. Fortunately, this opportunity was furnished by the pearl
fishery, for which these men were well qualified.
The profits of the business soon attracted many outside capitalists, and
it became difficult to procure divers. Not only did the pearlers—and
particularly new-comers—resort to impressing the blacks into service,
but skilled fishermen were brought over from the Malay Archipelago, and
in some cases the methods used in securing them were by no means
regular.
In 1871 the Northwest pearl fishery gave employment to 12 vessels of 15
to 50 tons each, and yielded about 180 tons of mother-of-pearl. During
the same year, in Torres Straits, where the industry had extended about
1868, there were 10 vessels—mostly from the port of Sydney—and the catch
of mother-of-pearl approximated 200 tons, valued at £60,000 in
London.[250] Each vessel was commonly manned by two or three white men
and from ten to fifty divers, who worked from dinghys, in gangs of six
or eight each with an overseer in charge.
As the fishery increased rapidly in extent, the problem of securing nude
divers became a serious one, and “nigger hunting” became rather common,
the Australian black man representing the cheapest form of labor,
working for his food, tobacco, and the simplest articles of clothing.
There was no complaint that the men thus impressed were treated with
inhumanity; on the contrary they were well fed and cared for; yet, with
a view to protecting them and preventing even a suspicion of
wrong-doing, the Australian government enacted regulations restricting
pearling contracts with the natives. Nearly every year these regulations
became more stringent, affecting the hours for diving, and limiting the
work to depths of six and a half fathoms, so that the employment of
Australian aborigines in the fishery became extremely troublesome and
annoying.
The government of the Netherlands also placed severe restrictions on the
employment of natives of the Dutch Indies, requiring security of £20 per
head for the repatriation of each man; and the local chiefs or rajahs
also expected a rake-off before permitting their men to ship. These
Malays—from the islands of Solor, Allor, Adonare, etc.,—also expected
much better pay and better provisions than the Australian blacks.
The following interesting account by Henry Taunton gives a graphic
description of the fishery as carried on at that time:
The work was far from easy. It was exhausting and perilous for the
divers, and full of privation, exposure, and danger for the white
men. Only the hope of a prosperous season reconciled one to the
life. When shells were plentiful and the weather fine, the work was
exciting and interesting enough; but during rough weather, when one
had to be constantly straining at the oar to keep the dinghy from
drifting too rapidly, or when hour after hour might pass without the
men bringing up a single shell, the discouragement was great. The
rays of the vertical sun beating down on one’s shoulders at such
times seemed as if it would never reach the western horizon, which
was the signal for returning on board.
As may well be imagined, when three or four white men had to control
and compel some thirty or forty natives to carry on work which they
detested, a very strict discipline had to be maintained. It was the
rule that no talking was allowed amongst the divers when in the
dinghy, nor were they even permitted to address the white man,
unless, maybe, to answer a question as to the nature of the bottom,
whether _nanoo_ (sand) or _bannin_ (shelly bottom), etc., or unless
some urgent necessity arose. Sometimes, indeed, I have pushed off
from the vessel’s side of a morning and have not heard a word spoken
until we returned on board at night, unless chance might take me
within hail of some other dinghy, when felicitations or condolences
would be exchanged, as good or bad luck might happen. At times, when
the “patch” was small, the dinghys of the whole fleet might be
congregated on a very small area, in which case the scene was
animated enough. On all sides you could see divers slipping into the
water and others just coming to the surface, puffing, blowing, and
coughing to clear their eyes, ears, and mouth from the salt
water—some with, others without shells. Others would be swimming to
regain their dinghy or squatting in their places for the few
minutes’ rest permitted, and, if the wind were at all fresh,
shivering with cold; for although the weather might be extremely
hot, the constant plunging in and out for many hours at a time
tended to reduce the bodily temperature considerably. The white men
would be seen standing up in each dinghy. They were lightly clad,
with shirt sleeves and trousers rolled up, in all varieties and
colours of costume, from the regulation shirt, trousers, and felt
hat, with leather belt sustaining sheath-knife and pouch, to the
more comfortable pyjama suit, or even the Malay sarong. Some would
be straining hard at the end of the scull-oar, forcing the boat
against wind and tide in the endeavor to keep it as long as possible
on the “patch,” which was marked by the discoverer’s buoy, which
also might be observed nodding on the surface, and canted over by
the swiftly rushing tide. Others, their men all being below, just
kept the dinghy’s head to wind until, by judicious use of the oar
and well-calculated drifting, all the divers reappear on the surface
within a short distance from their own boat. This is the secret of
saving the divers from wasting their powers and time uselessly....
As may be supposed, where the tide sweeps the divers along the
bottom at the rate of three or four or even six miles an hour, they
have to be very smart in seeking and grabbing any shell within
reach. I have never tested them with a time-keeper; but by counting
seconds on many occasions, from the moment a diver’s head sank below
until it again came above the surface, I estimated the average time
under water was fifty-seven seconds. Part of this is of course
expended in swimming to the bottom, where they can remain only a
very few seconds, as time must be allowed for reaching the surface
before letting go their breath. Practice in ever-varying depths
enables them to gauge this limit of time to a nicety. But sometimes
they cut things too fine, and then a catastrophe was inevitable,
unless much watchfulness was exercised by the white man, who has to
keep his eyes turned in all directions once his men are down. So
long as a diver can hold his breath the pressure forces him to the
surface at a speed which seldom requires accelerating by strokes
with the hands or feet; but the moment he lets go his breath—if
under water—his upward course is arrested and his body commences to
sink. Now, when the white man sees this, either he must plunge in to
the rescue himself, or direct such divers who may be on the top to
do the needful.
On a calm day, when one can see far into the blue clear depths
below, I have often seen one of my men shooting rapidly upwards
until within perhaps a foot or two from the surface, when a sudden
gush of bubbles from the man’s mouth would tell its own tale.
Instantly he would begin to sink gently downwards, and only quick
action could save this diver who had miscalculated his time.
However, as it was not infrequent for divers to go down and never
come up at all, one may conclude that, where the time to be allowed
is comprised in so few seconds, even the most experienced make fatal
errors.[251]
The difficulties in securing labor at length resulted in experiments
with the scaphander or diving dress, and gradually its adoption by most
of the pearling fleet. The labor problem and the exhaustion of the
oysters in medium depths developed more quickly in Torres Straits than
on the northwest coast, and diving outfits were introduced there about
1879, while this was delayed about five years longer on the northwest
coast. The outfit did not immediately supplant nude diving in either
locality. In 1883, only 80 of the 206 Queensland vessels were supplied
with scaphanders, the others continuing to use nude diving, and even yet
nearly one third of the vessels depend on that form of fishery. Of the
353 vessels fishing in 1904, 108 depended on nude divers and 245 were
supplied with armored equipment.
In 1881 the Queensland government took cognizance of the rapidly
developing industry, and enacted a license system and other regulations.
For every boat under two tons an annual license fee of £1 (in 1886 this
was reduced to ten shillings) was enacted, and for every vessel of ten
tons or under, the sum of £3, with an additional amount for vessels in
excess of that measurement; but not exceeding £20 in any case.[252] In
1886 it was required by the Queensland government that every person
employed “as a diver, and using a diving apparatus,” must be licensed
annually, for which a fee of £1 is exacted.[253] And in 1891 it was
required that “every diving dress and air-pump and all air-tubes and
gear used in the fishery in connection with diving must be submitted to
an inspector for examination once at least in every period of six
months.”[254] The license system was adopted in Western Australia in
1886, a fee of £1 per annum being exacted for each vessel engaged in the
fishery.[255] In 1891, South Australia adopted the license system,
requiring that every boat of two tons or under should pay ten shillings,
and that each boat over that measurement should pay twenty shillings.
With a view to protecting the reefs, the government of Queensland in
1891 enacted a law forbidding the sale or removal—except for cultivation
purposes—of any pearl shell “of the kind scientifically known as
_Meleagrina margaritifera_, and of either of the varieties commonly
known as ‘golden-edged’ and ‘silver lip,’ of which the nacre or
mother-of-pearl measures less than six inches from the butt or hinge to
the opposite edge or lip, but this does not apply to the variety
commonly called ‘dwarf-shell.’”[256] Owing to the difficulty in
enforcing this regulation, the size restriction was reduced in 1897 to
five inches from the hinge to the opposite lip, or six and one half
inches exteriorly, shells of this size weighing approximately one pound.
It is claimed that many oysters less than five inches in length are
raised, opened for pearls, and then cast back into the water.[257] In
1899 the governor of South Australia interdicted the capture in the
waters of that territory of any shell of “_Meleagrina margaritifera_
measuring less than four inches from the butt or hinge to the opposite
edge or lip.” Competent evidence exists that a good-sized pearl has been
found in an oyster measuring one inch in diameter.
[Illustration:
Pearling boats at Hiqueru, Tuamotu Archipelago
]
[Illustration:
Australian pearl-diver (armored) coming up from the depths
]
The fishermen of Western Australia rendezvous at Broome, about one
thousand miles by water north of Perth, the nearest railway station.
With only a thousand or so inhabitants, under normal conditions, this is
a scene of great activity, and bears a reputation of being no
Sunday-school when the fishermen are in, with tons of shell and many a
pickle bottle more or less full of pearls. Cossack and Onslow are also
important stations.
In 1905, 340 luggers and 25 schooners were employed in the pearl
fisheries of Western Australia, exclusive of Sharks Bay. Of this number
about 85 per cent. hailed from Broome. The schooners ranged in size from
13 to 133 tons, and the luggers were mostly about 12 tons, with a
minimum of 3 and a maximum of 14 tons. The total number of fishermen
approximated 2900, a medley of races, Japanese, Malays, Chinese, Arabs,
native aboriginals and South Sea Islanders working together more or less
harmoniously. The yield consisted of 1394 tons of mother-of-pearl, with
a declared value of £146,225, and about £50,000 worth of pearls, a total
of £196,255 for the year, which was an increase of £32,286 over
1904.[258]
The headquarters for the fishery of the Northern Territory of South
Australia are at Port Darwin. In 1905 this fishery employed forty-nine
sail vessels and two canoes manned by Europeans, and two proas and
twelve canoes manned by Malays. The crews, numbering about 375,
consisted mainly of Malays, Japanese and Filipinos. In 1905, 42 per
cent. were Malays, 24 per cent. were Japanese, and 20 per cent. were
Filipinos. Owing to the low price of pearl shell, the fishery was not
prosecuted actively, and many of the Asiatics left for the pearling
reefs at the Aru Islands. The total value of pearl shells reported among
the exports for that year was £18,526; during the preceding year it was
£28,391. No record is available for the value of the pearls.
The Queensland pearling fleet has its rendezvous at Port Kennedy,
Thursday Island, which was originally maintained by the British, the
Queensland, and the New South Wales governments as a harbor of refuge
for mariners. Politically this port is important as the strategic key to
the northeast of Australia, but its prosperity is almost wholly
dependent on the pearl-oyster fishery. The population approximates 1600,
consisting largely of Japanese, Malays, Cingalese, Pacific islanders,
and Australian aborigines, with specimens from nearly every Asiatic and
European nationality, and some from America and Africa. The Japanese
predominate, their influx dating from 1891; and at present the industry
is largely dependent on these Scotchmen of the Orient for its most
skilful workmen. The heterogeneous nationalities, and the abundance of
sand-flies, mosquitos, etc., make this island rather less desirable as a
place of residence than it is interesting from a political and
ethnological point of view.
The Queensland fishery in 1905 employed 348 vessels, and yielded 543
tons of shell, according to the government returns. In 1904, 353 vessels
were engaged, and the catch was 798 tons of shell.
During the last fifteen years there has been a very steady decrease in
the average catch of pearl-oysters per boat in the Australian fishery.
The average catch in the Queensland fleet in 1890 approximated 7 tons
per boat; from 1898 to 1903 it was about 3 tons annually; in 1904 it was
only 2¼ tons, and in 1905 a trifle more than 1½ tons. The yearly
increasing number of boats would naturally lower the average, but the
decrease is generally ascribed to the denudation of the reefs, due to
close working for thirty-five years without giving them a chance to
recuperate.
The small yield in Queensland in 1904 and 1905 was due largely ta the
extended rough weather and the accompanying thick or muddy water, which
presented an obstacle to the prosecution of the work. Mr. Hugh Milman,
the government resident at Thursday Island, states that each year the
beds in the more sheltered spots have been extensively fished, rendering
it necessary for the fleet to go farther afield in places where the
depth of water is greater, and where the vessels are more exposed to the
full force of the southeast winds which prevail for about seven months
of the year, and which were unusually severe in 1905.[259] The general
denudation of the beds is not the principal cause of the decreased take.
An additional cause for the falling off in 1905 was the deflection of a
large percentage of the fleet to new fields of operation, 110 vessels
leaving for the Aru Islands in the Arafura Sea, when the season was
about half finished.
For vessels using diving apparatus, the season continues throughout the
year, but it is frequently interrupted by storms, which may cause the
boats to lie in harbor for ten days, or even two weeks at a time. The
nude divers suspend work from December to March, and also during the
season of gales.
Each vessel is manned by a diver, his attendant, and a crew of four men,
who in pairs take alternate shifts at the manual pump for supplying air
to the diver. The entire force of men take part in managing the vessel
and in caring for the catch. The vessel is provided with full equipment
and supplies of food, water, etc., to last two or three weeks, depending
on the distance of the fishing grounds from the shore station, or the
frequency of trips made by a supply vessel.
Except a number of owners and their representatives, there are now very
few white persons engaged in pearling in Australian waters. Even the
persons in charge of the vessels are largely natives of the Pacific
Islands. Owing to the hardships encountered and the small remuneration,
it is difficult to secure white labor; and aliens from Japan, the
Philippines, Java, Singapore, India and New Guinea, are employed.
The divers are of many nationalities, principally Japanese and Malays,
and the former are said to be the most efficient. Previous to 1890, they
were mostly whites, and were paid at the rate of £40 per ton of shells;
but increased competition and the influx of cheaper labor caused a
considerable decrease in the rate of compensation, driving most of the
white men out of the employment. At present the Japanese almost
monopolize the business. Of the 367 divers licensed at Thursday Island
in 1905, 291 were Japanese, 32 were Filipinos, 21 were from Rotuma
Island, 16 were Malays, and 7 were of other nationalities; this shows
how completely the white man has been driven out of this skilled branch
of labor.
The oysters are so scattered that considerable walking is necessary to
find them. They usually lie with the shells partly open, and in grasping
them the fisherman must be careful not to insert a finger within the
open shell, or a very bad pinch will result. The progress of the vessel
must be adapted to that of the diver, and when a good clump of oysters
is found it may even be desirable to anchor. If the current and wind are
just right, the vessel may repeatedly drift over a bed, the diver
ascending and remaining on board while the vessel is retracing its
course to the windward side of the reef. On new grounds, the nature of
the bottom is determined by casting the lead properly tipped with soap
or tallow, and the prospects for oysters thus determined without
descending.
During good weather and in eight or ten fathoms of water, a diver can
work almost continually, and need not return to the surface for two
hours or more; but as the depth increases, the length of time he may
remain at the bottom in safety decreases almost in geometric ratio, and
he comes to the surface frequently for a “blow” with helmet removed.
Evidence secured by a departmental commission of the Queensland
government in 1897, showed that in good weather at a depth of eight or
ten fathoms, a diver works from sunrise to sunset, coming to the surface
only a few times. In a depth of over fifteen fathoms the attendant
usually has instructions not to let him remain longer than fifteen
minutes at a time; yet a diver’s eagerness in working where good shell
is plentiful sometimes impels him to order the attendant to disregard
this rule. The very great pressure of the water—amounting to thirty-nine
pounds or more to the square inch—is liable to cause paralysis, and
death occasionally results. In working at a depth of twenty to
twenty-five fathoms, a diver is rarely under water longer than half an
hour altogether during the day. The greatest depth from which shell is
brought appears from the same evidence to be “30 fathoms and a little
over”; but at that depth—where the pressure is seventy-eight pounds to
the square inch—the fisherman remains down only a few minutes at a
stretch, and should be exceedingly careful. The work is injurious, and
even under the best conditions the diver not infrequently becomes
semi-paralyzed and disqualified in a few years. Notwithstanding that the
work is performed by men in vigorous health, nearly every year there are
from ten to twenty-five deaths in the Queensland fleet alone;[260] three
fourths of these are due to paralysis, and most of the remaining result
from suffocation, owing largely to inexperience in use of gear. From
five to ten years is the usual length of a man’s diving career, although
in the fleet may be found men who have been diving for twenty-five years
or more.
On the vessels manned by Japanese, commonly several members of the crew
are competent divers and take a turn at the work, although only one
license is secured. Such a vessel carries only one head-piece, but two
otherwise complete suits, the helmet fitting either, so that as soon as
one exhausted diver comes up to rest, a successor is ready to have the
helmet screwed to his body-dress and descend without delay, thus saving
about half an hour in the changing.
The nude divers in the Australian pearl fisheries are mostly Malays and
Australian aborigines. They work from dinghys operated from a vessel,
each dinghy carrying six or eight divers, usually with a white man as
overseer. The man in charge sculls against the tide to keep the boat
stationary over the ground, and all the fishermen of a particular dinghy
descend together for greater safety from sharks, and to cover the ground
systematically. On rising, each diver swims to the boat, throws his
catch over the gunwale, and climbs in to rest for a few minutes.
Sometimes two or possibly even three oysters may be brought up at a
single descent, but a diver is doing well if he brings up one oyster in
ten descents. The average daily catch of each man is probably two or
three oysters, but a fisherman has been known to bring up fifty in one
day. On some vessels, those who fall behind in the catch are punished by
extra duty aboard ship.
The pearling industry has had a marked effect on the industrial and
social condition of the natives of the Australian coast and the adjacent
islands. Many of these natives now have boats of their own, and others
seek employment on other vessels. Law and order and decent respect for
property have arisen, with schools and churches. The result is all the
more remarkable when it is considered that scarcely more than a
generation has passed since labor among the men was unknown, the women
doing all the work necessary to meet their scanty requirements.
As now carried on in Australia, pearling is a hard life, the men working
for two thirds of the season in a dead calm and oppressive heat, while
in the remaining months they are rolling day and night. The members of
the crew are not allowed ashore without a written permission from the
captain of the boat, and men and luggage are searched on leaving the
vessel. In addition to these objections, life on board is not unusually
made intensely disagreeable by the myriads of inch-long cockroaches,
which are attracted by and multiply rapidly on the shreds of muscle left
on the pearl shell stored in the hold. Storms are frequent on the coast.
In February, 1899, three schooners and eighty smaller vessels were
wrecked, and eleven white and four hundred colored men were drowned.
At the end of each day’s fishing, the oysters are cleaned of submarine
growths. Sometimes this is by no means an easy task, as many of the
shells are so covered with weeds, coral, and sponge as to bear little
resemblance to oysters. After they have been scrubbed and the edges have
been chipped, they are washed and stored on deck. Early the following
morning they are opened and examined for pearls. This opening is done
carefully to avoid injury to any pearl that may be within. The hinge of
the shell is placed on the deck and a broad knife forced down so as to
sever the adductor muscle, causing the shells to spring open and
permitting the removal of the soft parts. The flesh is carefully
examined, both by sight and by feeling, to locate all pearls, which are
picked out by hand and placed in a suitable receptacle. Within the
adductor muscle are found seed-pearls and small baroques; the large
pearls are found embedded in the mantle, where their presence may be
detected as soon as the shell is opened, the pearly gleam contrasting
with the light blue of the mantle. Sometimes, though rarely, large
pearls are found loose within the shell, whence they roll out when the
shell is opened. Valuable pearls are occasionally removed from blisters
on the surface of the shell, or from within the body of the nacre
itself. Even when empty, these blisters are valuable, and are especially
adapted for brooches and other ornaments requiring a broad and
relatively flat surface.
After the flesh has been carefully examined throughout, it is discarded,
as it is not considered suitable for food, and the shell is dried for
half a day or so to make the hinge brittle in order that it may be
broken without injury to the mother-of-pearl. After the shell has been
roughly cleaned, it is placed in the hold, if the vessel is operating
from a shore station, as is commonly the case in Torres Straits. Since
long exposure to the sun affects the quality of the mother-of-pearl, it
is important that it be kept under cover. On returning to the station,
it is thoroughly cleaned, assorted, dried, the dark edges clipped off,
and the cleaned shell is packed in shipping cases, each containing from
250 to 325 pounds. On the west coast, where the vessels at times operate
200 or 300 miles from port, the shell is cleaned, assorted and crated on
the vessels; whence it may be delivered direct to the steamers. The
Northwest shell is somewhat smaller than the mature shell of Torres
Straits, averaging about 1100 to the ton, whereas that of Thursday
Island runs about 725 to the ton.
It is very difficult to prevent the theft of pearls by the fishermen as
they are liable to treat them as perquisites if not carefully watched.
Indeed, on the Torres Straits vessels it has come about that pearls do
not constitute a recognized source of income to the proprietors. There
the fishery is now conducted almost exclusively for the shells, as the
wage-earners secrete probably as many valuable pearls as they turn over
to the rightful owners. The hot sun causes many of the oysters to open,
and deft fingers quickly pick out such pearls as may be visible. An
oyster may be induced to open its shell by being held near the galley
fire on the lugger, and the insertion of a piece of cork holds it open
while a pearl is shaken out or hooked out by means of a piece of wire.
Then the cork is removed and the oyster closes again with no evidence of
robbery. The proprietors of boats who themselves open the oysters almost
invariably secure larger yields of fine pearls than those who depend on
paid employees, who rarely have the luck to find choice pearls, judging
from what they turn in. The government of Queensland has endeavored to
put a stop to pearl stealing, and by enactment[261] of 1891, it
restricted all selling or buying of pearls within the fishing region
except through regularly licensed dealers, whose transactions are open
to examination.
But the fishermen seem to have little difficulty in evading the laws,
and throughout the fleet the men have become so adept that they regard
the pearls as their contraband perquisites. And the ease with which
these may be secreted is surpassed only by the facility with which they
may be sold, notwithstanding legislation to the contrary. Indeed, some
employers make no claim to the pearls found, thus enabling them to
secure fishermen at lower rates of wages.
As previously noted, the pearls constitute only an incidental catch in
the fisheries on the Australian coast, but in the aggregate the yield is
very large. The yield in the northwest Australian fishery in 1906 is
estimated at £50,000, local valuation; in the Queensland fishery
£33,000; in that of South Australia £5000, a total of £88,000 or
$440,000.[262] Relatively few seed-pearls are obtained, and some of the
pearls are of great size. Some beautiful specimens have been found, but
usually they have less luster and are more irregular in form than the
Persian or the Indian output.
Among the remedies suggested for improving the condition of the
Australian pearl reefs may be mentioned the establishment of six inches
as the minimum size of the shell that may be taken (five inches is now
permitted in Queensland, and there is no restriction in Western
Australia), the closure of certain areas for stated periods from time to
time, and a limit on the number of vessels employed. The government
resident at Thursday Island, Mr. Hugh Milman, who has had long
acquaintance with the industry, strongly recommends the adoption of a
system of artificial culture; and in the meantime, to foster the
industry, “licenses should be granted to a reduced number of boats and
certain sheltered areas should be closed altogether for a few years to
give the beds time to recover. This latter procedure, however, the
pearlers themselves are not in favor of, as they are of the opinion that
the weather conditions against which they have to contend are sufficient
protection to prevent the denudation of the principal grounds.”
A few years ago certain areas in Torres Straits were proclaimed closed
for a period against the removal of pearl shell; but, owing to the want
of effective patrol, the shell was poached to a very large extent, and
consequently the good that should have resulted from the experiment was
not apparent. Owing to the impracticability of continuous patrol, and
the want of proper legislation to bring die offenders to book, it was
decided to remove the restrictions.
The Sharks Bay fishery, to which we have previously referred,[263] is
prosecuted by means of small sail-boats using light dredges, except in
the case of the very shallow or “pick-up banks,” where the oysters are
commonly removed by hand. Some years ago this fishery was of much local
importance; but the developing scarcity of the oysters, and the present
low value of this grade of shell in Europe, due to the competition with
Mississippi shell, have resulted in a great reduction. In 1905, the
industry gave employment to 17 small boats and 42 men, of whom 18 were
Europeans, 13 Asiatics, and 11 aboriginal natives. The yield of pearls,
according to official report of the government of Western Australia,
approximated £2000 in value, and of pearl shell there was 88 tons, with
a declared value of £607. In 1896 the government of Western Australia
surveyed the Sharks Bay reefs, and opened them to preëmption in small
areas for cultivating this species of pearl-oyster. At present they are
mostly held under exclusive licenses for a period of fourteen years. The
business is under an elaborate system of regulations; but as appears
from the above figures the results have not been important.
Pearls are more numerous in this pearl-oyster than in the two other
Australian species. In removing them from the flesh, a modification of
the Ceylon process is adopted. The mollusks are opened by means of a
knife, and the contents of the shells are placed in vats or tubs—known
locally as “poogie tubs”; and, exposed to the hot sun, are allowed to
putrefy. Sea water is added, and the putrid mass stirred; after several
days the water and the thoroughly disintegrated flesh tissues are
decanted, leaving the pearls at the bottom. The odor from a number of
these “poogie tubs” is said to almost rival that of the “washing
toddies” at Marichchikadde.
The Sharks Bay pearls are commonly yellowish or straw-colored, and
sometimes have a beautiful golden tinge. Although obtained from small
shells, they are sometimes of considerable size—twenty grains or more in
weight, and fine specimens sell for several hundred dollars each. China
and India furnish better markets for them than Europe or America.
PEARL FISHERIES OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO
My thoughts arise and fade in solitude;
The verse that would invest them melts away
Like moonlight in the heaven of spreading day.
How beautiful they were, how firm they stood,
Flecking the starry sky like woven pearl.
SHELLEY, _My Thoughts_.
[Illustration:
Opening pearl-oysters and searching for pearls, off the coast of
Australia
]
[Illustration:
Grading, weighing, and packing mother-of-pearl, off the coast of
Australia
]
For nearly four hundred years, pearls and pearl shells have been the
most beautiful objects which have reached the outside world from the
many islands of the Malay Archipelago. On his visit to this part of the
world in 1520, Pigopitta, a companion of Magalhães, reported pearls
among the prized possessions of the natives. The fisheries have never
been of great importance, although the reefs are widely scattered
throughout the archipelago, and the possibilities seem favorable for
very great development. Thomas de Comyn stated a century ago, that pearl
fisheries had been undertaken “from time to time about Mindanao, Zebu,
and some of the smaller islands, but with little success and less
regularity, not because of a scarcity of fine pearls, but on account of
a lack of skill of the divers and their well-established dread of
sharks.”[264]
Giacinto Gemmi,[265] writing of Philippine pearls, repeats a strange
tale from the “Storia de Mindanao” by the Jesuit father, Combes, to the
effect that in a certain spot, under many fathoms of water, there was a
pearl of inestimable value, as large as an egg; but, although the king’s
ministers had made every effort to have it secured, they had always been
unsuccessful.
During the last thirty years, pearls and pearl shells have been secured
from most of the inshore waters of Malaysia, but the output has not been
so regular or so extensive as the conditions seem to warrant. Our
observation leads to the conviction that this is not due so much to lack
of skill on the part of the divers, or to their dread of sharks,
mentioned by Comyn; but to the fact that foreign capital, attracted to
this part of the world, has found more security and profit in developing
plantations, and the natives have not had sufficient enterprise to
systematize and develop the fishery resources.
Throughout Malaysia, including the Philippine Islands, the pearl is
known as _mutya_, _mootara_, or a similar name, closely resembling the
Sanskrit _mukta_ or the Cingalese _mootoo_, indicating the source of the
influence originating the fishery and trade.
The most widely-known pearl fisheries of Malaysia are in the Sulu
Archipelago, a group of islands comprising about 1000 square miles in
area, and containing a population of 100,000. The beautiful yellow
pearls shared with the many acts of piracy in attracting attention to
this group previous to 1878, when the islands were brought under the
influence of Spanish rule; and since the Spanish-American War, pearl
fishing has been the leading industry, though it has received less
attention from outside sources, perhaps, than has the existence of
slavery and harems as part of the social system.
Writing in 1820, John Crawfurd stated that the annual export of pearls
from Sulu Islands to China approximated 25,000 Spanish dollars in value,
and the mother-of-pearl similarly exported was worth 70,000 dollars.
“Considering the turbulent and piratical habits of the natives of the
Sulu group, it is certain that a greater share of skill and industry
than can at present be applied to the fisheries, would greatly enhance
the value and amount of their produce.”[266]
In the Sulu Archipelago, the pearl-oyster reefs exist from Sibǔtu Pass
to Basilan Strait, and roughly cover an estimated area of 15,000 square
miles; that is, in the most favorable localities throughout this area,
pearl-oysters occur to a greater or less extent. The fisheries are
prosecuted by Malays and Chinese, and are largely centered at Sulu.
Pearl-oysters occur about many other islands. They exist at Maimbun and
Parong; and also off the island of Tapul and its neighbor Lagos, both
southwest of Maimbun. In the channels among these islands, on the rocky
gravelly bottom where there is a good current, oysters are commonly
found. They also occur off Laminusa, northeast of Tawi-Tawi, at Cuyo
Island, and in the waters about Malampaya and Bacuit.
The large mother-of-pearl oyster (_Margaritifera maxima_) known locally
as _concha de nacr_, is by far the most abundant. When full-grown in
this region it is ordinarily between ten and thirteen inches in
diameter. The young oyster attaches itself to the bottom by means of the
green byssus; but after attaining a weight of one pound, it is too heavy
to be easily moved by the tide, and the ligature gradually disappears.
The Australian “black lip” (_Margaritifera margaritifera_), known here
as _concha de nagra_, is also found. In these waters it attains a
diameter of about eight inches, but most specimens are considerably
smaller.
There is another pearly shell in the Philippines, a spiral gasteropod
known locally as _caracoles_, which is ordinarily five or six inches in
diameter, and has a beautiful pearly surface. This yields very few
pearls; it is sought for pearl-button manufacture, selling for about the
same as the _concha de nagra_.
Streeter states that it is declared by the natives of the Sulu
Archipelago that pearls of a yellowish hue have been found in the pearly
nautilus (_Nautilus pompilius_), one of the group of cephalopodous
mollusks. As, however, there is a superstition that they bring ill luck,
the natives say that they throw them away, believing that any one who
should fight while wearing one of these pearls in a ring, would
certainly be killed. If we consider the habits and organism of this
remarkable animal, and the splendid nacreous coating of its shell, the
assertion that pearls are found in it seems quite natural. Indeed, the
occurrence of pearls in the pearly nautilus is generally recognized.
For many years the successive sultans of Sulu exercised authority over
the fisheries and—in addition to exacting certain percentages and
presents from the fishermen—claimed as their perquisites all pearls
exceeding a designated weight. The fisheries were prosecuted by nude
divers, of whom there were a large number. A Chinese company had been
particularly fortunate in its relations with the Sulus, and had an
extensive equipment in the fishery, consisting of a number of small
vessels, each carrying a crew of seven men, who used diving-suits. In
addition to these, some of the native Moros owned boats from which
diving-suits were employed.
Following the Spanish-American War and the transfer of the Philippine
Islands to America, several vessels proceeded to engage in the fisheries
without previously consulting the representatives of the Sultan of Sulu.
This called forth from that official an appeal to the American
authorities for protection in his claims. He gave an account of the
pearl fishery in this interesting document, which we quote at
length—through the courtesy of the American Bureau of Insular
Affairs—because of the light it throws, not only on the industry, but
also on the characteristics of these people with whom the American
government is now dealing.
STATEMENT MADE BY THE SULTAN OF SULU RELATIVE TO THE PEARL FISHERIES
(Forwarded by the Governor of Moro Province.)
[Translation.]
(SEAL of the SULTAN.)
No date.
I beg to inform my father, the civil governor, Major Scott, as you
want to know about the mother-of-pearl shell, why it is the right of
all Sulu people, above all my own right, this is the reason:
The forefathers of the Sulu people used to take the mother-of-pearl
shell from the downs because the mother-of-pearl shell belonged to
the downs, and they took them to eat the oyster with other food; of
the shell they made plates and saucers to put the food on, and the
pearls they used to make a hole through and put them on a string as
necklaces for their children. This was at a time when no other
nation had come to Sulu to buy the mother-of-pearl shell.
Later, a big boat, called the _Sampang_, wandered from China to
Sulu; there were on board many people, all Chinese; it was loaded
with merchandise. The people came ashore and saw the mother-of-pearl
shell which the Sulu people were carrying. The captain of the boat
said: “Have you many more of these things?” and the people answered,
“Plenty; this is what we take from the downs to eat with other
food.” The Captain said. “Gather me plenty. I will buy them from
you.” The people went and gathered them and bartered them for plates
and saucers. When all the shells from the downs were finished they
looked into the deep, and that is how they found the pearling
grounds, and the people noted them, and remembered them. This is
what they agreed upon; whoever finds pearling grounds they belong to
him from generation to generation. That is what they agreed upon.
That is the reason why the Sulu people have the right, and that they
came to make the dredge (_badja_) to get the mother-of-pearl shell
from the deep, because they can not see them.
Later Salips came from Mecca of the Arab nation; they came to Sulu
to convert the people into Mohammedans, as they had no religion. And
when the Sulu people, including the islanders, adopted the faith,
then they agreed to have a sultan and they elected Saripul Hassim to
be sultan. Saripul Hassim said: “I don’t want you to make me your
sultan if I do not know what the rights of the sultan are, and who I
have to govern over, because this is not my country, this is your
country.”
And this is how everybody agreed to accept him as sultan over Sulu
and all the islands; this is how he became Sultan and governed over
all, and this is how Saripul Hassim accepted to be the sultan of
Sulu, to have full power over land and sea, and the people’s rights,
where they got their living from on land and sea, were left to them,
because they were the means of their getting their livelihood.
But a law was made, if they found valuables in the sea, such as
pearls, tortoise shell, ambal or anything extraordinary, they have
to show it to the sultan, and if the pearls weigh six chuchuk or
over they become the share of the sultan; if they do not have that
weight, the people can do with them as they please and sell them. If
the sultan wants them, he will buy them according to custom. As to
tortoise shell, if they weigh two ketties, they go to the sultan,
and as to the ambal, whether it is much or little, it falls to the
sultan. Whoever finds it must take it to the sultan. Whoever of his
subjects violates this law as agreed upon, the sultan can punish him
as he pleases.
They accepted this law as agreed upon, to be carried out by them
(sultan and people), and their descendants, and not to be changed;
but they asked of the sultan not to let any other nation take a
share in this industry; it is enough for them; and the sultan agreed
to this because they did not know how to earn their living
otherwise. This is what the sultan and his subjects agreed to
because the Sulu had no other treasures on land beyond the
cultivation; the treasures came from the sea only, therefore other
people are forbidden because this is the property of all my
subjects, and especially my own.
Recently, in my time and in the Spanish time, there came to me
Captain Tiana; he wanted to dive for pearl shells. I said “I cannot
give you my consent at once because since our forefathers (sultan
and people) we have an agreement, I will confer with my people.” I
sent for the chiefs and the dattos and I told them about it, that
Captain Tiana came to me and asked to dive for pearl shells. They
said it cannot be done, because there is an agreement between our
forefathers that other nations cannot join in this industry of the
Sulu seas, because there is no other means of earning a living for
your subjects.
[Illustration:
Moro boats, used among the pearl islands of the Malay Archipelago
]
[Illustration:
Raft used for pearl fishing in the Malay Archipelago
]
I informed Captain Tiana of it. He said: “Allow me to dive for pearl
shells, I will give toll to you as sultan and I will also give toll
to the owners of the pearl grounds according to what we agree upon.”
So I informed all the owners of the pearling ground, and they said,
“If he is really in earnest to give toll to us owners of the ground
according to what we agree upon, if we don’t agree, we will not
allow him to fish.” Thereupon Captain Tiana and I went to the
Spanish governor to bear witness. The governor said: “All right;
anything you agree upon; I cannot change the law of the Moro people,
and I will not interfere.”
That is how I allowed Captain Tiana to fish, and I gave him a letter
of the truth according to agreement. Therefore if any person of
other nation wants to fish for mother-of-pearl shell, he will have
to do as Captain Tiana did, and ask me for a letter of truth, and if
he has no letter and does not pay toll to the owners of the ground,
and especially to me, he cannot dive, and if he violates this and if
anything befalls him, I am not responsible and do not want to be
held responsible, because the mother-of-pearl shells are like the
property in our boxes given to us by God. They do not go away from
the places where they are put, they are not like fish that go about.
Therefore, we forbid it. It is our heritage from our forefathers.
(Signed) HADJI MOHAMAD JAMAUL KIRAM,
Sultan of Sulu.
[SEAL OF THE SULTAN.]
Following these representations, the legislative council of the Moro
province, by authority of the Philippine Commission, interdicted all
fishing for pearl-oysters within three marine leagues of any land within
the territorial limits of the Moro province, without license first
obtained from the treasurer of the district within which the vessel
carries on the major part of its operations.[267] No license was to be
issued to any vessel not owned in the Philippine Islands or in the
United States, and not wholly owned by citizens of the United States, by
natives of the Philippine Islands, or by persons who have acquired the
political rights of natives,[268] except that foreign vessels which for
one year immediately preceding had actually engaged in pearl fishing
might secure license to continue therein for a period of five years
thereafter.
Licenses were of two kinds, according to the nature of the fishery. To
engage in fishing with the aid of diving-suits, the fee was five hundred
pesos annually, for each of the greatest number of divers beneath the
surface of the water at any one time. For fishing without submarine
armor, the fee was five pesos annually, for each of the greatest number
of nude divers to be employed by the vessel during any voyage, and the
same sum for each of the greatest number of dredges or rakes to be
employed beneath the surface at any one time; but this did not apply to
vessels under 15 tons, owned and operated wholly by native Moros, until
January 1, 1906.
It was also made unlawful to catch or to have in one’s possession within
the Moro province “any pearl shell or any bivalvular or lateral plate,
or any pearl shell of less than 4½ inches in diameter, measured with a
flat, rigid measuring rod along the line of the ligament which joins one
binocular or lateral plate to the other at the hinge, unless the lateral
plate of such shell be more than 7 inches in diameter measured with a
flat, rigid measuring rod from the outer edge of the horny lips to the
center of the hinge, the rod being so placed as to form a right angle
with the line of the hinge.”[269]
According to a report furnished by the Mining Bureau at Manila, there
were seven vessels fishing with diving-suits in the Sulu Archipelago in
1905, each representing an investment of about 6000 pesos. In 1906 there
were ten vessels engaged in this industry, and the collection on
licenses for that fiscal year amounted to 3375 pesos. These vessels are
mostly small Moro craft which cannot venture upon distant cruises in the
archipelago for prospecting purposes, and their operations are confined
for the most part to the immediate vicinity of Jolo. Each vessel carries
one diver, a tender, a cook, and four sailors. In addition to food
supplies, the sailors and the cook each receive twelve to fifteen pesos
per month, the tender thirty to forty pesos per month, and the diver the
same amount and in addition thereto a bonus of twenty cents for each
shell secured. Near Jolo the vessels work throughout the year, but
farther north very little fishing is done from December to April, when
monsoons prevail. The man in charge of each vessel is obliged by law to
keep an accurate record of the number and weight of shells found, and
his figures are checked up by a customs official at either Jolo or
Zamboanga, the ports of discharge.
To enable them to secure pearl-oysters at depths of from twenty to forty
fathoms, the Sulus have long made use of a dredge (_badja_) peculiarly
constructed of native materials, and admirably adapted to the purpose.
This consists of five or more long wooden teeth slightly curved and
spreading outward, with an expanse at the ends of twenty inches or more.
The dredge is properly balanced by two stones, and a bridle rope is so
attached to it that, when thrown overboard and towed behind a canoe
drifting with the current or the wind, the implement rests on the curve
of the teeth, which are in almost a horizontal position. As the teeth
enter the gaping shell of an oyster lying on the bottom, the animal
instantly closes tightly on the intruder and effects its own capture.
The principle is similar to that of the “crowfoot” dredge of the
Mississippi River, although the design of the implement is radically
different. A second rope is attached so as to raise and lower the
implement and to detach it from corals, rocks, and other objects against
which it may catch in its course on the bottom. This dredge is designed
for very deep areas, where the bottom is relatively smooth.
The Moros employ yet another method of fishing, using a _magtung-tung_
or three-pronged catcher, which is let down by a rattan rope and by
means of which individual shells sighted from the surface are obtained.
When the water is perfectly clear this implement can be operated where
the depth is fifteen or eighteen fathoms, but its use is impractical
where the water is clouded or there is even a slight ripple on the
surface.
However, the bulk of the catch is made by the nude divers, of which
there are hundreds at Maimbun, Tapul, Lugus and elsewhere. In their
small boats these Moro fishermen visit the reefs, where the boats are
anchored. Provided only with a short, heavy knife, with which to release
the shells from the bottom or, perchance, as a weapon of defense against
sharks and other fish, they enter the water feet first, but soon turn
and descend head downward, precisely as on the Australian coast,
swimming toward the bottom with bold strokes. The Sulu pearl-divers—and
especially those at Parang, Patian and Sicubun—are among the most expert
in the world. They easily penetrate to twelve fathoms and, if necessary,
to eighteen or twenty fathoms. But they are not very industrious, and
seldom descend more than twelve or fifteen times a day, preferring
rather to go with their wants half satisfied than to satiate them by
more active exertions.
Many descents may be necessary to locate and obtain a single oyster, but
when this is secured the shell alone may ordinarily be traded for
sufficient to supply the fisherman’s needs for several days, and there
is always the chance of a pearl. After a short day of labor, the
fishermen return, and the oysters which they have secured are opened and
examined for pearls. After the flesh has been carefully searched it is
placed in the sun to dry and, later, to be used for food, and the shells
are carefully cleaned and placed under cover until they may be bartered
or sold.
The Sulu shell is characterized by a peculiar yellowish tint around the
rim, by means of which it is readily distinguished. Its size and
beautiful iridescence make it very attractive, and for choice individual
specimens high prices are received. It is the largest of the
mother-of-pearl shells, single half-shells of “bold” size average one
and one half pounds in weight, while some attain a weight of six pounds.
The body of the shell furnishes the most beautiful of all
mother-of-pearl, yet the necessity for discarding the yellow rim, or,
rather, for using it separate from the rest, makes it unpopular with
manufacturers. The annual product is estimated at 200 tons, valued in
London and New York at $200,000, and of pearls about $30,000 worth.
The Sulu pearls are frequently large and of choice quality, but they are
far more inclined to a yellowish tint than those from Australian waters,
1300 miles southward. The sultans accumulated the finest collection of
them, and some of these found their way into the markets from time to
time as the condition of the exchequer ran low or royal emergency
required, as in 1882, for instance, when it was necessary to defray the
expense of Sultan Buderoodin’s pilgrimage to Mecca. During the last six
or seven years, much has been heard of the present sultan’s collection,
which he largely inherited, and some fairly good specimens have been
presented to prominent Americans.
Pearl-oysters are among the important resources of the inshore waters of
the Dutch East Indies, including the surrounding seas of Sumatra, Java,
Borneo, Celebes, the Aru Islands, the Moluccas or Spice Islands, and
Papua or New Guinea. For very many years the natives have gathered pearl
shell and pearls from these waters, and especially on the coast of the
Aru Islands, at Gilolo or Halmahera, and the islands thereabout, on the
east coast of Celebes, and about the Sunda group. The collections were
made in the shallow waters by beach-combing and by nude diving, and were
bartered with the Chinese and Arab traders sailing from Singapore,
Macassar, and other ports. Occasionally a pearling vessel from Singapore
or from Torres Straits would try its luck in these waters; but, except
for the work of the natives, the reefs were practically untouched
previous to 1883.
As the Australian fleet increased in size and the oysters became scarce
in Torres Straits and on the northwest coast, some of the vessels
occasionally visited the Aru Islands, the coast of Papua, etc. These met
with considerable success and the number of trips increased, especially
in 1893, when oysters were unusually scarce in Australia.
The following year, 1894, the government restricted the fishery to
inhabitants of the Netherlands and of Netherlands India, or to companies
established in those countries and operating under the Dutch flag. Owing
to the activity of Dutch capital in coffee, tobacco and other plantation
enterprises, the pearl resources received very little attention from
them. The success of the Australian fishery encouraged the formation in
1896 of an Amsterdam company to exploit the Aru grounds; but apparently
without financial success, for it liquidated in 1898.
[Illustration:
Pearling village, with youthful fishermen. Sulu Islands
]
[Illustration:
Japanese diver in Dutch East Indies, come up to “blow” for a few
minutes
]
In the meantime, residents of these islands paid more and more attention
to the pearl fishery; also Europeans, Chinamen and Arabs arranged with
the native chiefs for fishing in their territorial waters, paying
therefor a fixed sum in cash or a percentage of the catch, which was
permitted on approval by the governor-general of Dutch India. The fleet
continued to increase from year to year, and in 1905 there was a very
large influx of vessels from the Australian fisheries, 110 luggers and 7
tenders coming from Thursday Island alone.
The species are the same as occur on the northern coast of Australia,
the “silver edge” or “golden lip” (_Margaritifera maxima_) occurring in
greatest abundance, and the “black lip” (_M. margaritifera_) to a less
extent.
The shells are the principal object of the search, and the pearls found
incidentally form an additional source of revenue. These shells divide
with those of Australia the reputation of being the most valuable in the
world. They are commonly known in the trade by the name of the port from
which they are originally shipped, as Manila, Macassar, Banda, Ceram,
Penang, Mergui, etc. Before the exploitation of the Australian grounds,
they sold at very high prices, and $2000 or more per ton was sometimes
realized for those of the best quality. Singapore is the headquarters
for supplies for the industry in all this region, and it is from that
port that the shells and pearls are mostly distributed.
The pearls obtained in Netherlands India are of choice quality and of
relatively large size, a considerable percentage of them weighing over
eight grains, and fairly good pearls of fifty grains or more are
occasionally reported. Colored pearls are rarely met with, nearly all of
them being clear white, like the beautiful Macassar shell.
At Pados Bay, island of Borneo, one hundred or more persons find
employment fishing the Placuna oysters, selling the shells for about $2
per picul (139 pounds to the picul), the dried meats at $4 to $6 a
picul, and the seed-pearls (_seleesip_) at about $2 per mayam. Many of
these pearls are sold in the village of Batu Batu. When a fisherman buys
his few necessaries at the Chinese shops, he pulls out his little
package of seed-pearls and pays in that currency, the Chinaman making a
good profit by the transaction.
X
AMERICAN PEARLS
VENEZUELA, PANAMA, MEXICO, AMERICAN FRESH WATERS, MISCELLANEOUS
X
PEARL FISHERIES OF VENEZUELA
When I discovered the Indies, I said that they composed the richest
country in the world. I spake of gold and pearls and precious
stones, and the traffic that might be carried on in them.
Extract from Columbus’s Fourth Letter.
The Caribbean Sea furnishes one of the most interesting chapters in the
history of the pearl fisheries. In no region of the world have these
resources caused more rapid exploitation or affected the inhabitants to
a greater extent than on the shores of Venezuela.
Before the discovery of America, the natives of this region collected
pearls from the mollusks which they opened for food in times of
necessity, and also sought them for ornamental purposes. And although
they had large collections which they used for personal ornamentation
and for decorating their temples, it does not appear that they prized
them extravagantly, readily bartering them for small returns.
In Columbus’s account of his third and fourth voyages to America, he
repeatedly refers to pearls. On the third voyage, in 1498, after passing
the mouth of the Orinoco River, he entered the Gulf of Paria, where the
natives “came to the ship in their canoes in countless numbers, many of
them wearing pieces of gold on their breasts, and some with bracelets of
pearls on their arms; seeing this I was much delighted and made many
inquiries with the view of learning where they found them. They replied
that they were to be procured in their own neighborhood and also at a
spot to the northward of that place. I would have remained here, but the
provisions of corn, and wine, and meats, which I had brought out with so
much care for the people whom I had left behind, were nearly wasted, so
that all my anxiety was to get them into a place of safety, and not to
stop for anything. I wished, however, to get some of the pearls that I
had seen, and with that view sent the boats on shore. I inquired there
also where the pearls were obtained. And they likewise directed me to
the westward and also to the north behind the country they occupied. I
did not put this information to the test, on account of the provisions
and the weakness of my eyes and because the ship was not calculated for
such an undertaking.”
In his letter to one of the queen’s attendants, written in 1500,
Columbus says, in justification of his conduct toward his miserable
detractors: “I believed that the voyage to Paria would in some degree
pacify them because of the pearls and the discovery of gold in the
island of Española. I left orders for the people to fish for pearls, and
called them together and made an agreement that I should return for
them, and I was given to understand that the supply would be abundant.”
And again in the same letter, after speaking of a quantity of gold which
mysteriously disappeared when Governor Bobadilla sent him and his
brothers loaded with chains to Spain, he says: “I have been yet more
concerned respecting the affair of the pearls, that I have not brought
them to their Majesties.... Already the road is opened to gold and
pearls, and it may surely be hoped that precious stones, spices, and a
thousand other things will also be found.”
A more detailed account of Columbus’s pearling adventures, and of the
subsequent discoveries and explorations on the Caribbean coast is given
by Francisco Lopez de Gomara in his “Historia general de las Indias,”
published in 1554, of which the following is a literal translation
slightly abridged:
Since there are pearls on more than four hundred leagues of this
coast between Cape Vela and the Gulf of Paria, before we proceed
farther it is proper to say who discovered them. In the third voyage
made by Christopher Columbus to the Indies, in 1498, having reached
the island of Cubagua, which he called “Isle of Pearls,” he sent a
boat with certain sailors to seize a boat of fishermen, to learn
what people they were and for what they were fishing. The sailors
reached the shore where the Indians had landed and were watching. A
sailor broke a dish of Malaga ware and went to trade with them and
to look at their catch, because he saw a woman with a string of
rough pearls (_aljofar_) on her neck. He made an exchange of the
plate for some strings of rough pearls, white and large, with which
the sailors returned highly delighted to the ships. To assure
himself better, Columbus ordered others to go with buttons, needles,
scissors, and fragments of the same Valencian earthenware, since
they seemed to prize it. These sailors went and brought back more
than six marcs (forty-eight ounces) of rough pearls, large and
small, with many good pearls among them. Said Columbus then to the
Spaniards: “We are in the richest country of the world. Let us give
thanks to the Lord.” They wondered at seeing all those rough pearls
so large, for they had never seen so many, and could not contain
their delight. They understood that the Indians did not care much
for the small ones, either because they had plenty of large ones, or
because they did not know how to pierce them.
Columbus left the island and approached the land, where many people
had collected along the shore, to see if they also had pearls. The
shore was covered with men, women, and children, who came to look at
the ships, a strange thing for them. Many Indians presently visited
the ships, went on board and stood amazed at the dress, swords, and
beards of the Spaniards, and the cannon, tackle, and arms of the
ship. Our people crossed themselves, and were delighted to see that
all those Indians wore pearls on their necks and wrists. Columbus
asked by signs where they fished them, and they pointed to the coast
and island.
[Illustration:
Venezuela and Panama; the principal pearling regions of South
America
]
Columbus then sent to the shore two boats with many Spaniards, for
greater certainty of those new riches, and because they importuned
him. The chief took them to a place where there was a circular
building that resembled a temple, where presently much bread and
fruits of different kinds were brought. At the end of the feast he
gave them pearls for sweetmeats, and took them afterward to the
palace to see the women and the arrangement of the house. Of the
numerous women there, not one was without rings of gold and
necklaces of pearls. The Spaniards returned to the ships, wandering
at such pearls and gold, and requested Columbus to leave them there.
But he did not wish to do so, saying they were too few to settle. He
hoisted sail and ran along the coast as far as Cape Vela, and from
there came to Santo Domingo, with the intention of returning to
Cubagua after regulating the affairs of the government. He
suppressed the joy he felt at having found such treasures, and did
not write to the king regarding the discovery of pearls, or at all
events did not write it until it was already known in Castile. This
was largely the cause for the anger of the king, and the order to
bring Columbus a prisoner to Spain. They say that he did not so much
intend to conceal this discovery from the king, who has many eyes,
as that he thought by a new agreement to get this rich island for
himself.
Of the sailors who went with Christopher Columbus when he found the
pearls, the greater number were from Palos. As soon as these came to
Spain, they told about the country of pearls, displayed many, and
carried them to Seville to sell, whence they went to the court and
into the palace. Excited by this report, some persons there
hurriedly prepared a ship and made Pedro Alonso Niño its captain. He
had from the Catholic king license to go in search of pearls and
land, provided he should not go within fifty leagues of any
discovered by Columbus.
Niño embarked in August, 1499, with thirty-three companions, some of
whom had been with Columbus. He sailed as far as Paria, visited the
coast of Cumana, Maracapan, Port Plechado, and Curiana, which lies
united to Venezuela. There he landed, and a chief, who came to the
coast with fifty Indians, conducted him amicably to a large town to
take water, refreshments, and the barter he was in search of. He
bartered for and secured fifteen ounces of pearls in exchange for
pins, rings of horn and tin, glass beads, small bells, and similar
trifles. The Spaniards stayed in the town twenty days, trading for
pearls. The natives gave a pigeon for a needle, a turtledove for one
glass bead, a pheasant for two, and a turkey for four. For that
price they also gave rabbits and quarters of deer. The Indians asked
to be shown the use of needles, since they went naked and could not
sew, and were told to extract the thorns with them, for they went
barefooted: Niño brought to Galicia ninety-six pounds of rough
pearls, among which were many fine, round, lustrous ones of five and
six carats, and some of more. But they were not well pierced, which
was a great fault. On the route a quarrel arose over the division,
and certain sailors accused Niño before the governor in Galicia,
saying that he had stolen many pearls and cheated the king in his
fifth, and traded in Cumana and other places where Columbus had
been. The governor seized Niño, but did not keep him in prison very
long, where he consumed pearls enough.[270]
[Illustration:
GRAY PEARLS FROM LOWER CALIFORNIA, AND DIAMONDS
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
]
This expedition of Pedro Alonso Niño was the first financially
profitable voyage to America. After his return, the Cubagua pearl
fishery became the object of numerous speculations, and many other
Spaniards fitted out voyages, most of them sailing from Hispaniola or
Haiti, nine hundred miles distant. Owing to the ill-treatment of the
Indians and excessive cruelties toward them, much difficulty was
experienced in securing divers. This was relieved in 1508 by
transporting large numbers of Indians from the Lucayan or Bahama Islands
and impressing them into the service. These were so expert in the work
that individuals sold for upward of 150 ducats each.[271] With their aid
the fishery prospered so greatly that in 1515 a settlement, called New
Cadiz, was established on Cubagua Island by the governor of Hispaniola,
Diego Columbus, son of the discoverer. This small island was dry and
desolate, without water or wood, which were brought from the mainland
twenty miles distant, or from Margarita Island about three miles to the
northward.
An interesting description of the manner of securing the pearls by these
early adventurers was given by Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes
(1478–1557) in his “Historia natural y general de las Indias,” written
less than thirty years after the discovery of the mainland of America. A
translation of this book was published in 1555 by Richard Eden in his
“Decades of the New World”; from which we extract the following account,
the retention of Eden’s quaint phraseology seeming permissible owing to
this being one of the very earliest books on America.
_Of the maner of fyshynge for perles_
The Indians exercise this kynde of fyschynge for the moste parte in
the coastes of the North in _Cubagua_ and _Cumana_. And manye of
theym which dwell in the houses of certeyne particular lordes in the
Ilandes of _San Dominico_ and _Sancti Iohannis_, resort to the
Ilande of _Cubagua_ for this purpose. Theyr custome is to go fyve,
syxe, or seven, or more in one of theyr _Canoas_ or barkes erly in
the mornynge to sume place in the sea there about where it appeareth
unto them that there shulde bee greate plentie of those shell fyshes
(which sume caule muscles and sume oysters) wherein perles are
engendered. And there they plonge them selves under the water, even
unto the bottome, savynge one that remaynethe in the Canoa or boate
which he keepeth styll in one place as neare as he can, lookynge for
theyr returne owte of the water. And when one of them hath byn a
good whyle under the water, he ryseth up and commeth swymmynge to
the boate, enterynge into the same, and leavynge there all the
oysters whiche he hath taken and brought with hym. For in these, are
the perles founde. And when he hathe there rested hym selfe a whyle,
and eaten parte of the oysters, he returneth ageyne to the water,
where he remaynethe as longe as he can endure, and then ryseth
ageyne, and swimmeth to the boate with his pray, where he resteth
hym as before, and thus continueth course by course, as doo all the
other in lyke maner, being all moste experte swymmers and dyvers.
And when the nyght draweth neare, they returne to the Ilande to
theyr houses, and presente all the oysters to the master or stewarde
of the house of theyr lorde who hath charge of the sayde Indians.
And when he hath gyven them sumwhat to eate, he layeth up the
oysters in safe custodie untyll he have a great quantitie thereof.
Then hee causeth the same fyssher men to open them. And they fynde
in every of them pearles other great or smaul, two or three or
foure, and sumtymes five and syxe, and many smaule graines accordyng
to the lyberalitie of nature. They save the pearles bothe smaule and
great whiche they have founde: And eyther eate the oysters if they
wyl, or caste them away, havynge so great quantitie thereof that
they in maner abhorre them. Those oysters are of hard fleshe, and
not so pleasant in eatyng as are owres of Spayne. This Ilande of
_Cubagua_ where this manner of fysching is exercised, is in the
Northe coaste, and is no bygger then the Iland of Zelande.
Oftentymes the sea encreaseth greatly, and muche more then the
fyshers for pearles wold, bycause where as the place is very depe, a
man can not naturally rest at the bottome by reason of the
aboundaunce of aery substannce whiche is in hym, as I have
oftentymes proved. For althoughe he may by vyolence and force
descende to the bottome, yet are his feete lyfted up ageyne so that
he can continue no tyme there. And therefore where the sea is verye
deepe, these Indian fyshers use to tye two great stoones aboute them
with a corde, on every side one, by the weyght whereof they descend
to the bottome and remayne there untyl them lysteth to ryse ageine:
At which tyme they unlose the stones, and ryse uppe at their
pleasure. But this their aptenesse and agilitie in swimming, is not
the thynge that causeth men moste to marvaile: But rather to
consyder how many of them can stande in the bottome of the water for
the space of one hole houre and summe more or lesse, accordynge as
one is more apte hereunto then an other. An other thynge there is
whiche seemeth to me very straunge. And this is, that where as I
have oftentymes demaunded of summe of these lordes of the Indians,
if the place where they accustomed to fysche for pearles beynge but
lyttle and narrowe wyll not in shorte tyme bee utterly without
oysters if they consume them so faste, they al answered me, that
although they be consumed in one parte, yet if they go a fyschynge
in an other parte or on another coaste of the Ilande, or at an other
contrary wynd, and continue fysshing there also untyll the oysters
be lykewyse consumed, and then returne ageyne to the fyrste place,
or any other place where they fysshed before and emptied the same in
lyke maner, they find them ageine as ful of oysters as though they
had never bin fysshed. Wherby we may judge that these oysters eyther
remove from one place to an other as do other fysshes, or elles that
they are engendered and encrease in certeyne ordinaire places. This
Iland of _Cumana_ and _Cubagua_ where they fyshe for these perles,
is in the twelfe degree of the part of the said coaste which
inclineth toward the North.
The cupidity of the proprietors of the fishery led to most cruel
treatment of the divers and, if the accounts of the time are to be
relied upon, a large percentage of them died under the harsh regime.
About 1515 the unfortunate natives obtained an earnest and influential
advocate in Bartolomé de las Casas, who, in 1516, prevailed upon the
youthful Charles V to decree that the fishery should be prosecuted only
in summer, that the divers should not be required to work more than four
hours a day where the depth exceeded six fathoms, that they should
receive good nourishment and half a quart of wine daily, should have
hammocks or beds in which to sleep, and should be provided with clothes
to put on as soon as they left the water.[272] And by later ordinances
it was stipulated that death should be inflicted on any one forcing a
free Indian to dive for pearls.
In 1528 the resources of Coche Island were exploited with so much
success that within six months “1500 marcs (12,000 ounces) of pearls”
were secured. Pearl banks were successively found at Porlamar,
Maracapana, Curiano, and at various places on the coast from the Gulf of
Paria to the Gulf of Coro, a distance of over five hundred miles, which
became designated the “Pearl Coast.” For a number of years previous to
1530, the output exceeded in value 800,000 piastres annually,
approximating one half the produce of the American mines at that
time.[273] It was largely these pearls that enriched the cargoes of many
of those famous caravels that crossed the Atlantic to Spain. Indeed, for
several decades, America was best known in continental Europe as the
land whence the pearls came.
An interesting account of an early effort to use dredges in the Cubagua
pearl fishery was given by Girolamo Benzoni, who had lived in America
from 1542 to 1555, and was familiar with the conditions. He states:
“At the time the pearl fishery flourished on this island there came
here one Louis de Lampugnan with an imperial license authorizing him
to fish such quantities of pearls as he pleased within all the
limits and bounds of Cubagua. This man set out from Spain with four
caravels loaded with all the necessary provisions and munitions for
such an enterprise, which some Spanish merchants furnished him. He
had made a kind of rake, the fashion of which was such that in
whatever part of the sea it was used, not an oyster would escape. At
the same time he would have raked and drawn out all that bore pearls
if he had not been disappointed. But the Spaniards in Cubagua all
banded against him in the execution of his privilege. They said the
emperor was too liberal with other people’s goods, and if he wished
to give he might give his own as he wished. As for themselves they
had conquered and kept that country with great labor and at the
peril of their lives, and there were far better reasons why they
should enjoy it than a stranger. Poor Lampugnan, seeing that his
patents did not avail him the value of a straw, and at the same time
not daring to return to Spain, partly through fear of being
ridiculed and partly on account of the money he owed, was ruined. In
fact, the business and its anxieties drove him crazy and he was
exposed to the mockery of all the world as a lunatic. In the end,
after dragging out five years in this miserable condition, he died
in this isle of Cubagua.”[274]
The average size of these pearls derived from the Venezuelan fisheries
was small, specimens rarely exceeding twenty grains. In 1577, Urbain
Chauveton wrote: “The pearls of Cubagua are mostly 2, 3, 4, and 5
carats. But the quantity of them is so great that the fifth part which
is paid to the king of Spain yields every year the value of more than
15,000 ducats; this besides the frauds committed and the pearls which
stick to the fingers of those who manage the business, and who pilfer
the most beautiful in great numbers, sending them here and there for
sale. They place themselves in great danger if the facts become known,
but they do it all the same.”[275]
The enormous demands made by the Spaniards soon had its effect on the
resources, for Chauveton adds: “It is apparent they decrease and not so
many are found as in the beginning. The reason for this is that the
Spaniards are so eager to gather large quantities of them quickly that
they are not content to use their divers to search for them in the
depths of the sea, but they have conceived and invented I know not how
many machines of rakes and drags to scrape up everything. In fact they
have at times collected them all so that another could not be found, and
have had to abandon their fishing for a considerable time to give the
oysters a chance to lay their eggs and grow their pearls.”[276]
The decrease noted by Chauveton was probably not very serious, for the
Spanish historian, Jose de Acosta, reports that in 1581 he saw “the note
of what came from the Indies for the king; there were 18 marcs of
pearles, besides 3 caskets; and for private persons there were 1265
marcs, and besides them, 7 caskets not pierced, which heretofore we
would have esteemed and helde for a lie.”[277] Also the records show
that in 1597 Spain received from the Venezuelan fisheries “350 pounds’
weight of pearls.” It is to be regretted that the Spaniards so
frequently reported the yield of pearls by pounds’ weight, for—owing to
the great variation in quality—this is about as unsatisfactory as to
report the wealth of an individual by the pounds’ weight of his
title-deeds or of his stock certificates. The value of “350 pounds of
pearls” might have been anywhere from twenty thousand dollars to as many
millions. Assuming that all were two grains each in weight and of good
quality, the total value would approximate $600,000 according to the
valuation of that period; and on a basis of eight grains each, it would
be $9,600,000, or sixteen times as much. But as original parcels of
pearls from the fisheries, these figures should be divided by three.
Following 1597, the productiveness of the Cubagua beds rapidly
decreased. By acts of cruelty and oppression the Spaniards had converted
the surviving Indians into deadly foes, ready to take advantage of any
opportunity to avenge themselves on their oppressors, and thus
terrifying the settlers into abandoning the enterprise. Early in the
seventeenth century the development of mining resources in Mexico, Peru,
etc., attracted the adventurous Spaniards. A considerable decrease in
the value of pearls, brought about by the skilful manufacture of
imitations at Venice, and elsewhere in southern Europe, also affected
the prosperity of the fisheries. As a result of these combined
influences, the output in Venezuela was greatly reduced, and it ceased
long before the close of the following century. Thus ended an enterprise
which, for a number of years, represented the greatest single industry
of the European people on the American continent.
According to General Manuel Laudecta Rosales, the Venezuela archives
contain no reference to any renewal of the fishery until early in the
nineteenth century. At the time of Humboldt’s visit in 1799, the fishery
was entirely neglected around the islands of Margarita, Cubagua, and
Coche, and the only evidence of pearls was a few very insignificant ones
picked up about Cumana and sold among the natives at a piaster per
dozen.[278]
After the overthrow of Spanish authority on this coast, Messrs. Rundell,
Bridge and Rundell, a firm of well-known goldsmiths of London, obtained,
in 1823, from the government of Colombia, a ten-year monopoly of the
fishery at several places on the coast of the new republic, in
consideration of one fifth of the pearls secured.[279] After the
independence of Venezuela in 1829, the taxes imposed were so heavy that
the industry languished, and about 1833 it was practically abandoned.
Owing to the improved physical condition of the reefs, the fishery
developed largely in 1845; and for several years an average of 1600
ounces of pearls were secured, an ounce of good quality selling for 150
to 500 bolivars (one bolivar = 19½ cents), and the inferior quality at
80 to 100 bolivars.[280] At that time there was a tax of sixteen
bolivars per boat monthly. In 1853 this was increased to forty-eight
bolivars per boat, and the use of dredges (_arrastras_) was interdicted,
soon reducing the fishery to a very low stage. Subjected to frequent
changes in regulations, and burdened by heavy taxes, the industry
remained in poor condition until about 1895. Since then the enhanced
value of pearls, and the increased industrial activity on the coast, has
resulted in a very large development of the fishery.
In recent years the government of Venezuela has granted concessions to
individuals and to companies for the exploitation of defined areas for a
limited period, exacting 10 per cent. royalty on the proceeds of the
enterprise. In granting these concessions, the government usually
reserves the right to examine the books, and to intervene when necessary
in any phase of the enterprise. For protecting its revenue, the
government requires that shipments of the pearls must be signed by its
agent, and bills of sale must be countersigned by the Venezuelan consul
in the place where the sales are consummated.
The Venezuelan pearl fishery now gives employment to about 350 boats,
manned by five or six men each, sailing from the ports of Juan Griego,
Cumana, and Carupano. These are sail craft, measuring from two to
fifteen tons each, and are licensed by the Venezuelan authorities at a
charge of 15 bolivars ($2.92) each. Most of the boats use dredges, but
some of them resort to nude diving, after the manner of the sixteenth
century. Attempts have been made to use the scaphander, or diving armor,
but without success, owing largely to the difficulty in obtaining
experienced workmen, and also to local prejudice against this form of
fishery. It is claimed that in using the scaphander, all oysters are
removed from the reefs, whereas the _arrastra_ or dredge spreads the
oysters and thereby enlarges the reefs. This is the principal and,
except those at Sharks Bay and the Sulu Islands, the only important
pearl fishery in which the oysters are secured by means of dredges.
These are made of iron and are similar to those implements used in the
scallop fisheries of New York and Rhode Island. They are dragged over
the beds, and when filled are lifted and their contents emptied into the
boat, the fishermen culling out the desirable oysters from the mass and
throwing the refuse material overboard.
The pearl-oyster (_Margaritifera radiata_) secured on the coast of
Venezuela is closely related to the Ceylon species. It averages slightly
larger in size, and there is a much greater range in coloration. The
pearls are of good quality. In color they range from white to bronze,
and occasionally a so-called black one is found. The total output is
valued locally at about 1,750,000 francs ($350,000) per year. Most of
them are sold in Paris.
Owing to their small size and lack of thickness, the shells of the
Venezuela pearl-oyster are of little or no value in the mother-of-pearl
trade. Thousands of tons of them, the accumulations of scores of
fisheries, lie in heaps and ridges along the coast, as though in years
long past vast armies of oysters, engaged in deadly combat, had left
their innumerable myriads of slain comrades to bleach on the shores.
THE PANAMA PEARL FISHERIES
The bordring Ilands, seated here in ken,
Whose Shores are sprinkled with rich Orient Pearle,
More bright of hew than were the Margarets
That Caesar found in wealthy Albion.
ROBERT GREENE, _Orlando Furioso_ (1594).
From the point of view of the Spaniards of his day, the greatest result
of Balboa’s immortal journey in 1513 across the Isthmus of Panama to the
broad waters of the Pacific, was the discovery of the pearl resources of
the Gulf of St. Michael, now known as the Gulf of Panama. Probably the
best description of this is given by Lopez de Gomara in his “Historia
general de las Indias,” published in 1554, from which we translate the
following account.
After Balboa had reached the Pacific in 1513, he proceeded a short
distance along the coast until he met with an Indian chief by the name
of Tomaco. Being questioned about the gold and pearls which some of his
people wore, Tomaco sent for some gold and 240 large pearls and a great
number of small ones—a rich present, which filled the Spaniards with
pleasure. Seeing the Spaniards so delighted, Tomaco ordered some of his
men to go and fish for pearls. These went and in a few days obtained 64
ounces, which also he gave them. The Spaniards were surprised to see
such pearls, and that their owners did not value them; they not only
gave them away, but their paddles were decorated therewith, for the
principal income and wealth of these chiefs was the pearl fishery.
Tomaco told Balboa that these riches were nothing in comparison with
those of Tararequi, which had pearls larger than a man’s eye, taken from
oysters the size of sombreros. The Spaniards wished to go there at once,
but fearing another tempest, left it for their return. They dismissed
Tomaco and rested in the country of Chiape, who, at the request of
Balboa, sent thirty of his men to fish. These did it in the presence of
seven Spaniards, who looked on and saw them take six loads of small
shells. As it was not the season for that fishery, they did not go into
very deep water where the shells were. Not only did they not fish in
September and the following months, but they did not even travel by
water, on account of the stormy weather which then prevails in that sea.
The pearls which they extracted from those shells were like peas, but
very fine and white. Of those received from Tomaco, some were black,
others green, blue, and yellow.
On the return of Balboa’s expedition to Darien in 1514, the sight of the
pearls and the wonderful reports made by the men, caused his successor,
Pedrarias, to fit out another expedition, an account of which we
likewise translate from Gomara.
By command of Pedrarias, Gaspar de Morales went in the year 1515 to
the Gulf of St. Michael, with 550 Spaniards, in quest of the island
of Tararequi, which was said by Balboa’s men to be so abundant in
pearls and so near the coast. The chief of that island sallied forth
with many people to prevent his entrance, and clamored and fought
three times with our people on equal terms, but the fourth time he
was defeated. He then made friends, carried the chief of the
Spaniards to his house, which was a large and good one, gave him
food to eat, and a basket of pearls which weighed 110 marcs [880
ounces]. The chief received for them some looking-glasses, stringed
beads, bells, scissors, axes, and small wares of barter, which he
valued more than he had the pearls. He promised to give as tribute
to the emperor, in whose guardianship he placed himself, 100 marcs
of pearls every year. With these the Spaniards returned to the Gulf
of St. Michael and from thence to Darien.
Tararequi is within five degrees of the equator. It possessed a
great fishery for pearls, which are the largest and best of the new
world. Many of the pearls which the cacique gave were like filberts,
others like nutmegs, and there was one of 26 and another of 31
carats, pear-shaped, very lustrous, and most perfect, which Peter of
the Port, a shop-keeper, bought of Gaspar de Morales for 12,000
castilians. The purchaser could not sleep that night for thinking on
the fact that he had given so much money for one stone, and so he
sold it the very next day to Pedrarias de Avila, for his wife Donna
Isabel de Bovadilla, at the same price, and afterwards the Bovadilla
sold it to Donna Isabella the Empress.
Pedrarias, who delighted in such fishery, requested the cacique to
make his men fish for pearls in the presence of the Spaniards. The
fishermen were great swimmers and divers, and seemed to have spent
all their lives in that employment. They went in small boats when
the sea was calm, and not in any other manner. They cast a stone for
an anchor from each canoe, tied by strong, flexible withes like
boughs of the hazel. They plunged to search for oysters each with a
sack or bag at the neck, and returned loaded with them. They entered
four, six, and even ten fathoms of water, for the shell is larger
the deeper they go, and if at times the larger ones come in shallow
water it is through storms, or because they go from one place to
another in search for food, and having found their pasture they stay
there until they have finished it. They perceive those who search
for them, and stick so close to the rocks or ground, or one to
another, that much strength is needed to detach them, and many times
the fishermen cannot raise them and leave them, thinking they are
stones. In this fishery many persons are drowned, either by
remaining too long at the bottom, or because they become entwined or
entangled in the cord, or such carnivorous fish as the shark devour
them. This is the manner of fishing pearls in all the Indies, and
many fishermen die from the dangers aforesaid, and from the
excessive and constant labor, the little food, and the maltreatment
they have. The emperor was led to enact a law among those whom
Blasco Nunez Vela brought, which imposed the penalty of death upon
him who should forcibly compel any free Indian to fish for pearls.
He thought more of the lives of the men than of his interest in
pearls, though they were of great value. The law was worthy of such
a prince and of perpetual memory.[281]
[Illustration:
CLARA EUGENIA, DAUGHTER OF PHILIP II
Painting by Gonzales, in the Galeria del Prado, Madrid Most of these
pearls were doubtless from the early American fisheries
]
Gonzalo de Oviedo referred to the pearl resources of Panama in his
“Historia natural de las Indias,” Toledo, 1526, mentioned in the chapter
on pearl fisheries of Venezuela. After describing the resources of
Cubagua and Cumana on the Venezuelan coast, he states, according to
Eden’s quaint translation:
Lykewise pearles are founde and gathered in the South sea cauled
_mare del sur_. And the pearles of this sea [the Caribbean coast]
are verye bygge. Yet not so bigge as they of the Ilande of pearles
cauled _de las perlas_, or _Margaritea_, whiche the Indians caule
_Terarequi_, lying in the gulfe of saincte Michael, where greater
pearles are founde and of greater price then in any other coaste of
the Northe sea, in _Cumana_, or any other porte. I speake this as a
trewe testimonie of syght, havyng byn longe in that South sea, and
makynge curious inquisition to bee certenly informed of all that
perteyneth to the fysshvnge of perles. From this Ilande of
Tararequi, there was brought a pearle of the fasshyon of a peare,
wayinge xxxi carattes, which Petrus Arias had amonge a thousande and
soo many poundes weight of other pearles which hee had when
capitayne Gaspar Morales (before Petrus Arias) passed to the saide
Ilande in the yeare 1515, which pearle was of great prise. From the
saide Ilande also, came a great and verye rounde pearle, whiche I
brought owte of the sea. This was as bygge as a smaule pellet of a
stone bowe, and of the weight of xxvi carattes. I boughte it in the
citie of Panama in the sea of Sur: and paide for it syxe hundredth
and fyftie tymes the weyght therof of good gold,[282] and had it
thre yeares in my custodie: and after my returne into Spaine, soulde
it to the erle of Nansao, Marquisse of Zenete, great chamberleyne to
youre maiestie, who gave it to the Marquesse his wyfe, the ladye
Mentia of Mendozza. I thyncke verely that this pearle was the
greatest, fayrest, and roundest that hath byn seene in those partes.
For youre maiestie owght to understande that in the coaste of the
sea of Sur, there are founde a hundredth great pearles rounde after
the fasshyon of peare, to one that is perfectly rounde and greate.
This Iland of Terarequi which the Christians caule the Ilande of
pearles, and other caule it the Ilande of floures, is founde in the
eyght degree on the southe syde of the firme lande in the provynce
of golden Castyle or Beragua. (Arber, “The First Three English Books
on America,” Birmingham, 1885.)
In addition to the gems noted by Oviedo, these waters furnished many
other beautiful pearls in the sixteenth century, and added largely to
the collections of the Spanish court and of the cathedrals of Seville,
Toledo, etc. The Italian traveler, Gemelli-Careri, who visited the
Panama fisheries in 1697, reported that they yielded pearls equal to
those of Ceylon. He mentioned one weighing 60 grains, for which the
owner—a Jesuit priest—refused 70,000 pesos.[283]
In 1735, the Spanish admiral, Antonio de Ulloa visited the Panama pearl
fisheries and wrote an extended description of them.[284] According to
his account the pearls were then found in such plenty that there were
few slaveholders in the vicinity who did not employ at least a portion
of their Negroes in the fishery. These were selected for their dexterity
in diving, and were sent to the islands in gangs of from eight to twenty
men each, under the command of an overseer. They lived in temporary huts
on the shore, and visited the pearl reefs in small boats. Anchoring in
eight or ten fathoms of water, the Negroes would, dive in succession to
the bottom, returning with as many oysters as possible. It was laborious
work, attended with danger owing to the numerous sharks.
Every one of these Negro divers is obliged daily to deliver to his
master a fixed number of pearls; so that when they have got the
requisite number of oysters in their bag, they begin to open them,
and deliver the pearls to the officer, till they have made up the
number due to their master; and if the pearl be but formed, it is
sufficient, without any regard to its being small or faulty. The
remainder, however large or beautiful, are the Negro’s own property,
nor has the master the least claim to them, the slaves being allowed
to sell them to whom they please, though the master generally
purchases them at a very small price.... Some of these pearls,
though indeed but few, are sent to Europe, the greater part being
carried to Lima, where the demand for them is very great, being not
only universally worn there by all persons of rank, but also sent
from thence to the inland portions of Peru.[285]
During the hundred years following, the pearl reefs of Panama were not
very productive, and relatively little attention was paid to them. The
development of a market for the shells in the mother-of-pearl trade,
about 1840, enhanced the profits of the few natives engaged in pearling
in a desultory manner, and led to an increase in the number of
fishermen. During some years when industrial and market conditions were
favorable, large quantities of shells were exported. In 1855, for
instance, 650 tons of these shells were shipped to England alone, and in
1859 the reported quantity was 957 tons. Those from the Island of San
José, one of the Pearl Archipelago, were said to be the largest and
choicest in the bay. Many of them were used in decorating the twin
towers of the stately old cathedral at Panama.
Since then the industry has fluctuated greatly, depending on the market
for the shell. Many outsiders have experimented in the fishery, but most
of these attempts have resulted in financial loss, through
mismanagement, storms, sickness, or other causes. A story is told
locally of a party of thirty men, principally from Scotland, who arrived
at Panama equipped with a diving-bell and such necessary machinery as
air-pumps, windlasses, etc. Much was expected of their operations, but
soon yellow fever broke out among them, and within six weeks two thirds
of the members of the party had died. The remaining members, becoming
disheartened, and in fear of the dread disease, lost no time in leaving
the country. The diving-bell and machinery remained for several years as
a curiosity at Panama, for no one returned to claim them, nor has the
use of similar apparatus been attempted since then.
The scattered pearl reefs extend from the east side of the Bay of Panama
nearly to the Costa Rica boundary. However, this gives an exaggerated
idea of their area, as much of this territory yields no pearl-oysters
whatever. The principal reefs and the headquarters of the fishery are at
Archipelago de las Perlas or Pearl Islands, which are from thirty to
sixty miles southeast of the Pacific terminus of the projected Panama
Canal. This archipelago contains sixteen small islands, on which are
about twice that number of small settlements of Negro and Indian
descendants, with a total population of perhaps one thousand. About half
of these live on Isla del Rey, the largest island, about fifteen miles
long and half that in width. The chief village, San Miguel, is the
center of the pearling industry, and consists mostly of palm-thatched
huts and a handsome stone church, more costly than all the remaining
buildings of the town combined. While the soil is fertile and some
vegetables are raised, the inhabitants depend almost wholly on the
fisheries.
In 1901, the Republic of Colombia invited bids for the right to operate
the pearl and coral fisheries for a term of fifteen years, but nothing
seems to have come of it, and the establishment of the Panama Republic
in 1903 terminated the authority of Colombia in these resources.
The Panama fisheries differ widely in their character from those of
Venezuela. The mollusk is much larger, averaging about six inches in
diameter when fully grown, thus furnishing a valuable quality of
mother-of-pearl. The shell constitutes the principal object of the
fishery; the pearls themselves are of incidental importance, but are
always looked for and anxiously expected.
The season extends from May to November, with a rest during the
remaining five months of the year. The fishery is open to natives and to
foreigners alike. While the leading fishermen employ diving-suits, which
were introduced here about 1890, nude diving is yet practised to a
considerable extent, the men descending in eight or ten, and some even
in twelve fathoms of water. There is no restriction whatever on the nude
fishermen, but for each machine diver an annual license fee of $125
United States currency is exacted.
Owing to the low market price for Panama shell during recent years, the
fishery has not been vigorously prosecuted, and it has even dwindled to
low proportions. A letter from one of the leading pearling companies in
Panama states that the machine divers number about twenty, while there
are about four hundred nude fishermen; and another firm likewise
prominent, estimates these fishermen at twenty and three hundred
respectively.
Yet a third pearling company writes that there are fifteen machine
divers and two hundred head divers; and adds that the small demand for
this quality of mother-of-pearl has made the condition of the industry
about as bad as it could be; many who have capital invested are getting
out of the business, and unless the market improves, the industry may be
abandoned. Probably with the introduction of new capital and methods in
the infant republic, the pearl resources may receive greater attention
and a large development ensue.
The Panama pearls are of good quality and frequently of large size. In
color they range from white to green and lead-gray, and frequently
greenish black. Valuable pearls are not common, but occasionally the
fisherman is amply rewarded. A letter from the American consul at Panama
states that in 1899 a native boy, fifteen years old, fishing in shallow
water, as much for sport as for profit, found a pearl which he sold to a
local speculator for 4000 silver dollars ($1760); this speculator
delivered the same pearl to a dealer in Panama for 10,000 silver dollars
($4400), and an offer of 30,000 francs was refused for it later in
Paris. A pearl worth $2400 was reported as found within half a mile of
the steamship anchorage at Panama. A pearl from a giant oyster
resembling Tridacna, was an absolute egg-shape, pure cocoanut white, and
weighed 169 grains; it was 21 mm. at the longest and 16.5 mm. at the
narrowest part. The surface showed very distinctly a wavy structure,
occasionally with a tiny, brighter central point; the surface under the
glass resembling a honeycomb network. At the smallest point there was a
radiated center with quite a brilliant field. It was worth only $100.
Not always, however, does the poor, ignorant fisherman receive the full
value of his find; and many a story is told of some thoughtless
improvident native, who, for less than a mess of pottage, “like the base
Indian, threw a pearl away, richer than half his tribe.”
Most of the Panama pearls are sold in Paris, relatively few of them
coming to America direct. This is not because of any greater estimation
of them in Paris or higher prices obtained; but the trade relation has
been long continued and the credits are well established. From Paris
many of these pearls reach the American market.
THE PEARL FISHERIES OF MEXICO
Then, too, the pearl from out its shell,
Unsightly in the sunless sea,
(As ’twere a spirit, forced to dwell
In form unlovely) was set free,
And round the neck of woman threw
A light it lent and borrowed too.
THOMAS MOORE, _The Loves of the Angels_.
Pearl-bearing oysters are found at various places on the Pacific coast
of Mexico, and especially along the coast of Lower California, where
extensive fisheries are prosecuted. The pearls are noted for the great
variety of colors which they display. A large percentage are black,
others are white, brown, peacock green, etc. Generally they are small
and of irregular form, yet sometimes very large ones are secured,
weighing 100, 200, and even 300 grains.
European knowledge of the pearl resources of Mexico dates from the
conquest of that country by Hernando Cortés about 1522. The diary of his
lieutenant, Fortuno Ximines, tells of finding native chiefs living in
primitive huts along the sea-shore, with quantities of beautiful pearls
lying carelessly around. From a tribe near the present site of
Hermosillo, in the State of Sonora, Cortés secured great quantities of
the gems. It appeared that the fishery had been in existence for
centuries. The location of the pearl reefs was prominently noted on
Cortés’ map of this coast, made in 1535, a copy of which was procured by
the Rev. Edward E. Hale when in Spain in 1883.
Following Cortés’ explorations of the Pacific coast of Mexico
(1533–1538), a number of expeditions were fitted out for securing pearls
by trading with the natives, by forcing them to fish, and by even more
questionable means. Several of these expeditions found record in history
either by reason of their unusual success or through the extreme cruelty
with which they were conducted. The contact of the Spaniards with the
Indians resulted in very bitter feelings on the part of the latter, so
that it became risky for small traders to venture among them. From time
to time, successful expeditions were made, especially the one of 200 men
sent in 1596 by the viceroy of Mexico to “the rich Isles of California,”
mentioned by Teixeira.[286] Antonio de Castillo, a Spanish colonist,
with headquarters south of Mazatlan, was one of the most successful of
the early adventurers, and Iturbide Ortega and José Carborel were also
among the fortunate ones of that period.[287] Ortega marketed his pearls
in the city of Mexico, and the reported sale of one for 4500 dollars had
considerable effect in stimulating the industry.
The advent of the Jesuits to western Mexico in 1642, developed amicable
relations with the Indians; and although the missionaries were
agriculturists rather than fishermen, the restoration of harmony
resulted in a more favorable prosecution of the fisheries. The colonists
of Sinaloa and Nueva Galicia, who had formerly, in small vessels and
with great danger, made occasional visits to the pearl beds, built
larger vessels and made more frequent visits without apprehension. The
skilful Yaqui and Mayo Indians were employed or impressed as divers,
just as natives of the Bahamas had served in the fisheries of Venezuela.
Great profits resulted from the operations. Venegas wrote that “it was
certain that the fifth of every vessel was yearly farmed for 12,000
dollars.”[288]
So profitable was the fishery that the Spanish soldiers and sailors
stationed in the Gulf of Cortes—as the Gulf of California was then
called—were frequently charged with devoting more attention to pearling
than to their official duties. In order to put a stop to this evil, in
1704, Father Silva-Tierra, who was in authority in that part of the
country, ordered that no soldier or sailor should engage in the fishery.
With a view to removing the demoralizing influences of promiscuous
adventurers among the Indians, the industry was later restricted to
persons specially authorized.
Probably the most successful of the early pearlers was Manuel Osio, who
is credited with having marketed “127 pounds’ weight of pearls in 1743,”
and “275 pounds’ weight” in 1744.[289] He operated in the vicinity of
Mulege and northward, employing the Yaqui Indians; and through his
pearling interests is said to have become the richest man in Lower
California.
[Illustration:
Gulf of California and the pearling territory of western Mexico
]
The revenue from the royal fifth, somewhat later, was reported by
Alvarado[290] at 12,000 dollars per year; but this was disputed by Jacob
Baegert, a Jesuit priest. Baegert spent seventeen years in Mexico and,
returning to Europe on the expulsion of his order from that country in
1767, published a report in 1772, containing rather an unfavorable view
of the fishery. He stated that each summer eight, ten, or twelve poor
Spaniards from Sonora, Sinaloa, and elsewhere on the mainland, crossed
the gulf in small boats to the California shore for the purpose of
obtaining pearls. They carried supplies of Indian corn and dried beef,
and also a number of Indians who served as divers, the Spaniards
themselves showing little inclination to engage in the work when native
fishermen could be employed so cheaply. Provided with a sack for
receiving the oysters which they removed from the bottom, the fishermen
dived head first into the sea, and when they could no longer hold their
breath they ascended with the gathered treasure. The oysters were
counted before opening; and, when the law was complied with, every fifth
one was put aside for the king’s revenue. Most of the oysters yielded no
pearls; some contained black pearls, others white ones, the latter
usually small and ill-shaped. If, after six or eight weeks of hard labor
and deducting all expenses, a Spaniard gained a hundred American pesos,
he thought he had made a little fortune, but this he could not do every
season. “God knows,” said Baegert, “whether a fifth of the pearls
secured in the California sea yields to the Catholic king an average of
150 or 200 pesos in a year, even without frauds in the transaction. I
heard of only two persons—with whom also I was personally acquainted—who
had accumulated some wealth, after spending 20 or more years in the
business. The others remained poor notwithstanding their pearl
fishing.”[291]
Father Baegert’s statement of the returns seems to be substantiated by
the reports of the royal fifth a few years later. For the period from
1792 to 1796 this was placed at “2 lbs. 2 ozs.” by some writers; and
according to others, from 1788 to 1797 it amounted to only “3 lbs. 9
ozs.,” which is the quantity assigned by some accounts to 1797
alone.[292] These returns apparently indicate that a great decrease had
occurred since the days of Osio; but it seems very doubtful whether,
under the conditions existing in Mexico at that time, the royal treasury
received its due share of the proceeds.
Shortly following the independence of Mexico in 1821, and after a period
of little activity, several attempts were made to exploit the pearl
resources. The great prosperity in England, ensuing upon the termination
of the Napoleonic Wars, resulted in much speculation and the promotion
of stock subscriptions in many visionary schemes. Among these was “The
General Pearl and Coral-Fishing Association of London,” which in 1825
equipped and sent out to Mexico, by way of Cape Horn, two vessels
prepared to exploit the pearl resources by the use of diving-bells
similar to those formerly employed in submarine construction. This
expedition was under the direction of Lieutenant R. W. H. Hardy, whose
report thereon presents an interesting exhibit of the condition of the
pearl fishery at that time.
Hardy found the fishery at a very low ebb, owing, largely, to the
scarcity of oysters and the uncertainty of depending on the native
divers. He adds with peculiar naïveté: “I had almost forgotten to
mention a very curious circumstance with respect to the pearl-oyster,
namely that on the coast of Sonora there are none at all, except at
Guaymas.” He states also that to the northward of 28° 30′ not the trace
of a shell could be discovered on either side of the gulf.
The center of the industry was then at Loreto, a village of 250
inhabitants; but another small station existed at La Paz. At Loreto six
or eight vessels of twenty-five tons each were employed, each having
three or four sailors and fifteen or twenty Yaqui Indians who served as
divers. Head-diving was in vogue, the work proceeding from 11 A.M. to 2
P.M., and the depth ranging from three to twelve fathoms. The annual
catch of pearls was “4 or 5 pounds’ weight, worth from $8000 to
$10,000.”[293] After the government’s claim of one fifth had been set
apart, the owner and captain of the vessel received one half and the
divers the other half.
It was found impossible to use diving-bells when the sea was at all
rough, and even during calm weather they were impracticable on account
of the unevenness of the ground and the strong undercurrents. An effort
was made to employ native divers, but owing to the disorganized state of
affairs only four could be secured. In the Gulf of Mulege a large number
of oysters were collected, but when these were opened “six very small
pearls” were all that could be found. After spending about three years
on the coast, Hardy returned to England, and the company abandoned the
enterprise.
In the early history of the Mexican pearl fishery, the shells were of no
market value; but about 1830 a French trader named Combier made
experimental shipments to France, securing cheap freight rates by using
the waste shells largely as ballast for the vessels.[294] The best
quality sold for about 600 francs per ton, and the market was found
sufficient for regular shipments. The value gradually increased, and in
1854 it approximated 2000 francs per ton in France, placing the industry
upon a very remunerative basis. This resulted in much activity in the
fishery, and an increase in the number of boats and divers.
In 1855, the fishery gave employment to 368 divers, and yielded $23,800
worth of pearls, and 350 tons of shells worth $13,500.[295] It was
estimated by Lassepas that from 1580 to 1857, inclusive, 95,000 tons of
oysters were removed from the Gulf of California, yielding 2770 pounds
of pearls, worth $5,540,000.[296]
For protection of the reefs, the Mexican government in 1857 divided the
Gulf of California into four pearling districts, and provided that only
one of them should be worked each year, and then only in areas leased
for the season to the highest bidders, thereby permitting the reefs
successively to remain undisturbed for three years.
The yield of pearls in 1868 approximated $55,000, and that of shells
$10,600 in value; while in 1869 these items were given as $62,000 and
$25,000, respectively.[297] The local prices ranged from $15 per ounce
for seed-pearls to $1500 for a choice gem.
At that period the fishery was carried on from shore camps or from large
vessels, each carrying twenty to fifty divers, who were mostly Yaqui
Indians from the eastern shore of the gulf. The camp or vessel was
located in the vicinity of the reefs or beds, and the fishing was
prosecuted from small boats, each carrying three or four nude divers.
Fastened to the waist or suspended from the neck was a net for the
reception of oysters, and each diver carried a short spud or stick with
which to detach them from the bottom, and to some extent for use as a
weapon of defense against sharks and similar enemies. The diving
progressed mostly in the morning, when the sea was unruffled by the
breeze which usually begins shortly after noon. The season lasted from
May to late in September, when the water became too cold for further
operations.
The divers were paid a definite share of the catch, and kept in
debt-bondage by means of advances and supplies. Little clothing was
necessary, and the provisions consisted principally of corn, beans, and
sun-dried beef. Luxuries were added in the form of tobacco, and of
mescal distilled from the maguey plant, indulgence in these constituting
the chief remuneration for the season’s labor. The finding of an
unusually choice pearl brought to the lucky fisherman a gratuity of a
few dollars, and shore leave for several days in which to spend it.
Dressing in his best calico garments, he hastened to the nearest town to
indulge in release from restraint, in drunkenness and debauchery—the
highest dreams of happiness of a Yaqui Indian—thoughts of which served
to bring him to the fishery each year from his home across the gulf.
From the Spanish conquest until 1874, the Mexican pearl fishery was
conducted exclusively by nude divers. The experiments with the
diving-bell in 1825 had been without favorable result, and also an
attempt by an American in 1854 to use a diving-suit with air-pump, etc.,
this failure being credited to imperfection of apparatus. In 1874,
through the influence of European pearl merchants, two schooners, each
of about 200 tons’ measurement, one from Australia and the other from
England, visited the Mexican grounds, with a dozen boats fully equipped
with scaphanders or diving armor, including helmets, rubber suits,
pumps, etc. Owing to their working in deeper water than the nude divers
were able to exploit, their success was remarkable, and they secured
upward of a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of pearls and shells during
the first season.
The hitherto somnolent inhabitants of Lower California were amazed at
seeing their resources thus easily removed, and were awakened to the
opportunities afforded them to acquire the wealth which nature had
scattered at their very doors. With this object-lesson before them,
companies were formed for raising sufficient capital for the business,
and the leading operators equipped their men with scaphanders, to the
great annoyance of the would-be independent fishermen, who had not
sufficient means to purchase the costly equipment. Many of these
continued to employ nude divers, but after 1880 this method of fishery
was subordinate to the use of diving apparatus. The change was
accompanied by many accidents, and rarely did a month pass without the
loss of a man, due in most cases to faulty apparatus or to inexperienced
management.
In 1884 President Gonzalez inaugurated the policy of granting exclusive
concessions to the pearl reefs. On February 28 of that year, five
concessions were granted to as many persons, giving them and their
associates and assigns the exclusive right to all shell fisheries in
their respective zones of large area, for a period of sixteen years, in
consideration of a royalty and export duty, amounting altogether to
about $10 per ton of shells exported in the first three years, and $15
per ton for the remaining thirteen years of the term. Immediately these
five grants were consolidated, forming the Lower California Pearl
Fishing Company (“Compañia Perlífera de la Baja California”),
incorporated under the laws of California with an invested capital of
$100,000.
Other concessions were given covering the ocean shore of Lower
California, the eastern side of the gulf within the States of Sonora and
Sinaloa, and the ocean shore of Mexico southward from Sinaloa. In
addition to these, certain territorial rights of fishing are claimed
through grants dating back very early in the history of the country. So
eagerly have these concessions been sought in recent years, that there
is now little pearling ground on the coast which is not under corporate
or private claim. And, owing to speculation in these concessions and in
the formation of companies to develop them, it is somewhat difficult to
obtain wholly reliable data relative to the condition and extent of the
industry.
Two species of pearl-bearing mollusks occur on the Mexican coast. The
principal one is the _M. margaritifera mazatlanica_, known locally as
the _concha de perla fina_. This species is closely related to the
“black lip shell” of the Australian coast. It is considerably larger
than the Venezuelan oyster, averaging four or five inches in diameter
and attaining an extreme diameter of seven or possibly eight inches. It
occurs to some extent all along the Pacific coast of Mexico, in detached
beds intercalated in places. The principal reefs, which have been
exploited for nearly four centuries, are in the shallow waters of the
Gulf of California and especially within the 300 miles between Cape San
Lucas and Mulege Bay. The fisheries have centered about the islands of
Cerralvo, Espiritu Santo, Carmen, and San José, and in the bays of
Mulege, Ventana, and San Lorenzo. The depth of water on the reefs ranges
from two to twenty-five fathoms, with an average of probably six or
eight fathoms. The species is generally isolated, and firmly attached by
the byssus to the bottom rocks or the stone corals, from which it may
remove in case of necessity, though it probably does not do so
frequently.
The second species is known locally under the name _concha nacar_, and
has been named _Margaritifera_ (_Avicula_) _vinesi_ (Rochebonne).[298]
It occurs only in the northern part of the gulf near the mouth of the
Colorado River. Formerly it was abundant in that region, occurring in
large areas, but it has become much reduced and is now little sought
after. It is claimed that this species is far more productive of pearls
than the _M. margaritifera_, and that it yielded the large quantities
obtained by Osio in the eighteenth century. Although iridescent, the
shell is so thin and convex that it is without commercial value.
[Illustration:
THE ADAMS GOLD VASE
Ornamented with American gems and fresh-water pearls, rock crystal,
gold quartz and agatized wood
Top of vase and side view
Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
]
The headquarters of the Mexican pearl fishery are at La Paz, the capital
of Lower California, 240 miles northwest of Mazatlan and 150 miles north
of Cape San Lucas. This “Mantle of Peace”—the literal translation of La
Paz—contains about 5000 inhabitants, nearly all of whom are more or less
dependent on the pearl fishery. It presents an attractive picture, with
the cocoanut-palms extending down almost to the water’s edge, and the
high mountains forming a background. The low, stone houses, the tile
roofs, the plaza with tropical trees, and the beautiful flower beds
under perennial sunny skies, give it a quaint appearance. The most
conspicuous objects from the harbor are the large old warehouses, with
thick walls and iron-barred windows, for the storage of the pearls and
the shells. During the season, from April to November, the arrival and
departure of the pearling vessels presents a scene of great animation.
The present methods of the fishery on the Mexican coast are quite
different from those of thirty years ago when nude diving was the only
method in vogue. Instead of the haphazard work, largely in shallow
water, the industry is conducted systematically, and the limit of depth
is increased, much of the diving being in depths of ten to fifteen
fathoms. The fishermen operate either from a large vessel making a
cruise two or three months in length, or from a camp on the shore near
the reefs. A vessel visits them frequently to furnish supplies and to
transport the catch to La Paz. The fishing boats are undecked craft,
each equipped with an air-pump and a crew of six men: a diver, a _cabo
de vida_ or life-line man, who is usually the captain, two _bomberos_ at
the air-pump, and two rowers.
The greatest depth at which armored diving is attempted in Mexico rarely
exceeds twenty fathoms; twenty-five fathoms is fully as deep as it is
practicable to go, and it is not advisable to remain at that depth more
than a very few minutes. At fifteen fathoms a diver may remain half an
hour or more, and at six or eight fathoms he may work uninterruptedly
for several hours. When the water is very cold, the diver comes up
frequently to restore his numbed circulation by vigorous rubbing. The
occupation is especially conducive to rheumatism, and paralysis is more
or less general, due, not only to the compressed atmosphere, but to the
abrupt changes of temperature. The work is very debilitating, with
particular effect on the nerves, and partial deafness is common. It is
important that the diver be careful about overeating before descending,
as heavy foods, and meats especially, make respiration difficult;
therefore, breakfast consists of little more than bread and coffee. The
risks and dangers from sharks, devil-fish, etc., have greatly diminished
since the introduction of scaphanders; for a stout diver in his
waterproof dress, with leads on the breast, shoulders, and shoes, and on
his head a massive helmet containing great gaping windows for eyes, is
enough to cause even a hungry shark to hesitate and to seek a more
digestible meal.
There are yet many nude divers in Mexico, who operate in shallow waters,
their cheap labor making them successful competitors of the armored
divers. In arranging with these, the pearling company commonly
grub-stakes a crew, pays a stipulated sum per hundredweight for the
shells, and bargains for the pearls. If the fishermen are not satisfied
with the price offered for these, they are at liberty to sell to other
buyers under certain restrictions.
Nude diving is confined to the warm months, beginning about the middle
of May and continuing until October. Owing to the cloudy or muddy
condition of the water in the gulf, the nude diver can not inspect the
bottom from the surface and select the best oysters before descending,
nor can he work satisfactorily at depths greater than seven or eight
fathoms. While the work is hard, it is more remunerative than the
average branch of labor in this region.
Each day the boats deliver their catch of oysters at the fishing-camps
or on board the receiving vessels. After they have been freed from
marine growths and refuse, the mollusks are opened and searched for
pearls. This operation is performed by trusted employees, usually
elderly men who have become physically disqualified for diving, and who,
seated together at a low table, work under the watchful eyes of
overseers. A knife is introduced between the valves of the oyster, the
adductor muscle is severed, and the valves are separated by breaking the
hinge. The animal is removed from the shell and carefully examined with
the eyes and the fingers, and then squeezed in the hands to locate any
pearl which may be concealed in the organs or tissues. The debris is
passed to other persons, who submit it to further examinations. A man
may work all day long and find only a few seed-pearls, but occasionally
there is the excitement of discovering a beautiful gem.
In some localities the flesh of the pearl-oyster is a source of profit
through its sale to Chinamen, who dry and otherwise prepare it for sale
among their countrymen in Mexico and America, as well as in the Orient.
Frequently the large adductor muscle is dried for food, making excellent
soup-stock, and, indeed, it is quite palatable when stewed.
It is difficult to approximate the output of the Mexican pearl
fisheries, other than the pearl shell, because the dealers place a
merely nominal value on the pearls in their invoices when sending them
to Europe, an invoice of $500 sometimes representing gems valued in
Paris at several thousand dollars. Furthermore, it is difficult to
obtain satisfactory information from the pearling companies, owing,
presumably, to the fear of developing greater competition. According to
the estimates at La Paz, the local value of the pearl yield now
approximates $250,000 annually, and the value of the same over the
counters in Europe and America probably exceeds one million dollars.
Some remarkably large pearls have been secured in the Mexican fisheries,
especially considering the small size of the oysters. In 1871 a pearl of
96 grains, pear-shaped and without a flaw, sold at La Paz for 3000
pesos. In March, 1907, a beautiful pinkish white one, found near the
lower end of the peninsula, sold for 28,000 pesos or $14,000. One of the
best years for choice finds was 1881, when the scaphanders were first
employed to their greatest efficiency. A black pearl was then secured
which weighed 112 grains, and which brought 40,000 francs in Paris. In
1882 two, weighing 124 and 180 grains respectively, sold for 11,000
pesos. In the following year a light brown pearl, flecked with dark
brown, and weighing 260 grains, sold for 7500 pesos. These are the
prices which the La Paz merchants received for these pearls, and not the
much greater amounts for which they were finally sold by the jewelers.
One of the finest pearls was found in 1884 near Mulege. This weighed 372
grains. The Indian fisherman is said to have sold it for $90; the
purchaser declined an offer of 1000 pesos, and also a second offer of
5000, and soon sold it to a La Paz dealer for 10,000 pesos. Its value in
Paris was estimated at 85,000 francs. Probably the most famous of all
pearls obtained from these grounds was “the 400–grain pearl” found near
Loreto, and “which is now among the royal jewels of Spain.” It is said
that this was offered by the lucky fisherman to the Mission of Loreto,
and by the Director of Missions in Lower California was presented to the
Queen of Spain.[299]
As in every other fishery, one hears in Mexico of fishermen who have
grasped a prize only to lose it through inexperience or improvidence.
The account given above of the sale of the 372–grain pearl found near
Mulege furnishes an instance of this. It is related in La Paz that in
1883 an Indian sold for ten pesos a gem weighing 128 grains, for which
the purchaser received 27,500 francs in Paris. On another occasion a
Mexican sold two pearls, easily worth $4000, for $16 worth of groceries.
In the eighteenth century, the Notre Dame de Loreto possessed a
remarkable collection of Mexican pearls, which had been presented from
time to time by the fishermen. During the régime of the Jesuits, it was
customary to devote the proceeds of the last day of the fishery to the
decoration of the altar of that mission. After the expulsion of this
religious order in 1767, the mission was pillaged and the collection
dissipated. From the old aristocracy of Mexico, family heirlooms of many
choice pearls were placed on the European market during the civil wars
in Mexico to contribute to the support of the contending armies. One
lady in Sonora is said to have disposed of her collection for 550,000
francs. A fine collection of these pearls, accumulated from 1760 to
1850, and showing them in a great variety of colors, shapes, and sizes,
was in Chihuahua until recently.
AMERICAN FRESH WATERS
And my pearls are pure as thy own fair neck,
With whose radiant light they vie.
WHITTIER, _The Vaudois Teacher_.
The most recently developed pearl fisheries are within the limits of the
United States, in the rivers and fresh-water lakes, and especially those
in the Mississippi Valley. As an important industrial enterprise, these
fisheries are less than two decades old, yet they are very productive,
yielding annually above half a million dollars’ worth of pearls, many of
which compare favorably in quality with those from oriental seas.
The prehistoric mounds in the Mississippi Valley present evidence of the
estimation in which pearls were held by a race of men who passed away
ages before America was first visited by Europeans. In some of these
mounds, erected by a long-forgotten race, pearls have been found not
only in hundreds and in thousands, but by gallons and even by bushels.
Some of these equal three quarters of an inch in diameter, and in
quantity exceed the richest individual collections of the present day.
Damaged and partly decomposed by heat and through centuries of burial,
they have lost their beauty, and are of value only to the archæologist
and to indicate the quantity of pearly treasures possessed by these
early people.
Owing to the great wealth of pearls which had been uncovered on the
Spanish Main, at Panama, and in the Gulf of California, Eldorado
explorers, in the sixteenth century, were particularly eager in
searching for them within the present limits of the United States; in
the reports of their wanderings, much space is given to these gems, and
these reports aided largely in inducing and encouraging other
expeditions. Some of these accounts read like the marvelous stories of
Sindbad the Sailor, quantities of pearls—hundreds of pounds in some
instances—being secured by the exchange of trinkets and by more
questionable means. It would be easy to bring together numerous accounts
of apparently reliable authorities to show that in the sixteenth century
pearls were obtained here in far greater quantities than were ever known
in any other part of the world; but this conclusion seems not wholly
correct.
The unfortunate wanderings of Hernando de Soto from 1539 to 1542 gave
rise to most of the reports of rich pearl finds within the limits of
this country. Of this voyage there are three principal accounts. The
first was by Luis Hernandez de Biedma, who had accompanied De Soto as
factor for Charles V of Spain. His brief report was presented to the
king in 1544, although it was not published until 1841, nearly three
centuries later, when it appeared in a French translation.[300] The
second, and in our opinion the most reliable account,[301] published at
Evora in 1577, was by an unnamed Portuguese (in English editions,
commonly spoken of as the Gentleman of Elvas), who was a member of the
expedition. The third account,[302] by far the longest and most widely
known, but which was not written until 1591, was by Garcilasso de la
Vega, who represented that his information was from a Spanish cavalier
who had accompanied De Soto.
The only reference made to pearls in Biedma’s report seems to be his
allusion to the large quantity secured at the village of Cofaciqui, on
the east bank of the Savannah River. He states: “When we arrived there,
the queen ... presented the governor with a necklace of pearls of five
or six rows, procured for us canoes to pass the river, and assigned the
half of the village for our quarters. After having been in our company
three or four days, she escaped into the forest; the governor caused
search to be made after her, but without success; he then gave orders to
break open a temple erected in this village, wherein the chiefs of the
country were interred. We took out of it a vast quantity of pearls,
which might amount to six or seven arrobas,[303] but they were spoiled
by having been underground.”[304]
The Portuguese narrative alludes to the pearls at Cofaciqui, stating
that the queen “took from her own neck a great cordon of pearls, and
cast it about the neck of the governor.... And the lady, perceiving that
the Christians esteemed the pearls, advised the governor to search
certain graves in the town, where he would find many; and that if he
would send to the abandoned towns, he might load all his horses. He
sought the graves of that town and there found fourteen rows of pearls,
and little babies and birds made of them.”[305] This account makes no
further mention of pearls, except to state that at the battle of Mavilla
this great collection was burned, and that when the Queen of Cofaciqui
escaped from the Portuguese she carried with her a little chest full of
unbored pearls, which some of the Spaniards thought were of great
value;[306] and further, that on one or two other occasions a few pearls
were received from the Indians as presents.
The account of De Soto’s wanderings, given by Garcilasso, the Peruvian
historian, contains many references to pearls, which read more like
romance than reality. With his knowledge of the jewels, temples, etc.,
in Mexico and Peru, and recognizing some similarities in the manners of
the people of those countries and the ones with whom De Soto came in
contact, Garcilasso was easily led to statements which, though possibly
true in the one case, seem fictitious in the other.
He gives the story of the Queen of Cofaciqui, with some additional
particulars. The string of pearls which she presented to the governor
made three circuits of her neck and descended to her waist. In his
account, the graves in Cofaciqui became a temple containing, among other
riches, more than a thousand measures of pearls, of which they took only
two. Near Cofaciqui was the temple of Talomeco, over a hundred steps
long by forty broad, with the walls high in proportion. Upon the roof of
the temple were shells of different sizes, placed with the inside out,
to give more brilliancy, and with the intervals “filled with many
strings of pearls of divers sizes, in the form of festoons, from one
shell to the other, and extending from the top of the roof to the
bottom.” Within the temple, festoons of pearls hung from the ceiling and
from all other parts of the building. In the middle were three rows of
chests of graded sizes, arranged in pyramids of five or six chests each,
according to their sizes. “All these chests were filled with pearls, in
such a manner that the largest contain the largest pearls, and thus, in
succession, to the smallest, which were full of seed-pearls only. The
quantity of pearls was such, that the Spaniards avowed, that even if
there had been more than nine hundred men and three hundred horses, they
all together could not have carried off at one time all the pearls of
this temple. We ought not to be too much astonished at this, if we
consider that the Indians of the province conveyed into these chests,
during many ages, all the pearls which they found, without retaining a
single one of them.”[307] In the armory attached to this temple were
long pikes, maces, clubs, and other weapons mounted with links and
tassels of pearls.
Garcilasso has an interesting story of an incident said to have occurred
a few days after leaving Cofaciqui, when the troops were passing through
the wilderness.
[Illustration:
Negro pearling camp on bank of an Arkansas river
]
[Illustration:
Group of Arkansas pearl fishermen; photographed shortly after the
woman in the center of the group had found a pearl for which she
received $800
]
Juan Terron, one of the stoutest soldiers of the army, toward noon,
drew from his saddle-bags about six pounds of pearls, and pressed a
cavalier, one of his friends, to take them. The cavalier thanked him
and told him that he ought to keep them, or rather, since the report
was current that the general would send to Havana, send them there
to buy horses and go no longer afoot. Offended at this answer,
Terron replied that “these pearls then shall not go any farther,”
and thereupon scattered them here and there upon the grass and
through the bushes. They were surprised at this folly, for the
pearls were as large as hazel-nuts, and of very fine water, and
because they were not pierced they were worth more than six thousand
ducats. They collected about thirty of these pearls, which were so
beautiful that it made them regret the loss of the others, and say,
in raillery, these words, which passed into a proverb with them,
“There are no pearls for Juan Terron.”[308]
At the capital of Iciaha, De Soto received from the cacique or chief, a
string, five feet in length, of beautiful and well-matched pearls as
large as filberts. Upon De Soto’s expressing a desire to learn how the
gems were extracted from the shells, the chief immediately ordered four
boats to fish all night and return in the morning.
In the meantime they burnt a great deal of wood upon the shore, in
order to make there a great bed of live coals, that at the return of
the boats they might put thereon the shells, which would open with
the heat. They found, at the opening of the first shells, ten or
twelve pearls of the size of a pea, which they took to the cacique,
and to the general who was present, and who found them very
beautiful, except that the fire had deprived them of a part of their
lustre. When the general had seen what he wished, he returned to
dine; and immediately after, a soldier entered, who instantly said
to him that, in eating oysters which the Indians had caught, his
teeth had encountered a very beautiful pearl of a very lively color,
and that he begged him to receive it to send to the governess of
Cuba. Soto politely refused this pearl, and assured the soldier that
he was as obliged to him as if he had accepted it; and that some day
he would try to acknowledge his kindness, and the honor which he did
his wife; and that he should preserve it to purchase horses at
Havana. The Spaniards valued it at four hundred ducats; and as they
had not made use of fire to extract it, it had not lost any of its
lustre.[309]
Notwithstanding the strong indorsement given to Garcilasso’s narrative
by Theodore Irving and some other writers, his tendency to exaggerate
depreciates greatly the historical value of his account, and it seems
wholly unreliable as an authority relative to early resources in
America. We may reasonably doubt whether De Soto’s expedition came in
contact with more pearls than those mentioned by Biedma and the
Portuguese writer.
The account of the first voyage along the coast of the United States,
that of the Italian, Juan Verrazano, in 1524, contains no reference to
pearls, although he penetrated into the interior a score or two of
miles, and was frequently in contact with the natives, who lived largely
by fishing, and who prized many ornaments of different colored stones,
copper rings, etc.
The first expedition which went far into the interior was the ill-fated
one under command of Pánfilo de Narvaez in 1528. A thrilling
account[310] of this journey was written by Cabeza de Vaca, who was one
of the four survivors, after eight years’ wandering through America to
Mexico. Cabeza had been controller and royal treasurer of the
expedition, and in that position it was his particular duty to acquaint
himself with all the pearls, gold, and similar riches found by the
party. Notwithstanding his tradings with the Indians and their efforts
to gain his friendship by means of presents, his account makes no
mention of pearls, except to refer to a statement made by some Indians
that on the coast of the South Sea there were pearls and great riches.
Hernando D’Escalante Fontaneda, who was shipwrecked on the Florida coast
about 1550, and was detained there a prisoner for seventeen years,
wrote:
“Between Abolachi [Appalachicola] and Olagale is a river which the
Indians call Guasaca-Esqui, which means Reed River. It is on the
sea-coast, and at the mouth of this river the pearls are found in
oysters and other shells; from thence they are carried into all the
provinces and villages of Florida.”[311]
The European narrators also reported great stores of pearls along the
Atlantic seaboard. Among the first of these may be mentioned David
Ingram, who is represented as traveling by land from the Gulf of Mexico
to the vicinity of Cape Breton in the years 1568 and 1569. As it
appeared in the first edition of Hakluyt’s Voyages, this relation
states:
“There is in some of those Countreys great abundance of Pearle, for
in every Cottage he founde Pearle, in some howse a quarte, in some a
pottel [half a gallon], in some a pecke, more or less, where he did
see some as great as an Acorn; and Richard Browne, one of his
Companyons, found one of these great Pearls in one of their Canoes,
or Boates, wch Pearls he gave to Mouns Campaine, whoe toke them
aboarde his shippe.”[312]
Estimation of Ingram’s wonderful relation is decreased by Purchas’s
comment:
As for David Ingram’s perambulations to the north parts, Master
Hakluyt, in his first edition printed the same; but it seemeth some
incredibilities of his reports caused him to leave him out in the
next impression; the reward of lying being, not to be believed in
truths.[313]
Even the members of Raleigh’s Roanoke Colony of 1585 reported pearls.
Hariot stated:
Sometimes in feeding on Muscles we found some Pearle: but it was our
happe to meet with ragges, or of a pide colour: not having yet
discovered those places where we heard of better and more plenty.
One of our company, a man of skill in such matters, had gathered
from among the Savage people about five thousand: of which number he
chooses so many as made a faire chaine, which for their likenesse
and uniformity in roundenesse, orientnesse, and piednesse of many
excellent colours, with equality in greatnesse, were very faire and
rare: and had therefore been presented to her Majesty, had we not by
casualty, and through extremity of a storme lost them, with many
things els in coming away from the countrey.[314]
So far as we can learn, there is no evidence to show that, during the
sixteenth or the seventeenth century, any pearls of value were received
in Europe from within the present limits of the United States, as was
the case with the resources of Venezuela, Panama and Mexico. Many of the
accounts quoted above seem wholly fictitious, some of them possibly
drawn up for the purpose of promoting exploring expeditions. It is also
probable that knowledge of the enormous collections at Venezuela and
Panama misled some of the narrators into recognizing as pearls the
spherical pieces of shell or even the cylindrical wampum which the
Indians made in large quantities and used as money.
However, it is unquestionable that pearls of value were in the
possession of some of the wealthier tribes. Biedma’s account of the 150
pounds or more of damaged pearls in the graves at Cofaciqui seems wholly
reliable, and likewise many other statements; and it is an interesting
problem to determine the source from which the Indians obtained them.
Most of the narratives refer to the pearls as coming from the coast of
the South Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The evidence of Fontaneda, who had
spent seventeen years in the country, throws some light on this. He
states that pearls were obtained at the mouth of Reed River near
Appalachicola, whence they were distributed throughout Florida. This
seems to indicate that on the west coast of Florida there might have
been extensive reefs of pearl-bearing mollusks, which have since become
extinct, although existing shell-heaps do not confirm this.
While it is possible and even probable that many of these pearls in the
possession of the Indians came from the Gulf of Mexico or even from the
Caribbean Sea, it seems much more likely that they came largely from the
Unios of the inland lakes and rivers.
The voyages of Narvaez, Ayllon, De Soto, Ribault, etc., had been so
unfortunate that for a century little exploration was made in the
territory of the southern part of the United States. When this territory
was again invaded, little was seen in the way of pearls.
Iberville, who established the French settlement near the mouth of the
Mississippi in 1699, was specially directed to look for them. His
instructions state: “Although the pearls presented to his Majesty are
not fine either in water or shape, they must nevertheless be carefully
sought, as better may be found, and his Majesty desires M. d’Iberville
to bring all he can; ascertain where the fishery is carried on, and see
it in operation.”[315] Pearls were found in the territory of the
Pascagoulas, but they were not worth the trouble of securing them. It
appears that from these the Pearl River in Mississippi derived its name.
The only reference to pearls in the seventy-one volumes of Travels and
Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, from 1610 to
1791, is a note by Father Gravier stating that he saw no choice pearls:
“It is true the chief’s wife has some small pearls; but they are neither
round nor well pierced, with the exception of seven or eight, which are
as large as small peas, and have been bought for more than they are
worth.”[316]
Daniel Coxe’s description, in 1722, of pearl resources in America, is of
special interest because of the extended experience of his father as a
trader in the country. He states:
Pearls are found to be in great abundance in this country; the
Indians put some value upon them, but not so much as on the colored
beads we bring them. On the whole coast of this province, for two
hundred leagues, there are many vast beds of oysters which breed
pearls, as has been found in divers places. But, which is very
remarkable, far from the sea, in fresh water rivers and lakes, there
is a sort of shell-fish between a mussel and a , wherein are found
abundance of pearls, and many of an unusual magnitude. The Indians,
when they take the oysters, broil them over the fire till they are
fit to eat, keeping the large pearls they find in them, which by the
heat are tarnished and lose their native lustre; but, when we have
taught them the right method, doubtless it would be a very
profitable trade. There are two places we already know within land,
in each of which there is a great pearl fishery. One about
[Illustration:
BROOCH, RENAISSANCE STYLE, SET WITH BAROQUE PEARLS, FROM AMERICAN
STREAMS
Pan-American Exposition, 1901
]
one hundred and twenty leagues up the River Meschacebe
[Mississippi], on the west side, in a lake made by the river of the
Naches, about forty miles from its mouth, where they are found in
great plenty and many very large. The other on the River Chiaha,
which runs into the Coza or Cussaw River (as our English call it),
and which comes from the northeast, and, after a course of some
hundred miles, disembogues into the Gulf of Florida, about one
hundred miles to the east of the Meschacebe.[317]
It is interesting to note that the first place mentioned by Coxe as the
location of a great pearl fishery is not far from one of the most
productive pearling regions of the last fifteen years, _viz._, the
eastern part of Arkansas. The second place noted by him appears to be
identical with the Iciaha, where, nearly two centuries before, the
Indians exhibited the methods of their fishing to De Soto and his
companions.
Excepting Coxe’s notice, for 250 years following 1600, little was heard
of the occurrence of pearls within this country. This does not indicate
necessarily that the gems were absent from the waters; but, not using
the Unios for food as did the aborigines, the residents had little
occasion to open them and in this way learn of their contents. And even
where pearls were occasionally found in mollusks opened for fish-bait,
the people were in few instances informed as to their market value, and
did not attempt to sell them, although the most attractive ones may have
been treasured as ornaments or as keepsakes. This was paralleled in the
diamond fields of South Africa, where gems worth thousands of dollars
were used as playthings by the farmers’ children. A jewel, like a
prophet, is frequently without honor in its own country until the
residents of that country learn of the great esteem in which it is held
elsewhere.
And yet, in some localities a few pearls were collected from time to
time. The Moravians—familiar with the pearls of their native streams in
Europe—gathered many from the Lehigh River near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
over a century ago;[318] and from Rhode Island and elsewhere a few were
obtained.
The first awakening to a realization of the value of fresh-water pearls
in America occurred fifty years ago, when several beautiful gems were
marketed from the northern part of New Jersey. The story of this find
has been frequently told. A shoemaker named David Howell, who lived on
the outskirts of Paterson, occasionally relieved the monotony of his
trade by a fishing excursion to some neighboring stream, where he would
usually collect a “mess” of mussels. Returning from one of these visits
to Notch Brook in the spring of 1857, the mussels were fried with the
usual abundance of grease and heat. After this preparation, one of them
was found to contain a large, round pearl weighing “nearly 400 grains,”
which possibly might have proven the finest of modern times, had not its
luster and beauty been destroyed by the heat and grease.[319] Had the
pearl been discovered in time, its value might have exceeded $25,000,
thus making poor Howell’s fried mussels one of the most expensive of
suppers.
Hoping to duplicate his wonderful find, Howell collected and searched
other mussels, and his example was followed by several of his neighbors.
Within a few days a magnificent pink pearl was found by a Paterson
carpenter named Jacob Quackenbush. This weighed ninety-three grains, and
was bought by the late Charles L. Tiffany for Messrs. Tiffany & Co., New
York City, for $1500. Mr. Tiffany later described with much interest the
feelings he experienced after making the purchase. Said he: “Here this
man finds a pearl within seventeen miles of our place of business! What
if thousands should be found, and many perhaps finer than this one!
However, we risked buying the pearl, and as no one in New York seemed
interested in it, we sent it to our Paris house for sale, and a French
gem dealer offered for it a very large advance on the original price,
paying 12,500 francs.” From this dealer it passed into the possession of
the young and beautiful Empress Eugénie, from whom and from its great
luster it derived the name “Queen Pearl.” Its present market value would
doubtless amount to $10,000 or more.
When news of the very large price received for Quackenbush’s find became
public, great excitement developed in the vicinity of Notch Brook.
Persons came from all directions to search in the shallow streams for
valuable pearls. Farmers of the neighborhood tried their luck, and also
mechanics and other residents of the adjacent villages and towns, and
even some from Newark, Jersey City, and New York. An old resident, who
was an eye-witness, describes the scene as one of great animation, the
crowds of people and the horses and wagons along the shore giving “an
appearance of camp-meeting time.” At least one schoolmaster in the
vicinity is said to have closed his school to give his pupils an
opportunity to engage in the hunt.
With trousers rolled up, the people waded into the shallow water and
sought for the mussels in the mud and sand on the bottom. Many pearls
were secured, but none approached in size or value the two above
noted.[320] During 1857, the New York City market received about $15,000
worth of pearls from these waters, and in addition many were sold
locally or retained as souvenirs of the hunt. At the low price of pearls
existing then, this figure would mean possibly ten times as much at
present, or $150,000.
The active search soon depleted the resources of the little stream, so
that in the following year the reported value of the yield was only a
few thousand dollars. The decrease continued until in a few years
practically every mussel was removed, and at present scarcely a single
Unio is to be found in these waters.
The interest in pearling extended far from the place of the original
find; and in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and even as far away as Texas, search
was made in the streams. In the Colorado and its tributaries, about
20,000 were found in a short while. Most of these were small and
unattractive, but a considerable number were reported “as large as
pepper-corns” and a few “the size of a small rifle ball,” the number
decreasing with the increase in size. A correspondent in the “Neue Zeit”
wrote:
Sometimes they are round, sometimes cylindrical, elliptical,
hemispherical, or of an altogether irregular shape. The finest have
a milk-white, silvery sheen; many, however, are reddish yellow,
bluish brown, or quite black; the last naturally have no value
whatever. As to their value, there is considerable uncertainty, and
it can easily be understood that those who have a great number of
them in their possession greatly overestimate them. So far they are
found principally in the Llano and the San Saba.[321]
After the resources in northern New Jersey were depleted and the
excitement had died out, little was heard of pearling in this country
until 1878, when many were found in Little Miami River in southwestern
Ohio. The fishing was carried on at low water, and principally by boys,
who would wade out in the water and feel for the mollusks with their
feet, and then bob under and pick them up with their hands. The senior
author spent a day in this fishery with a party of six boys with some
success. During 1878 about $25,000 worth of pearls were collected in the
vicinity of Waynesville on that stream. Mr. Israel H. Harris, a banker
of Waynesville, then began collecting these pearls; and by purchasing
during several years nearly every interesting specimen found in the
vicinity, he made his collection one of the largest and best known in
the country. When sold in 1888, it contained several thousand pearls,
mostly of small size, averaging in weight little more than one grain
each. A large portion of this collection was exhibited in the American
section of the Paris Exposition of 1889, and was awarded a gold medal.
Included in this exhibit was a series of ornaments in which the gems
were arranged according to color, so that in one the pearls were green,
in another purplish brown, in another pink, in another waxy white, and
in one a cream-white. It also contained a button-shaped pearl weighing
thirty-eight grains and several pink ones almost translucent. A pink
pearl of eight grains was admired by all who saw it; by reflected light
this had the color and translucency of a drop of molten silver. Many of
the pink pearls found in the Little Miami and its tributaries were of
the most beautiful rose-petal pink; pearls of this peculiar color have
never been found in any other waters.
From Ohio the industry gradually extended westward and southward, and
new fields were developed, pearls to the value of about $10,000 annually
coming on the market from such widely separated States as Vermont,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Washington, etc. However, little
general interest was taken in fresh-water pearls, and few choice ones
were found until the magnificent resources of the upper Mississippi
Valley were discovered. Owing to the ease with which the mollusks may be
collected by wading, it was in the relatively shallow tributaries that
the fishery first developed, rather than in the deep channels of the
main stream and of the large affluents.
The first region in the Mississippi Valley to attract attention was
southwestern Wisconsin. Early in the summer of 1889, many beautiful
pearls were found in Pecatonica River, a tributary of Rock River, which
in turn empties into the Mississippi. Within three months, $10,000 worth
of gems were sent from this region to New York City alone, including one
worth $500, which was a very considerable sum for a fresh-water pearl at
that time. The interest quickly spread to neighboring waters, and within
a short time pearls were found also in Sugar River, in Apple River, in
Rock River, in Wisconsin River, and in the Mississippi in the vicinity
of Prairie du Chien. The fact that little experience and no capital was
required for the business drew large numbers of persons to the
newly-found Klondike; and the finds were so numerous and of such high
quality that about $300,000 worth of pearls were collected before the
end of 1891, greatly exceeding all records for fresh waters.
The Wisconsin pearls are remarkable for their beauty, luster, and
diversified coloring, and some lovely shades of pink, purple, and
especially metallic green have been found. Several of them have weighed
in excess of fifty grains each, and some individual values ran well into
four figures. One shipment made from Sugar River to London in September,
1890, contained ninety-three pearls, weighing from four to twenty-eight
grains each, for which £11,700 was received in payment. In the limits of
one county in the following year, pearls to the value of nearly $100,000
were secured.
[Illustration:
BROOCHES AND RINGS OF FRESH-WATER PEARLS FROM WISCONSIN AND TENNESSEE
Paris Exposition, 1900
]
Shortly following the outbreak of pearling in Wisconsin came the
development of interest in certain parts of Tennessee. For many years
pearls had been secured from the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers and
their tributaries, especially Caney Fork, Duck, Calf Killer, and Elk
rivers, the headquarters of the fishery and the local markets being
Carthage, Smithville, Columbia, and Arlington. The search had been
conducted in a moderate way by pleasure parties in the summer, and by
farmers after the crops had been laid aside.
In 1901 pearling excitement developed in the mountain regions of eastern
Tennessee, especially in Clinch River. These newly-discovered resources
proved so valuable that the local interest became very great. Vivid and
picturesque accounts published in the local papers reported hundreds of
persons as camping at various points along the streams, some in tents
and some in rough shanties, and others going from shoal to shoal in
newly-built house-boats. They were described as easygoing,
pleasure-loving people, the men, women, and children working hard all
day, subsisting largely on fish caught in the same stream, and dancing
at night to the music of a banjo around the camp-fires. The center of
the new industry was Clinton, the county seat of Anderson County,
whither the successful hunters betook themselves each Saturday, the
preferred time for selling the catch.
The next outbreak of pearling excitement was in Arkansas, in the region
referred to by Daniel Coxe two centuries ago as the location of great
pearl resources.[322] Although in recent times little had been heard of
pearls in Arkansas previous to 1895, they were not unknown in that
State. For years they had been picked up by the fishermen, and used as
lucky stones or given to the children for playthings. Some had come into
the possession of persons acquainted with their value. About 1875, a few
pearls were collected by a party of men engaged in cutting cedar poles
on White River; in 1888, a brilliant pear-shaped pink pearl of
twenty-seven grains was secured from the same river, and sold to a
prominent resident. Little had been said about these finds, and in
general the people of Arkansas had slight idea of the occurrence or the
value of pearls in those waters.
In 1895, a surveying party on White River found pearls in the Unios of
that stream, and collected them to the value of about $5000. News of
this discovery attracted attention to the resource, and other persons
sought for the gems in the White River and its tributaries, in the St.
Francis and the Arkansas rivers. The unusually low water in 1896
facilitated the fishery, and resulted in the discovery of many large and
valuable gems. The interest developed rapidly, and within twelve months
nearly every stream of water in Arkansas yielded pearls, with the finds
most extensive and valuable in White River and its tributary the Black
River, which has proved to be the richest pearling region in America.
The industry centered at Black Rock, more than a thousand persons
fishing within twenty miles of that place. It is estimated that within
three years following the development of this fishery, this State
yielded pearls to the value of more than $500,000.
When the Arkansas fishery was at its height, it was reported that ten
thousand persons were employed therein. The fishermen were from nearly
every class and condition in the State. Women were not absent; even
children participated in the industry, and some proved more fortunate
than the older hunters. It was not uncommon to see several hundred
persons congregated at one bar or in one stretch of the river, all
intent on making a fortune, and all occupied in fishing or in opening
the shells. So complete was the absorption of the people in this
pursuit, and so many of the farm-hands were occupied in the eager search
for anticipated fortunes, that the local papers reported much
apprehension and difficulty in harvesting the cotton and other crops.
Within the main channel of the Mississippi, the relative scarcity of
pearls in the Unios, and the greater preparation required for collecting
the mollusks in the deep waters, retarded the fishery until the
establishment of button manufacture afforded a market for the shells,
this originating in 1891. The industry developed rapidly, and for
several years has consumed about 35,000 tons of shells annually,
obtained principally in the Mississippi between Quincy and La Crosse,
and to a much less extent in other streams in this valley. This is more
than twice the total product of mother-of-pearl shell in all parts of
the world. However, the value per ton is very much less than that of the
best grade of mother-of-pearl; that from Australia, for instance,
commonly selling for $1200 per ton, whereas the Mississippi shell
usually sells for less than $20, although the very choicest may bring
upward of $50 per ton.
The gathering of shells for manufacture has extended to many of the
large tributaries of the Mississippi, especially the Arkansas, the
White, the St. Francis, the Ohio and the Illinois rivers, and this
industry has added largely to the pearl yield in these waters.
In the last three years, the scenes of greatest activity have been the
Wabash River and its tributaries, where shell-collecting developed in
1903, and the Illinois River, where the industry was of little
importance previous to 1906. On the Wabash, camps were established at
almost every town, from the mouth up to St. Francis, Illinois, and about
one thousand persons found employment. Some of the most beautiful
American gems have come from this river. They are usually silvery white
in color and of the sweetest luster. A single pearl weighing only ten
grains has been sold at the river for $1000; but it is frequently the
case that a fine gem will sell for more at the place where found than in
the great markets. During the spring of 1907, three pearls were found in
the Wabash near Vincennes, which weighed forty-one, fifty-one, and
fifty-three grains respectively. One of these was white, one faint pink,
and the third was yellow. The finest pearls have been reported from the
vicinity of Mount Carmel near the lower end of the river. Very large
quantities of baroques or slugs are found in the Wabash and the
Illinois; 30,000 ounces were reported from those rivers and their
tributaries in 1907, for which the fishermen received a total of
$50,000. A large symmetrical pearl found during 1907 weighed a trifle
under 150 grains, and a slug was found which weighed fully one ounce, or
606 grains.
The pearl-hunting excitement has been felt even on the Atlantic
seaboard, as a result of the publication of the discoveries in the
Mississippi Valley. In Maine many pearls have been reported, especially
in the vicinity of Moosehead Lake. In 1901 over one hundred were found
in that vicinity; most of them were of little value, but more than a
dozen were worth $10 or $15 each. Three found by Kineo guides were sold
for an aggregate of $300. The choicest one reported in that year weighed
twelve and one half grains and sold for $150; had it been perfect in
form and luster its value would have been several times that amount.
Most of these pearls were found by Moosehead guides, who found
purchasers among the visiting fishermen and hunters.
Since 1901 many farm-boys as well as guides have devoted much attention
to the business, some of them deriving as large a revenue therefrom as
from the use of the rifle. Good finds have been made, during the last
year or two especially. In 1906, one choice pearl sold for $700, and
many have sold for $10 to $75 each. The search has proven so alluring
that returning visitors have complained that some of the guides care to
do little more than search every rill, brook, and creek they come across
looking for the mollusks. Just at present the principal attention seems
to be directed to the streams in the western part of Maine, where the
river-beds are more sandy and the shell-fish more abundant than in the
northern and eastern part of the State.
In Massachusetts pearls have been collected from many of the ponds and
brooks. In Nonesuch Pond in Weston, the _Unio complanata_ has yielded
many small ones of attractive appearance, but not of sufficient size or
luster to sell for more than $10 each. Ponds in the town of Greenwich
and also in Pelham in Hampshire County are among the best in
Massachusetts for pearls. The Sudbury River above Concord also yields
many. Relatively few of the Unios contain pearls, and the gem-bearing
individuals seem to be grouped in special localities. Outside of these
places, thousands of mussels may be opened without revealing a single
gem. A collection of small Massachusetts pearls was brought together a
few years ago by Mr. Sherman F. Denton of Wellesley Farms, who has
devoted much time to exploring the inland waters of Massachusetts.
Connecticut also has had a slight touch of the pearl fever. In 1897, Mr.
C. S. Carwell of Ledyard, explored the headwaters of Mystic River, and
in a few weeks collected a number of pearls, one of which he is reported
as having sold for $500, and two others were estimated at $400 each. And
from the other end of the State, along the Shepaug River, is reported a
similar account of the success of Mr. Arlo Kinney of Steep Rock.
Attracted by these reports, crowds of seekers have proceeded in the
usual reckless manner to make wholesale destruction of the mollusks. The
finds have been especially large and valuable in the lakes and streams
of Litchfield County, particularly in Bantam Lake.
In New York State, pearls have been found in the swift shallow streams
in the Adirondack region, and in several of those entering the St.
Lawrence, particularly the Grass River in St. Lawrence County. Pearls
were first reported from this region in 1894. In 1896 the Grass yielded
one pearl weighing fifty-eight grains, worth $600 locally; and in 1897
one weighing sixty-eight grains was found, the fisherman selling it for
$800. A resident of Russell township devoted most of his time to
pearling in Grass River during 1896 and 1897, from which he is said to
have realized $2000. In this region the mussels are found by wading in
the shallow water and scanning the bottom through a water-telescope.
Most of the pearls are of slight value, but many individuals are
reported as worth from $30 to $60 each.
Pearl River in Rockland County, New York, has furnished a number of
brown pearls. These are commonly small, weighing from one eighth to one
half grain each, although some weigh seven or eight grains each. Most of
these are not lustrous, but occasionally a bright brown or a bright
copper-brown specimen of from one to four grains is met with. At the
Paris Exposition, in 1900, were exhibited one hundred of these pearls,
with an aggregate weight of 281 grains; these now form part of the
Morgan-Tiffany Collection, in the American Museum of Natural History.
Even in the rich coal regions of Pennsylvania pearls are found. Possibly
the most productive section in that State has been the headwaters of the
Schuylkill River in the vicinity of Tamaqua, Quakake, and Mahony City.
Of the tributaries of the Schuylkill, those contributing largely to the
yield have been Lewiston, Nipert, Still, Locust, and Hecla. These rise
in the mountains and are rivulets of fair size by the time they reach
their common outlet.
[Illustration:
PEARL-BEARING UNIOS
From the Mississippi Valley
The upper pictures show the two valves of the same shell, and the
pearl is detachable
]
The original pearl finds in the Schuylkill date from half a century ago,
when they were secured by farmers who used the mussel shells in removing
hair from the hides of slaughtered pigs. During the Mississippi pearling
excitement in 1897, several persons from New York, who were summering in
Schuylkill County, searched the small streams for pearl-bearing mussels
with such success that within a short while many farmers became
enthusiastic hunters during their spare time. Half a dozen or more men
did very well, their catch amounting to thousands of dollars’ worth. Mr.
Frank M. Ebert, of Quakake, has put most of his spare time in the
business in the last ten years, and has secured many good pearls. It is
estimated that the total catch in Schuylkill County alone approximates
$20,000 at local values. So actively has the search been conducted that
at present few adult mussels of the pearl-bearing species remain, and a
day’s work may result in finding less than a dozen.
The best price reported as received by a local fisherman was $200 for a
twenty-grain pearl in the year 1904. Many individual specimens have been
sold at prices ranging from $100 to $175. It is claimed that a pearl
sold by a fisherman in Schuylkill for fifty cents was later marketed in
Philadelphia for $125, and with slight mounting was ultimately sold for
$1600. The most attractive weigh from ten to twenty grains each; larger
ones have been found, weighing up to thirty-eight grains, but as a rule
the luster is not so good as that possessed by pearls of medium size.
The common colors are dark blue, pink, lavender, and white. A few are
black and some are brown. The brown pearls are seldom of value, owing to
deficiency in luster.
In Maryland pearls have been collected from the brooks near the head of
Chesapeake Bay, and especially in Kent and Cecil counties. These are of
almost every conceivable color, ranging from a clear white to a dainty
pink, and to very dark colors, especially bronze and copper. Most of
them are too small for commercial value, and only a few reach sufficient
size to command more than $5 or $10 each, but single specimens have sold
as high as $50.
Georgia has yielded some pearls, chiefly in the vicinity of Rome, at the
junction of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers. This is believed to be the
site of the Indian town Cofaciqui, where, in his memorable expedition of
1540–1541, De Soto found the natives in possession of so many pearls.
The general news of finds in the Mississippi Valley stirred up local
interest in this region in 1897, and when the streams were low and clear
in the autumn many persons engaged in hunting the mussels. An ex-sheriff
of Rome is reported as having secured about fifty pearls, lustrous but
irregular. A few miles above Rome, a farmer made a trial on Johns Creek,
a tributary of the Oostanaula; and from a basketful of Unios he reports
finding several marketable pearls for which he received $180 from a
Baltimore jeweler. Others followed, and many fine specimens were
secured. Unios are especially abundant in the Flint, Ocmulgee, and
Oconee rivers, and it seems probable that many pearls might be found in
these streams.
Florida has not yet been actively exploited, but it may prove a
productive region ere long. The reports of De Soto’s expedition make
special reference to the size and beauty of the pearls found at a point
where he crossed the Ocklocknee River about thirty miles above its
mouth, near the present site of Langston, Wakulla County. And there
seems little doubt that pearls may be found in the Ocklocknee and also
in its affluent, the Sopchoppy River. The banks of these streams are
full of shells, and pearls of choice color have been sent from there.
It is unnecessary to refer in detail to the origin of pearling in each
of the States. The general interest in this industry from 1889 to the
present time has resulted in the examination of most of the rivers and
creeks, and in few has the search been entirely unrewarded, although the
finds have been relatively much greater in some waters than in others.
As a rule, pearl-bearing Unios are most numerous in clear, swift
streams, with sandy or gravelly bottoms and which flow through
calcareous rocks. With pearlers as with miners, there is a stampede to
the places where a good find is reported, since the rivers are free for
all; consequently, there is much variation from year to year in the
amount of attention which the individual streams and localities receive.
While many of the pearlers operating in the Mississippi River are
professional fishermen or rivermen, most of those in the smaller streams
have had no previous experience in similar work. Frequently whole
families come twenty or thirty miles, and even greater distances, and
camp on the river bank. In many instances farm-hands are there who have
abandoned their crops, mechanics who have left steady jobs, railway men
who have taken a lay-off, teachers, merchants, all eager and expecting
to find a fortune. In some localities, pearl fishing has been used as an
attraction in big picnic advertisements, and has drawn larger crowds
than a public orator.
The mollusks are removed from the river bottoms in various ways and by
many forms of apparatus. In the shallow streams the fishermen simply
wade out in the water and pick up the shells by hand. If not readily
visible from the surface, the shells may be located with the bare feet
or by the use of a water-telescope. Where the water is too deep for
wading, the fishermen work from small boats, and use garden rakes or
other convenient inplements.
Where pearling has developed into more of an industry, special forms of
rakes and drags are employed. A shoulder rake, with a handle twelve to
twenty feet in length, is used extensively under the ice in frozen
rivers, and in lakes and other places where the water is still and from
eight to fifteen feet in depth. This is simply an overgrown or enlarged
garden rake, armed with twelve or fifteen iron teeth about five inches
in length. A wire scoop or basket is attached to receive the catch as it
is pulled from the bottom by the teeth, and when this scoop is well
filled it is lifted and the contents dumped on the ice or into the
skiff. This method is laborious, and is employed only where the water is
shallow and the mollusks are abundant. Scissor tongs—similar to those
used by oystermen on the Atlantic coast—are also employed in some
localities, especially in Arkansas, where it is estimated that 1700
pairs were manufactured and sold in 1899 and 1900, at about $7 each.
In the large streams of the Mississippi Valley, with their slow and
steady currents, and where the Unios are taken largely for their shells
to be used in button manufacture, the most popular form of apparatus
since 1896 has been the crowfoot drag. This ingenious contrivance
consists of a cross-bar of hollow iron tubing or common gas-pipe, six or
eight feet long, to which are attached, at intervals of five or six
inches, stout twine or chain snoods or stagings, each about eighteen
inches in length. To each of these are attached three or four prongs or
“hooks,” about six inches apart. These “hooks” are four-pronged, and are
made of two pieces of stout wire bent at right angles to each other.
According to the depth of the water, from twenty-five to seventy-five
feet of three quarter inch rope is attached to the drag for the purpose
of towing it behind the boat, which is permitted to drift down the
stream with the current. This contrivance costs about $3, and each
fisherman generally has at least two of them, as well as a wide
flat-bottom boat costing $5 or $10.
Sometimes, when the current is light, the fisherman prepares a “mule” to
assist the boat in towing the resisting drag. This “mule” consists of a
wooden frame, hinged in V-shape, and is fastened several feet in advance
of the boat with the V end pointed down the stream. It sinks low in the
water, and the current pressing against the angle carries it along, and
thus tows the skiff and the resisting drag at a uniform rate of speed.
When there is not sufficient current even for this contrivance, as in
the wide reaches and in the lakes, oars, sails, and even power engines
may be used for propelling the boat.
As the crowfoot drag is slowly drawn along the bottom, it comes in
contact with the mollusks feeding with open shells. When a hook or other
part of the drag enters an open shell, the mollusk immediately closes
firmly upon the intruding object and clings thereto long enough to be
drawn up into the boat. In this way, where the Unios are thick, nearly
every hook becomes freighted, and some may have two or three shells
clinging thereto. It is easy to collect fifty mollusks in passing over a
length of two hundred feet. Two drags are carried by each fisherman, and
the second one is put overboard as soon as the first one is ready to be
raised. This is suspended with the bar across two upright forks on
either side of the boat with the prongs swinging freely, and the mussels
are removed therefrom. When this operation is completed, the drag is put
overboard and the other one is ready for lifting. This apparatus is very
effective, and as much as a ton of shells has been taken by one man in
twelve hours, but the average is very much less, probably not over four
or five hundred pounds. Objection is made to this manner of fishing,
since many mollusks not brought to the surface are so injured that they
die.
A cruder implement of similar type has long been employed on many
logging streams. The weighted branch of a tree is dragged on the bottom
behind a raft of logs, and the mussels attach themselves to the twigs in
the same manner as on the crowfoot hooks.
During the pearling excitement in Arkansas, a considerable portion of
the choice pearls were found, not in the mussels, but lying loosely in
the mud of the shores, indicating that under some circumstances, as
agitation by freshets or floods, the loose pearls are shaken out from
the Unios. In some instances, indeed, the pearls were found upon or in
the soil at some distance from streams or lakes. It is reported that in
October, 1897, Mr. J. W. McIntosh, of the northern part of Lonoke
County, while digging post-holes in the old bed of Cypress Bayou, found
a number of pearls, some “as large as a 44–caliber Winchester ball,”
lying within the shells at a depth of a foot and a half below the
surface. This peculiar occurrence is partly explained by the wide
extension of the waters in flood times over the low region, and by the
shifting of streams and the isolation of cut-offs.
Stray pearls have been found in many other odd places, as in the viscera
of chickens and ducks, in the stomachs of fish, and even within a pig’s
mouth. It is not an uncommon scene in the pearling region to see men
raking over the muck in hog-pens along the river banks, hoping there to
find a stray pearl lost from the mussels with which the animals had been
fed by persons who had indeed “cast pearls before swine.” It is related
that a Negro near Marley, Illinois, in this way secured a pearl weighing
118 grains, for which he received $2000 from a St. Louis buyer, and
which was ultimately sold to a New York dealer for $5000.
[Illustration:
Pearling scene on White River, Arkansas
The fishermen are using scissor tongs from flat-bottom skiffs
]
[Illustration:
Pearling camp on upper Mississippi River
Crowfoot drags are shown on the flat-bottom skiffs at the river bank
]
During the height of the Arkansas pearling excitement in 1897, the
speculative spirit was so rife that many persons—unwilling to engage in
the labor of fishing—purchased unopened mussels from the fishermen in
the venture for aleatory profits. The price for these ranged from
twenty-five cents to $2 per hundred, and fluctuated rapidly, according
to the immediate results, increasing several hundred per cent. in a few
minutes under the influence of a valuable find. One fisherman sold
mussels to the value of $28 in one day, and thought he had made an
excellent bargain until over $1000 worth of pearls were revealed when
the shells were opened.
While some pearlers work in southern streams throughout the year,
generally the season is coincident with warm weather, when the water is
low and the work may be conducted with comfort. In the vicinity of
Muscatine and Rock Island about twelve years ago, large quantities of
Unios were taken during the winter when the river was frozen over, the
men working with long rakes from the surface of the ice.
When only a few mollusks are taken, they are readily opened with a knife
to permit a search for the pearls. But where there are many, as in the
Mississippi River, the opening is facilitated by heating. After a
sufficient catch has been obtained, they are subjected to the action of
steam in a box, or they are heated in an ordinary kettle; a few minutes
of steaming or cooking are sufficient to cause the shells to spring
open. The fleshy parts are removed and thoroughly searched, the interior
surfaces of the shells are likewise examined for attached pearls, and
the liquid at the bottom of the vessel is strained so that nothing of
value may escape.
This cooking is a convenient method of opening the shells, but
unquestionably it injures the quality of many pearls. In some instances
when the shells open, the pearls fall out and descend to the heated iron
bottom, where they are quickly injured. The surface of one exposed too
long to the heat shows numerous minute cracks, which increase in number
and size when subjected to changes of temperature. Some choice gems have
in this manner been rendered almost valueless. If a jacket boiler, or
one with a double bottom, were used, there would be less danger of
injuring the pearls; or a similar result could be accomplished by
placing a wire screen a few inches above the bottom.
Several fishermen have endeavored to devise mechanical methods for
removing the pearls and thus avoid the painstaking search among the
flesh tissues now necessary; but these contrivances have not proved
satisfactory, and have not been employed except experimentally.
In the Mississippi and its tributaries, where the fishery is very
extensive, after the pearls have been secured, the shells are sold to
button manufacturers and to exporters at prices ranging from $4 to $40
per ton, according to species, quality, and market conditions. This
provides a fairly remunerative income to the fishermen even if no pearls
whatever are found. But in the small tributaries and where the mollusks
are less numerous, the shells are of little value owing to the expense
of bringing them together and conveying them to market.
Not every mollusk contains a pearl, and the village belle, intent on her
evening toilet, need not buy a bushel of clams with the pleasant
anticipation of finding a sufficient number of gems for a necklace.
Small and irregular pearls are not at all uncommon, but choice ones are
decidedly scarce, and each one represents the destruction of tens of
thousands of mollusks. Quantities of irregular and imperfect nodules
known as slugs are collected, which sell for only a few dollars per
ounce. In some sections of the Mississippi, the slugs are so very
numerous that their aggregate value exceeds that of the choice pearls.
In the Mississippi, the percentage of pearls found in a definite
quantity of mollusks is less than in the tributary streams, yet the much
greater quantity of shells collected raises the total yield to a very
considerable amount. Pearling is subordinate and incidental to gathering
the shells for manufacture. In that length of the river from St. Paul to
St. Louis, a fair average yield to the fishermen is about fourteen
dollars’ worth of pearls and slugs to each ton of shells. Of course,
this is not the individual experience, for a single Unio may contain a
gem worth $5000, and on the other hand several tons of shells may yield
only a few cents’ worth of baroques. The market for the shells places
the Mississippi fishing upon an industrial basis, and guarantees a
substantial income to every fisherman even when no pearls whatever are
found.
Unios from the upper part of the Mississippi yield a much greater
percentage than those from below Davenport. In 1904, for instance, from
the 4331 tons of shells taken in Wisconsin the fishermen secured pearls
which they sold for $91,345, an average of $21 per ton; from the 822
tons in Minnesota the average was $16 per ton; in Iowa the average was
$12 for each of the 7846 tons; in Illinois, $5 per ton for the 2364
tons, and in Missouri less than $1 worth of pearls was secured by the
fishermen for each ton of shells which they took in the year named. A
large number of choice pearls weighing over thirty grains each were
found in the vicinity of Prairie du Chien and McGregor. Within a river
length of one hundred miles in that region, the fishermen in 1904
gathered pearls which ultimately sold for $300,000. It is therefore
apparent that the returns vary greatly in the different regions;
nevertheless, even in the less productive localities fine pearls are
sometimes found, which contribute to make the industry a profitable one.
Success in pearling is like that in mining. In the White River in
Arkansas, for instance, one man found $4200 worth in one month. Another
discovered a $50 pearl in the first shell he opened. A Negro found an
$85 pearl the first day he worked, while another fisherman worked seven
months and secured less than $10 worth. It is a question of finding or
not finding; the finding brings riches sometimes, and though the
failures reduce the average profits as low as in other local ventures,
the big prizes affect the mind, and the average is lost to sight. Taking
the country as a whole, it is probable that the total find has been
sufficient to pay the average fisherman little if any more than $1 for
each day’s work.
The fresh-water pearls range in size from that of the smallest seed to
that of a pearl weighing several hundred grains. There is relatively
only a small quantity of seed-pearls, especially when compared with the
output in the fisheries of Ceylon and Persia. Possibly this is due
largely to a scarcity of the parasites which seem to perform so
important a function in the regions noted. A further reason may be found
in the manner in which the mollusks are opened and searched. Were the
Ceylon method of opening employed here—which, however, is not at all
practicable—it seems probable that the quantity of seed-pearls found in
this country would be greatly increased.
The pearls from the tributaries of the Mississippi are noted for their
great range of coloration. From a dead white, the color is gradually
enhanced to faint shades of pink, yellow, or salmon tints, then to a
more decided form of these. From the light shades, the range extends to
purple and to bright copper red, closely resembling a drop of molten
copper. Some are very light green; others rose, steel blue, or russet
brown, while purplish and very dark brown are not uncommon. White pearls
are probably the most numerous; but pink, bronze, and lavender are by no
means rare.
A large percentage of the Mississippi River pearls are very irregular in
form, many of them resembling dogs’ teeth, birds’ wings, the heads or
bodies of different animals, etc.
As a rule the fresh-water pearls do not rank so high in value as those
from oriental seas, since ordinarily they are not so lustrous. However,
some of them have sold at very high figures. A round pearl weighing 103
grains, found in Black River, Arkansas, in 1904, was eventually sold for
$25,000; and one of 68 grains, found, in 1907, on the Wisconsin side of
the Mississippi River, was recently marketed at $15,000.
One of the largest American pearl necklaces, brought together in 1904,
consisted of thirty-eight pearls weighing 1710 grains in the aggregate,
an average of 45 grains for each pearl. The central gem weighed 98½
grains and those on the left of it respectively 85¾, 79⅝, 65¼, 59⅝, 49⅜,
46¼, 45⅛, 43¾, 41½, 40½, 40⅝, 35⅛, 37⅝, 30, 25⅛, 22¼, 20¼, and 19
grains. The pearls on the right were graduated as follows: 85¼, 76⅛,
64⅞, 59½, 47¼, 46, 45⅛, 44½, 42½, 41¾, 38, 37⅞, 36, 35, 34⅝, 29½, 25¼,
21, and 20⅜, grains. This necklace was exhibited at the St. Louis
World’s Fair. It was sold to a London merchant, who in turn sold it to a
Parisian dealer, and it was finally purchased by a Spanish nobleman at a
price said to be about 500,000 francs.
Another necklace shown at the St. Louis World’s Fair, was of American
fresh-water pearls from the rivers of Arkansas. The total weight of
these pearls, sixteen in number, was 861⅝ grains, an average of 61½
grains for each pearl. Of these one drop pearl weighed 77 grains, and
two others each 65½ grains. A round pearl of 70 grains completed the
adornment of the pendant. The circlet consisted of ten round pearls
alternating with precious stones. The central pearl weighed 98½ grains
and on each side were two of 61 grains, then two of 56 grains, two of
54⅞, and two of 48 grains, one of 45⅜ grains being at the back of the
necklace.
In the early days of pearl hunting in American streams, the fishermen
had little idea of their value, and sold choice gems for insignificant
sums. In 1887, a fisherman on Rock River, Illinois, found a 40–grain
pearl which he carried in his pocket for several months. Showing it one
day in Davenport, he was offered $20 for it. He quickly accepted the
offer, and on his return home told his friends about “the sucker who
gave $20 for the shell slug.” At present this “shell slug” is worth more
than one hundred times that amount. Numerous instances of a similar
nature occurred until the average fisherman lost all confidence in his
judgment as to the values, and extravagant ideas prevailed regarding
even almost worthless nacreous concretions. Thus, when a choice pearl is
found, an exorbitant price is set upon it and the seller feels for the
market value by repeated dickerings with several buyers. And unless one
is an expert, he is quite likely to pay two or three times as much for a
pearl at the river bank as in a metropolitan market. Some of the
fishermen collect everything in the shape of nacreous concretions, and
very often pearl buyers in New York and elsewhere receive packages which
are not worth the postage; in many other packages nine tenths of the lot
is worthless; and the practical joker and the swindler have solicited
bids on bright marbles, rounded pieces of pearl shell, and even
sugar-coated pills.
While many pearls of fine luster and beautiful and regular form have
been derived from these fisheries, it occasionally happens, in the case
of pearls consigned to the city pearl dealer, that cracks, breaks or
marks, which might detract from their value, are closed or removed,
either by means of water or oil, the pearls having been kept in one or
the other until a few moments before they were shown to the merchant.
Pearls worth hundreds of dollars have sometimes shown breaks, and in one
instance a pearl valued at $7000 showed these cracks even a very short
time after the sale.
[Illustration:
THE EVOLUTION OF BUTTONS, MADE FROM MISSISSIPPI SHELLS
]
In many of the pearling regions of the Mississippi Valley, inquiry of
almost any fisherman will result in his bringing forth from an inside
pocket a small box padded with raw cotton and containing an assortment
of pearls and slugs. Most of the slugs he will sell at prices ranging
from fifty cents to $5 per ounce, for several of the small pearls he
will likely ask from $2 to $20 each, and one or two of the largest he
may value at $50 or more. At very rare intervals, a choice pearl will be
found, for which he may expect anywhere from $200 to $5000.
While the highest prices are not received by the fishermen, there are
many who have been so fortunate as to obtain $1000 or more for a single
pearl, and several have received double that amount. Probably the
highest figure obtained by the original finder was $3800,
notwithstanding exaggerated stories of enormous five-figure prices.
Recently the press credited a lad sixteen years of age with securing
$20,000 for a pearl he had found.
A particularly striking yarn relative to a so-called “Queen Mary” pearl
went the rounds of the press some time ago. According to the newspaper
report, this pearl was found by the wife of a fisherman who was a
cripple or something equally pathetic, and, fortunately, when the family
resources were at the lowest. With tears of joy, the fisherman embraced
his wife and told her it was her very own and she should wear it.
However, by means of a check for $17,500, he was induced to part with
it, but only on condition that it be named Queen Mary in honor of the
hard-working wife. The report continues that the original buyer sold it
for $25,000, and at last accounts it was held by a Chicago dealer who
had “refused $40,000 and probably would not accept $50,000 for it.” The
facts seem to be that this pearl, which was found near Prairie du Chien
in 1901 and weighed 103 grains, was originally sold for $250, and the
local buyer sold it in Chicago for $550, where for many months it was
offered at $1000.
All sorts of stories of valuable finds are told in the pearling regions:
stories of mortgages that have been released, of homes bought, of
college educations secured from the proceeds of a single gem; but these
tales are offset by the untold stories of the undermining of fine,
strong character in awaiting the turn of fortune which never comes. The
public is quickly apprised of the valuable finds, but it does not hear
of the time and labor lost by the hundreds who are unsuccessful.
Pearling excitement has many of the features of a mining craze. While a
few are benefited, hundreds are made poorer, and in many instances
reduced to absolute want. Persons have given up their established
business to devote their time to pearling, staking all on the aleatory
profits, and have squandered days and months in the hope that one great,
immense, all-rewarding find will be made. The monotony of continued
disappointment is occasionally brightened by the news that some
one—possibly a near neighbor—has made a lucky find, and then the work is
continued with renewed enthusiasm. A spirit akin to that which dominates
the gambler takes possession of the fisherman, and the days go on and
the seasons go by while the gem that is to bring the fortune still
eludes him. In many localities the pursuit yields far less profit than
pleasure, and many a man who spends a summer in pearling is in a fair
way to spend the winter at the expense of some one else.
The pearls are collected for the trade by a score or more of buyers, who
visit the fisheries at intervals and purchase of the individual
fishermen by personal dickering and bargaining. The buyers endeavor to
keep informed of all choice pearls discovered, and when an especially
valuable find is reported each one endeavors to have the first chance to
secure it. The principal local centers of the pearling industry and
marketing are Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; McGregor, Clinton, and
Muscatine, Iowa; Newport, Black Rock, and Bald Knob, Arkansas; Clinton,
Carthage, and Smithville, Tennessee; St. Francisville, Illinois; and
Vincennes and Leavenworth, Indiana.
However, a large number of the pearls from American rivers are consigned
by the finders to well-known gem dealers, the owners depending for fair
treatment on the integrity and high standing of these experts. An
interesting story is told of the pearl and the accompanying shell in
which it was found, which was sent to a New York dealer by a poor woman.
The price she received pleased her immensely; and in writing her
appreciation, she added that she was especially gratified at receiving
so good a price because it enabled her to send her boy to school. The
dealer sent another check as a gift, and a few days before the next
Thanksgiving Day a thirty-five-pound turkey was received by the
four-score-year-old jeweler as an evidence of the mother’s gratitude.
[Illustration:
NECKLACE OF FRESH-WATER PEARLS
Paris Exposition, 1900
]
The outbreak of pearl hunting in various parts of the country is
frequently chronicled by the newspapers. These despatches are much
alike, usually telling how some fisherman discovered a beautiful pearl
which he sold to some responsible jeweler for an amount varying from
$100 to $2000. The despatches generally state further that the effect of
the find has been remarkable; the whole region is seized with the fever,
and into the rivers and creeks swarm the hunters of both sexes, of all
ages, and from all classes of the community. Factory-men leave their
mills, farmers their crops, and merchants their stores, and with the
members of their families join in searching for the gems. The mussels
are secured by whatever means is most convenient. If valuable finds
continue, thousands and thousands of mollusks are destroyed in the
search, and when the efforts begin to prove futile the excitement
subsides almost as quickly as it began. In very many localities the
industry has run the whole gamut of the feverish excitement of its
beginning, the humor and romance of its existence, and the pathos of its
ending.
If disturbed labor conditions at the height of the excitement were the
only disagreeable attendant, these pearling furors could be viewed more
favorably. But, unfortunately, in many localities, especially in shoal
waters of restricted area, the fishery has been prosecuted so vigorously
that it appears probable the resources will be very materially
impoverished if not ruined in a few years, unless prompt and decisive
protective measures are adopted. In some waters the crowds engaged in
the search have removed practically every mussel without regard not only
to protecting the immature mussels, but even to the necessity for
preserving breeding mollusks. Many ponds and small river basins have
been so denuded that not for many years, if ever, can they recover their
former wealth of pearl-bearers.
This state of affairs has not come about without opposition on the part
of those interested in the industry and the general welfare of the
localities. Intelligent and well-directed efforts have been made to
provide a system of regulations for protecting the mussels so that the
maximum yield of pearls may be secured. But this is a very difficult
problem to deal with. It involves not only the methods of fishery, but
the question of sewage disposal by the cities and the large factories,
through which great quantities of mussels have been destroyed.
Undoubtedly it will be difficult to devise regulations that will be
satisfactory alike to the fishermen, the button manufacturers and the
farmers. The great desideratum in the pearl fisheries—of the seas as
well as in the fresh-water streams—is a restriction of the gathering to
such mollusks and to such seasons and periods of years as produce the
largest results with the least injury to the permanency of the
resources.
It is generally agreed that the young or immature mollusks should be
protected; but it is not easy to determine what is an immature Unio, as
some species never grow large. Likewise, the beds should not be
disturbed when the mollusks are loaded with young, but it is difficult
to select particular months which would be better for close season than
any others. The propositions which seem to be most actively advocated
impose restrictions on the number and size of the mussels to be taken, a
cessation of fishing from January 1 to May 31, closing certain areas
when partly depleted, and prohibiting the use of especially injurious
forms of apparatus. But whatever is done should be done without delay,
before the pearl hunters and the button manufacturers kill the goose
which for some years has been laying the golden eggs.[323]
MISCELLANEOUS PEARL FISHERIES OF AMERICA
The deep’s wealth, coral, and pearl, and sand
Like spangling gold, and purple shells engraven
With mystic legends by no mortal hand.
SHELLEY, _The Revolt of Islam_.
The beautiful pearls of the conch (_Strombus gigas_) are sought for in
the West Indies and on the neighboring continental coasts. They are
found most abundantly about the Bahamas, a group of more than four
hundred islands off the Florida coast, where many of the fishermen
devote a considerable portion of their time to collecting them. It is
from this industry that the beach-combers of this group of islands, as
well as those of the Florida reefs, have received the designation
“Conchs.”
Near the shores, where they formerly abounded, a few conchs are yet
picked up by wading fishermen. In waters of medium depth they are
secured either by diving or by means of a long pole with a hook at the
end. In great depths, the mollusks are located by means of a waterglass
similar to the type employed in the Red Sea or among the South Sea
Islands.
The animal is readily removed from the shell after crushing the tip end
of the spire where the large muscle is attached. The flesh forms an
important article of food to the fishermen and to the residents of the
outlying islands. It is said that a “Conch” can make a visit to Nassau
of a week or ten days, and subsist almost entirely on this dried meat,
with which he fills his pockets on starting. A large demand exists for
the beautiful shells for ornamenting flower-beds, garden-walks, etc.
Many of them are burned into lime for building purposes. Formerly
several hundred thousand shells were exported annually to England for
use in porcelain manufacture.
The pearls are generally found embedded in the flesh of the mollusk;
quite often they are in a sac or cyst with an external opening, from
which they are sometimes dislodged by the muscular movement of the
animal. The yield is small, a thousand shells in many cases yielding
only a very small number of seed-pearls or perhaps none at all. Most of
them are oval, commonly somewhat elongated. The usual size is about one
grain in weight, but some of them weigh over twenty, and a very few
exceed fifty grains each. These pearls are generally of a deep pink
color, shading toward whitish pink at each end. While this is the usual
color, yellow, white, red, and even brown conch pearls are occasionally
obtained; these are not so highly prized as the pink ones. Conch pearls
present a peculiar wavy appearance and a sheen somewhat like watered
silk, a result of the reflections produced by the fibrous stellated
structure. While many are beautifully lustrous, they are commonly
deficient in orient, and the color is somewhat evanescent.
Most of the Bahama conch fishermen sell their catch of pearls at Nassau.
According to the late Mr. Frederick E. Stearns, there are in Nassau four
dealers who have an arrangement with Paris and London houses, to whom
they can ship pearls in any number and draw against them with a bill of
lading. In addition to these, there are a dozen dealers in Nassau who
buy what pearls they can secure and offer them for sale.
The value of conch pearls is as variable as their form, color, and size,
and they are sold by the fishermen at prices ranging from twenty-five
cents to one dollar or more each. Those weighing from three to ten
grains, and of good color and luster, but not quite regular in form,
sell for about $10 per grain; those of exceptional perfection in color
and form, and of about the same weights, sell for from $15 to $30 per
grain. In other and exceptional cases, where the size is very large, the
form perfect, and the color and luster choice, the value is enhanced to
several hundred and even several thousand dollars each. A perfect conch
pearl is among the most rare and most valuable of gems. An unusually
choice one has sold in New York City for more than $5000. The yield
fluctuates considerably, but perhaps averages about $85,000 in value
annually. One of the finest conch pearls ever found is shown on the
plate with the conch shell.
There are two important materials that have occasionally been sold and
mistaken for the conch pearl. First, the pale Italian, Japanese, or West
Indian coral, with a color very closely approaching that of the pearl.
By means of a lens it can readily be seen that the coral is in layers,
and does not possess the concentric structure of the pearl, or the
peculiar interwoven structure, with its characteristic sheen, so
frequent in conch pearls. Secondly, the pink conch shell in which the
pearl itself is found; this is frequently cut to imitate the pearl and
sold as such in the West Indies and elsewhere. This can also be detected
by the fact that the layers are almost horizontal and the structure is
not concentric or interwoven, as it is in the conch pearl, while the
luster is more like that of the shell than that of the pearly nacre.
Streeter relates that many years ago an ingenious American turned out
some bits of conch shell into the shape of pearls and placed them in the
conch shells. A slight secretion formed over them, but it was not the
true pearly secretion, and the layer was very thin, so that the
deception was easily detected.
Not the least interesting of the American pearl fisheries is that which
has the abalones (Haliotis) for its object. These occur in many inshore
tropical and semi-tropical waters, and particularly in the marginal
waters of the Pacific. They attach themselves to the rocks by means of
their large muscular disk-shaped foot, which acts like a sucker or an
exhaust-cup.
On the California coast the abalones are gathered in large quantities
for the pearls, for the shells, and especially for the flesh, which is
dried and used for food. The principal fishing grounds are at Point
Lobos in Monterey County, and along the shores of Catalina and Santa
Rosa islands in Santa Barbara County, with smaller quantities from
Halfmoon Bay and from the rocks along the shores of Mendocino County. At
low tide the fishermen wade out in shallow water, and, by means of a
knife, separate the mollusk from its resting-place. Unless this is done
quickly and before the mollusk has time to prepare itself for the
attack, it closes down on the rock by means of its sucker-like foot,
from which it cannot be removed without breaking the shell. A story is
told at Santa Barbara of a Chinese fisherman having been drowned off one
of the outer islands by having his hand caught underneath the shell of
an abalone.
A few years ago, Japanese fishermen introduced the use of diving-suits
in taking these mollusks in three fathoms of water; but in March, 1907,
the California legislature interdicted this form of fishery. That
legislature also interdicted the capture of black abalones measuring
“less than twelve inches around the outer edge of the shell, or any
other abalone, the shell of which shall measure less than fifteen inches
around the outer edge.”
The animal is removed from the shell by thrusting a thin blade of soft
steel between the flesh and the shell, and thus loosening the great
muscle. The flesh is salted and boiled, and then strung on long rods to
dry in the open air. When properly cured, the pieces are almost as hard
and stiff as sole leather. Most of it is packed in sacks and exported to
China, but large quantities are sold on the Pacific coast at from five
to ten cents per pound. The catch is much less than it was forty years
ago.
[Illustration:
SHELL OF PEARL-BEARING ABALONE
From the coast of California
]
Many pearly masses are obtained from the abalones, and a few of these
are of considerable beauty. Some are very large, measuring two inches in
length and half an inch or more in width; but they are rarely of good
form, and their value is commonly far less than that of choice Oriental
pearls. Owing to their irregularity in form, they are scarcely suitable
for necklaces. One of the best necklaces of these pearls ever brought
together sold a few years ago for $2000; but individual specimens have
exceeded $1000 in market value. While abalone pearls are not on the
market in any great quantities, one resident of Santa Barbara has a
collection of more than a thousand specimens, ranging in value from
several hundred dollars to less than one dollar each. Most of the
objects sold in curio and jewelry stores on the Pacific coast as abalone
pearls are simply irregular knots or protuberances cut from the surface
of the shell. The California fishermen are credited with having received
$3000 for the abalone pearls in 1904; but it is safe to say that this
represents only a small fraction of their final sale value.
In the river mussels of Canada, and especially in those from the
Province of Quebec, and the Ungava Region, pearls are occasionally
found. These are usually white and of good luster. They are not the
object of systematic search, but in the aggregate many are secured by
Indians and Eskimos, and some by the trappers and fishermen who operate
from Quebec and Montreal. A number, weighing from one to sixty-five
grains each, were shown at the Colonial Exhibition in London in 1886,
and received favorable notice. Recently, two beautifully matched pink
pearls, weighing about fourteen grains each, were obtained from one
mussel. A single pearl found in Canada has sold for $1000, but as a
general rule they are of relatively little value. The Hudson Bay traders
are represented as having secured a fair share of these pearls.
During the last few years, many pearls have been found in the streams of
Prince Edward Island and of New Brunswick Province, and also in those of
Nova Scotia. Most of them are well formed, but their color is generally
inferior and their luster deficient. Many of them are buff or brown in
color, some are bright and fairly good, a few are rose-tinted, and
others are slate-colored and even almost black. Toronto jewelers report
that many Canadian pearls are in the possession of farmers and others in
the lower provinces, held by them for higher prices than the jewelers
are willing to pay. The Nova Scotia pearls are from a bivalve which has
been identified as _Alasmodon margaritifera_. They are especially
abundant in Annapolis and King counties.
Even in the streams of northern Labrador and of the Caniapuscaw
watershed, pearls are obtained by the natives, and by the hunters and
fishermen who resort to that desolate country. These closely resemble
the pearls of Scotland in color, size, and luster. A story is told of a
fisherman who by chance found in one shell two well-matched pearls,
which he later sold for $150; so pleased was he with his success that he
spent a fortnight in diligent search, but secured only half a dozen
small ones, worth perhaps $3 for the lot. Most of these pearls are
silvery white, but beautiful pink ones are not rare. An unusually choice
20–grain pearl from this region sold in 1905 for $1000.
On the coast of Ecuador, pearl fisheries of minor importance have been
prosecuted from time to time. Dr. H. M. Saville, of the American Museum
of Natural History, states that in his explorations in that country he
frequently came across evidence of pearls and the information that
fisheries had existed on the coast centuries ago.
An interesting letter from that world-wide traveler and interesting
writer, William E. Curtis, states that formerly there was a pearl
fishery on the coast of Ecuador at the little town known as Manta, in
the Province of Manabi; but it had to be abandoned on account of a
particularly voracious species of fish called _el manti_, which abounds
in that locality and gives the place its name. Pearls are said to be
even more abundant at Manta than in Panama Bay. It is reported that this
is the place where the Incas obtained those splendid gems which the
Spaniards found in the palaces and temples of Peru.
In the waters of Costa Rica, pearl-oysters are found, and at times the
fishery has been of considerable local importance. Owing to fear of
injury to the reefs, the use of diving machinery was interdicted there a
few years ago; but in 1906 its employment was authorized under certain
restrictions. Licenses good for six months were authorized for a maximum
of thirty machines, which may work at a minimum depth of thirty-seven
feet.
On the coast of Colombia, South America, scattered reefs of
pearl-oysters occur. A lease of the pearl fisheries and those for corals
and sponges was granted July 2, 1906, but it is unknown what results
have followed. This lease lasts five years, beginning August 1, 1906.
There is almost an absolute paucity of information in regard to the
occurrence of fresh-water pearls in other parts of South America. The
only data we have obtained are from Prof. Eugene Hussak of the Mining
School of Sao Paulo, Brazil, who writes us that some pearls have been
obtained from one of the Bahia rivers. Possibly, when the resources of
the interior of that continent are better known, many pearls may be
found.
XI
PEARL-CULTURE AND PEARL-FARMING
XI
PEARL-CULTURE AND PEARL-FARMING
Some asked how pearls did grow, and where.
Then spoke I to my girl,
To part her lips, and show them there
The quarelets of pearl.
HERRICK, _The Quarrie of Pearls_.
The great profit that would accrue from an increased output of pearls
has long directed attention to the problem of bringing this about by
artificial means.
In his life of Apollonius of Tyana, Philostratus, a Greek writer of the
third century, repeats a story afloat at the time, which credited the
Arabs of the Red Sea with possessing some method of growing pearls
artificially. The story as it reached Greece was that they first poured
oil upon the sea for the purpose of calming the waves, and then dived
down and caused the oysters to open their shells. Having effected this,
they pricked the flesh with a sharp instrument and received the liquor
which flowed from the wounds into suitable molds, and this liquor there
hardened into the shape, color, and consistence of the natural
gems.[324]
While the description given by Philostratus is charged with many
improbable details, and could scarcely develop belief, even in the most
credulous, as to the exact method of procedure, it seems that the story
may not have been wholly without foundation, and that attempts were made
at that remote date to stimulate the growth of pearls.
In more modern times, the possibility of aiding or starting pearly
formations in mollusks seems first to have been conceived by the Chinese
about the fourteenth century. In 1736 there appeared in that storehouse
of Oriental information, “Lettres édifiantes et curieuses écrites des
missions étrangères,”[325] a communication from F. X. de Entrecolles,
dated Pekin, 4th November, 1734, which set forth that there were people
in China who busied themselves with growing pearls, and the product was
not only vastly superior to the imitations manufactured in Europe, but
were scarcely to be distinguished from the genuine. From Father
Entrecolles’s very detailed quotation of his unnamed Chinese authority,
we condense this account. In a basin one half full of fresh water, place
the largest mussels obtainable, set this basin in a secluded place where
the dew may fall thereon, but where no female approaches, and neither
the barking of dogs nor the crowing of chickens is to be heard.
Pulverize some seed-pearls (_Yo tchu_), such as are commonly used in
medicine, moisten this powder with juice expressed from leaves of a
species of holly (_Che ta-kong lao_), and then roll the moistened powder
into perfectly round pellets the size of a pea. These are permitted to
dry under a moderate sunlight, and then are carefully inserted within
the open shells of the mollusks. Each day for one hundred days the
mussels are nourished with equal parts of powdered ginseng, china root,
_peki_, which is a root more glutinous than isinglass, and of _pecho_,
another medicinal root, all combined with honey and molded in the form
of rice grains.
Although extremely detailed in some particulars, the Chinese account
omits much to be desired as to the method in which the shells were
opened to receive the pellets and the nourishment, and as to the
importance of seclusion from females and loud noises. Admitting that it
is “inaccurate and misleading,” this letter seems to indicate very
clearly that the Chinese had some method of assisting nature in growing
pearls in river mussels.
The first person in Europe whose suggestion of the possibility of
pearl-culture attracted general attention was Linnæus, the Swedish
naturalist (1707–1778). In a letter to Von Haller, the Swiss anatomist,
dated 13th September, 1748, he wrote: “At length I have ascertained the
manner in which pearls originate and grow in shells; and in the course
of five or six years I am able to produce, in any mother-of-pearl shell
the size of one’s hand, a pearl as large as the seed of the common
vetch.”[326] There was much secrecy about Linnæus’s discovery, and even
yet there is uncertainty as to the details of the method.
[Illustration:
Shell of _Dipsas plicatus_, with attached metal figures of Buddha
coated with nacre
]
[Illustration:
Shell of _Dipsas plicatus_, with attached porcelain beads coated with
nacre
]
The Linnean Society of London apparently possesses some of the very
pearls grown by Linnæus, as well as several manuscripts which throw much
light on this subject. It appears from the latter that, under date of
6th February, 1761, Linnæus wrote that he “possessed the art” of
impregnating mussels for pearl production, and offered for a suitable
reward from the state to publish the “secret” for the public use and
benefit. A select committee of the state council of Sweden was appointed
to confer with him, and on 27th July, 1761, the naturalist appeared and
verbally explained his discovery. After various meetings, the select
committee approved the “art” and recommended a compensation of 12,000
dalars (about $4800). It does not appear that the award was paid, and
the following year the secret was purchased by Peter Bagge, a Gothenberg
merchant, for the sum of 6000 dalars. On 7th September, 1762, King
Adolph Frederick issued a grant to this merchant “to practice the art
without interference or competition.”[327]
Peter Bagge was unable to exercise the rights which he had acquired, nor
was he able to dispose of them to advantage. On his death the memorandum
of the secret became lost, and it was not found until about 1821, when
it was discovered by a grandson, J. P. Bagge. Under the date of 27th
February, 1822, the King of Sweden confirmed to this grandson the
privileges which his ancestor had purchased in 1762. Fruitless efforts
were again made to dispose profitably of the rights either to
individuals or to the Swedish government.
The details of Linnæus’s “secret” have never been published
authoritatively. In his “History of Inventions,” Beckmann states that
before the naturalist thought of the profits that might accrue from his
discovery, he intimated the process in the sixth edition of his “Systema
naturæ,” wherein he states: “Margarita testæ excrescentia latere
interiore, dum exterius latus perforatur.”[328] “I once told him,” says
Beckmann, “that I had discovered his secret in his own writings; he
seemed to be displeased, made no inquiry as to the passage, and changed
the discourse.”[329]
In the second volume of his edition of “Linnæus’s Correspondence,”[330]
Sir J. E. Smith remarks: “Specimens of pearls so produced by art in the
_Mya margaritifera_ are in the Linnean cabinet. The shell appears to
have been pierced by flexible wires, the ends of which perhaps remain
therein.” Referring to this remark, J. P. Bagge comments: “This is the
nearest I have seen any one come to truth, but still it will be remarked
by reading the ‘secret’ that more information is required to enable
persons to practice the art.”
After a thorough examination of the manuscripts and other material,
Professor Herdman concludes that the essential points of Linnæus’s
process are to make a very small hole in the shell and insert a round
pellet of limestone fixed at the end of a fine silver wire, the hole
being near the end of the shell so as to interfere only slightly with
the mollusk, and the nucleus being kept free from the interior of the
shell so that the resulting pearl may not become adherent to it by a
deposit of nacre.[331]
Shortly after Linnæus communicated with the Swedish government and
before his death, it was learned in Europe that the art of producing
“culture pearls” by a somewhat similar process had been practised by the
Chinese for centuries.[332] They used several forms of matrices or
nuclei, but principally spheres of nacre and bits of flat metal or
molded lead, which were not infrequently in conventional outline of
Buddha. In the spring or early summer, these were introduced under the
mantle of the living mollusk after the shell had been carefully opened a
fraction of an inch, and the animal was then returned to the pond, or
lake. The mollusk did its work in a leisurely way, like some people who
have little to do, and many months elapsed before it was ready for
opening and the removal of the pearly objects.
The most satisfactory description we have seen of this process appears
to be that communicated nearly a century later to the London Society of
Arts by Dr. D. T. Macgowan,[333] through H. B. M. plenipotentiary in
China, from which this account is abridged and modified.
The industry is prosecuted in two villages near the city of Titsin, in
the northern part of the province of Che-kiang, a silk-producing region.
In May or June large specimens of the fresh-water mussels, _Dipsas
plicatus_, are brought in baskets from Lake Tai-hu, about thirty miles
distant. For recuperation from the journey, they are immersed in fresh
water for a few days in bamboo cages, and are then ready to receive the
matrices.
These nuclei are of various forms and materials, the most common being
spherical beads of nacre, pellets of mud moistened with juice of camphor
seeds, and especially thin leaden images, generally of Buddha in the
usual sitting posture. In introducing these objects, the shell is gently
opened with a spatula of bamboo or of pearl shell, and the mantle of the
mollusk is carefully separated from one surface of the shell with a
metal probe. The foreign bodies are then successively introduced at the
point of a bifurcated bamboo stick, and placed, commonly in two parallel
rows, upon the inner surface of the shell; a sufficient number having
been placed on one valve, the operation is repeated on the other. As
soon as released, the animal closes its shell, thus keeping the matrices
in place. The mussels are then deposited one by one in canals or
streams, or in ponds connected therewith, five or six inches apart, and
where the depth is from two to five feet under water.
If taken up within a few days and examined, the nuclei will be found
attached to the shell by a membranous secretion; later this appears to
be impregnated with calcareous matter, and finally layers of nacre are
deposited around each nucleus, the process being analagous to the
formation of calculary concretions in animals of higher development. A
ridge generally extends from one pearly tumor to another, connecting
them all together. Each month several tubs of night soil are thrown into
the reservoir for the nourishment of the animals. Great care is taken to
keep goat excretia from the water, as it is highly detrimental to the
mussels, preventing the secretion of good nacre or even killing them if
the quantity be sufficient. Persons inexperienced in the management lose
ten or fifteen per cent. by deaths; others lose virtually none in a
whole season.
In November, the mussels are removed from the water and opened, and the
pearly masses are detached by means of a knife. If the matrix be of
nacre, this is not removed; but the earthen and the metallic matrices
are cut away, melted resin or white sealing-wax poured into the cavity,
and the orifice covered with a piece of shell. These pearly formations
have some of the luster and beauty of true pearls, and are furnished at
a rate so cheap as to be procurable by almost any one. Most of them are
purchased by jewelers, who set them in various personal ornaments, and
especially in decorations for the hair. Those formed in the image of
Buddha are used largely for amulets as well as for ornaments. They are
about half an inch long, and while in the shell have a bluish tint,
which disappears with removal of the matrix. Quantities of them are sold
as talismans to pilgrims at the Buddhist shrines about Pooto and
Hang-chau.
In some shells the culture pearls are permitted to remain by the Chinese
growers, for sale as curios or souvenirs; specimens of these have found
their way into many public and private collections of Europe and
America. These shells are generally about seven inches long and four or
five inches broad, and contain a double or triple row of pearls or
images, as many as twenty-five of the former and sixteen of the latter
to each valve. That the animal should survive the introduction of so
many irritating bodies, and in such a brief period secrete a covering of
nacre over them all, is certainly a striking physiological fact. Indeed,
some naturalists have expressed strong doubts as to its possibility,
supposing the forms were made to adhere to the shell by some
composition; but the examination of living specimens in different stages
of growth, with both valves studded with them, has fully demonstrated
its truth.
It is represented that in the northern part of the Che-kiang province
about five thousand families are employed in this work in connection
with rice-growing and silk-culture. To some of them it is the chief
source of income, single families realizing as much as 300 silver
dollars annually therefrom. In the village of Chung-kwan-o, the
headquarters for culture pearls in China, a temple has been erected to
the memory of the originator of this industry, Yu Shun Yang, who lived
late in the thirteenth century, and was an ancestor of many persons now
employed thereby.
The method in vogue in China for so many centuries has been the
starting-point for similar attempts in various other countries. During
the New Jersey pearling excitement in 1857, there were found several
spherical pieces of nacre which had been introduced into Unios
apparently for experimental pearl-culture; and in the collection of
shells bequeathed to the United States National Museum by the late Dr.
Isaac Lea, is a hemispherical piece of candle grease partly coated with
pinkish nacre. Kelaart applied the Chinese method to the Ceylon
pearl-oysters with much success in 1858. At the Berlin Fisheries
Exhibition, in 1880, appeared the results of experiments in growing
culture pearls in the river mussels in Saxony. Small foreign bodies had
been introduced in the mantle, and others had been inserted between the
mantle and the shell. These nuclei consisted of shell beads, unsightly
pearls from other mussels, etc.; but unfortunately the shape of these
was such that the mantle could not fit closely around them, consequently
the result was so irregular as to be of no value except to show that
German Unios as well as those of China could be made to cover foreign
objects with pearly material.
Professor Herdman notes that, between 1751 and 1754, an inspector named
Frederick Hedenberg received an annual salary “to inoculate the
pearl-mussels of Lulea (in the northern part of Sweden) with
‘pearl-seeds’ which he manufactured, and then to replant the mussels.
Certain pearls were produced by the inspector, which it is recorded were
sold for some 300 silver dollars.”[334]
As noted by Broussonnet, in Finland artificial pearls were produced by
inserting a round piece of nacre between the inner face of the shell and
the mantle. The owner of the pearl fisheries at Vilshofen has succeeded
in producing pearly figures by introducing into the mollusk flat figures
of pewter, most of them representing fish in form.
In 1884, Bouchon-Brandely made experiments in pearl production at
Tahiti. Gimlet holes about half an inch in diameter were drilled through
different places in the shells of pearl-oysters, and through each of
these holes a pellet of nacre or of glass was inserted and held by brass
wire passing through a stopper of cork or burao wood, by means of which
each opening was hermetically closed, so that the pellet was the only
foreign substance protruding on the inside of the shell.[335] The
oysters were returned to the sea without further injury, and after the
lapse of a month the pellets were found covered with thin layers of
nacre.
[Illustration:
Artificial rearing-ponds for the development of pearl-oysters on the
Island of Espiritū Santo, Gulf of California
]
[Illustration:
Trays containing small pearl-oysters prepared for placing at the
bottom of artificial rearing-ponds at Espiritū Santo Island, Gulf of
California
]
Experiments in growing pearls in the abalone or Haliotis were made in
1897 by Louis Bouton, an account of which was given at the meeting of
the Paris Académie des Sciences in 1898.[336] The tenacity of life in
this mollusk makes it especially desirable for experiments of this
nature. Through small holes bored into the shell, pellets of
mother-of-pearl were inserted and placed within the mantle, the small
holes being afterward closed up. Other nacreous pellets were introduced
directly into the bronchial cavity. The objects were soon covered with
thin, pearly layers, resulting in a few months in spheres of much
beauty, resembling somewhat the pearls naturally produced by this
mollusk. In six months, according to M. Bouton, the layers became of
sufficient thickness to be attractive. Within limitations, the size of
the pearl produced is in proportion to the length of time it is allowed
to remain within the mollusk. The results of the experiments seem to
encourage further efforts in this line, and possibly in course of time
there may be a profitable business in growing pearls in abalones on the
Pacific coast of the United States. Indeed, the experiments in
transplanting and cultivating the pearl-oyster in Australia leads one to
fancy that the culture of that species in the warm coastal waters of
America is by no means an impossibility.
Many other experiments along similar lines have been made more recently.
An interesting feature of attempts made by Mr. Vane Simmonds of Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, in 1896–1898, is that in order to avoid straining the
adductor muscles by forcibly opening the shell while the mollusk
resisted the intrusion, each selected Unio was exposed in the open air
and sunshine until the valves opened; then a wooden wedge was carefully
inserted in the opening, and the mollusk immediately immersed in water
to revive it or to sustain life. After a few moments of immersion, the
operator carefully raised the mantle from the shell, inserted the pellet
of wax or other small article to be covered with nacre, drew the mantle
to its normal position, removed the wedge, and returned the mollusk to a
selected place in the stream at sufficient depth to avoid danger of
freezing in winter.
Probably it would be more satisfactory to stupefy the mollusks by means
of some chemical in order to insert the pellets. Marine mollusks have
been successfully stupefied by slowly adding magnesium sulphate crystals
to the sea water until the animals no longer respond to contact. If
treatment is not too prolonged, they may be returned to normal sea water
with good prospects of recovery. To stupefy fresh-water mollusks, either
chloral hydrate or chlorosone may be employed, although the latter is
expensive to use in great quantity. Dr. Charles B. Davenport, of the
Carnegie Institution, suggests that it might be well to experiment with
pouring ether or chloroform over them.
In Japan the production of these pearly formations in _Margaritifera
martensi_, which is closely related to the Ceylon oyster, has developed
into some prominence since 1890, and the results have been well
advertised. The industry is located in Ago Bay, near the celebrated
temple of Ise in the province of Shima, and gives employment to about
one hundred persons. It is stated that the proprietor, Kokichi Mikimoto,
has leased about one thousand acres of sea bottom, on which are a
million oysters of this species, which yield from 30,000 to 50,000
culture pearls annually.
As described by Dr. K. Mitsukuri, the shoal portions of this area are
used for breeding the oysters and raising them to maturity, and in the
deeper parts—covered by several fathoms of water—the oysters are
specially treated for producing the culture pearls. In the former, the
spat is collected on small stones, weighing six or eight pounds each,
placed during May or June. The following November these stones, with the
attached spat or young, are removed, for protection from cold, to depths
greater than five or six feet, where they remain for about three years.
At the end of that period, the growing oysters are taken from the water,
the shells opened slightly, and rounded bits of pearl shell or nacre are
introduced under the mantle without injury to the mollusks. About
300,000 are thus treated annually, and placed in the deeper water at the
rate of about one to each square foot of bottom area. After the lapse of
about four years more, the oysters are removed from the water and
opened, when a large percentage of the pellets are found covered on the
upper or exposed surface with nacre of good luster.
Most of these culture pearls are button-shaped and weigh two or three
grains each. Although somewhat attractive and superior to the culture
pearls of China and other fresh waters, they by no means compare
favorably with choice pearls. They are rarely, if ever, spherical, and
only the upper surface is lustrous; consequently they serve only the
purpose of half-pearls. A cross section shows the nacreous growth in a
thin concentric layer, forming a fragile hemispherical cap, the concave
wall of which is covered with a brownish granular secretion which
prevents perfect adhesion. Compared with choice pearls, they are not
only deficient in luster, but are fragile, and are beautiful only on the
upper surface, and not available for necklaces. Good specimens sell for
several dollars each, and some individuals reach $50 or more. Specimens
exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1900 were awarded a silver medal;
at the St. Petersburg Exhibition in 1902 they were awarded a gold medal;
at the Tokio Exhibition a grand prize, and a medal at the St. Louis
Exposition in 1904. The awards were given in the fisheries, and not the
gem divisions.
The work of Mikimoto is not the only attempt now being made in Japan to
produce pearls. A letter from Dr. T. Nishikawa, of the Tokio Imperial
University, states: “It is a great pleasure for me to tell you that I am
studying pearl formation and pearl-oyster culture in the university
laboratory, and recently I have got my pearl laboratory at Fukura, on
the Island of Awaji, where I began the pearl-culture work this summer
(1907). Fortunately, I found the cause of Japanese pearl formation,
_i.e._, the reason why and how the pearl is produced in the tissue of an
oyster. I made practical application of this theory with great prospects
for producing the natural and true pearls at will.”
Among the most interesting of the pearl-culture enterprises are those of
the Compañia Criadora de Concha y Perla, under the direction of Sr.
Gaston J. Vives, in the Gulf of California. This company has an
extensive station at San Gabriel, near La Paz, where breeding oysters
are placed in prepared chests or cages for collecting the spat on trays.
After remaining there for several weeks or months, the young mollusks
are removed to prepared places (_viveros_) for further growth.
Experiments are now made in depositing them between a series of parallel
dams alternately touching each shore of a lagoon, thus developing a
current of water over the oysters for conveying food to them, and thus
hastening their growth.
In efforts to increase the output of pearls, attention has been given to
the possibilities for extending the area and production of the reefs,
and for stocking new areas and replenishing exhausted ones, thus
bringing the pearl-bearing mollusks to maturity in greater abundance.
Although theoretically it does not seem a very difficult undertaking to
cultivate the pearl-oysters by methods somewhat similar to the
cultivation of edible oysters and clams, in no part of the world has
this been successfully done on an extensive scale. While in certain
minor cases, the areas of some species of pearl mollusks have been
extended indirectly through man’s agency—as the range of the Red Sea
pearl-oyster into the Mediterranean since the Suez Canal was
opened—there is no well-known instance in which new areas have been
abundantly populated through direct efforts.
In the chapter on the pearl fisheries of Asia are noted the hitherto
unsuccessful efforts made in Ceylon and India to preserve the young and
immature oysters on the storm-swept reefs by removing them to less
exposed areas. This has received close attention from the Ceylon
authorities during the last two years. Other practical measures which
are recommended for that region include “cultching,” or the deposit of
suitable solid material, such as shells or broken stone, to which the
young oysters can attach themselves; thinning out overcrowded reefs, and
cleaning the beds by means of a dredge, thereby removing starfish and
other injurious animals. The attempts made by individuals and
associations to extend the range of the reefs on the coast of Australia,
among the Tuamotu Islands, in the Gulf of California, and some other
localities, are noted in the appropriate chapters. But it may be stated
that in most instances lack of adequate police protection has been not
the least of the difficulties with which these experiments have had to
contend.
Nor has much greater success followed upon efforts to prevent the
exhaustion of the reefs and productive grounds through overfishing,
except in those instances in which the government exercises a
proprietory interest and determines the season, the area to be fished,
and the quantity of mollusks to be removed. The most prominent instance
of this is in Ceylon, where the fishery has been restricted to such
seasons and periods as appeared to insure the maximum yield of pearls.
Without restriction upon the fishery, the pearl-oyster in that populous
region would doubtless become almost extinct in a few years. Another
instance of proprietory interest on the part of the government is in
some of the German States, where pearl fishing has been regulated and
restricted for centuries. But there the sewage from cities and factories
has accomplished almost as effectively, if less rapidly, what
unrestricted fishing would have done.
Much attention has been given to the subject of pearl-culture in
Bavaria, where the government has granted a small subsidy to encourage
this industry, and a model pearl-mussel bank has been established in one
of the brooks for the rational culture of the mussels.
On the Australian coast, the only theoretical protection of consequence
is the restriction on taking small or immature oysters; but, owing to
the great area over which the fisheries are prosecuted there, it has not
been possible to enforce the regulations. At some of the Pacific islands
and elsewhere, interdictions exist as to use of certain apparatus of
capture, but this is intended for the purpose of reserving the industry
to dependent natives rather than for protecting the reefs. Several
efforts have been made to insure adequate protection for the Unios in
our American rivers, but nothing in this direction has yet been
accomplished by legislative enactment, except in Illinois.
Reference has already been made to the parasitic stage of Unios.[337]
The attachment of the newly-hatched mollusks to the gills or fins of a
fish is entirely a matter of chance, and unless this takes place they
die within a few days. Under natural conditions the fish thus infected
will rarely be found carrying as many of the parasitic Unios as they can
without serious injury. If the fish are placed in a tank or a pond
containing large numbers of newly-hatched Unios, it is possible to bring
about the attachment of hundreds of them for every one that would be
found there by chance of nature. A fish six inches in length may thus be
made to carry several hundred parasitic Unios, and thus a thousand fish
artificially infected may do the work of several hundred thousand in a
state of nature. Experiments with small numbers of fish under
observation in the laboratory indicate that their infection on a large
scale is entirely possible, and the experiment by Messrs. Lefevre and
Curtis now in progress at La Crosse, Wisconsin, in which over 25,000
young fish have been infected, gives every indication that such work may
be begun even with the scanty knowledge now possessed.
Since it has already been shown that the production of pearls is an
abnormal condition, it does not follow that an increase in the quantity
of mollusks would necessarily result in a corresponding increase in the
yield of pearls. Indeed, it might even be that the artificial conditions
bringing about an enhanced prosperity and abundance of the mollusks
would result in a corresponding decrease in the product of gems, the
improved surroundings impairing if not destroying the conditions to
which the pearls owe their origin. This has resulted in directing
efforts toward abnormally increasing the abundance of pearls in a
definite number of mollusks.
The development of the parasitic theory of pearl formation has naturally
invited attention to the possibilities of increasing the yield of pearls
by inoculating healthy mollusks with distomid parasites. It does not
appear that this has yet advanced beyond the experimental stage, and
virtually all that has been accomplished has been set forth in the
chapter on the origin of pearls. It seems that there are great
possibilities in the artificial production along these lines; and that
under skilful management it could be made a profitable industry,
especially if carried on concurrently with the systematic cultivation of
mother-of-pearl shells.
Although there is scientific basis for the belief that it may be
possible in time to bring about pearl growth in this manner, the public
should not be too hasty in financing companies soliciting capital for
establishing so-called “pearl farms.” Every once in a while announcement
is made in the public press of wonderful success which has been attained
by some investigator, who surrounds his discovery with as much mystery
as enveloped the Keeley motor, and who is as anxious to sell stock as
was the owner of that mythical invention. A prospectus of one of these
“pearl syndicates,” which is now before us, claims to “increase and
hasten pearl production by forcing the oyster, through doctoring the
water in which it is immersed and also by irritating the mollusk
itself.” So far as the writers are aware, aside from the inexpensive but
somewhat attractive culture pearls, no commercial success has yet
followed the many attempts at artificial production.
This chapter should not close without reference to the so-called
“breeding pearls,” probably the most curious of all theories of pearl
growth, regarding which many inquiries have been made. Throughout the
Malay Archipelago there exists a generally accepted belief that if
several selected pearls of good size are sealed in a box with a few
grains of rice for nourishment they will increase in number as well as
in size. If examined at the expiration of one year, small pearls may be
found strewn about the bottom of the box, according to the theory; and
in some instances the original pearls themselves will be found to have
increased in size. If again inclosed for a further period of a year or
more, the adherents of the theory say, the seed-pearls will further
increase in size, and additional seed-pearls will form. Furthermore, the
grains of rice will present the appearance of having been nibbled or as
though a rodent had taken a bite in the end of each.
It is claimed that the breeding pearls are obtained from several species
of mollusks, mostly from the Margaritifera, but also from the Tridacna
(giant clam) and the Placuna (window shell). While cotton is the usual
medium in which the pearls and rice are retained, some collectors
substitute fresh water and yet others prefer salt water. It seems that
rice is considered essential to success.
The earliest account we have seen of this extraordinary belief was given
by Dr. Engelbert Kæmpfer,[338] who was connected with the Dutch embassy
to Japan from 1690 to 1696, and since that time it has been referred to
by many travelers in the Malay Archipelago.
A correspondent in the time-honored “Notes and Queries,” 20th September,
1862, writes:
Nearly five years ago, while staying with friends in Pulo Penang
(Straits of Malacca), I was shown by the wife of a prominent
merchant five small pearls, which had increased and multiplied in
her possession. She had set them aside for about 12 months in a
small wooden box, packed in soft cotton and with half a dozen grains
of common rice. On opening the box at the expiration of that time,
she found four additional pearls, about the size of a small pinhead
and of much beauty, which I saw and examined not long after the lady
made the discovery. While my story may be received with laughter, I
can most solemnly assure you of the truth of my having seen these
pearls, and I have not the slightest doubt of the perfect
truthfulness of the lady who possessed them. I questioned an eminent
Malay merchant of Penang on this subject, and he assured me that one
of his daughters had once possessed a similar growth of pearls.[339]
Notwithstanding the apparent absurdity of this pearl-breeding theory,
belief in it appears to be not only sincere but wide-spread, as can be
attested by any one familiar with affairs in the archipelago. A critical
examination into the matter was made in 1877 by Dr. N. B. Dennys,
curator of the Raffles Museum at Singapore, the result of which was
communicated to the Straits branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 28th
February, 1878.[340] From his numerous quotations of persons who gave
the results of their experiences we extract two instances. One gentleman
had 120 small pearls in addition to the five breeding ones with which
the experiment had started twenty years before, and during the entire
period the box had not been molested except that it was opened
occasionally for inspection by interested persons. Another experimentor
inclosed three breeding pearls with a few grains of rice on 17th July,
1874; on opening the box on 14th July, 1875, nine additional pearls were
discovered, and the three original ones appeared larger.
The belief has many curious variations. It is stated that in Borneo and
the adjacent islands, many of the fishermen reserve every ninth pearl
regardless of its size, and put the collection in a small bottle which
is kept corked with a dead man’s finger. According to Professor
Kimmerly, nearly every burial-place along the Borneo coast has been
desecrated in searching for “corks” for these bottles, and almost every
hut has its dead-finger bottle, with from ten to fifty “breeding pearls”
and twice that number of rice grains.[341] A correspondent at Sandakan,
North Borneo, writes that at the time of his death at Hongkong in 1901,
Dr. Dennys had in his possession a small box containing “breeding
pearls”; but these disappeared after his death, and his brother, the
crown solicitor, was unable to find them. This correspondent also states
that the Ranee of Sarawak, a British protectorate in western Borneo, has
a collection of “breeding pearls” numbering about two hundred, and that
this is the only large collection known at present.
As contrasted with abundant and unquestionably sincere testimony that
pearls do “breed,” it may be stated that absolutely no result has
followed one or two native experiments made under supervision. While it
must be admitted that negative evidence is always weaker than positive,
and twenty failures would be outweighed by one successful experiment,
yet the scientific objections to the possibility of pearls “breeding”
cannot be overcome. The phenomenon is doubtless one of those curiosities
of natural history in which some important factor has been overlooked.
Another curious theory is that peculiar pearls continue to grow after
removal from the mollusk in which they originate. Quite recently it was
reported from New Durham, North Carolina, that a pearl found there in
1896 had been growing continually since it was found and removed from
the water. Unfortunately, it was weighed only when the last observation
was made, and its increased size doubtless existed only in the
imagination of its possessor.
XII
MYSTICAL AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF PEARLS
XII
MYSTICAL AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF PEARLS
Divers are the virtues of gems; some give favor in the sight of
lords; some protect against fire; others make people beloved; others
give wisdom; some render men invisible; others repel lightning; some
baffle poisons; some protect and augment treasures, and others cause
that husbands should love their wives.
Arabic version of Solomon’s writings.
While no special gems are mentioned in the tribute which the Arabs
credit to Solomon, it seems that pearls must certainly have been
included, for in nearly all countries where these gems have been prized
and from the earliest period, they have been credited with mystic
properties and healing virtues.
In the first chapter of this book, reference was made to the
Atharvaveda, dating from at least 2400 years ago, and its allusion to
the use of an amulet of pearl shell and of pearls among the Hindus in
bestowing long life and prosperity upon young Brahmanical disciples. As
this amulet is fastened upon the youth, the following hymn is recited,
according to this ancient Veda of the Atharvans:
Born of the wind, the atmosphere, the lightning, and the light, may
this pearl shell, born of gold, protect us from straits!
With the shell which was born in the sea, at the head of bright
substances, we slay the Rakshas and conquer the Atrins [devouring
demons].
With the shell [we conquer] disease and poverty; with the shell,
too, the Sadanvas. The shell is our universal remedy; the pearl
shall protect us from straits!
Born in the heavens, born in the sea, brought on from the river
[Sindhu], this shell, born of gold, is our life-prolonging amulet.
The amulet, born from the sea, a sun, born from Vritra [the cloud],
shall on all sides protect us from the missiles of the gods and the
Asuras!
Thou art one of the golden substances, thou art born from Soma [the
moon]. Thou art sightly on the chariot, thou art brilliant on the
quiver.
(May it prolong our lives!) The bone of the gods turned into pearl;
that, animated, dwells in the waters. That do I fasten upon thee
unto life, luster, strength, longevity, unto a life lasting a
hundred autumns. May the amulet of pearl protect thee![342]
The mystical Taoists, in their pursuit of immortality, made much of
pearls as an important ingredient in formulæ for perpetuating youth.
According to an old Taoist authority, in preparing one of these elixirs,
an extra long pearl which has been worn for many years is steeped in
some infusion of malt, or a preparation of serpents’ gall, honeycomb,
and pumice-stone. When the pearl becomes plastic, it is drawn out to the
length of two or three feet, cut into suitable lengths, and formed into
pills, the taking of which renders food thenceforth unnecessary.[343]
The myth of the dragon and the pearl has been a far-reaching theme of
the artists in Japan and China, whether in color, metal, or stone. There
has been much written as to how the myth became so fixed in the minds of
the Orientals, and Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, who has made an
exhaustive study of the myth of the dragon in all its phases, has very
courteously communicated to us the following facts. Personally he had
never been able to learn of a true or clear description of the origin of
the myth other than the well-recorded legend given by Legge in the
“Sacred Books of the East” (Vol. XL, p. 211), in which there is a
quotation from Shuangtze, a writer of the fourth century before Christ,
who says: “Near the Ho river there was a poor man, who supported his
family by weaving rushes. His son, when diving in a deep pool, found a
pearl worth a thousand ounces of silver. The father said: ‘Bring a stone
and beat it in pieces. A pearl of this value must have been in a pool
nine khung deep and under the chin of the black dragon. That you were
able to get it must have been owing to your having found him asleep. Let
him awake, and the consequences will not be small.’” Prince Rupprecht
says:
This legend has nothing to do with the illustration to which you
refer; it belongs to a cycle of myths concerning a stone in the head
of a serpent, or the crown of the king of the serpents or dragons;
myths which also exist in Germany since the days of old. I should
rather be inclined to think that the commonly accepted pearl between
the two dragons is not a pearl at all. At least this pearl is always
surrounded by ornaments in the shape of flames or claws, and
Professor Hirth discovered on such a representation in woodcut, an
explanation of the flames by the sign for Yangsui, a very ancient
kind of metallic mirrors, of concave form, that were used to produce
the heavenly fire.
[Illustration:
JAPANESE LEGEND OF THE DRAGON AND THE PEARL, IDEALIZED IN JADE
Heber R. Bishop Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art
]
This explanation is probably erroneous and due to a misunderstanding
of the signs for flames. In my opinion, another explanation, that
the pearl is not really a pearl but a spider, is nearer to the
truth. As an argument in favor of this theory the following sentence
may be quoted from an encyclopedia of the eleventh century
(“Pieu-tzi-lei,” chap. 223): “The pearl of a fish is its eye, the
pearl of a tortoise is its foot, the pearl of the spider is its
belly.” Pearl, as well as spider, are both called in Chinese by the
same word but are written in a different way.
I, for my part, believe that the pearl is the belly not indeed of a
spider, but of Garuda, the eagle of Vishnu, known in the old Hindu
mythology as the foe of the Vagas, beings with human bodies and the
tails of serpents. At least, I found on an old Chinese gateway,
dating back to the times of the Mongol emperors, a sculpture showing
the contest between Garuda and the Vagas. On another sculpture of
the late King epoch the Vagas are already changed into dragons, and
the wings, the limbs and the head of Garuda have become quite
insignificant, while his belly is prominent like a ball.
A beautiful metaphor occurs in ancient Chinese writings, in the Book of
the Later Han,[344] for instance, which regards this gem as the hidden
soul of the oyster.
There is no end of legends and myths regarding the pearl in oriental
literature. One fable credits it with a peculiar magical power: by
speaking the right word, a spirit can be called therefrom which makes
the owner a possessor of all the happiness of the earth. Browning notes
this in two exquisite stanzas, “A Pearl, a Girl,” published on the day
of his death in 1889, in which he compares this characteristic with a
woman’s love called forth by the mystic word.
A simple ring with a single stone.
To the vulgar eye no stone of price;
Whisper the right word, that alone—
Forth starts a sprite, like fire from ice,
And lo, you are lord (says an Eastern scroll)
Of heaven and earth, lord whole and sole,
Through the power in a pearl.
A woman (’tis I this time that say)
With little the world counts worthy praise;
Utter the true word—out and away
Escapes her soul: I am wrapt in blaze,
Creation’s lord, of heaven and earth,
Lord whole and sole—by a minute’s birth—
Through the love in a girl.
In the folk-song of Servia is a pretty little poem which testifies to
the love they bear to pearls:
A youth unmated prays to God,
To turn him to pearls in the sea,
Where the maidens come to fill their urns;
That so they might gather him into their laps,
And string him on a fine green thread,
And wear him pendant from the neck;
That he might hear what each one said,
And whether his loved one spoke of him.
His prayer was granted and he lay
Turned to pearls in the dark blue sea,
Where the maidens come to fill their urns;
Then quickly they gather him into their laps,
And string him on a green silk thread,
And wear him pendant from the neck;
So he hears what each one says of her own
And what his loved one says of him.[345]
In the days when romance and chivalry held sway in Europe, pearls and
other favors were presented by ladies for the brave knights to wear at
tournaments. And we are told in the Arthurian legends how Elaine, “the
lily maid of Astolat,” gave to Sir Lancelot “a red sleeve of scarlet,
embroidered with great pearls,” for him to wear on his helmet: and “then
to her tower she climbed and took the shield, there kept it and so lived
in fantasy”; while he fought and won at the tilt, “wearing her scarlet
sleeve, tho’ carved and cut, and half the pearls away.”[346]
The sweet sentiment of purity associated with the pearl ennobles it
above all other gems. Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz, wrote, about
850, that “mystically, the pearl signifies the hope of the Kingdom of
Heaven, or charity and the sweetness of celestial life.”[347] True, it
was not among the twelve gems which adorned the breastplate of the high
priest of the Temple, symbolical of the twelve apostles. A Father of the
Church—St. Augustine, we believe—explains this by saying that it was
reserved for a more sacred office, that of representing Christ himself.
Pearl signifies purity, innocence, humility, and a retiring spirit. All
stones of the gray color of the pearl have the significances which are
given to this beautiful gem.[348]
Unlike other gems, the pearl comes to us perfect and beautiful, direct
from the hand of nature. Other precious stones receive careful treatment
from the lapidary, and owe much to his art. The pearl, however, owes
nothing to man. Perhaps this has much to do with the sentiments we
cherish for it. It touches us with the same sense of simplicity and
sweetness as the mountain daisy or the wild rose. It is absolutely a
gift of nature, on which man cannot improve. We turn from the brilliant,
dazzling ornament of diamonds or emeralds to a necklace of pearls with a
sense of relief, and the eye rests upon it with quiet, satisfied repose
and is delighted with its modest splendor, its soft gleam, borrowed from
its home in the depths of the sea. It seems truly to typify steady and
abiding affection, which needs no accessory or adornment to make it more
attractive. And there is a purity and sweetness about it which makes it
especially suitable for the maiden.
The idea of pearly purity is inseparably linked with the name Margaret,
derived from the Persian _Murwari_ (pearl, or child of light) through
the Greek μαργαρίτης. This name—beautiful in sound as well as in
origin—is popular in all European countries, and likewise are its
abbreviations and diminutives: in Italian, Margherita and Rita; in
French, Marguerite, Margot, and Groten; in German, Margarethe, Gretchen,
and Grethel; and in English, Margaret, Marjorie, Madge, Maggie, Peggy,
etc.
The use of the word as a proper name among the early Christians was
doubtless suggested by the sweet simplicity and loveliness of the pearl,
and by the beautiful symbolical references to this gem in the
Scriptures; and the meaning of the name has been strengthened by the
pure lives and the good deeds of the many beautiful Margarets in all
lands, including the virgin martyr, St. Margaret of Antioch, “the mild
maid of God” referred to in the Liturgy, who, before the fifth century,
was the embodiment of feminine innocence and faith overcoming evil, and
who is often represented wearing a string of pearls; also St. Margaret
Ætheling of the eleventh century, who endeared the name in Scotland, was
canonized in 1215, and was adopted as the patron saint of Scotland in
1673; and Margaret, “Pearl of Bohemia,” so beloved by the Danes.
Especially among the Germans has the name a tender significance; with
them it is symbolical of maidenly sweetness and purity associated with
richness of womanhood, such as was typified by Goethe in the heroine of
his “Faust.” This idea may have impelled Wordsworth in the selection of
a name for the lovely, girlish character in his “Excursion”; and
Tennyson for his “Sweet pale Margaret,” and likewise Scott for “Ladye
Margaret, the flower of Teviot.” With the memory of these lives and
characters before her, many a loving mother has crystallized the hope
entertained for a baby daughter by enriching her with this beautiful
name.
Poets seem never to tire of using the pearl as a symbol of perfection in
form, in purity, in luster, and in sweetness. But probably none has made
a more lovely comparison than Owen Meredith:
As pure as a pearl,
And as perfect: a noble and innocent girl.[349]
The Oriental poets unite with those of the West in their love for this
gem, and those gifted writers are lavish in its use. Let us but add the
lament of Shabl Abdullah on the death of Nozami:
Nozami’s gone, our fairest pearl is lost.
From purest dew, kind Heaven had given her birth,
And then had fashioned her the pearl supreme.
She softly shone, but hidden from mankind,
So God has now restored her to her shell.
Far more crude, but possibly equally pathetic, is that old epitaph from
Yorkshire, England:
In shells and gold pearls are not kept alone,
A Margaret here lies beneath a stone.
In the seventeenth century, Pierre de Rosnel wrote in a burst of
enthusiasm:
The pearl is a jewel so perfect that its excellent beauty demands
the love and esteem of the whole universe. Suidas expresses himself
in regard to it thus: “The possession of the pearl is one of love’s
greatest delights; the delight of possessing it suffices to feed
love.” In a painting, Philostratus, who had the same ideas, has
represented cupids with bows enriched with pearls; and the ancients
were all agreed to dedicate the pearl to Venus. Now, to my thinking,
the reason for their so doing was, that inasmuch as this goddess of
love, the fairest of all divinities, is descended from heaven and is
formed of the sea, so in like manner the pearl—the loveliest of all
gems—is formed in the sea and is the offspring of the dew of heaven.
But he that would learn more of the excellence of the pearl, let him
inquire of the ladies, who will relate much more in its praise than
I can write, and who will doubtless confess that nothing else so
well adorns them.[350]
Emblematic as the pearl is of maidenly purity and sweetness, it is
deemed especially appropriate as a wedding gift. This use dates from the
earliest dawn of Hindu civilization, when the beloved Krishna drew it
from the sea to decorate his beautiful daughter on her nuptial day. And
among the Hindus not uncommonly the presentation of a virgin pearl and
its piercing forms part of the marriage ceremony. In most of the
European royal weddings in recent years, pearls have been prominent
among the bridal gifts; nor have they been overlooked among the presents
to American brides, including one much in the public print about 1906,
for whom a necklace of them was selected by a neighboring republic as an
appropriate present.
The dedication of the pearl to love and marriage appears to have been
recognized by the artistic Greeks. One of the choicest engravings
preserved from classic times is a magnificent sardonyx showing the
marriage of Cupid and Psyche, in which the lovers are united by what
some authorities consider a string of pearls—emblematic of conjugal
bonds—by means of which the god Hymen leads them to the nuptial
couch.[351] This engraved gem now forms one of the choicest objects in
the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, having been purchased at the sale of the
Marlborough gems, London, 1898, at a cost of about $10,000.
And yet in Western countries the ill omen of pearls as bridal ornaments
has been widely recognized, these determining the tears that will be
shed in the married life. As Milton says, referring to the Marchioness
of Winchester:
And those pearls of dew she wears,
Prove to be presaging tears.
It was told that when the Empress Eugénie of France was finishing her
toilet preparatory to her wedding in Notre Dame in 1853, a personal
attendant reminded her of the omen, and begged that she refrain from
wearing her pearl necklace on that occasion. Eugenie paid no heed to the
warning and wore the beautiful jewels just the same; and, as all the
world knows, her life has been one long tragedy. Since that necklace was
a lengthy one, containing very many pearls, the bride who wears only a
few on her wedding day need not dread the adage so much, for,
unfortunately, no woman’s life is wholly free from grief; and most
brides would doubtless risk a few tears rather than refuse to wear a
wedding gift of pearls.
It was a very old idea that to dream of pearls betokens tears. A
suggestion of this occurs in John Webster’s “Duchess of Malfi” (1623),
Act III, sc. 5:
_Duchess_: I had a very strange dream to-night;
Methought I wore my coronet of state,
And on a sudaine all the diamonds
Were chang’d to pearles.
_Antonio_: My interpretation
Is, you’ll weepe shortly;
For to me the pearles
Doe signifie your teares.
And we quote also from “The Parson’s Wedding” (1663), Act II, sc. 5,
where Jolly exclaims: “What! in thy dumps, brother? The captain sad!
’Tis prophetic. I’d as lieve have dreamt of pearl, or the loss of my
teeth.”
Tradition relates that Queen Margaret Tudor, wife of James IV of
Scotland, just before the battle of Flodden Field (1513), had many fears
as to the disastrous issue of that conflict, owing to having dreamed on
three nights in succession that all her jewels were suddenly turned into
pearls. This was interpreted as a sign of coming widowhood and sorrow,
which was soon verified; and a similar story is told of Marie de’ Medici
shortly before the murder of Henry IV of France in 1610.
The employment of pearls medicinally dates from an ancient period. This
use is mentioned in the oldest existing Sanskrit medical work, the
“Charaka-Samhita,”[352] composed early in the Christian era; and
likewise in the somewhat more modern “Susruta,”[353] which probably
originated before the eighth century.
It is particularly in Oriental countries that therapeutic properties
have been credited to pearls. The powder of these gems has been rated
very highly there, and is still used to some extent. It was considered
beneficial in cases of ague, indigestion, and hemorrhages, and was
regarded as possessing stimulative qualities. Medical literature of the
Orient contains many accounts of the uses of pearls and of the methods
of forming them into pills, ointments, etc.
According to a treatise written by Narahari, a physician of Kashmir,
about 1240 A.D., the pearl cures diseases of the eyes, is an antidote to
poisons, cures consumption and morbid disturbances, and increases
strength and general health.[354]
In China, as well as in other Asiatic countries, a distinction was made
in the therapeutic effects of so-called “virgin” pearls and of those
pierced or bored for stringing. The Chinese natural history of Li Shi
Chin, completed about 1596, states that bored pearls will not serve for
medicine, for which unpierced ones should be used. It further adds that
the taste is saltish, sweetish, and cold; and that they benefit the
liver, clear the eyes, and cure deafness. Dr. T. Nishikawa informs us
that at the present time many Mytilus seed-pearls are exported from
Japan to China for medicinal purposes.
Quoting principally from Ahmed Teifashi, Whitelow Ainslie wrote in 1825
that Arabian physicians suppose the powder of the pearl to have virtues
in weak eyes; and they credit it with efficacy in palpitations, nervous
tremors, melancholia, and hemorrhage. Also they have this strange
notion, that when applied externally and while in the shell, it cures
leprosy.[355]
Statements of the curative properties of pearls come also from Japan at
a somewhat recent date. The catalogue of the National Exhibition at Yedo
in 1877, Part V, page 78, notes that they soothe the heart, lessen
phlegm, are an antidote to poison, and cure fever, smallpox, and
blear-eyedness.
The popular modern idea in India as to the therapeutic value was thus
expressed by a native prince, Sourindro Mohun Tagore, Mus. Doc., the
Maharajah of Tagore, in 1881:
The use of pearls conduces to contentment of mind and to strength of
body and soul. The burnt powder of this gem, if taken with water as
sherbet, cures vomiting of blood of all kinds. It prevents evil
spirits working mischief in the minds of men, takes off bad smell
from the mouth, cures lunacy of all descriptions and all mental
diseases, jaundice and all diseases of the heart, intestines and
stomach. Burnt pearl mixed with water and taken into the nostrils,
as a powder, takes away headsickness, cures cataract, lachryma and
swelling of the eyes, the painful sensation such as is caused by the
entry of sand into them, and ulcers. Used as a dentifrice, it
strengthens the gums and cleanses the teeth. Rubbed on the body with
other medicines, it cures all skin diseases. It stops bleeding from
cuts and ultimately heals them up. Whether taken internally or
externally, it is a sure antidote to poison. It drives away all
imaginary fears and removes all bodily pain. To prevent its tendency
to affect the brain, it should always be used with the burnt powder
of basud, and in its absence with that of white mother-of-pearl. The
dose of pearl-powder should not exceed 2¼ mashas [19.68 grs.].[356]
The Hindus credited specific virtues to pearls of different colors: the
yellow brought wealth, the honey shade fostered understanding, the white
attracted fame, and the blue, good luck. Defective pearls caused
leprosy, loss of fortune, disgrace, insanity, and death, according to
the degree of defect. The “Mani-málá,” previously quoted, states that
“pearls possessed of every valuable quality shield their master from
every evil, and suffer nothing harmful to come near him. The house which
contains a perfect pearl the ever-restless Lakshmi (goddess of wealth)
chooses to make her dwelling for ever and a day.”[357]
A similar idea is expressed in an old Hindu treatise on gems by
Buddhabhatta, where we read: “The pearl from the shell ought always to
be worn as an amulet by those who desire prosperity.”[358]
Pearls still find a place in the pharmacopœia of India. One of the
latest standard works, that of R. N. Khory and N. N. Katrak,[359]
credits the powder as a stimulant, tonic, and aphrodisiac. It is one of
the ingredients in numerous Indian prescriptions used in curing
impotence, heart-disease, consumption, etc. According to these
authorities, the dose is from one fourth to one half grain of the
powdered pearl.
Owing to the high cost of sea pearls, even those of the smallest size, a
substitute for medicinal and similar purposes is found in the Placuna
pearls of Ceylon, Borneo, etc. These are of such slight luster that only
the choicest are of ornamental value, consequently they are sold at
relatively small prices. A considerable demand exists for them to be
placed in the mouths of deceased Hindus of the middle class, instead of
the sea pearls which are used by the wealthy, or the rice which is
employed in a similar manner by persons of poorer rank. This custom
seems to be analogous to that of the ancient Britons, and also to that
of the American Indians, in depositing food and other requisites for a
journey in burial graves. The practice is an old one in India and was
noted by Marco Polo more than six hundred years ago.
Most of the Placuna pearls are calcined and are used with areca-nuts and
betel-pepper leaves in a very popular masticatory, one of the “seven
sisters of sleep,” which is to the Hindu what opium is to the Chinaman,
or tobacco to the American or European. The hard white areca-nut (_Areca
Catechu_) is about the size and shape of a hen’s egg. Three or four
thousand tons of the small, tender nuts are annually shipped from Ceylon
to India for this masticatory, which is chewed by a hundred million
persons. After boiling in water, pellets of them are placed in a leaf of
the betel-pepper (_Piper betle_) with a small quantity of lime made from
pearls or shells, according to the desired quality and value of product.
It is credited with hardening the gums, sweetening the breath, aiding
digestion, and stimulating the nervous system like coffee or tobacco;
its most visible effect is tingeing the saliva and blackening the teeth,
which is far from attractive, especially in an otherwise beautiful
woman. A more recent use for these Placuna pearls is as an ingredient in
a proprietary face powder and enamel, which is marketed in Europe.
It is not alone the Orientals that have found medicinal virtues in
pearls. Even in Europe they have occupied a prominent place in materia
medica, especially during the Middle Ages when a knowledge of the occult
properties of gems was an important branch of learning. Indeed, they
could scarcely have been overlooked by people who at one time or another
swallowed pretty much everything, from dried snake’s eyes to the filings
of a murderer’s irons, in their quest for the unusual and costly with
which to relieve and comfort themselves. During the Middle Ages in
Europe, writers who gave attention to pearls, as well as to other gems,
treated almost exclusively of their reputed efficacy in magic and in
medicine; and most of the accounts from the ninth to the fourteenth
century seem wholly without scientific value, and at times reach the
climax of extravagance and absurdity in their claims for the wonderful
potency of the gem.
Albertus Magnus, the Dominican scholar born in Germany in the twelfth
century, wrote that pearls were used in mental diseases, in affections
of the heart, in hemorrhages, and dysentery.[360]
The “Lapidario” of Alfonso X of Castile (1221–1284), called “The Wise,”
the father of the Spanish language, states:
The pearl is most excellent in the medicinal art, for it is of great
help in palpitation of the heart, and for those who are sad or
timid, and in every sickness which is caused by melancholia, because
it purifies the blood, clears it and removes all its impurities.
Therefore, the physicians put them in their medicine and lectuaries,
with which they cure these infirmities, and give them to be
swallowed. They also make powders of them, which are applied to the
eyes; because they clear the sight wonderfully, strengthen the
nerves and dry up the moisture which enters the eyes.[361]
Anselmus de Boot, physician to Emperor Rudolph II, and one of the great
authorities at the beginning of the seventeenth century, gave the
following directions for making “_aqua perlata_, which is most excellent
for restoring the strength and almost for resuscitating the dead.
Dissolve the pearls in strong vinegar, or better in lemon juice, or in
spirits of vitriol or sulphur, until they become liquified; fresh juice
is then added and the first decanted. Then, to the milky and turbid
solution, add enough sugar to sweeten it. If there be four ounces of
this solution, add an ounce each of rose-water, of tincture of
strawberries, of borage flowers and of balm and two ounces of cinnamon
water. When you wish to give the medicine, shake the mixture so that the
sediment may be swallowed at the same time. From one ounce to an ounce
and a half may be taken, and nothing more excellent can be had. In
pernicious and pestilential fevers, the ordinary _aqua perlata_ cannot
be compared to this. Care must be taken to cover the glass carefully
while the pearls are dissolving, lest the essence should escape.”[362]
A curious book on the medicinal use of pearls was written in 1637 by
Malachias Geiger,[363] in which he especially praises the efficacy of
Bavarian pearls. It was true that their material value was less than
that of oriental pearls, but this was compensated by their therapeutic
qualities. He had accomplished many cures of a very serious disease and
had used these pearls successfully in cases of epilepsy, insanity, and
melancholia.
Quotations might be given from a hundred medieval writers as to the
therapeutics of pearls. The diseases for which they were recommended, as
noted by Robert Lovell’s “Panmineralogicon, or Summe of all Authors,”
published at Oxford in 1661, seems to have included a large portion of
the entire list known at that period. This summary states:
Pearls strengthen and confirme the heart; they cherish the spirits
and principall parts of the body; being put into collyries, they
cleanse weafts of the eyes, and dry up the water thereof, help their
filth, and strengthen the nerves by which moisture floweth into
them; they are very good against melancholick griefes; they helpe
those that are subject to cardiack passions; they defend against
pestilent diseases, and are mixed with cordiall remedies; they are
good against the lienterie, that is, the flux of the belly,
proceeding from the sliperiness of the intestines, insomuch that
they cannot retaine the meat, but let it passe undigested; they are
good against swounings; they help the trembling of the heart and
giddinesse of the head; they are mixed with the _Manus Christi_
against fainting (called _Manus Christi perlata_ in the London
_Pharmacopaea_); they are put into antidotes or corroborating
powders; they help the flux of bloud; they stop the terms, and
cleanse the teeth; they are put into antidotes for the bowels, and
increase their vertue, make the bloud more thin, and clarify that
which is more thick and feculent; they help feavers. The _oile of
Pearles_ or unions helpeth the resolution of the nerves, convulsion,
decay of old age, phrensie, keepeth the body sound, and recovereth
it when out of order, it rectifieth womens milk, and increaseth it,
corrects the vices of the natural parts and seed. It cureth
absesses, eating ulcers, the cancer and hemorrhoides.... The best
are an excellent cordial, by which the oppressed balsame of life and
decayed strength are recreated and strengthened, therefore they
resist poyson, the plague, and putrefaction, and exhilarate, and
therefore they are used as the last remedie in sick persons.[364]
[Illustration:
RUSSIAN EIKON OF THE MADONNA
Ornamented with pearls
]
So powerful and mysterious were their alleged virtues, that in some
instances it was necessary only that the pearls be worn to make
effective their prophylaxis against disease. This belief was by no means
confined to the ignorant and inexperienced, for we are told that even
Pope Adrian was never without his amulet made of the extraordinary
combination of oriental pearls, a dried toad, etc.[365] Leonardo, in the
fifteenth century, wrote that pearls render true and virtuous all who
wear them.[366] Although we wonder at what we call the superstitions of
the Middle Ages, perchance future generations will smile at many of our
mistaken follies.
A prominent historical instance of administering pearls medicinally was
in the treatment of Charles VI of France (1368–1422), to whom pearl
powder mixed with distilled water was given for the cure of insanity.
A far more illustrious patient was Lorenzo de’ Medici, “The Magnificent”
(1448–1492), the celebrated ruler of Florence. When this plebeian prince
lay dying of a fever at Careggi, just after that famous interview with
Savonarola, his friends called in Lazaro da Ticino, a physician of
reputation, who administered pulverized pearls. Politian, who was
present, is credited with the statement that when the medicine was
administered, to the inquiry as to how it tasted, Lorenzo replied: “As
pleasant as anything can be to a dying man.”[367]
Even the English philosopher, Francis Bacon (1561–1626), mentioned
pearls among medicines for the prolongation of life. He adds: “Pearls
are taken, either in a fine powder or in a kind of paste or solution
made by the juice of very sour and fresh lemons. Sometimes they are
given in aromatic confections, sometimes in a fluid form. Pearls no
doubt have some affinity with the shells wherein they grow; perhaps may
have nearly the same qualities as the shells of crawfish.”[368]
Powdered pearl or mother-of-pearl mixed with lemon juice was used as a
wash for the face, and was considered “the best in the world.”[369] The
pearl powder and lemon juice were permitted to stand for a day or two
and the combination was then filtered before using. Another method of
preparing this was:
Dissolve two or three ounces of fine seed-pearl in distilled
vinegar, and when it is perfectly dissolved, pour the vinegar into a
clean basin; then drop some oil of tartar upon it, and it will cast
down the pearl into fine powder; then pour the vinegar clean off
softly; put to the pearl clear conduit or spring water; pour that
off, and do so often until the taste of the vinegar and tartar be
clean gone; then dry the powder of pearl upon warm embers, and keep
it for your use.[370]
Through their composition of carbonate of lime, pearls possibly possess
some slight therapeutic value, which, however, can easily be supplied by
other materials—as the shell, for instance—and is entirely out of
proportion to their market value as ornaments.
Although pearls have lost their therapeutic prestige and no longer have
a recognized place in materia medica, their healing qualities are not to
be denied, for there are few ills to which women are subject that cannot
be bettered or at least endured with greater patience when the sufferer
receives a gift of pearls; the truth of which any doubting Thomas may
easily verify in his own household to the limit of his purse-strings.
Owing to their beauty and great value, pearls have been deemed
particularly appropriate as a sacrifice in enriching a drink for a toast
or tribute. Shakspere alludes to this in the words of King Claudius, the
pearl being frequently designated _union_ in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries:
The king shall drink to Hamlet’s better breath;
And in the cup an union shall he throw,
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark’s crown have worn.[371]
It is stated that a pearl worth £15,000 was reduced to powder and drunk
by Sir Thomas Gresham, the English merchant, in the presence of the
Spanish ambassador, as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth, by whom he had been
knighted.[372]
The most celebrated instance of enriching a drink with a pearl was
doubtless Cleopatra’s tribute to Antony, Pliny’s account of which we
give in the words of old Philemon Holland:
This princesse, when _M. Antonius_ had strained himselfe to doe her
all the pleasure he possibly could, and had feasted her day by day
most sumptuously, and spared for no cost: in the hight of her pride
and wanton braverie (as being a noble courtezan, and a queene
withall) began to debase the expense and provision of Antonie, and
made no reckoning of all his costly fare. When he thereat demanded
againe how it was possible to goe beyond this magnificence of his,
she answered againe, that she would spend upon him at one supper ten
million Sestertij. _Antonie_ laid a great wager with her about it,
and shee bound it againe, and made it good. The morrow after,
_Cleopatra_ made _Antonie_ a supper which was sumptuous and roiall
ynough: howbeit, there was no extraordinarie service seene upon the
board: whereat _Antonius_ laughed her to scorne, and by way of
mockerie required to see a bill with the account of the particulars.
She again said, that whatsoever had been served up alreadie was but
the overplus above the rate and proportion in question, affirming
still that she would yet in that supper make up the full summe that
she was seazed at: yea, herselfe alone would eat above that
reckoning, and her owne supper should cost 60 million Sestertij: and
with that commanded the second service to be brought in. The
servitors set before her one only crewet of sharpe vineger, the
strength whereof is able to resolve pearles. Now she had at her
eares hanging these two most precious pearles, the singular and only
jewels of the world, and even Natures wonder. As _Antonie_ looked
wistly upon her, shee tooke one of them from her eare, steeped it in
the vineger, and so soon as it was liquified, dranke it off. And as
she was about to doe the like by the other, _L. Plancius_ the judge
of that wager, laid fast hold upon it with his hand, and pronounced
withal, that _Antonie_ had lost the wager.[373]
Elsewhere has been set forth the impracticability of dissolving a pearl
in a glass of vinegar without first pulverizing it.[374] It seems
probable that if Pliny’s interesting story has any foundation, Cleopatra
might have swallowed a solid pearl in a glass of wine—certainly a more
pleasing draught as well as a more graphic sacrifice; and we should
accept its reported value with a grain of salt, for it would scarcely
have been safe for the court gossip to belittle the value of this
tribute of love.
Pliny, and other Roman writers, mention another instance, that of
Clodius “the sonne of Aesope the Tragedian Poet,” who took two pearls of
great price “in a braverie, and to know what tast pearles had, mortified
them in venegre, and drunke them up. And finding them to content his
palat wondrous well, because he would not have all the pleasure by
himselfe, and know the goodnesse thereof alone, he gave to every guest
at his table one pearle apeece to drinke in like manner.”[375] The
chronicler fails to tell what the guests thought of the flavor of
pearls, or whether some would not have preferred them for a more
appropriate use.
XIII
VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS
XIII
VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS
A pearl,
Whose price hath launch’d above a thousand ships,
And turn’d crown’d kings to merchants.
_Troilus and Cressida_, Act II, sc. 2.
To trace the markets of the pearl is to trace the routes of commerce
from early times. The first routes from the Far East seem to have been
two: one by the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates to Babylonia and Assyria,
and thence by caravan through Damascus to Tyre and Sidon; the other by
the Red Sea and Suez to Egypt. As regards the former route, Sir George
Birdwood furnishes positive evidence that the Phenicians visited India
as early as 2200 B.C. It seems highly probable that pearls were
introduced by this route at an early period, although it is difficult to
find material proof of the fact.
By means of this commerce, the great ancient civilizations of Phenicia,
Mesapotamia and the Nile valley doubtless became familiar with the gem
treasures of eastern Asia. Then came the opening of the Mediterranean
with first “the great Sidon,” and later Tyre, as the starting-points of
commerce, exploration, and colonial settlement among the islands and on
the shores of what, to the Asiatic peoples, was the great western sea.
However, as the Greek islands and their colonies developed, the
Phenicians were more strictly confined to the coasts of Africa and
Spain. Gades, Tartessus, and Carthage were their great colonies and
trading-ports, and their adventurous sailors passed on through the
Straits of Gibraltar and directed their course northward to the British
Isles, where they very probably obtained the pearls of the Scotch
rivers.
Meanwhile, the campaigns of Alexander had carried Greek influence and
authority over all western Asia, reaching even to India itself, and had
led to a widely increased intercourse. Although he died at the age of
thirty-two, Alexander the Great did more than any single individual in
the world’s history to bring the nations of the Eastern and the Western
worlds into contact with each other, and it is certainly due to this
circumstance that we find much greater evidences of the use of pearls in
the western countries after his time. Besides this, the founding of
Alexandria provided a mart, in whose bazaars the traders of India,
Persia, and Arabia bartered their treasured gems, just as their
descendants do in the same place at the present day.
It was not, however, until the establishment of the Roman empire that
this commercial intercourse reached its highest development. The Romans,
with their marvelous capacity for organization, were the first to build
a great system of permanent and well-kept roads to facilitate land
travel and land traffic. These great roads, starting from the Forum,
reached out in every direction, even to the limits of the empire; and,
as a result of increased commercial activity, more gems were engraved,
mounted, and set during the five hundred years of Rome’s commercial
supremacy than during any other early epoch of the world’s history.
In Rome, the trade in pearls was so important that there was a
corporation of “margaritarii.” The _officinæ margaritariorum_ were
installed in the Forum, in the neighborhood of the _tabernae
argentariæ_; some were also on the Via Sacra.[376] However, the name
_margaritarius_ did not only apply to the jewelers, merchants, and
setters of pearls, but also to those who fished for them and to the
guardians of the gems and jewels wherein pearls were used.
With the fall of the Western empire, the Dark Ages settled down like a
cloud over Europe for five hundred years. Only among the Saracens and at
Byzantium did the culture of the old civilization survive, and
eventually the light of knowledge and of progress was rekindled from
these sources. The Crusades were the chief factors in this new
development; they gave a mighty stimulus, by means of which Europe was
aroused from her lethargy and once more brought into contact with the
Orient. Venice and Genoa now became the great carriers, and from this
time, and to this source, may be traced many of the oriental gems in
Europe. The Venetian fleet of three hundred merchant ships brought the
products of the East and distributed them over Europe, by way of the
German cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg, where the great jewelers and
silversmiths made world-famed ornaments.
[Illustration:
PECTORAL CROSS OF CONSTANTINE IX. MONOMACHUS (1000–1054 A.D.)
Containing some wood attributed to the true cross.
]
When Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks, the treasures of
the Eastern empire were scattered throughout Europe; but, at the same
time, the establishment of the Turkish empire served to close the way to
India and the far East for the merchants and travelers of Europe, and,
hence, new means of access had to be sought by sea. This, as is well
known, was the cause of the voyages of De Gama and Columbus. The
unexpected result of these voyages—the discovery of a new
continent—ushered in the wonderful period of Spanish and Portuguese
development and their colonization of both the East and the West Indies;
and to this epoch belongs the introduction of American pearls to the
markets of Europe. The gradual decline of the power of Spain and
Portugal—largely owing to bigotry and to the reckless exploitation of
the regions under their control—brings us to the beginning of the
present phase of commercial intercourse in which all the nations of the
civilized world are engaged in varying proportion, according to their
power and aptitude. Never before have the different regions of the earth
been more closely in touch with each other, and we may safely say that
nothing is likely to occur which can permanently interrupt the
progressive development of the world’s commerce.
With the various means of transportation and locomotion that have
existed in the past twenty-three or twenty-four centuries, there is no
doubt that the commerce of pearls has varied more or less, but there has
ever been, in some part of the world, a great potentate, a great
collector or dealer who has influenced the finest gems to gravitate his
way. Never has there been a time when some person was not prepared to
encourage—and to richly encourage—the sale of fine jewels to him. The
history of the commerce of precious stones is a history of travel and
exploration, of hardship, pleasure, reward, and sometimes of serious
disappointment.
The lesson we derive from these decorative objects of natural beauty and
softness—treasured alike by savage, barbarian, ancient warrior,
statesman, king, emperor, peasant, bourgeois, magyar, lady, and
queen—always carries with it the moral that the gifts of creation are
ever prized by some one in every age or place.
The necessary qualifications affecting the value of a pearl are: first,
that it should be perfectly round, pear-shaped, drop-shaped, egg-shaped,
or button-shaped, and as even in form as though it were turned on a
lathe. It must have a perfectly clear skin, and a decided color or tint,
whether white, pink, creamy, gray, brown or black. If white, it must not
have a cloud or a blur or haze, nor should the skin have the slightest
appearance of being opaque or dead. It must be absolutely free from all
cracks, scratches, spots, flaws, indentations, shadowy reflections or
blemishes of any kind. It must possess the peculiar luster or orient
characteristic of the gem. The skin must be unbroken, and not show any
evidence of having been polished.
Diamonds and the more valuable precious stones generally are bought and
sold by the weight called a carat. This carat, whatever its precise
value, is always considered as divisible into four diamond or pearl
grains, but the subdivisions of the carat are usually expressed by the
vulgar fractions, one fourth, one eighth, one twelfth, one sixteenth,
one twenty-fourth, one thirty-second, and one sixty-fourth. The origin
of the carat is to be sought in certain small, hard, leguminous seeds,
which, when dried, remain constant in weight. The brilliant, glossy,
scarlet-and-black seed of _Abrus precatorius_ constitutes the Indian
rati, about three grains; the _Adenanthera pavonina_ seed weighs about
four grains. The seed of the locust-tree, _Ceratonia siliqua_, weighs on
the average three and one sixth grains, and constitutes, no doubt, the
true origin of the carat.
Another[377] of the more notable of these weight-units used for precious
stones and precious metals is the _candarin_, _condorine_, or
_cantarai_, also termed by the Chinese _fun_ or _fan_, and by the south
Indians a _fanam_, and used all over the Indo-Chinese archipelago. This
is by origin a large lentil or pea of a pinkish color dotted with black,
about double the size of the _gonj_, and possessing the same quality of
very slight variability of weight when dried. It is probably a variety
of the same botanic genus or species as the _Abrus precatorius_. The
value when reduced to absolute standard became a subsidiary part or
submultiple of the weight of some local coin, rupee, or pagoda, or a
decimal fraction of some local tchen, as in China and Japan.
The following derivation of the word carat is given by Grimm: “Carat.
Italian: _carato_; French: _carat_; Spanish and Portuguese: _quilate_;
Old Portuguese: _quirate_, from Arabic _qirat_, and this from the Greek,
κεράτιον.”[378]
The carat is not absolutely of the same value in all countries. Its
weight, as used for weighing the diamond, pearl, and other gemstones in
different parts of the world, is given in decimals of a gram, by the
majority of the authorities, as follows:
Grams In Grains Troy
Indian (Madras) .2073533 3.199948
Austrian (Vienna) .20613+ 3.18107+
German (Frankfort) .20577+ 3.175514
Brazil and Portugal .20575+ 3.175206
France .2055+ 3.171347
England .205409 3.169943
Spain .205393 3.169696
Holland .205044 3.16431+
Pearl Grains in Grams In Grains Troy
Indian (Madras) .0518383 .799987
Austrian (Vienna) .05153+ .79526+
German (Frankfort) .05144+ .793878
Brazil and Portugal .05143+ .793801
France .051375 .792836
England .051352 .792485
Spain .051348 .792424
Holland .051261 .791077
Assuming that the gram corresponds to 15.43235 English grains, an
English diamond carat will nearly equal 3.17 grains. It is, however,
spoken of as being equal to four grains, the grains meant being
“diamond” or “pearl” grains, and not ordinary troy or avoirdupois
grains. Thus a diamond or pearl grain is but .7925 of a true grain. In
an English troy ounce of 480 grains there are 151½ carats; and so it
will be seen that a carat is not indeed quite 3.17 grains, but something
like 3.1683168 grains, or less exactly, 3.168 grains. Further, if we
accept the equivalent in grains of one gram to be, as stated above,
15.43235, and if there be 151½ carats in a troy ounce of 480 grains, it
will follow that an English diamond carat is .205304 of a gram,
not .205409, as commonly affirmed. The following exact equivalents, in
metric grams and grains troy, of the diamond carat as used in different
parts of the world in 1882, are given by Mr. Lowis d’A. Jackson:
DIAMOND CARATS
Grams Grains Troy
Turin .2135 3.29480
Persia .2095 3.23307
Venice .2071 3.19603
Austro-Hungary .2061 3.18060
France (old) .2059 3.17752
France (later) .2055 3.17135
France (modern) .2050 3.16363
Portugal .2058 3.17597
Frankfort and Hamburg .2058 3.17597
Germany .2055 3.17135
East Indies .2055 3.17135
England and British India .2053 3.16826
Belgium (Antwerp) .2053 3.16826
Russia .2051 3.16517
Holland .2051 3.16517
Turkey .2005 3.09418
Spain .1999 3.08492
Java and Borneo .1969 3.03862
Florence .1965 3.03245
Arabia .1944 3.00004
Brazil .1922 2.96610
Egypt .1917 2.95838
Bologna .1886 2.91054
International carat .2050 3.16363
Proposed new international carat .2000 3.08647
Recalculating the above figures into pearl grains we have:
PEARL GRAINS
Grams Grains Troy
Turin .053375 .823700
Persia .052375 .808267
Venice .051775 .799007
Austro-Hungary .051525 .795150
France (old) .051475 .794380
France (later) .051375 .792837
France (modern) .051250 .790907
Portugal .051450 .793902
Frankfort and Hamburg .051450 .793992
Germany .051375 .792837
East Indies .051375 .792837
England and British India .051325 .792065
Belgium (Antwerp) .051325 .792065
Russia .051275 .791292
Holland .051275 .791292
Turkey .050125 .773545
Spain .049975 .771230
Java and Borneo .049225 .759655
Florence .049125 .758112
Arabia .048600 .750010
Brazil .048050 .741522
Egypt .047925 .739595
Bologna .047150 .727635
International .051250 .790907
Proposed International .050000 .771617
With the present system of diamond carats and pearl grains it is
necessary to keep two entirely different sets of weights or to resort to
troublesome calculations. The stock-book of a jeweler, at the present
time, will contain the following fractions, expressing the weight of a
single pearl: ½, ¼, ⅛, 1⁄16, 1⁄32, 1⁄64, when the weight could be much
better stated as 63⁄64 of a carat. It requires but a glance to see how
much easier this would be. Certain dealers have therefore proposed the
use of sets of fractions arranged in a similar way. In this manner a
stock-book can be kept much more easily and with greater precision.
Others, again, have adopted a decimal notation of the fractions of a
carat, which is even more simple and feasible, since the common
fractions ½, ¼, ⅛, etc. can be expressed as .5, .25, .125, etc., of a
carat, this being either a carat of .2053 of a gram or the English carat
of .20534 of a gram.
On the other hand, an agreement was arrived at, as the result of a
conference between the diamond merchants of London, Paris, and
Amsterdam, by which the uniform weight of a diamond carat was fixed
at .205 of a gram, making the pearl grain .05125 of a gram. This
standard, which was suggested in 1871, by a syndicate of Parisian
jewelers, goldsmiths, and others dealing in precious stones, was
subsequently (1877) confirmed. But there is still a lack of uniformity
in the standard by which diamonds and pearls are bought and sold, and
very serious discrepancies exist in the sets of carat weights turned out
by different makers, although the international carat is almost
universally used.
At the International Congress of Weights and Measures held at the
World’s Fair at Chicago in 1893, the writer suggested that the carat
should consist of 200 milligrams, so that ½ of a carat would be 100
milligrams and ¼ of a grain would be 12.5 milligrams. This would mean 5
carats or 20 grains to a French gram, and 5000 carats or 20,000 pearl
grains to a French kilogram. This would depreciate the present diamond
carat or pearl grain only about one per cent., and it would do away with
the needless series of carats and grains of the many nationalities. It
could be simply explained to any private individual in any country,
especially as there are only two countries which do not use the metric
system.
This carat has been earnestly indorsed, its introduction advocated, and
its merits clearly shown, by M. Guilliame, of the French Bureau des Arts
et Metiers, whose energetic work has found a reasonable cooperation, in
this country as well as in Europe, in introducing what will be a
scientific, logical, comprehensive, and possibly the final and
international carat; and any ancient, obsolete, or foreign carat can be
readily reduced to this carat once the metric value of the former is
computed.
The Association of Diamond Merchants of Amsterdam has already, to avoid
confusion, fixed the value of the carat (17th October, 1890) at 1
kilogram = 4875 carats, or 1 carat = 3.16561 grains troy = 205.128 mg.
One pearl grain = .7914 grains troy = 51.282 mg.; but the association
has decided that, in case of litigation, these values shall be
determined by appointed bureaus, which would express them in grams and
milligrams, a most important and valuable decision, as the gram and the
milligram will always be known as weights of constant value.
In view of the difficulty of inducing the abolition of the carat in
different countries, the German Federation of Jewelers decided to
petition the imperial government for authority to use the carat, in
order that it might be legally recognized. Such a proposition not being
in accord with the German laws in force on the subject of the metric
system, it was proposed to substitute for the carats then in use one
carat only, weighing two hundred milligrams. This proposal was very
favorably received in trade circles and may be taken into consideration
by the International Committee of Weights and Measures. The Commission
des Instruments et Travaux, to which this proposition was referred,
recommended its adoption to the committee in the following terms:
“The Commission recognizes that it would be very desirable that the unit
of weight of precious stones (the carat) which varies in different
countries, should be made uniform, and should be reduced to the nearest
metric equivalent. The weight of 200 mg., which is very close to the
carat most in use (205.5 mg.), would seem to be the best for this
purpose. The Commission believes that there can be no objection to this
standard of 200 mg. being called ‘the metric carat’ in order to
facilitate the abolition of the old carat.”
This proposition, adopted at the meeting of the International Committee
on the 13th of April, was communicated to the more important
associations. The Chambre Syndicale de la Bijouterie, Joaillerie et
Orfèvrerie de Paris, and the Chambre Syndicale des Négotiants en
Diamants, Perles, Pierres Précieuses et des Lapidaires de Paris assured
the committee of their support of this measure.
The following is the text of the resolution which was passed by both the
above associations in January, 1906:
“The Council, recognizing the advantages which would result to the
international trade in precious stones from the use of a unit based on
the metric system, desires that the metric carat of 200 mg. be
universally adopted.”
The German Federation of Jewelers passed the following resolution in
August, 1906:
“The German Federation considers that it is both necessary and
advantageous to replace the old carat by the metric carat of 200 mg.; it
authorizes its president to approach the imperial government and the
International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and the foreign
associations in order that the metric carat may be introduced as soon as
possible in all countries.”
The Chamber of Commerce of Antwerp promised, in a letter dated the 7th
of December, 1906, to rescind a decision of 29th of April, 1895,
approving the adoption of a carat of 205.3 mg., when the metric carat of
200 mg. should come into universal use in the markets.
The Association of Jewelers and Goldsmiths of Prague formally authorized
the German Federation to act in its name, in order that the reform
should come about as soon as possible by international agreement, and
the Association of Goldsmiths of Copenhagen has declared its willingness
to support the reform. The Committee of Weights and Measures in Belgium
prepared a law for the adoption of the metric carat in December, 1906.
Mr. Larking, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Melbourne,
Australia, has transmitted by letter of September 16, 1907, the
following resolution of the Association of Manufacturing Jewelers of the
Colony of Victoria:
“It is desirable that the carat weight should be the same in all
countries, and our association approves a metric carat of 200
milligrams.”
On October 16, 1907, the Association of Societies for the Protection of
Commerce in the United Kingdom passed the following resolution:
“The Committee of the Association approves the attempt to urge the
adoption in all countries of an international carat of 200 milligrams,
and hopes that, in the interest of the unification of weights, it will
prove successful.”
The fourth General Conference of Weights and Measures, held in Paris in
October, 1907, passed this resolution:
“The Conference approves the proposition of the International Committee
and declares that it sees no infringement of the integrity of the metric
system in the adoption of the appellation ‘metric carat’ to designate a
weight of 200 milligrams for the commerce in diamonds, pearls, and
precious stones.”[379]
The following resolution was passed by The Birmingham Jewelers’ and
Silversmiths’ Association, January 23, 1908: “That the best thanks of
this Committee be conveyed to the Decimal Association for the good work
they are doing, and this Committee expresses the hope that all countries
will adopt an International Carat of 200 milligrams in weight.” Finally,
on March 11, 1908, the metric carat of 200 milligrams was adopted in
Spain as the official carat for diamonds, pearls, and precious stones.
Pearls have become of so much importance to so many dealers that a
special form of weight has been proposed for them. This would have a
diamond form and not a square form, and it would be stamped “Grain”
instead of “Carat.” Another set would be stamped in milligrams, the
regular milligram weight with the pearl fraction above it, and they
could even be made round so as better to designate the pearl.
The great value of pearls has suggested the making of a gage, called the
Kunz gage, by means of which round pearls can be very accurately
measured. Pearls of a given weight and perfectly spherical form have
been weighed and then measured by this gage, and the theoretical
diameters as computed from the measurement of a single pearl are in the
majority of instances in exact accord with these actual measurements,
the occasional variations in the smaller pearls barely exceeding the
thousandth part of an inch. These discrepancies may be due to
imperceptible divergencies in sphericity or, possibly, to trifling
differences in specific gravity.
The following table gives the diameters of round pearls by measurement,
from 1⁄16 to 500 grains, in millimeters and inches:
Weight Grains Diameter Millimeters Inches
1⁄16 1.3 .0512
⅛ 1.66 .0653
¼ 2.09 .0823
½ 2.65 .1043
¾ 2.99 .1187
1 3.32 .1307
1¼ 3.60 .1417
1½ 3.80 .1496
1¾ 3.98 .1567
2 4.18 .1645
2¼ 4.32 .1701
2½ 4.47 .1759
2¾ 4.63 .1823
3 4.80 .1889
3¼ 4.88 .1921
3½ 5.01 .1972
3¾ 5.17 .2035
4 5.23 .2058
4¼ 5.44 .2141
5 5.65 .2224
5½ 5.86 .2283
6 6.03 .2374
6½ 6.20 .2442
7 6.36 .2504
8 6.64 .2614
9 6.90 .2716
10 7.15 .2815
11 7.38 .2905
12 7.60 .2992
13 7.81 .3074
14 8.00 .3149
15 8.18 .3220
16 8.36 .3291
17 8.53 .3358
18 8.70 .3425
19 8.86 .3488
20 9.01 .3547
25 9.71 .3823
30 10.31 .4059
35 10.86 .4275
40 11.35 .4468
45 11.82 .4653
50 12.23 .4815
60 13.00 .5118
70 13.38 .5386
80 14.30 .5630
90 14.89 .5862
100 15.42 .6071
125 16.60 .6535
150 17.63 .6941
200 19.41 .7641
300 22.22 .8748
400 24.46 .9630
500 26.35 1.0374
The new and finer analytical balances weigh to the tenth part of a
milligram, the two thousandth part of a carat, the five hundredth part
of a grain; but this is not necessary. If the 200–milligram carat were
used, the two hundredth part of a carat could readily be ascertained,
and then a short-beam, rapid-weighing balance would answer every purpose
and save much time for the dealer who must make many weighings in the
course of a day. In an office where thousands of weighings were made in
a month, the task was accomplished with such minute accuracy that the
margin of error did not exceed one carat during that time.
The _mina_, the sixtieth part of the lesser Alexandrian talent of
silver, was divided by the Romans, when they occupied Egypt, into twelve
ounces (_unciae_), and, weighing as it did 5460 grains, it became the
predecessor of the European pounds of which the troy pound is a type. If
we may believe a Syrian authority, Anania of Shiraz, who wrote in the
sixth century, the carat or diamond weight was originally formed from
one of these ounces by taking the 1⁄144 part.[380]
We find in Murray[381] that the Greek κεράτιον was originally identical
with the Latin siliqua, and was called the _siliqua Graeca_. As a
measure of weight and fineness the carat represents the Roman siliqua as
1⁄24 of the golden solidus of Constantine, which was ⅙ of an ounce,
hence the various values into which 1⁄24 and 1⁄144 enter, or originally
entered. As a measure of weight for diamonds and precious stones, it was
originally 1⁄144 of an ounce or 3⅓ grains. It is stated in Hakluyt (Voy.
II, pp. 1, 225, 1598): “Those pearls are praised according to the
caracts which they weigh; every caract is four graines.”
There have been at all times men who possessed a delicate touch or a
fine sense of feeling, but probably few men are living to-day who would
be able to accomplish the feat attributed to Julius Cæsar, namely, that
of estimating the weight of a pearl by simply holding it in his hand.
There are very few who can tell the weight of a pearl in this way, and
while the story may be historically interesting, it is rather dubious.
To attempt to formulate a list of prices, comparative or otherwise, of
pearls, is almost an impossibility, as probably no two authors of the
past three centuries have ever seen the same lot of pearls, nor have
their estimates always been the same as to quality, rarity and value.
As interesting statistics from an historical point of view, there will
be presented here a list of the values of pearls dating back some ten
centuries. That there always has existed a higher valuation for the
larger pearls, which are the rarest, will readily be apparent, but that
the correct value of a pearl of one, ten, twenty or fifty grains be
definitely given for the years 1602, 1702, 1802, or 1902 is an
impossibility. However, we believe this to be the first attempt to
present so large a body of carefully selected quotations, and they are
given to the reader, whether he be layman or professional, for what they
are worth.
In regard to the smaller pearls, as is the case with the smaller
diamonds, prices have been dependent upon the changes of fashion; that
is, whether the prevailing style of jewelry was such that the smaller
pearl or diamond was in demand. In other words, if they were used as a
decoration forming a border, a flower, a scroll ornament, or a pave
requiring many small gems, the demand naturally increased and the prices
were higher or lower as the occasion required.
It is not the project of this book to fix the prices of pearls at the
present time, for any such attempt would prove misleading, owing to the
fact that pearls vary in the estimation of the different dealers, and a
figure given here for the highest standard, if applied to an inferior
grade, would necessarily mislead the buyer to his positive injury. This
much, however, can be said: during the year 1907 pearls from five grains
upward have been sold according to their quality, at a base of five,
eight, ten, fifteen, or even twenty dollars in very exceptional cases;
that is to say, twenty, thirty-two, forty, sixty, or eighty shillings,
or twenty-five, forty, fifty, seventy-five or one hundred francs.
Nevertheless, it would be impossible, without considerable experience,
for a layman to apply these valuations to objects that require much
practice in determining their quality and perfection.
With diamonds, rubies, and emeralds there may be a stated price per
carat for stones of a certain size, but a gem of unusual perfection or
brilliancy, or of exceptionally fine color, will often command a price
far beyond that generally quoted. It is the same with the pearl. Sums
which may seem exorbitant in comparison with those that are paid for
ordinary pearls, are often given for specimens remarkable for their
beauty, size, or luster.
Pearls of one hundred grains are even more rare at the present time than
are diamonds of one hundred carats. Until the middle of the nineteenth
century, the diamonds of the world weighing one hundred carats or over
could be counted on the fingers, but since the opening of the African
mines in 1870, the number of large diamonds has increased at a much
greater ratio than have the pearls of one quarter of their weight. It
would thus seem that pearls of great size are worth four times as much
as diamonds of equal weight. For instance, a 100–carat diamond of the
finest quality would be worth at least from $1000 to $1500 a carat,
making a total value of $100,000 to $150,000; and a pearl of 100 grains
at a base of $10 would be worth $100,000. But no such high price has
ever been paid.
The usual method of estimating the value of pearls is by establishing a
base value for those weighing one grain and then multiplying this amount
by the square of the number of grains that the pearl weighs. For
instance, if the base value of a one-grain pearl should be fixed at $1,
a pearl weighing two grains would be worth $4 (2 × 2 = 4), or $2 per
grain; one weighing five grains would be worth $25, or $5 per grain,
etc. Naturally, these values increase in proportion to the increase in
the value of the base. A base of $3 would give a value of $75 for a
five-grain pearl, or $15 per grain, while a $10 base would make the
value $50 per grain, or $250.
This method of estimating pearls by squaring their weights has been
credited by many authors to David Jeffries, who published an interesting
treatise on diamonds and pearls in 1750–1753. It has also been credited
to Tavernier, the oriental traveler of the middle of the seventeenth
century. We have, however, traced this method back to Anselmus de Boot,
in his treatise on precious stones, dated 1609. Before this date we have
not been able to find any mention of the computation of the value of
diamonds and pearls by squaring their weight and multiplying the product
by a base of a franc, guilder, crown, dollar, or of many dollars, as
would be necessary at present. It is probable, however, that this system
is of oriental origin and it may have come to Europe through some of the
oriental traders, with the precious stones, as did the use of the carat.
De Boot makes the carat (four grains) his unit of comparison, increasing
his base value by one third for pearls weighing eleven carats
(forty-four grains) or over. In Pio Naldi’s treatise, published in
Bologna in 1791, the unit is the grain, the base being the fourth part
of the value of four pearls weighing together one carat. Naldi, also,
increases his base value making it 1½ lire ($.30) for pearls weighing
less than ten grains, and 2½ lire ($.50) for those weighing twenty
grains and upward.
A curious method of valuing pearls by their weight is shown in a
treatise by Buteo, published in 1554.[382] The writer states that a
pearl weighing two carats was valued at 5 gold crowns; one of four
carats at 25 crowns; and so on, the price increasing fivefold when the
weight was doubled. The intermediate figures were obtained by computing
the proportional mean of any two known weights and values. For example:
8 × 4 = 32, the square root of which is 5.656. Now, the value of a
four-carat pearl is 25 and that of an eight-carat pearl 125 crowns, and
125 × 25 = 3125, the square root being 55.9; hence a pearl weighing
5.656 carats was worth 55.9 crowns.
The base value of a necklace can be determined in the following way.
Should the center pearl weigh 25 grains, multiply 25 by 25; the result
is 625; then, take the next two, three, or four pearls, as many as are
of approximately the same weight, add their weights together, multiply
the resulting figure by itself and divide the product by the number of
pearls in the group. Proceed in exactly the same way with the remainder
of the necklace, always grouping the pearls so that there shall not be a
considerable difference in weight between the smallest and the largest
pearl, and then add together the figures obtained for the center pearl
and for the various groups and divide the price of the necklace by this
total; the quotient will represent the multiple or base.
As may be seen by comparison of the first with the second and third of
the accompanying tables, the result arrived at in this way will, if
there is any difference in the weight of the pearls in the various
groups, vary slightly from that obtained by calculating the weight of
each pearl separately, but it represents a satisfactory approximation.
NECKLACE OF 41 GRADUATED PEARLS ON A $10 BASE
1 pearl, weighing 25 grs. 25 × 25 = 625.000
2 pearls, each of 22 grs. 44 × 44 = 1936 ÷ 2 = 968.000
2 pearls, each of 20 grs. 40 × 40 = 1600 ÷ 2 = 800.000
2 pearls, each of 19 grs. 38 × 38 = 1444 ÷ 2 = 722.000
2 pearls, each of 18 grs. 36 × 36 = 1296 ÷ 2 = 648.000
2 pearls, each of 17½ grs. 35 × 35 = 1225 ÷ 2 = 612.500
2 pearls, each of 17 grs. 34 × 34 = 1156 ÷ 2 = 578.000
2 pearls, each of 16½ grs. 33 × 33 = 1089 ÷ 2 = 544.500
2 pearls, each of 16 grs. 32 × 32 = 1024 ÷ 2 = 512.000
2 pearls, each of 15½ grs. 31 × 31 = 961 ÷ 2 = 480.500
2 pearls, each of 15 grs. 30 × 30 = 900 ÷ 2 = 450.000
2 pearls, each of 14½ grs. 29 × 29 = 841 ÷ 2 = 420.500
2 pearls, each of 14 grs. 28 × 28 = 784 ÷ 2 = 392.000
2 pearls, each of 13½ grs. 27 × 27 = 729 ÷ 2 = 364.500
2 pearls, each of 13 grs. 26 × 26 = 676 ÷ 2 = 338.000
2 pearls, each of 12½ grs. 25 × 25 = 625 ÷ 2 = 312.500
2 pearls, each of 12 grs. 24 × 24 = 576 ÷ 2 = 288.000
2 pearls, each of 11½ grs. 23 × 23 = 529 ÷ 2 = 264.500
2 pearls, each of 11 grs. 22 × 22 = 484 ÷ 2 = 242.000
2 pearls, each of 10¾ grs. 21½ × 21½ = 462¼ ÷ 2 = 231.125
2 pearls, each of 10¼ grs. 20½ × 20½ = 420¼ ÷ 2 = 210.125
—— ——— ——————————
41 624 10,003.750
$10 × 10,003.75 = $100,037.50
THE SAME NECKLACE FIGURED IN GROUPS
1 pearl, weighing 25 grs. 25 × 25 = 625.00
2 pearls, total weight 44 grs. 44 × 44 = 1936 ÷ 2 = 968.00
4 pearls, total weight 78 grs. 78 × 78 = 6084 ÷ 4 = 1521.00
4 pearls, total weight 71 grs. 71 × 71 = 5041 ÷ 4 = 1260.25
6 pearls, total weight 99 grs. 99 × 99 = 9801 ÷ 6 = 1633.50
6 pearls, total weight 90 grs. 90 × 90 = 8100 ÷ 6 = 1350.00
6 pearls, total weight 81 grs. 81 × 81 = 6561 ÷ 6 = 1093.50
6 pearls, total weight 72 grs. 72 × 72 = 5184 ÷ 6 = 864.00
6 pearls, total weight 64 grs. 64 × 64 = 4096 ÷ 6 = 682.67
——— ———————
624 9997.92
$10 × 9997.92 = $99,979.20
[Illustration:
GREAT PEARL NECKLACE OF THE FRENCH CROWN JEWELS
Composed of 362 pearls, weighing 58.8 grains. Actual size. Worn by
Empress Eugenia
]
On a $5 base this necklace would be worth $50,018.75 according to the
first reckoning, and $49,989.60 according to the second; on a base of
$2.50 the figures would be $25,009.37 and $24,994.80 respectively.
THE SAME NECKLACE FIGURED IN OTHER GROUPS
1 pearl, weighing 25 grs. 25 × 25 = 625.00
4 pearls, total weight 84 grs. 84 × 84 = 7056 ÷ 4 = 1764.00
6 pearls, total weight 109 grs. 109 × 109 = 11881 ÷ 6 = 1980.16
6 pearls, total weight 99 grs. 99 × 99 = 9801 ÷ 6 = 1633.50
6 pearls, total weight 90 grs. 90 × 90 = 8100 ÷ 6 = 1350.00
8 pearls, total weight 106 grs. 106 × 106 = 11236 ÷ 8 = 1404.50
10 pearls, total weight 111 grs. 111 × 111 = 12321 ÷ 10 = 1232.10
——— ———————
624 9989.26
$10 × 9989.26 = $99,892.60
On a $5 base this would represent a value of $49,946.30 and one of
$24,973.15 on a base of $2.50. The different grouping of the pearls
accounts for the slight reduction in value.
A system of estimating the value of pearls which has recently been
introduced into Germany, is an adaptation of the ordinary method of
squaring the number of grains and then multiplying the result by a
certain base figure. The pearls are first grouped according to quality
and size, and a figure is agreed upon as the multiplicator of each
class. In Germany the carat is employed as the weight unit for pearls as
well as for diamonds, and in this new system the total weight of a given
number of pearls of the same class is first reduced to grains; the
number of grains is then multiplied by four and the quotient is
multiplied by the figure agreed upon. The resulting sum, after being
divided by the number of pearls, gives the carat value of such pearls.
For example, if the base figure agreed upon is 5, and we wish to find
the carat worth of 4 pearls of similar size, weighing together 3–14⁄64
carats, the sum would be as follows:
206 × 4 × 4 × 5
——————————————— = 64.37
64 × 4
At this rate per carat, reckoning in marks, the value of the 3–14⁄64
carats would be 207.20 marks. This result is identical with that
obtained by the ordinary method, but the calculation is perhaps a trifle
simplified.[383]
A curious Hindu treatise on gems has been preserved for us in the
Brhatsamhitâ of Varâhamihira (505–587 A.D.). It is the earliest work of
this kind that we have in Sanskrit, and M. Louis Finot,[384] who has
published it, together with several other similar treatises, believes
that it was based upon an original composed at a much earlier period. In
his introduction M. Finot says: “It would be an error to regard the
ratnaçastra [treatise on gems] as a simple manual for the use of
jewelers. Without doubt this subject formed one of the principal
branches of commercial instruction, ... but it was also taught to
princes and it is for their use that the ratnaçastras we publish seem to
have been composed.”
This treatise only describes four gems, although a larger number are
enumerated. These gems are the diamond, the pearl, the ruby, and the
emerald. One of the most interesting portions is that treating of the
valuation of pearls. The system described is peculiar, and,
unfortunately, there is some difficulty in finding an absolutely correct
equivalent for the values expressed.
A price is first placed upon a pearl weighing 4 mâsakas (about 45
grains). This is estimated at 5300 kârsâpanas (about $1600). As the
weight diminishes the valuation decreases as follows:
4 mâsakas 5300 kârsâpanas
3½ mâsakas 3200 kârsâpanas
3 mâsakas 2000 kârsâpanas
2½ mâsakas 1300 kârsâpanas
2 mâsakas 800 kârsâpanas
1½ mâsakas 353 kârsâpanas
1 mâsakas 135 kârsâpanas
4 guñjas[385] 90 kârsâpanas
3 guñjas 50 kârsâpanas
2½ guñjas 35 kârsâpanas
Smaller pearls were grouped together in dharanas (one dharana = about 72
grains). If there were thirteen fine pearls in a dharana, they were
valued at 325 rûpakas (about $100); the other values were as follows:
16 pearls in a dharana were worth 200 rûpakas
20 pearls in a dharana were worth 170 rûpakas
25 pearls in a dharana were worth 130 rûpakas
30 pearls in a dharana were worth 70 rûpakas
40 pearls in a dharana were worth 50 rûpakas
55–60 pearls in a dharana were worth 40 rûpakas
80 pearls in a dharana were worth 30 rûpakas
100 pearls in a dharana were worth 25 rûpakas
200 pearls in a dharana were worth 12 rûpakas
300 pearls in a dharana were worth 6 rûpakas
400 pearls in a dharana were worth 5 rûpakas
500 pearls in a dharana were worth 3 rûpakas
It would be extremely interesting if we could find at this early date
(sixth century A.D.) an indication of the use of the system of computing
the value of pearls by the square of their weight as expressed in some
weight unit, and it is singular that the three valuations given for the
weight in guñjas are graduated in accordance with this system. A pearl
weighing 2½ guñjas and valued at 35 kârṣapâṇas would have a base value
of 5.6 kârṣâpaṇas. Estimated at this ratio we would have the following
figures:
3 guñjas 50.4 kârṣâpaṇas
4 guñjas 89.6 kârṣâpaṇas
Now, the values actually given are 50 and 90 kârṣâpaṇas, respectively,
and these figures are easily obtained by rejecting the fraction that is
less than one half and counting the fraction that is in excess of one
half as a unit. After this, however, the progression becomes irregular.
A pearl weighing 1 mâṣaka (5 guñjas) is valued at 135 kârṣâpaṇas, while
the equivalent according to the system would be 140. However, it is
possible that the writer may have changed this figure intentionally so
as to add exactly one half to the preceding valuation (90 + 45 = 135).
The succeeding values bear no relation to the system and appear to be
entirely arbitrary. Still, it can scarcely be due to hazard that the
first three figures are practically in exact accord with the system and
the fourth in close approximation. As the change seems to come when the
weight is expressed in mâṣakas instead of guñjas, we are tempted to
think that the system may have been used for single pearls weighing less
than twelve grains (1 mâṣaka = 11¼ grains), while the value of those
over that weight was estimated in a different way.
In a much later Hindu treatise, by Buddhabhatta, after certain values
have been given for pearls of the best quality, a pearl of this class is
described as follows:
White, round, heavy, smooth, luminous, spotless, the pearl gifted
with these qualities is called qualified (_guṇavat_). If it be
yellow, it is worth half this price; if it be not round, a third; if
flat or triangular, a sixth.[386]
One of the earliest records we have of a system of prices for pearls is
the treatise on precious stones written in the year 1265, by Ahmed ibn
Yusuf al Teifashi, who was probably a native jeweler of Egypt. In his
time pearls were sold in Bagdad in bunches of ten strings, each string
comprising thirty-six pearls. If one of these strings weighed one sixth
of a miskal (four carats or sixteen grains), the ten strings were valued
at four dinars (about ten dollars). The values increased progressively
as follows:[387]
Average weight 10 strings of 36 pearls, Value
of each pearl weight of each string
Grains Carats Grains Dinars U. S. money
½ 4 16 4 $10.00
⅔ 6 24 5 12.50
1⅓ 12 48 6 15.00
2 18 72 10 25.00
3⅓ 30 120 15 37.50
4 36 144 20 50.00
4⅓ 42 168 25 62.50
5⅓ 48 192 35 87.50
6 54 216 40 100.00
7⅓ 66 264 70 175.00
8 72 288 80 200.00
9⅓ 84 336 110 275.00
10 90 360 150 375.00
10⅔ 96 384 200 500.00
12 108 432 400 1000.00
12⅔ 114 456 550 1375.00
13⅓ 120 480 650 1625.00
14 126 504 750 1875.00
14⅔ 132 528 800 2000.00
16 144 576 1000 2500.00
18⅔ 168 672 1500 3750.00
Al Teifashi then proceeds to describe a pearl of the first quality; it
must be “perfectly round in all its parts, colorless and gifted with a
fine water. When a pearl possesses these requisites and weighs one
miskal [24 carats or 96 grains] it is worth 300 dinars [$750]. If,
however, a match is found for this pearl and each one weighs one miskal
and has the same form, the two pearls together cost 700 dinars [$1750].”
This writer also mentions that in the shops of the Arab jewelers, the
pearl which exceeded the weight of a drachma (12 carats or 48 grains)
even by one grain, was called _dorra_, while the name _johar_ was used
for that which did not reach the above weight.
In 1838, Feuchtwanger gave the price of a one-carat pearl as five
dollars, and used this amount as the multiplier of the square of the
weight; therefore, a four-carat pearl would cost four times four
multiplied by five dollars, the value of the first carat; that is to
say, a sixteen-grain (four-carat) pearl would have been worth eighty
dollars in 1838, according to this computation.
[Illustration:
THE SIAMESE PRINCE IN FULL REGALIA
]
In 1858, Barbot[388] gave the value of pearls under ordinary conditions,
but very indefinitely, as follows:
Grains Carats Francs per carat U. S. currency
1 ¼ 4 $0.80
2 ½ 10 2.00
3 ¾ 25 5.00
4 1 50 10.00
Above four grains they sold by the piece, and below, by the ounce.
Baroque pearls sold for 300 to 1000 francs per ounce. Seed-pearls, if
quite round, were worth about 120 francs per ounce.
Emanuel[389] gave the following table of prices for the pearl, reduced
to United States currency:
Grains 1865 1867
3 $2.88— $3.84 $4.32— $4.80
4 5.28— 6.72 6.72— 8.40
5 8.40— 10.80 9.60— 12.00
6 13.20— 15.60 16.80— 19.20
8 21.60— 26.40 24.00— 28.80
10 38.40— 43.20 48.00— 52.80
12 57.60— 72.00 67.20— 76.80
14 72.00— 86.40 86.40— 96.00
16 96.00—144.00 96.00—144.00
18 144.00—192.00 144.00—192.00
20 192.00—240.00 192.00—240.00
24 288.00—345.60 288.00—345.60
30 384.00—480.00 384.00—480.00
The following values appear in the “Encyclopedia Hispano-Americana,”
Barcelona, 1894, Vol. XV, p. 180 (Louis Dieulafait):
Grains Value, 1865 Value, 1867
Pesetas U. S. currency Pesetas U. S. currency
3 17— 18 $3.40— $3.60 21— 23 $4.20— $4.60
4 25— 32 5.00— 6.40 32— 40 6.40— 8.00
5 41— 52 8.20— 10.40 46— 58 9.20— 11.60
6 64— 75 12.80— 15.00 81— 93 16.20— 18.60
8 104— 128 20.80— 25.60 116— 139 23.20— 27.80
10 202— 227 40.40— 45.40 252— 277 50.40— 55.40
12 302— 378 60.40— 75.60 352— 403 70.40— 80.60
14 378— 453 75.60— 90.60 455— 504 91.00—100.80
16 504— 756 100.80—151.20 504— 756 100.80—151.20
18 756—1005 151.20—201.00 756—1005 151.20—201.00
20 1005—1260 201.00—252.00 1005—1260 201.00—252.00
24 1512—1815 302.40—363.00 1512—1815 302.40—363.00
30 2117—2521 423.40—504.20 2117—2521 423.40—504.20
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT SHOWING THE VALUES OF PEARLS AT STATED TIMES
Weight 1609[390] 1672[391] 1675[392] 1751[393] 1774[394] 1791[395]
Grains Thal. Kreutz. Livres £ s £ s £ s Lire
1 0 13 0 ½ 0 1 0 ⅓ 1½
2 0 52 2 0 2 0 4 0 2 6
3 1 47 5 0 6 0 9 0 7½ 13½
4 3 0 10 0 12 0 16 0 18 24
5 4 48 18 1 5 1 5 1 10 37½
6 6 52 28 2 10 1 16 2 5 54
7 9 13 38 4 10 2 9 3 1 73½
8 12 0 55 6 0 3 4 4 10 96
9 15 23 75 8 0 4 1 6 0 121½
10 18 52 100 10 0 5 0 8 5 150
11 22 48 130 12 0 6 1 9 15 242
12 27 175 14 0 7 4 288
13 31 48 16 0 8 9 13 15 338
14 36 52 270 18 0 9 16 392
15 42 13 21 10 11 5 21 0 450
16 48 380 25 0 12 16 512
17 54 13 30 0 14 9 27 10 578
18 60 52 500 35 0 16 4 648
19 67 48 37 10 18 1 722
20 75 650 40 0 20 0 37 10 800
22 90 52 50 0 24 4 52 10 1210
24 108 60 0 28 16 82 10 1440
26 126 52 33 16 99 0 1690
28 147 39 14 150 0 1960
32 192 51 4 225 0 2560
36 243 64 16 262 10 3240
40 300 80 0 300 0 4000
45 506 17 101 5 5062½
50 625 125 0 6250
60 900 180 0 9000
70 1225 245 0 12250
80 1600 320 0 16000
90 2025 405 0 20250
100 2500 500 0 25000
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT SHOWING THE VALUES OF PEARLS AT
STATED TIMES, REDUCED TO UNITED STATES CURRENCY
Weight Grains 1609 1672 1675 1751 1774 1791
1 $0.20 $0.12 $0.24 $0.09 $0.30
2 0.81 $0.80 0.48 0.96 0.50 1.20
3 1.82 1.90 1.44 2.16 1.87 2.70
4 3.24 3.80 2.88 3.84 4.50 4.80
5 5.06 6.84 6.00 6.00 7.50 7.50
6 7.28 10.64 12.00 8.64 11.25 10.80
7 10.92 14.44 21.60 11.76 15.25 14.70
8 12.96 20.90 28.80 15.36 22.50 19.20
9 16.40 28.50 38.40 19.44 30.00 24.30
10 20.25 38.00 48.00 24.00 41.25 30.00
11 24.50 49.40 57.60 29.04 48.75 48.40
12 29.16 66.50 67.20 34.56 57.60
13 34.22 76.80 40.56 68.75 67.60
14 39.69 102.60 86.40 47.04 78.40
15 45.56 103.20 54.00 105.00 90.00
16 51.84 144.40 120.00 61.44 102.40
17 58.52 144.00 60.36 137.50 115.60
18 65.61 190.00 168.00 77.76 129.60
19 73.10 180.00 86.64 144.40
20 81.00 247.00 192.00 96.00 187.50 160.00
22 98.01 240.00 116.16 262.50 242.00
24 116.64 288.00 138.24 412.50 288.00
26 136.89 162.24 495.00 338.00
28 158.76 188.16 750.00 392.00
32 207.36 245.76 1125.00 512.00
36 262.44 311.04 1312.50 648.00
40 324.00 384.00 1500.00 800.00
45 546.75 486.00 1012.50
50 675.00 600.00 1250.00
60 972.00 864.00 1800.00
70 1323.00 1176.00 2450.00
80 1728.00 1536.00 3200.00
90 2187.00 1944.00 4050.00
100 2700.00 2400.00 5000.00
Giving the pearl values in 1867, Emanuel[396] says: “It would be almost
useless to give any value for drop pearls, as when of large size and
fine quality they are of so rare occurrence as to command fancy prices;
still, as a slight guide, it may be mentioned that perfect white drop
pearls, of 80 to 100 grains, may be estimated at from £7 to £11
[$35–$55] per grain; those of 50 to 80 grains at from £4 to £7 [$20–$35]
per grain, and those of 30 to 50 grains at from £3–£5 [$15–$25] per
grain; smaller sizes bring from 20s. to 60s. [$5–$15] per grain.”
Emanuel also states that misshapen pieces called “baroque pearls”
(_perles baroques_), are sold by the ounce, the price varying from £10
to £200 ($50–$1000) per ounce, depending on quality, color, and size.
PRICES IN NEW YORK CITY IN 1878
Grains Value per grain Total value
1 $1.00 $1.00
2 1.83 3.66
3 2.75 8.25
4 3.60 14.40
5 4.03 20.15
6 4.69 28.14
7 6.32 44.24
8 6.87 54.96
9 7.42 66.78
10 8.25 82.50
11 9.62 105.82
12 10.45 125.40
13 11.68 151.84
14 12.55 175.70
15 14.20 213.00
20 19.70 394.00
24 24.75 594.00
HALF-PEARLS
I QUALITY. PER HUNDRED
Diameter
Size No. Millimeters Inches 1873 1876 1878 1885 1908
4 $1.10 $0.85 $0.50 $1.55
5 1.20 .047 1.35 $0.70 1.00 .60 1.95
6 1.22 .048 1.80 .90 1.35 .70 2.90
7 1.24 .049 2.25 1.10 1.70 1.12 3.88
8 1.26 .049 2.70 1.35 2.00 1.80 5.27
9 1.28 .050 3.35 1.80 2.50 2.00 6.65
10 1.80 .071 4.50 2.25 3.40 3.00 9.15
11 1.83 .072 5.60 2.70 4.20 4.00 11.36
12 1.86 .073 8.00 3.35 5.90 5.00 13.86
13 1.90 .075 9.00 4.50 6.75 5.75 15.51
14 2.00 .078 11.00 5.60 8.40 6.75 17.50
15 2.10 .082 14.00 8.00 10.00 8.25 20.80
16 2.25 .088 17.00 9.00 12.50 10.50 25.00
17 2.40 .094 19.00 11.00 14.00 12.00 30.50
18 2.60 .102 23.00 14.00 17.00 14.50 37.40
19 2.75 .108 28.00 17.00 21.00 16.25 48.50
20 2.90 .114 33.00 19.00 24.00 18.25 61.00
22 3.05 .120 42.00 28.00 31.00 33.00
24 3.15 .124 53.00 38.00 39.00 48.00
26 3.30 .130 67.00 45.00 50.00 69.00
28 3.55 .140 101.00 56.00 75.00 98.00
30 3.90 .153 124.00 79.00 92.00 150.00
HALF PEARLS
II QUALITY. PER HUNDRED
Size No. 1873 1876 1878 1885 1908
4 $0.55 $0.45 $0.30 $0.84
5 .70 $0.35 .50 .35 1.22
6 .90 .45 .70 .50 1.87
7 1.10 .55 .85 .80 3.05
8 1.35 .70 1.00 1.05 4.43
9 1.80 .90 1.35 1.45 5.82
10 2.25 1.10 1.70 1.80 8.32
11 3.35 1.35 2.50 2.60 10.53
12 4.00 1.80 3.00 3.00 12.75
13 4.50 2.25 3.40 3.75 14.41
14 5.60 3.35 4.20 4.25 15.51
15 6.75 4.00 5.00 4.75 18.00
16 9.00 4.50 6.75 5.25 20.80
17 10.00 5.60 7.50 6.00 26.35
18 11.00 6.75 8.40 7.00 31.90
19 14.00 9.00 10.00 7.75 41.60
20 17.00 10.00 12.50 8.75 52.70
22 20.00 14.00 15.00
24 27.00 19.00 20.00
26 34.00 23.00 25.00
28 51.00 28.00 38.00
30 62.00 40.00 46.00
HALF PEARLS
III QUALITY. PER HUNDRED
Size No. 1876 1907 Size No. 1876 1908
4 $0.47 15 2.70 8.93
5 $0.25 .70 16 3.35 11.20
6 .35 1.11 17 4.00 13.90
7 .40 1.94 18 4.50 18.00
8 .45 2.77 19 5.60 22.20
9 .70 3.86 20 6.75 27.75
10 .80 4.99 22 9.00 40.00
11 .90 5.82 24 14.00 75.00
12 1.10 6.65 26 17.00 85.00
13 1.60 7.48 28 19.00 100.00
14 2.25 8.32 30 28.00 200.00
VALUE OF IRREGULAR PEARLS IN 1774[397]
Pearls to the Value in English money Equivalent in Average for
ounce U. S. currency each pearl
£ s.
500 3 0 $15.00 $0.03
300 6 0 30.00 .10
150 11 2 55.50 .37
100 18 0 90.00 .90
60 33 15 168.75 2.81
30 75 0 375.00 12.50
The following values for the smaller oriental pearls are given in the
“Museum Brittanicum” of John and Andrew van Rymsdyck, 1778, p. 9.
No. to the ounce Rix dollars Equivalent in U. Average for each
S. currency pearl
200 70 $75.60 $0.378
300 50 54.00 .18
900 10 10.80 .012
2000 3 4.24 .00212
4000 2½ 2.70 .006755
8000 } 2 2.16 { .00027
10,000 } { .000216
Pio Naldi’s treatise of 1791 gives the following rule for estimating the
value of small, round pearls, weighing less than one carat or four
grains. As the carat value of four such pearls is given as five lire and
576 one-grain pearls were counted as one ounce, these two numbers were
used to determine the value of an ounce of small pearls. The product of
576 multiplied by 5 is 2880, and this number was then divided by 2000,
1000, 500, or whatever might be the number of pearls in a given ounce.
If there were 2000 pearls, the carat value would be 1.44 lire or $.29;
if there were 1000, the carat would be worth 2.88 lire or $.57; if 500,
5.76 lire or $1.15, etc.
[Illustration:
HALF-PEARLS: LOTS OF THREE DIFFERENT SIZES.
BROOCH OF HALF-PEARLS AND ONYX. UNITED STATES, 1860
]
The same author[398] gives tables expressing the values of pearls not
perfectly spherical in form, which he designates as “perle dolce.” These
pearls he considers to be worth half the price of good round pearls;
that is to say, 2½ lire (about $.50) per carat for four weighing
together one carat. Where there are as many as three thousand of these
“perle dolce” in an ounce, the 2½ lire base is multiplied by 576, the
number of grains given to the ounce; this makes the value of an ounce of
one-grain pearls $288. This amount is then divided by 3000, and the
quotient, $.096, represents the value of one carat of these small
pearls. Multiplying this by 144 we obtain, as the value of an ounce of
such pearls, $13.82. An ounce consisting of two thousand would be worth
$20.73, while if there were but one hundred to the ounce it would be
valued at $414.72, or $4.15 for each pearl and $.72 per grain of weight.
In this latter case the pearls would average 5¾ grains. Another class of
pearls denominated by this author as “scaramazzi,” pearls of an
irregular form and with protuberances, are estimated in a similar way,
but at exactly half of the above values. The baroque pearls were not
considered to be worth even half as much as the “scaramazzi.”
Scotch pearls (fresh-water) are mentioned by De Boot (1609, p. 88 _sq._)
among the other western pearls—Bohemian, etc. He remarks that they were
valued much less than the oriental pearls, but if they were of
especially pure color their value was greater, although they lacked the
silvery hue characteristic of the eastern pearl. Fine pearls of this
sort were valued on a carat base of one fourth of a thaler ($.27), so
that a forty-grain pearl was worth $27, and one of eighty grains, $108.
The author of the Bologna treatise, “Delle Gemme,” 1791, attributes the
lack of luster in the Scotch pearls to the presence of a dark mass in
the interior which interfered with the passage of light. He estimates
Scotch pearls to be worth one half the value of oriental pearls of
mediocre quality, provided the former are fairly good.
A Scotch writer of the seventeenth century is more enthusiastic in
regard to these pearls; he mentions having paid one hundred rix dollars
for an exceptionally fine one, but he does not specify its weight. This
is the value given by De Boot for a pearl of this class weighing eighty
grains, as we have just mentioned. The Scotch writer asserts that he
could never sell a necklace of fine Scotch pearls in Scotland itself, as
every one wanted oriental pearls; he continues: “At this very day I can
show some of our own Scots Pearls as fine, more hard and transparent
than any Oriental. It is true that the Oriental can be easier matched,
because they are all of a yellow water, yet foreigners covet Scots
Pearls.”
In Ceylon[399] and India, pearl-grading and valuing has received close
attention, and an elaborate system has been evolved by the pearl
merchants. This system has been in use for generations and possibly for
centuries. Although apparently very complicated, it is in reality quite
simple, if we only remember that the value of inferior pearls is
determined by their weight, whereas the value of superior pearls is
computed from the square of their weight.
The pearls are first grouped according to the size, of which ten grades
are made. This is done by passing them successively through ten brass
saucer-like sieves or baskets (_peddi_), each about three and a half
inches in diameter and one inch deep. The holes in the bottom of each
sieve are of uniform size, but they are graduated in size for the
different baskets. The pearls are sifted in the basket with the largest
holes, and those which will not pass through are of the first size. The
pearls which pass through are then sifted in the second basket, and
those retained are of the second size; and so on through the entire
series of ten sieves or baskets. Those which pass through the tenth
sieve are known as _masi-túl_, or powder pearls; they are of little
value owing to their very small size, and are not subject to further
classification. Of course, the attached pearls or very irregular
baroques—the _oddumuttu_—are not subject to the sifting process, and are
valued independently of this.
Sometimes in India, as well as in western countries, false measures are
used, and an oriental pearl merchant may have one set of sieves for use
in buying and another for selling. The rule for determining the proper
size of the holes in the first sieve is that they may pass pearls
weighing 20 to the _kalan̄chǔ_, whence this sieve is commonly known as
the “20 _peddi_.” The second sieve is the “30 _peddi_,” since it passes
pearls weighing 30 to the _kalan̄chǔ_. In the proper order the other
sieves respectively pass pearls requiring 50, 80, 100, 200, 400, 600,
800, and 1000 to the _kalan̄chǔ_.
This use of sieves for grading the Ceylon pearls was mentioned by
Cleandro Arnobio, a writer of the latter part of the sixteenth century,
in his “Tesoro delle Gioie,” and he took his description from an older
writer, Garzia dell’ Horto.
After the sifting, each of the ten graded lots of pearls are placed on
pieces of cloth for classification as to quality, shape, and luster.
This classification requires much skill and judgment on the part of the
valuer. Not only will two persons commonly fail to class a large lot of
pearls exactly alike, but one person is not likely to class the same lot
twice in precisely the same manner.
[Illustration:
A. B. Pearl nose rings. Baroda, India.
C. East Indian earring of strings of pearls and table diamonds.
Collection of Edmund Russell, Esq.
D. E. Grape pendants. Oriental pearls.
]
From long established custom, recognition is made of twelve classes into
which the ten grades or sizes of pearls are divided with respect to
shape and luster, the local names of these classes giving a fair
indication of their respective characteristics. These names are:
1 _Ani_, “best”: perfect in sphericity and luster, the true orient
pearl.
2 _Anatári_, “follower”: failing slightly in sphericity and luster.
3 _Masanku_ or _Masaku_: badly colored pearls, usually gray,
symmetrical, and with luster.
4 _Kaiyéral_, “the clasp of a necklace”: a dark-colored treble pearl,
not quite round.
5 _Machchakai._
6 _Vadivu_, “beauty,” also “decreasing”: that which is strained or
sifted; found in the 100, 200, and 400 sieves. These small
pearls, regular in shape, and of good luster, are especially
favored in the East.
7 _Madanku_, “folded,” or “bent”: all pearls of _vadivu_ size that
are imperfect in form or color.
8 _Kǔrǔval_, “short”: deformed and double pearls; they may, however,
be of excellent luster. _Ani Kǔrǔval_: where two _áni_ are fused
together, but so formed that if separate they would be perfectly
spherical. _Písal Kǔrǔval_: where several pearls of good luster
and color are fused partially and irregularly together. _Pampara
Kǔrǔval_: a pearl grooved regularly, like a top.
9 _Kalippu_, “abundance,” or “rejected”: inferior to _Anatári_; a
good pearl, may be lens-shaped or elongated; usually flattened.
10 _Písal_, “torn”: a deformed pearl or cluster of small misshapen
pearls; of poor color and of little value.
11 _Kurál_: very misshapen and small.
12 _Túl_, “powder”: the seed-pearls, those retained by the 600, 800,
and 1000 sieves.
In addition to the above designations, the following are also used:
_Samadiam_: a pearl of a reddish hue; pear-shaped but of dull color.
_Nimelai_: a nose-pearl, perfect skinned, and pear- or egg-shaped.
_Sirippu_: a pearl grooved with irregular wrinkle-like furrows.
_Kodai_, “brown”: like a nut, with no nacreous luster; formed of
prismatic shell; may be large, is usually spherical, and includes
pearls of various colors. This name is also used for white pearls
with black or brown marks. _Van Kodai_: a _kodai_ pearl with one
side nacreous. _Karunk Kodai_: a black or blue-black slag-like
pearl.
_Masi-túl_, “ink-dust,” or “chalk-powder”: smaller than the 1000
sieve. Generally used for medicinal purposes, or burnt and eaten
with areca-nut and betel by the natives.
_Oddu_—or _Ottumuttu_, “shell-pearl”: an attached pearl or nacreous
excrescence on the outside of the shell.
Of the twelve classes named above, the first four are known as the
_chevvǔ_, or superior classes; the next three as the _vadivu_, or
beautiful classes; and the last five as the _kalan̄chǔ_, or inferior
classes. The _chevvǔ_ pearls are found only in the first four sieves or
baskets; and for this reason these are known as the _chevvǔ peddi_ or
“chevvǔ baskets,” although they may also retain inferior pearls. A name
used to indicate the class of pearls found in the first four sieves is
_mel_ or _melmuttu_, “upper” or “superior pearl,” while _vadivu_
designates those retained by the next three and _túl_ those of the last
three.
After the pearls have been graded according to size and classified
according to quality, they are weighed. The unit of weight is the
_manchádi_, the seed of _Abrus precatorius_, a small, red berry of
practically uniform weight when ripe. H. W. Gillman of the Ceylon Civil
Service reports the weight of the _man̄chádi_ to be 3.35 grains troy.
Fractional parts of a unit are obtained by using a berry called
_kundumani_, grains of rice, etc., whose weights have been determined
beforehand. A brass weight—the _kalan̄chǔ_—is also employed; it equals
67 grains or 20 _man̄chádi_.
However, choice pearls—those of the superior classes—are not valued in
this manner, but at so much per _chevvǔ_ of their weight, which is three
fourths of the square of the weight in _man̄chádi_. Thus, to find the
value of an _anatári_ pearl in the second sieve, if the weight be found
to be three _man̄chádi_, three fourths of the square of three, or 6¾, is
multiplied by the base value of the _anatári_ class.
The actual process of the calculation of value is as follows: owing to
the small size of the pearls, many fractions enter into the
computations; to preserve uniformity it is customary to increase all
fractions so that each may have 320 as a denominator, this being a
common multiple of those that ordinarily arise in _chevvǔ_ calculations.
The weight in _man̄chádi_ of the pearls is increased to a fractional
figure having 320 as a denominator. Three fourths of the square of the
numerator of this fraction is divided by the number of pearls, and this
quotient is divided twice consecutively by 320, giving the _chevvǔ_ of
the weight. The market value then follows from the quoted price of the
pearls per _chevvǔ_ at the time.
In actual practice, these computations are not made; but each merchant
provides himself with sets of tables showing the calculations for
different weights, analogous to the use of interest tables by bankers,
or of tables of logarithms by surveyors. Some of the merchants commit
these tables to memory, and at times may be heard reciting them quietly
to themselves to refresh the memory.
If a pearl of a particular grade and class is of exceptional merit, the
merchant adds somewhat to the money value computed by the above process.
This applies especially to double pearls of the _kǔrǔval_ class, which
sometimes consist of two fine bouton pearls suitable for setting, but
not for stringing.
Pearls of one of the inferior or _kalan̄chǔ_ classes are valued by
simple weight, at so much per _kalan̄chǔ_, the market price, of course,
differing for pearls of the various classes. The weight having been
ascertained, each in its class as before noted, the value is determined
by multiplying that weight by the current market price per unit of such
pearls, at so many rupees per _kalan̄chǔ_.
[Illustration:
NECKLACE CONTAINING 126,000 SEED-PEARLS. LOUIS XVI PERIOD
Property of an American lady
]
The star pagoda is used in calculating the values. This small gold coin
was current in south India in the early part of the last century. In the
computations it is considered to be worth three and a half rupees,
although its intrinsic value as a gold coin is about six rupees.
It is considered probable that the London syndicate,[400] which has
lately leased the Ceylon pearl fisheries for a period of twenty years,
will do away with the complicated calculations employed for so many
generations, surviving all changes of administration, Portuguese, Dutch,
and British. This is only one of the many instances showing the tendency
of the British Government to abolish time-honored usages in India,
without regard to the wishes of its population; and, unimportant as many
of these changes may seem to us, they all serve to foster a spirit of
discontent that may lead to serious trouble. This conduct on the part of
Great Britain is all the stranger in view of the stubborn opposition of
that country to the adoption of the scientific and logical metric
system.
In Bombay, the weight of pearls in tanks is made the basis of their
valuation; the tank equals 24 ratti or about 72 grains troy. The square
of the number of tanks is multiplied by 330 and the quotient divided by
the number of pearls; this gives the number of _chevvǔs_, or _chows_, as
they are sometimes called, and the market price of the _chevvǔs_ for a
given class of pearls shows their value. If, for instance, we have 56
pearls of a certain quality, weighing 5 tanks, and the _chevvǔs_ of
these pearls is worth 14 rupees, the sum would be as follows:
5 × 5 × 330 × 14
———————————————— = 2062.5 rupees, or about $825.
56
In this case, as in the other system of weighing which we have
mentioned, the _chevvǔs_ is only a nominal weight; but there is in India
a real weight unit which bears this name.[401]
The high esteem in which the pearl was held by the Hindus is well
illustrated by the following statement from an old treatise on gems: “A
pearl weighing two kalan̄jas (about 180 grains) should not be worn even
by kings. It is for the gods, it is without equal.”[402]
An interesting account of a great savant’s experience, in the early part
of the sixteenth century, regarding the value of pearls, is given by
Guillaume Budé[403] (1467–1540), the celebrated French Hellenist who
lived during the reign of Francis I and who is regarded as the founder
of the College de France. In his work entitled “De Asse,” he states that
he once inquired of a gem dealer in Paris whether the latter could
recall the weight of some remarkable pearl which had passed through his
hands. The dealer replied that he had seen one weighing 30 carats (120
grains), whereupon another gem dealer, who was present, remarked that he
had in his possession one of 40 carats (160 grains). This pearl was sold
a few days later for 3000 gold crowns ($6750). On another occasion Budé
was told that a pearl of exquisite beauty weighing 30 carats, had been
sold to the Duchesse de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XI of France, for the
sum of 4000 gold crowns ($9000).
In regard to the manner of computing the value of pearls Budé writes: “I
think the ratio of these prices can be calculated. When I asked a gem
dealer what was the value of a pearl of four carats [sixteen grains],
according to the formula, he replied: ‘I have seen such a pearl sell for
thirty gold crowns [$67.50].’ Whereupon I asked: ‘How much would you
estimate one weighing eight carats [thirty-two grains]?’ ‘At least two
hundred gold crowns [$450],’ he answered; and as I continued to ply him
with questions, gradually increasing the weight, he responded in such a
way that I could understand that the increase of the price bore not a
numerical, but a proportional relation to the weight; so that the above
mentioned eight-carat pearl, having double the weight of a four-carat
pearl, was valued at seven times as much. The same was true of a pearl
weighing twelve carats, twenty carats, and so on; the price augmenting
by a greater and greater increment as the weight increased.”
In the “Coronae Gemma Noblissima” of Wilhelmus Eo (1621, pp. 32, 33), an
instance is given of the rapid changes that are possible in the worth of
a pearl. A large and beautiful pearl was brought to Nuremberg by a
merchant who had paid 500 florins for it; he soon found a purchaser
among the merchants there, who was willing to pay him 800 florins. This
latter merchant in his turn disposed of his gem for 1000 florins, and
shortly after it again changed hands twice, the first time at an advance
of 200 florins and the second at an advance of 300 florins. All this
happened within a few days. The writer tells us that the last purchaser,
who paid 1500 florins for the pearl, took it with him to Venice “where
the wealthy dames wear a great treasure of beautiful pearls as necklaces
upon their bare skin, and he will not have lost anything on his pearl
there.”
In 1884, Mr. Edwin Streeter was asked by a member of a London syndicate
to proceed to the East, to value a large quantity of jewels, as a heavy
sum of money was about to be advanced to a certain Power, to provide the
sinews of war. On his way he was requested to stop at one of the
principal towns in Germany to purchase some jewels which had been valued
for probate but were not easy of sale in that market. The valuation
paper was shown to him, and after examining the ornaments, he agreed to
take them at the prices named. Among them was an old gold brooch of
Russian manufacture, valued at £4; in the center of this brooch was what
appeared to be a piece of hematite, but was in reality a fine, round,
black pearl, weighing 77 grains. The color had faded from exposure to
the sun. This pearl was brought to London, and the outer layer was taken
off, when a perfect black pearl of 67 grains was uncovered. This was
sold to a manufacturing jeweler in London for £400; but, having heard
that in Paris there was a pearl that would exactly match it, Mr.
Streeter bought it back again for £600, and then sold it at a large
profit to one of the Paris crown jewelers, who, in his turn, sold the
pair to a rich iron merchant for 50,000 francs (£2000 or $10,000). Since
then the sum of 100,000 francs (£4000 or $20,000) has been refused for
this pair of matchless black pearls. At present values they may be worth
double this sum.
At different times the values assigned to the different forms and colors
of pearls have varied. For instance, in the French Encyclopédie of 1774
(Vol. XII, p. 385), it is stated that pear-shaped pearls, although they
might be equally perfect and of the same weight as round pearls, were
valued much less than these. Even in the case of well-matched pairs,
their price was a third less than that of round pearls.
As early as the sixteenth century it was not uncommon that jewelers who
had in their possession a fine pear-shaped pearl would have a replica of
it molded in lead, and then send the casts to the large cities of Europe
and the East. If a mate was found for it, the respective owners soon
came to terms, for such pearls command a much higher price together than
they do separately.
An interesting story is told of no less a collector than the Duke of
Brunswick, who was so generous to the city of Geneva. For many years
every pear-shaped pearl from every land had been submitted to him for
examination. He always claimed the privilege of examining it alone for a
moment or two and in every instance he returned it. At last a new
pear-shaped pearl of marvelous size and beauty was heard of in a distant
country. It was sent to Germany, where the duke was visiting at that
time, to a local dealer who acted as agent for the owner. The price
demanded for it seemed excessive, but the duke took the pearl, stepped
aside for a moment, and said, quick as a flash, “The pearl is mine.” The
next day he showed it with a mate he had owned for many years and that
was a most faultless match. Through all the years of his search he had
never informed any one of his intention to match the pearl he already
owned.
In 1879, at the time of the death of the father of Sultan Buderuddin of
the Sulu Islands, a box of large and fine pearls was among the treasures
he left behind him. Many of these disappeared, but some of them came
into the hands of Sultan Buderuddin and his mother. The former sold
those which he had inherited, in order to defray the expenses of a
pilgrimage to Mecca, in 1882. His mother, who exerted a great influence
over the conduct of affairs, retained a number of the pearls, and it was
always difficult to induce her to part with any of them. When, as very
rarely happened, she was persuaded to do so, she invariably got a higher
price for them than they would have commanded in London, because she was
never anxious to sell, and always said: “Why should I sell my pearls? If
the Spaniards come to attack us, I can put them in a handkerchief and go
into the hills; but if I had dollars I should need a number of men to
carry them.” We do not yet know what became of the stolen pearls.
Many times has a dealer put nearly all that he possessed into a fine
pearl or necklace, frequently without a reward; often gradually buying
more and more, hoping for some great patron to relieve him. When the
client appears, there is happiness, but when he does not, there is woe.
This instance is well illustrated when Philip IV of Spain asked of the
merchant Gogibus: “How have you ventured to put all your fortune into
such a small object?” “Because I knew there was a king of Spain to buy
it of me,” was the quick reply. And Philip rewarded the faith of the
jeweler by purchasing the pearl.
Caire and Dufie[404] state:
We need have no fear that either the price or the use of pearls will
diminish when we consider the great demand for them both on account
of luxury and superstition. There is no Hindu who does not regard it
as a matter of religion that he should pierce at least one pearl on
the occasion of his marriage. This must be a new pearl which has
never been perforated. Whatever may be the mysterious signification,
this very ancient usage is, at least, very useful for the commerce
of pearls.
In 1898, one of the writers had a long talk with his late chief, who
had, at that time, devoted sixty years of his life to the jewelry
profession. In the course of the conversation the latter remarked: “It
seems to me that pearls are too dear”; to which the writer rejoined:
“Have pearls ever gone down in price during your entire connection with
the jewelry profession?” The answer was: “No, they have always
advanced.” Whereupon the writer said: “I can give you statistics for two
hundred years preceding your earliest experience, which prove that
pearls constantly advanced in value during that period.”
The following are the names given to the different kinds of pearls,
according to their origin.
The term “oriental” designates those pearls that are found in the true
pearl-oyster, and have a marine or salt-water origin, being found either
in the ocean or one of its adjacent tributaries, and belonging to one of
the numerous species of the Margaritiferæ.
The term “fresh-water” is given to those pearls that are found in the
fresh-water brooks, rivulets, rivers, or fresh-water lakes, and not in
salt water, and which belong to the Unionidæ.
The term “conch” is applied to that variety of pearl which is usually
pink, or yellow, in color, and that is either found in the univalve
shell, known as the common conch (_Strombus gigas_), or in the yellow
shell (_Cassis madagascarensis_).
The word “clam pearl” is used to designate those pearls that are found
in the common clam of the Atlantic coast, and are either black, dark
purple, purple, or mixed with white, more especially if they are boiled.
“Placuna pearl” designates those pearls that are found in the Placuna,
or window-glass shell, in the East. They have a micaceous luster, are
rarely of much value, and are sold entirely in the Orient, almost
exclusively for medicinal purposes.
“Oyster pearl” signifies those concretions that are found in the common
edible oyster (Ostrea). They are generally black, purple, or with a
mixture of black and white, or purple and white. They are devoid of
nacreous luster and possess neither beauty nor value.
“Coque de perle” designates the globuse walls of the nautilus and
possibly other shells that have a pearly nacre; they are almost
hemispherical and are either round or long, having a pearly effect.
“Abalone”: a name applied to those pearls that are found in the univalve
“ear-shell” or _awabi_, as it is called in Japan. They are generally
green, blue-green, or fawn-yellow, and have an intense red, flame-like
iridescence. They are rarely round, generally flat, or irregular, and
are occasionally worth several hundreds of dollars each.
“Pinna pearls”: those pearls that are found in the Pinna, or wing-shells
of the Mediterranean and adjacent seas. These possess no orient, but are
more highly crystalline than any other pearls. They are almost
translucent and have a peculiar red or yellow color, and are of little
value except locally.
“Cocoanut pearl”: this name is given to those pearls that are found in
the giant oyster or clam of the vicinity of Singapore; they are
erroneously called cocoanut pearls because they have the appearance of
the meat of the cocoanut. They are often of great size, but have no
commercial value.
The following are special designations of the different varieties of
pearls according to their forms and appearance:
Paragon: this term was formerly used to designate large and
exceptionally perfect or beautiful pearls, usually weighing over one
hundred grains.
Round: when the pearl is absolutely spherical, as if turned on a lathe,
without any flattening or any indentations on the sides.
Button or Bouton: if the pearl is domed on top and has either a flat or
slightly convex back.
Pear-shaped: when the pearl is formed like a pear, terminating in a
point, and is either flat at the lower end or rounded.
Drop-shaped: when the pearl is elongated like a pear, but is larger at
the lower end than a pear-shaped pearl.
Egg-shaped: when ovate in form, rounded more or less at each end, or
formed like an egg.
Cone-shaped: applied to pearls that are elongated and rounded with one
flat end, and have the form of a cone.
Top-shaped: a name given to those pearls that are broad, flattened at
the top and rounded on the sides, terminating in a point, like a top.
Seed-pearls is a name given to pearls that are round or irregular, and
weigh one fourth grain or even less. They are frequently so small that
18,000 are contained in a single ounce, and they are often sent from the
East in bunches of about a dozen or so of strings.
Dust-pearls. When seed-pearls are very small they are known as
“dust-pearls”; they are really as fine as dust and have very little
value; still, their form is in many cases wonderfully perfect.
Petal pearls are those which are somewhat flat, frequently more pointed
at one end than at the other, and have the appearance of a petal or
leaf.
Hinge pearls are those pearls that are long, generally pointed at either
or both ends, and are found near the hinge part of the shell. They are
divided into two distinct forms, namely dog-tooth, and wing-shaped.
Wing pearls: those that are elongated or irregular, resembling a wing or
part of a wing.
Dog-tooth: applied to pearls with pointed ears, elongated, and which are
narrower than the wing pearls.
Slugs: a name used for the very irregular, distorted pearls, frequently
made up of masses or groups of small pearls; usually without luster or
form, and of little value except for medicinal purposes.
Nuggets: when the pearls are somewhat round, but are indented or
slightly irregular.
Haystacks: when the pearls are either round or oval, with the top
considerably elevated.
Turtlebacks: when the pearls are a trifle longer than they are wide,
with a domed surface not much elevated. This form is quite prevalent
among American pearls.
Strawberry pearls: those that are round or elongated and entirely
covered with prickly points, somewhat resembling a strawberry or pickle.
It is believed that these irregular marks are frequently produced by
minute pearls.
“Blister” and “Chicot” are names applied to those pearls that are found
embedded within a nacreous coating, often containing mud, water, or
imperfect mother-of-pearl. After these “blisters,” as they are termed,
are broken, and layer after layer has been removed from the contents,
very fine pearls have frequently been found.
Peelers: a term applied to pearls having imperfect surfaces or skins
that may have some inner layers which are perfect. Pearls having opaque
bands or rings are rarely peeled with much success as this opaque layer
frequently extends to some depth.
Cylindrical pearls: for pearls that have the form of a cylinder, being
elongated and flattened at each end.
Hammer pearls: when pearls are long and somewhat rounded and assume the
shape of a hammer or barrel. These are rounded or domed at the side and
flattened at the ends.
Baroque (Wart pearls in German): when pearls are not of any perfect form
such as round, pear, ovate, or any regular form, they are termed
baroque, and this term covers a large class of varieties, such as all
that follow (except seed- and half-pearls).
Double, triple, or twin pearls are those that are made up of two or more
pearls united together in a single nacreous coating, showing, however,
that they are still separate pearls.
Monster pearls: this name was formerly applied to very large, irregular,
pearly masses which either resembled some animal or were adapted to form
the head, trunk, or other part of an animal: these are also occasionally
called “Paragons.”
Bird’s-eye: a name used for a pearl that has dull spots, giving it the
appearance of a bird’s-eye.
“Ring-a-round” is a term applied to such pearls as are black, brown,
pink, or white, and have a circle running around the pearl itself of
some distinctive contrasting color, as white on black, pink on brown or
black on white.
Embedded pearls are those that are partly or entirely surrounded by
mother-of-pearl, having been enveloped and passed outward from the
interior of the shell by the mollusk so that in time the pearl would
have been lost on the outside of the shell. These embedded pearls are
occasionally found in the manufacture of mother-of-pearl articles. When
the mother-of-pearl is split, the pearl will fall out from between the
layers.
Half-pearls is the name given to such pearls as are round and
spherically domed, and are either somewhat flat or almost the shape of
one half of a whole pearl of the same diameter. They are usually made by
cutting off the best part of a hemispherical bright spot from a large
irregular pearl; frequently two to four cuttings are made from the
bright spots of a single pearl, each of the cuttings having the
appearance of half a pearl.
The so-called Indian pearls have a faint rosy tint with much orient.
These are generally pearls from the Ceylonese fisheries that are sold
from the Bombay side. The term “Madras white” describes the whiter
varieties, there being a preference for these in Madras, while the rosy,
yellow, and darker shades are favored in Bombay.
Australian pearls are generally a pure waxy white and lustrous, often
with a silver-white sheen, extremely brilliant and beautiful.
Nearly all the Venezuela and Panama pearls have a faint golden-yellow
tint, very often extremely lustrous, and are especially desired by the
darker skinned people and brunettes.
The preference at various times has varied with different peoples: in
China and India, golden-yellow and satin-yellow pearls are preferred;
from Panama we have the very white; in Bombay the yellow pearls from the
Persian Gulf are highly appreciated.
Yellow pearls from other shells than the pearl-oyster are frequently
offered for sale in the East, where they are greatly appreciated,
although they find little favor in England. Some of these pearls are
attributed to the pearly nautilus (_Nautilus pompilius_). This may be
the case with those that have a pearly luster, but those that have the
appearance of porcelain, and are as bright as polished china, are
certainly not from this shell, but evidently from the large Melo or
other shells of that character. Some may come from the large conch
(_Cassis madagascarensis_). A yellow pearl, very perfect in form and
color, and weighing more than one hundred grains, was shown at the Paris
Exposition of 1889 and was valued at 50,000 francs.
Wonderful golden-yellow pearls with a saffron tint are unusually
lustrous and beautiful. One of the most remarkable pearls of this
character is of a brilliant golden-yellow color which belongs to an
American lady, and weighs 30½ grains. These pearls are from Shark’s Bay,
West Australia, and only a limited number of them are found annually.
Black pearls do not seem to have been regarded with any favor by the
ancients, and we find no mention of them by medieval writers. Only fifty
years ago a perfectly round, black pearl, weighing 8 grains, was sold
for £4 ($20); to-day this pearl would easily bring £100 ($500). Empress
Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, may be said to have brought them into
favor; she owned a splendid necklace of black pearls which was sold at
Christie’s, after the fall of Napoleon, for the sum of £4000 ($20,000).
Some time later, the Marquis of Bath bought, at Christie’s, the pearl
which formed the clasp of the necklace, paying £1000 ($5000) for it; he
destined it for the center of a bracelet.
Greenish-black pearls are perhaps valued higher than any other colored
pearls, if they have the proper orient; this is probably partly owing to
their rarity. A bluish-black pearl possessing a fine orient commands
almost the same price as a pure black pearl. Those which are found in
the _Placuna placenta_ are often of a dull gray hue, while those
produced by the _Pinna squamosa_ are generally brown in color.
Baroque pearls were formerly much worn and appreciated in Spain and
Poland. Their price varies greatly, according to their size, their
beauty, and also to their scarcity in any particular place. The pieces
of pearl detached from the shells—often half-pearl and half
mother-of-pearl, and called “de fantaisie”—are always very irregular in
form, and sometimes offer a certain resemblance to a part of the human
or animal form.[405]
How is it that such quantities of jewels are continually brought from
the East, and such a wealth of them continues to exist there, when there
are now no very extensive mines that maintain a constant supply? The
reason is that from time immemorial, precious stones have been the form
in which wealth, in those lands, has been hoarded and preserved. Until
very recently, in the Orient, interest-bearing securities have been
unknown; and hence jewels have been sought and kept as an investment,
and sold only when money was needed for special purposes, as in times of
war, famine, or other emergency.
Their small bulk made them easy to conceal and to transport, and hence
they were well adapted for such use. How long this condition will last,
is perhaps dependent only upon the introduction of interest-paying
investments, and of the new forms of Western civilization that involve
greater expenses and require means of income in excess of the older and
simpler conditions.
The wealth of jewels possessed by Oriental monarchs, notables, and
dealers, has been the theme of story and tradition, time out of mind. We
of the West have been disposed to regard these tales as largely
exaggerated, and to some extent they may be; yet any one who has
witnessed an important social function or state occasion where East
Indian rajahs and nabobs are present, knows that the profusion of jewels
which they wear is simply astounding to our Western eyes. These objects
represent, moreover, the gatherings of generations and centuries; they
are heirlooms and ancestral treasures, priceless to their owners as the
pride of their houses; handed down from fathers to sons in long
succession; and they have also the investment feature already noted, in
that whenever necessity arises they can be turned into available funds.
The manner of keeping and of selling such objects is also different from
ours. If it be a question of buying gems from an Eastern owner, the best
are never shown first, but on the contrary, the most inferior. The
purchaser must either be content with these, or else must prove clearly
that he is a substantial buyer or evince a knowledge and appreciation
that mark him as a judge of such objects. The order in which they are
produced is, first the poorest, then successively, poor, medium, fair,
good, fine, and at last the rare and wonderful prizes.
In visiting an Oriental dignitary, his jewel-treasures are not all shown
at once, as at an American reception or an Indian durbar, or even as a
collector or connoisseur among us exhibits his cabinet, arranged for
choice display. The method is far different. The visitor may be shown a
few objects in the first day or hour; perhaps a few more later in the
day; some on the next day or the one following, and so on; and he may
remain a guest for weeks, and never see all, or the finest of the jewels
belonging to his host. When they are produced, moreover, they are not in
iron caskets or in gold or silver jewel-cases, covered or lined with
fine leather or with silk or satin. On the contrary, they are often in
old ginger jars, shabby boxes, tin cans, and all sorts of unsightly or
unpromising receptacles, which, when placed between the owner and his
guest, may well cause the latter to wonder. Nor is his surprise lessened
as the wrappings are unfolded, one after another, perhaps a dozen old
cloths, until the piece of jewelry or the splendid pearl is at last
brought to view, after having been hidden from sight in its manifold
wrappings for months or perhaps for years.
But this method of keeping such treasures is not in reality so strange
as it appears. There are none of the provisions that we have for the
responsible safe-guarding of investments or valuable objects,—no
fire-proof safes, no banks, no deposit-vaults. Security is best attained
by concealment in unattractive and improbable receptacles, and by
dividing and distributing the treasured objects. The owner, too, must
learn to know his visitor quite well before he exhibits to him all, or
the best, that he possesses. Hence the oriental method, though so
peculiar to us, has been the best adapted to the conditions among those
peoples.
[Illustration:
Seed-pearls and gold; Chinese ornaments of the nineteenth century
]
[Illustration:
Complete set of seed-pearl jewelry in original case
New York, 1860
]
As an illustration of the interest taken by Oriental potentates in the
collection of jewels, we quote an instance from Marco Polo, who,
centuries ago, wrote the following:[406] “Several times every year the
King of Maabar sends his proclamation through the realm that if any one
who possesses a pearl or stone of great value will bring it to him, he
will pay for it twice as much as it cost. Everybody is glad to do this,
and thus the King gets all into his own hands, giving every man his
price.”
Great quantities of pearls, the result of centuries of accumulation, and
exceeding in splendor the collections of the present day, must have been
garnered up in many cities of the Orient during the period of their
prosperity. But these cities have disappeared, wrecked and ruined by
fire and sword, and no vestige of their former wealth remains with them.
Their treasures have been looted, hoarded, buried, or scattered to the
four ends of the Orient, frequently finding their way in former times to
Europe, but now more often to America, where fine gems always find a
generous buyer.
In Syria, and some of the Oriental countries, until recently, and
perhaps at the present time, it has been the custom, when a native
wished to embark in the pearl business, for him to allow himself to
drift gradually into a state of vagrancy, becoming a veritable tramp for
fully a year. Then, with the money that he had himself or that which was
supplied by his backer, he would visit the pearl fisheries and shrewdly
acquire the gems to the best advantage, returning again as a vagrant;
for if it were known at any point along the route that he carried with
him sums of money his life would be in jeopardy, and he would probably
never reach the fisheries; or, if he did, the chances are that he would
never return. This may remind us of Marco Polo’s old coat, in which he
had concealed some valuable gems, the gift of the Grand Khan. His wife
heedlessly gave the coat to a beggar and it was only regained by a
clever stratagem.
The product of the pearl fisheries, either that of entire fisheries
where they are managed by a company, or the gatherings of merchants, or
even the single gems which may be acquired by the smaller merchants, all
these usually find their way to the great markets, although occasionally
they change hands at once. In the East they are sent either to Bombay,
Calcutta, Madras or Colombo; frequently they are intended for a higher
market. Many of them remain in the East, for in the East to-day a fine
pearl is as much prized as ever, and there are those who love pearls as
much as did the King of Maabar in the time of Marco Polo. However, the
world over, there is a feeling that if things are sent to the greatest
market there will be an opportunity for disposing of them at the
greatest price. Therefore, the larger number of parcels of exceptionally
fine pearls are sent to the London market, a few of them going to Paris,
the cable, often within a few days after their arrival, informing the
sender of the acceptance or rejection of a parcel, or of a new offer
which is often accepted. In this market they are acquired by the
dealers, who frequently exhibit many times before the lot is purchased.
Pearls from a fishery are in many cases of mixed quality; that is to
say, they are of different sizes and varying grades of perfection as
regards skin, color, and orient. These parcels are often sold directly
on offers to dealers, but generally they are sold by brokers who show
the various parcels to the dealers, each of the latter in turn making
his offer on that portion of the parcel which is of most value to him.
Thus a single dealer may want one pearl, a dozen, or even twenty or
more, to complete a great necklace, or else to add to, or improve the
necklace, by better graduation or by increasing the evenness of the
color. When the broker receives enough offers to give him the desired
price for the entire parcel, the sale is consummated, and each one who
has made an offer and who has sealed his particular parcel until his
offer is accepted or rejected, receives his portion. Pearls do not grow
in the form of necklaces, although they are frequently seen in this form
only, and to create a large necklace means not only the use of the
pearls of one fishery alone, but it often requires a selection from
pearls of various sizes, the product of many fisheries.
It is needless to say that even the shrewdest dealers do not always
succeed in their purchases of lots which are to be broken up when the
proper number of bids are obtained.
When the pearl revival came in 1898 there was a sudden and rapid upward
tendency in the prices, because at that time, in England, money could be
borrowed upon a very low rate of interest—as low as 3 per cent.,—and it
was a temptation to a number of young men to enter as dealers into the
pearl trade. The result was that a number of new stocks were created,
not for a regular, but for a speculative demand, and this tended to
advance the price spasmodically, rather than gradually, as it would have
risen by regular consumption. However, when the foreign market became
higher, the demand for pearls was not as great as had been anticipated,
and there was a sudden adjustment of prices and a readjustment of the
pearl stocks, resulting in the elimination of a certain number of
speculative dealers; and, notwithstanding the state of the fisheries,
pearls have not advanced so rapidly in the past two years as they did
from 1898 to 1905.
More than go per cent. of the pearls of commerce, whether they are
round, perfect, half- or seed-pearls, are of oriental origin; that is,
pearls from the true pearl-oyster. About 8 per cent. are probably from
the fresh-water mussels, three fourths of which are from the United
States.
American fresh-water pearls have had many prejudices to overcome, often
because of the natural indifference in regard to anything that is found
at home or is easily obtainable. It has been said that, in comparison
with foreign pearls, they had less specific gravity; that they were not
so hard, and that their luster was not as good. It is certain, however,
that the skin is generally smooth, and although they may not have so
peculiar an orient, their brilliancy equals that of any known pearls.
Sometimes they are translucent and either pink or of a faintly bluish
tint, like molten silver. More frequently their hue is white, rose, pale
yellow, or pale copper, deepening to copper red until they resemble the
most intense and highly polished copper button.
According to the estimates of the value of European fresh-water pearls
given by seventeenth and eighteenth century writers, their worth was
considered to be one half that of oriental pearls of approximately the
same quality. Few European pearls, we feel sure, were ever found that
possessed the wonderful beauty and brilliancy of the pearls found either
in the Miami or the Mississippi and its many tributaries.
So great a quantity of the poorer quality of pearls have been found,
principally in the Mississippi Valley, that a foreign dealer has bought
30,000 ounces of baroque pearls at $1 an ounce, and of the slightly
better grades fully 100,000 dollars’ worth were obtained in the year
1906. The exportation was strictly limited to the poorer qualities. When
pearls are worth from $1 to $6 a grain and upward, they are rarely sent
abroad, as the regular pearls of this quality are much appreciated by
Americans, and find a ready sale in the United States. The poor pearls
above mentioned were principally sent to New York, either from the local
fishermen, or else through the dealers in sweet-water shells, in lots of
a fraction of an ounce, or in bags weighing a number of pounds. Thirty
thousand ounces would equal 18,180,000 grains.
After all the fine pearls have been selected—buttons, baroques,
turtle-backs, haystacks, wings, petals and other pearls that can be used
in any way as a jewel on this side of the water—the balance of the
material is sold by the ounce, varying in price from $1 to $5. These are
shipped to Germany, France, and Austria, where they are again selected
for cheaper forms of jewelry than are made in the United States. Of
these pearls the baroques and slugs go mainly to Germany, while the
somewhat finer ones are sent to France, where they are used in artistic
but inexpensive work, such as flowers and other imitative forms, and in
_art nouveau_ jewelry. Some, again, are shipped to Algiers, Morocco, and
Egypt, for the decoration of saddles, garments, etc., and quantities go
to India to be used for medicinal purposes. In this way all the material
is utilized and even the poorest is not wasted. No better proof can be
required of the wide-spread appreciation of the pearl among all the
races of mankind.
So extensive has become the finding of American pearls that great
quantities have been gathered together of all varieties. At the time of
this writing there are many large single lots of these pearls, slightly
irregular, and not of fine quality, but yet of sufficient regularity of
size to be termed baroques. At one time such quantities were gotten
together that single papers of pearls, weighing one fourth, one half,
one, two or three grains each, contained more than 10,000 grains, and
quantities of the wing and dog-tooth varieties weighing as much as
20,000 grains were inclosed in a single paper.
So prolific has been the yield of these common American pearls that the
markets of Europe and Asia have almost been flooded with them. In 1906,
a single shipment of 3500 ounces, troy (equaling over 2,100,000 grains),
were sent abroad, at prices varying from $1 to $15 per ounce, according
to the quality. This alone would represent a worth of $30,000 at one
time.
The turtleback is a form quite prevalent among American pearls, and they
are often matched in pairs slightly resembling each other and weighing
from 10 to 100 or more grains for each pair. Some of them are lustrous
and many are of very good color and regular in form. Although differing
but little in shape, they naturally are much less expensive than a finer
formed pearl, and many of them have been sold for link buttons, and more
especially for earscrews. Although they formerly sold for 50 cents a
grain, they are now held at from $1 to $8 per grain.
In regard to the prices of some of the finer American pearls, one of 15
grains, of wonderful brilliancy, luster, and perfection, was sold for
more than $2500–$166 a grain, or a base value of over $11 a grain. Two
extraordinarily well-matched button pearls, weighing a trifle over 30
grains, were held at about $3500, or $115 a grain, a base value of about
$8 a grain.
At the time of this writing there are for sale in the United States a
pair of button earrings, almost round, not of absolutely perfect color,
weighing about 140 grains, the price being $6000; a round, slightly
ovate pearl, not of the finest color, weighing 85 grains, held at $3500;
and a wonderful pearl with a rich, faintly pink luster, round, but
slightly button on each side, weighing about 44 grains, and beautiful as
are American pearls, is held at a fanciful valuation of over $6000.
The cupidity of many of the American pearl finders and pearl dealers
cannot be exceeded even by that of the foreign pearl finder in any other
land, and this is shown by the variety of materials that from time to
time are sold to the unsuspecting public, or that are sent to pearl
dealers in the large cities. This is surprising and suggests either that
the sender believes the pearl dealers are not familiar with these
deceptions, or else that he himself has been imposed upon, and is
innocent in his commercial deceit. Among the notable examples are,
first, spheres made out of the various shells, either from a good part
of the material or from hinge-material, or else from the spot where the
mussel is attached, these pieces of the shell being rounded and
polished; such spheres vary in color from white to pink or yellow, just
as the shell itself may have been colored. Second, the pupils of
fish-eyes. Third, imitation pearls. Fourth, yellow or brown translucent
or transparent masses of hinge-binding material having no greater
hardness than horn, and about the same appearance. The most interesting,
however, are the absolutely beautiful, smooth spheres of anthracite
coal, which admits of a rich polish and has a peculiar luster; these
they attempt to pass off as black pearls.
It is interesting to note that in Arkansas a negro sold a very valuable
pearl for a few dollars, under the persuasion of a white man, who, it is
said, resold the pearl for nearly a hundred times more than what he paid
for it. The local authorities investigated the matter; the case was
brought to court, and the negro received a large advance on the price
that had originally been paid him.
If a list were kept of the thousand and one different methods of
wrapping American pearls for shipment to the larger cities, it would
show how much ingenuity is displayed in environments that frequently
differ very much from each other. A box that has contained the pills
that relieved him of fever, ague, and other ills due to swamps and damp
climates, serves a secondary purpose for the fortunate finder of a pearl
in forming a receptacle in which he can ship it to the greater market.
Sometimes they are sewed in leather cut from gloves and shoes, or in
strips of cloth, generally of the humbler varieties, such as calico or
blue jean; in other cases they are wrapped in tissue-paper and
newspaper; and occasionally they are packed in boxes made by hollowing
out a bit of wood, a cover being nailed over the opening. In almost
every instance they have been treated with a certain degree of care.
The majority of conch pearls which are carried by individuals to New
York, London, or Paris, are generally brought in small papers or bits of
cloth, each pearl being wrapped separately. Usually, there are a few
white ones, a few yellow, a few pale pink, occasionally a few of a very
beautiful rich pink, and once in a great while a fine, large pearl
appears. Many of these pearls, commonly the inferior ones, are sold in
the West Indies directly to the tourists who wish to purchase something
in the country through which they are traveling, with the result that
better prices are generally obtained than would have been secured if the
pearls had been sent to the great markets.
The tariff on pearls at present operative in the United States is so
indefinite as to have led to much serious misinterpretation and
misunderstanding, as well as to an endless chain of lawsuits, often
resulting in serious loss to the dealer or client who imports. As a
consequence of the enforced outlay of large sums for unexpected and
additional duties, the importer, who was both ready and willing to pay
what seemed to him a just duty, often found that, where he had quoted a
price to a customer, he was a loser by the transaction; and if, to
escape this loss, he endeavors to dispute the payment of the duty, he
becomes involved in an expensive and occasionally unsuccessful lawsuit.
On the other hand, a private buyer who has paid all that he feels he can
afford at the time for a necklace, expecting to pay a duty of 10 per
cent. and interpreting the law to mean a duty of 10 per cent., may be
called upon to pay a duty of 60 per cent., or have the notoriety of a
public lawsuit, because the pearls have been strung, or because it is
held that they had recently or at some former time been assembled as a
necklace. In other words, if the pearls constituting such a necklace are
bought at various times from various people, either here or in Europe,
and not as a necklace, the duty is held to be 10 per cent., but if they
are sent in one shipment, a duty of 60 per cent. is levied. As it is
held that pearls assembled in the form of a necklace have a greater
value than before they were so assembled, the purchaser might naturally
expect to pay the 10 per cent. duty on this higher value, but instead of
this a 60 per cent. duty is demanded on the higher assembled value.
The ambiguity of this clause of the tariff is such that a logical ruling
should be made by some superior official such as the Secretary of the
Treasury. As the law is now interpreted, a pearl worth $20,000 can be
brought in with a duty of 10 per cent.; the addition of a simple gold
wire makes it a piece of jewelry, with a duty of 60 per cent. It would
seem that an amendment might be made to the tariff by which an importer,
whether a private buyer or dealer, could be called upon to pay a 60 per
cent. duty on a high valuation of the setting of the ring, brooch, or
jewel, such as $20, $25 or $50; while the contents of the ring or
ornament, whether a pearl, diamond, emerald, or a collection of stones,
should pay a duty of only 10 per cent. This duty would sufficiently
protect the jewelry industry, and would at the same time prevent the
levying of an unjust and unexpected impost upon a fine pearl or gem of
any kind.
It is eminently desirable that those residing in the United States who
purchase pearls in foreign countries, should, if possible, consult with
the United States consul in the city where they make their purchase, in
case they wish to bring the pearls into the United States. In this way a
proper declaration can be made, they will be correctly instructed as to
the duties upon the pearls, whether unstrung, strung, or set, and they
will thus avoid all complications when they reach the United States. Of
course, this may not be necessary should the firm with which they are
dealing be able to attend to the matter for them.
It must not be forgotten that the duty of 25 per cent. on precious
stones, which was imposed during Cleveland’s administration, was enacted
for the purpose of obtaining an increased revenue for the government,
and there is no doubt but that the time was one of great financial
stress. Yet even with the duty two and a half times as high as in the
previous years, only a small fraction was added to the income of the
Government. But one adequate explanation can be given of this remarkable
decrease in the recorded imports, more especially when we consider that
legitimate dealers could, at that time, buy precious stones in New York
City for less than it cost them to purchase them abroad and pay the
duty. It seems, therefore, that a 10 per cent. rate is calculated to
produce the best and most satisfactory results in every way.
As examples of the difficulties encountered in the attempt to arrive at
a proper classification of pearls we cite the following cases which have
been the subjects of recent litigation: In 1901, two very valuable
collections of pearls were brought to this country. One of these
consisted of 45 drilled pearls weighing in all 672⅛ grains and entered
at $60,734; the other, of 39 pearls, having an aggregate weight of 678¾
grains and entered at $63,070. At first a duty of 20 per cent. ad
valorem was imposed upon these pearls under Section 6 of the Tariff Act,
treating them as “unenumerated articles partly manufactured,” according
to the rule that had been followed since the enactment of the present
tariff. This was protested, and the case was brought before the Board of
Appraisers.[407] Subsequent to the protest, however, the collector
reliquidated the entry of the 45 pearls and imposed upon them a duty of
60 per cent. ad valorem, as pearls set or strung. This was done in view
of Judge Lacombe’s decision in another notable case which had been taken
shortly before to the Circuit Court of Appeals.[408] This decision was
to the effect that pearls in any form not especially covered by
paragraphs 434 or 436 of the Tariff Act should be referred to one or the
other of those paragraphs, by similitude, according to the provisions of
Section 7 of the Act.
The testimony taken before the Board of Appraisers revealed the fact
that each of the collections of pearls had been inclosed in a handsome
silk-lined morocco case, with a groove running through the center; in
this groove the pearls were laid, the largest one in the middle and the
others disposed on either side, graduated according to their size; the
row or series having the effect of a necklace, although the pearls were
unstrung. The importer testified that this arrangement was only made in
order to enable him to judge of the size and quality of the pearls, and
evidence was given showing that it was necessary to rebore some of them
and to ream out the holes before any use could be made of the pearls in
jewelry. Nevertheless, the appraisers adhered to their opinion that
these gems had been selected especially to form a necklace, and that the
time and labor requisite for the assembling of a carefully matched and
graduated series of pearls suitable for a necklace constituted the main
factor in its production, since the cost of stringing it was trifling;
they, therefore, considered that such a series of pearls was dutiable,
by similitude, under paragraph 434 of the Tariff Act as jewelry. An
application was made to the Circuit Court of the Southern District of
New York for a review of the appraisers’ ruling,[409] the judge decided
against the petitioner,[410] and an appeal was then taken from his
decision. On December 12, 1904, the Circuit Court of Appeals decided
that the pearls were dutiable, by similitude, at 10 per cent. ad
valorem, under Section 7, paragraph 436, and the excess of duty
collected was refunded.
Another case has to do with a collection of 37 pearls, entered at
$220,000, brought to New York in January, 1906. Duty to the amount of
$22,000 (10 per cent. ad valorem) was paid by the importer, but the
entry was liquidated at 60 per cent. and $110,000 additional duty
demanded. This was paid and a protest was made to the Board of General
Appraisers, who decided in favor of the petitioner. The Government
appealed and the case[411] was tried in the United States Circuit Court
on February 24 of this year (1908). It was shown that the pearls had
been worn several times in Paris as a necklace, but the defense held
that, as they were loose when imported and were not worth more
collectively than separately, this was not material. The judge decided
for the Government and an appeal has been taken in June, 1908.
[Illustration:
PERSIAN PRINCESS AND LADIES IN WAITING
From a Persian illuminated manuscript of the eighteenth century, in
the library of Robert Hoe, Esq.
]
The proper classification of half-pearls has also been a matter of
controversy. This question was brought before the Board of General
Appraisers in New York on a protest[412] entered in 1897 against the
imposition of a duty of 20 per cent. on several lots of so-called
half-pearls imported during that year. This duty was imposed under
Section 6 of the Tariff Act, providing for a duty of 20 per cent. on
“unenumerated partly manufactured articles.” The petitioner claimed that
half-pearls were dutiable at 10 per cent. ad valorem, “either directly
or by similitude or component of chief value, under paragraph 436, or as
precious stones, under paragraph 435 of the Tariff Act.” After hearing
the testimony of a number of competent and reliable experts connected
with some of the leading houses dealing in precious stones and pearls,
the appraisers decided that the evidence showed that pearls, being the
product of animal secretion, could not properly be denominated stones,
and that they were not in fact so designated commercially. At the same
time, half-pearls could not be looked upon as “pearls in their natural
state,” since time and labor had been expended in their production; it
was, therefore, evident that paragraph 436 did not apply to them. For
this reason the original ruling was reaffirmed.
In 1902 a duty of 60 per cent. was levied on an assorted lot of
half-pearls under a new ruling which brought them by similitude under
the provisions of paragraph 434 of the Tariff Act, providing a duty of
60 per cent. on “jewelry ... including ... pearls set or strung.” A
protest was entered against this ruling also.[413] In the meanwhile
Judge Lacombe had given the opinion to which we have alluded above, and
the Board of Appraisers upheld the duty of 60 per cent., basing their
decision upon the fact that the material of half-pearls was similar to
that of pearls in their natural state or of pearls set or strung, thus
satisfying the requirements as to similitude of Section 7 of the Tariff
Act. The same section provides that, in case two or more rates of duty
shall be applicable to any imported article, it shall pay duty at the
highest rate, and therefore the 60–per cent. rate applying to pearls set
or strung was imposed, instead of the 10–per cent. rate on pearls in
their natural state. In both of these cases an application for a review
was made to the United States Circuit Court.[414]
DUTIES ON PEARLS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES, MARCH, 1908
Amount in
money of the U. S.
Basis. country. currency.
Great Britain Free
British India Free
Australia Free
New Zealand Free
Canada, precious stones (pearls),
polished but not set, pierced, or
otherwise manufactured ad val. 10%
Austro-Hungary, unset 100
kilogr. 60 kr. $24.00
Belgium, unenumerated.
Bulgaria, precious stones (pearls) in
the natural state, polished, cut, or 75 lev
engraved, but not mounted kilogr. (francs) 14.25
Denmark, unenumerated.
France Free
Germany, wrought (smoothed, polished, 100
perforated), unset kilogr. 60 marks 14.40
Unset, but strung on textile threads
or tape for the purpose of packing 100
and transportation kilogr. 100 marks 24.00
Greece Free
Holland, unenumerated.
Italy, precious stones (pearls)
wrought hectogr. 14 lire 2.66
Montenegro, precious stones (pearls) {min. 10%
ad val. {max. 15%
Norway, precious stones (pearls) {min. 2^{50}
kilogr. krone .66
{max. 3
„ .80
Portugal, unenumerated.
Portuguese S. E. Africa (Quilimane,
Chinde and Zambesia) Export Duty ad val. 6%
Portuguese India, real pearls or
seed-pearls ad val. ½%
Rumania kilogr. 20 lei 3.80
Russia, loose or threaded funt 10 rubles 5.00
Finland Free
Servia, threaded for facilitating
their preservation or sale kilogr. 50 dinars 9.50
Threaded for special uses kilogr. 70 dinars 15.30
Spain, loose or mounted hectogr. 25 pesetas 4.75
Sweden, not set Free
Switzerland, not mounted 100
kilogr. 50 francs 9.75
Turkey, unset 3 piasters
gramme (gold)
Egypt (on all imports) ad val. 8%
China (on all unenumerated imports) ad val. 5%
Japan ad val. 60%
Persia, Export Duty ad val. 5%
Import Duty, precious stones, rough
or cut, including fine pearls ad val. 25%
Morocco (on all imports) ad val. 2½%
Guatemala, unenumerated.
Salvador, precious stones (pearls) 10 pesos,
unmounted kilogr. nom. val. 9.60
Nicaragua, precious stones (pearls) 100 pesos,
kilogr. „ „ 96.00
Honduras 5 pesos,
½ kilogr. „ „ 4.80
Costa Rica, unset 100 colones,
kilogr. „ „ 96.00
Panama ad val. 15%
Mexico, unset 100 pesos,
kilogr. „ „ 96.00
United States, not strung, not set ad val. 10%
Strung, set, or not, and split
pearls sorted as to either size,
quality, or shape ad val. 60%
Philippine, unset ad val. 15%
Argentine Republic, precious stones
(pearls) ad val. 5%
Bolivia appraisal 3%
Brazil (natural) ad val. 2%
Chili ad val. 5%
Colombia, precious stones (pearls) set
in jewelry ad val. 10%
Ecuador, precious stones (pearls), set 50 sucres,
or not set kilogr. nom. val. 48.00
Paraguay, unset ad val. 2%
Peru, unset appraisal 3%
Uruguay 13% on eval
gramme of 1 peso .12
Venezuela kilogr. 10 bolivars 1.90
Cuba, not set hectogr. $7.50
surtax of 25%
Dominican Republic 6 pesos,
ounce nom. val. 5.76
The only changes from the customs lists as they existed in the tariffs
of 1896 are as follows:
1896 1908
Portugal 3% ad val. unenumerated
Mexico 50 pesos per carat 100 pesos per kilogram
Nicaragua 5 pesos per libra 100 pesos per kilogram
Haiti 20% ad val. unenumerated
San Domingo 3.60 pesos per ounce 6 pesos per ounce
Argentina 36 pesos per gram precious stones 5% ad val.
Austro-Hungary 24 florins per 100 kilogr. 60 kroner per 100 kilogr.
In the Parliament of 1727–1732, the duty on pearls and precious stones
was abolished in England. We give facsimiles of the title-page and last
leaf of the report of this enactment.
[Illustration:
Anno Regni
_GEORGII_ II.
REGIS
_Magnæ_, _Britanniæ_, _Franciæ_, & _Hiberniæ_,
SEXTO.
At the Parliament Begun and Holden at _Westminster_, the Twenty third
Day of _January, Anno Dom. 1727_. In the First Year of the Reign of
our Sovereign Lord __GEORGE__ the Second, by the Grace of God, of
_Great Britain_, _France_, and _Ireland_, King, Defender of the
Faith, &_c._
And from thence continued by several Prorogations to the Sixteenth Day
of _January_, 1732, being the Sixth Session of this present
Parliament.
_LONDON_,
Printed by _John Baskett_, Printer to the King’s most
Excellent Majesty. 1732.
108 Anno Regni Sexto Georgii II. Regis.
[Sidenote: After _10 April, 1733_, Diamonds and all other precious
Stones may be imported or exported free from Duty.]
Diamonds, precious Stones, Jewels, and Pearls of all Sorts, shall pass
outwards, without Warrant or Fee, may it therefore please your most
Excellent Majesty that it may be enacted, and be enacted by the King’s
most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords
Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the Authority of the Same, That from and after the
Tenth Day of April, which shall be in the Year of our Lord One thousand
seven hundred and Thirty three, all Diamonds, Pearls, Rubies, Emeralds,
and all other precious Stones and Jewels, shall pass inwards without
Warrant or Fee, in the Manner as they now pass outwards, and free from
the Payment of any Duty granted to his Majesty, his Heirs, or
Successors; and it shall and may be lawful for any Person or Persons to
import or export the same, in the Ship or Vessel whatsoever; and Law,
Custom, or Usage to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding, subject
nevertheless to the Proviso herein after contained.
[Sidenote: Proviso as to the _East India_ Company.]
Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend to annul or
make void the Duty granted to his Majesty for the Use of the united
Company of Merchants of =England= trading to the =East Indies=, by an
act passed in the Ninth and Tenth Years of the Reign of his late Majesty
King =William= the Third, for such Pearls, Diamonds, and other precious
Stones or Jewels, as shall be imported into this kingdom from any Place
within the Limits of the Charter granted to the said Company, or to take
away or alter any Privileges, Profits, or Advantages, granted to or now
held or enjoyed by the said Company.
FINIS.
]
The total value of diamonds and precious stones imported into the United
States during the period from 1867 to 1906 inclusive, was as follows:
Glaziers’ (except 1873–83) $2,215,972
Dust 6,407,599
Rough or uncut (included with diamonds and other stones,
1891–96) 74,045,291
Set (not specified before 1897) 36,170
Unset (not specified before 1897) 124,615,662
Diamonds and other stones, not set 207,138,629
Set in gold or other metal 17,799
Pearls (from 1903) 7,809,261
————————————
Total $422,286,383
CLASSIFIED STATEMENT OF THE IMPORTS OF PEARLS INTO THE UNITED STATES
FROM 1891 TO 1907 INCLUSIVE
Pearls Pearls, Pearls in Pearls split
including pearls natural state, etc.
strung but not not strung or
set set
Year 10% 10% 10% 20%
1891 $11,711
1892 32,023
1893 6,926
1894 12,978
1895 $283,018
1896 583,214
1897 392,867
1898 $491,060 $205,998
1899 1,412,952 389,899
1900 1,163,382 432,528
1901 929,247 1,173,339
1902 1,896,322 1,314,368
1903 2,835,936 7,220
1904 1,680,615 2,908
1905 1,626,476
1906 2,072,561 218
1907 1,593,498
——————— —————————— ——————————— ——————————
$63,638 $1,259,099 $15,702,049 $3,526,478
NOTE. Previous to 1891 pearls were classified with “jewelry and
precious stones,” and it was not until 1895 that most of them were
reported separately.
There are several things that are essential in pearl buying, and one of
the most important of these is that the light in which the pearls are
selected shall be absolutely pure daylight, with no reflections from the
side or from above that can enhance or detract from the color of the
pearl. This must be carefully considered, as it is not uncommon—more
especially in certain parts of Europe—that jewelers have for their
selling-offices rooms sumptuously fitted up with hangings of different
colors, and sometimes with ground glass windows, provided with heavy
silk hangings, so that artificial light becomes a necessity to make the
article sold plainly visible. In absolutely pure daylight, more
especially with an unclouded sky—on such days as are probably more
frequent in the United States than in some of the European countries—it
is possible to see the exact tint or color of the pearls; that is,
whether it is really a pure white with a tinge of pink or an orient
tending to cream-white, or whether it is more or less tinted with what
is considered a crude or red color in a pearl. Besides this, in a pure
light it is possible to see whether the pearl is brilliant, and to
estimate the exact degree of its brilliancy; whether there are any
cracks, scratches, or mars on the surface; and, lastly, whether the form
is entirely regular. If one should select two necklaces, one absolutely
perfect and the other having slight blemishes as to color or brilliancy,
or with breaks, marks, or irregularities, these two necklaces would be
scarcely distinguishable from each other in artificial light, or in
daylight which had been partly confused with artificial light; although
the differences between the two would signify that the former was worth
two or three times as much as the latter.
At great receptions, large, and apparently magnificent pearls are
frequently seen, which are really of inferior quality, and yet, owing to
the absence of pure daylight, they can easily be mistaken for perfect
specimens by any one not especially familiar with pearls. Indeed, if the
royalties of Europe should wear all the pearls belonging to the crown
jewels at the same time, in a palace or hall lighted with candles, gas,
or even with some types of electric light, they would frequently seem to
have a quality which many of them do not and never did possess. It is,
therefore, essential for the buyer to use every precaution in reference
to the light in which he examines his purchase. And we may add that it
is just as essential that he should know the dealer from whom he buys;
for, sometimes, after a few weeks or months, cracks or blemishes develop
that were not apparent at first, more especially when the pearls have
been “improved” for a prospective purchaser.
A test to ascertain the quality of pearls is quaintly expressed in a
work published in 1778, as follows:
How to know good pearls. To discover the hidden Defects and Faults
of a Pearl and to know whether she is speckled or broken or has any
other imperfections, the best way is to make trial of it by the
Reverberation of the Sun-beams; for by this means your eye will
penetrate into the very Centre of the Pearl and discover the least
defect it has; you will then see whether it be pure, or has any
spots or not, and consequently you may the better guess its
value.[415]
If you can cause a ray of sunlight or of electric light to fall on a
pearl, the light will penetrate it and show any specks, inclosed
blemishes or impurities. This can probably best be done by wrapping
about the pearl a dark cloth of velvet or other material and having the
ray fall slantingly, whereby the defects are much more clearly shown
than if the ray be allowed to fall directly upon the gem.
A pearl necklace valued at $200,000, shown at one of our recent great
expositions, was to all appearances a remarkably beautiful collection,
and it was only when the intending purchaser took them from their velvet
bed and held them in his hands that he realized that there was not a
perfect pearl in the entire collection. It must have taken more than a
week of study for the clever dealer to arrange them so that the best
part, sometimes the only good part of each pearl, should be where the
eye would fall upon it. After they had been turned in the hands a few
seconds, not one perfect specimen was visible.
The demand for pearls has been so great, and the enhancement of value so
rapid, that the greatest ingenuity has been employed in presenting the
best part of the gems to view, as well as in many other ways. The result
is that when pearls are to be used as borders or as a gallery on a comb
or brooch, they are pierced in such a way that only the best side shall
be outward, so that the general effect produced is that of a perfect row
of pearls; but a careful examination may show that two thirds or three
fourths of them are irregular, and bear abrasion marks, indentations, or
other imperfections.
Following the analogy of the well-known precious stones—the diamond, the
ruby, the sapphire, the emerald and those of less importance—the pearl
is equally potent in creating great and permanent values for itself in
catering to the human love of adornment; and though these large values
may be greatly in excess of the original price that it commanded in the
native oriental market, yet the increased valuation gives profitable
livelihood to hundreds of thousands of persons. These embrace the
dealers who sell the original pearls in lots, those who clean and treat
them, others who drill and string them, and others again who handle them
in setting jewelry of all kinds, and also the large number of dealers
throughout the entire world who sell either the jewelry or the unmounted
pearls. Directly connected with the industry in localities where the
fisheries are pursued are a sufficient number of persons to populate a
city the size of Boston, and to these we may safely add an equal number
as herein noted, aggregating about 1,000,000 people whose livelihood is
directly dependent upon the production and traffic of the pearl
industry, and who for lack of it would be forced to seek some other
employment. Brought thus to a concrete form, one may readily grasp the
important bearing which the pearl has in a comprehensive estimate of the
complexity of the world’s civilization as we know it to-day.
XIV
TREATMENT AND CARE OF PEARLS
XIV
TREATMENT AND CARE OF PEARLS
The pearl is at the height of its perfection when taken from the shell;
from that moment it never improves. When it is drawn from the depths of
the ocean by the hand of man and given to the charmed gaze of the world,
it is as complete and perfect in its way as the most beautiful work of
art, and, whether as tiny as the point of a pin or as large as a marble,
it is always a perfect, fully formed individual; it is always in its
maturity.
Who found the first pearl? When did he discover it, and what were his
emotions? Was it found by primitive man? Very likely it was discovered
by chance in a mother-of-pearl shell cast up by the sea, or perhaps in a
mussel in a brook. If this happened in an oriental country, the native
must have already seen many equally remarkable objects, endowed with
life, while the pearl could charm him only by its luster and purity.
But, besides the impression produced by its beauty, it must have aroused
in the soul of the discoverer the sensation of wonder which every new
and lovely object excites when seen for the first time. That primitive
man appreciated the pearl is evidenced by the fact that it is found in
the mounds and graves of the American continent, from the State of Ohio
to Peru in South America.
Almost all pearls are in perfect condition for setting when they are
found; all that needs to be done is to rub them with a damp or moist
cloth or with a powder of finely pulverized small or broken pearls, and
they are then ready for the succeeding processes. If there are any
blemishes, these can be removed by peeling or “faking,” although few
fine pearls require any such treatment; and then the gems may be
drilled, strung, and set, and all that is necessary for their
preservation is due care and attention.
Pearls are frequently injured in opening the shells or in removal of the
outer layers around the true pearly nacre. Both the Chinese and the Sulu
fishermen are very clever in the art of pearl peeling and pearl
improving. This method is called “faking,” although it is a perfectly
legitimate operation. All it requires is a very sharp knife, a set of
files, and a powder obtained by grinding pearls or pearl shells. This
powder is placed upon a buffer of leather or cloth to polish such parts
of a layer as may not have been entirely removed. The Chinese are
unusual adepts in pearl peeling and have been frequently known to sell
as true pearls scales that they have removed, after filling these scales
or peelings with wax or shellac, and strengthening them by cementing
them on a piece of mother-of-pearl. They are then set with the convex
side up and the edges carefully covered so as to conceal the deception.
The Chinese are also very expert in removing layers of mother-of-pearl
from an encysted or buried pearl, taking off layer after layer with the
greatest care, and with a delicacy of touch that enables them to realize
the moment when the pearl itself has been reached, rarely injuring the
latter, although the coating is almost as hard as the inclosed pearl.
Peeling is employed to remove a protuberance or acid stain, to smooth a
surface broken by abrasion, or to take off a dead spot produced by
careless wearing of the pearls and allowing them to rub against one
another. There are many instances where, by careful peeling, a perfect
layer and skin have been brought to light, and where irregular or broken
pearls, or those with a blemish, have been rendered much more valuable
by a good peeler. But in many other cases the pearl has not only been
reduced in value, but even rendered altogether worthless, when it had a
dead center or was pitted with clay or other impurities.
If a pearl has been injured by coming in contact with the acids
frequently used in medicine, the surface may become roughened; or it may
be scratched by being rubbed against a stone in case of a fall or other
accident. If the surface only is injured, it can be restored to its
original beauty with only a slight loss of weight by carefully peeling
off the outer layers.
In skinning or peeling a pearl, a magnifying glass, or preferably a
fixed lens, such as is used by engravers, is of great assistance, and a
sharp knife, or, better still, the sharpened edge of a steel file, is a
very essential instrument. Gloves are often worn by the peeler so that
no perspiration shall reach the pearl and cause it to slip in the hand
while it is being manipulated, and thus have a layer or more injured by
the knife.
[Illustration:
Drilling a pearl by means of the bow-drill
]
[Illustration:
Thin layers of pearl removed by peeling (faking)
]
[Illustration:
Examples of properly and poorly drilled pearls
]
[Illustration:
Side view of same pearls
]
PEARL DRILLING
Streeter mentions a very interesting incident in regard to a genuine
black pearl. This pearl, set with diamonds, was shown in a jeweler’s
window; but after exposure in this way for some time to the sun’s rays,
the brilliant black luster disappeared and gave place to a dull, grayish
hue. When the pearl was removed from its setting, it was seen that the
part which had not been exposed to the light was of as good color as
when first removed from the shell. It was finally determined to skin off
the outer layer, an operation which was performed with so much success
that the original brilliant black hue was fully restored, proving that
the action of the sunlight had only changed the color of the surface. We
may add that the pearl, although it was shown in the sun, may never have
had a good “skin” or layer exposed; or the layer which was not perfect
may have been affected by an exudation of the wearer produced by illness
or medicine.
When pearls are of a poor yellow or dull brown tint, unscrupulous
dealers sometimes intrust them to an operator who drills them almost
entirely through, cracks the skin slightly and impregnates them with a
solution of nitrate of silver; this affects the outer layers of the
pearls, and, after its decomposition, the metallic silver is deposited,
and they become absolutely black. The effect is sometimes hastened by
exposing them to the fumes of nitrate of silver. These pearls are then
rubbed up or slightly polished and may retain a good appearance for a
number of years. The upper layers, however, which have been injured by
the chemicals used in the coloring, often scale off, and the poor and
unattractive color beneath appears. This is sometimes not detected until
years after and when the dealer from whom they were purchased has been
forgotten. The breaks or cracks which have been made can readily be
detected by means of a pocket lens, if the observer is at all
experienced. In many cases the outer layer of the pearl has been colored
a good black, although scarcely any crack is visible.
Frequently, when a small knob or protuberance appears in the pearl, or
when it has adhered to another pearl or to the shell itself, this
protuberance is polished off, and the pearl is drilled at this point.
This portion of the surface, however carefully polished, will never have
the true orient, but it is placed in the necklace in such a way that it
is completely hidden. Often pearls become scratched through rough usage,
or by the knife used in opening the shells. These are occasionally
polished by means of pearl-powder, or else the entire outer layer is
removed, the new skin beneath appearing absolutely bright and perfect.
It sometimes happens that a pearl will have a good luster, but a
slightly roughened skin. This is at times polished down; but an
experienced eye easily detects that it has been tampered with. Yellowish
pearls are sometimes bleached by means of strong bleaching substances
such as chlorine or other powerful reagents, which, although they may
whiten the pearl, cause it to become very friable, as the animal
substance becomes more brittle. Pearls treated in this way frequently
wear off, layer by layer, until fully one half of the pearl is worn out
of the setting. When pearls are stained yellowish from the exudations of
the skin, grease, or other impurities, they can be cleaned by putting
them in moist caustic magnesia and allowing it to dry on them. When this
is removed, the pearls will often be found much purer in color than
before.
In various parts of the world certain dubious methods have been used for
restoring the beauty of pearls which have grown dim. In India they are
rubbed in boiled rice. Some persons have even fed them to a chicken
fastened in a coop; after the lapse of an hour or two the chicken is
killed, and the pearls rescued from their temporary lodging-place, where
they have been somewhat restored by the digestive juices of the fowl.
Some curious tests applied to pearls are given us in a Hindu treatise on
gems by Buddhabhatta. For instance, we read: “If the purchaser conceives
a doubt as to the genuineness of a pearl, let him place it during one
night in a mixture of water and oil with salt, and heat it. Or let him
wrap it in a dry cloth and rub it with grains of rice; if it do not
become discolored, it should be regarded as genuine.”[416] It is
needless to state that these tests would be either useless or injurious.
If the reader is the owner of a pearl or of a pearl necklace and feels
that the pearls need treatment, any attempt to follow the directions
given by many ancient writers would infallibly result in their injury or
destruction.
Pearl drilling is a most delicate operation. It is necessary that the
drill points should have the proper shape,—that is, should not be too
tapering, but slightly blunt at the end, and turning somewhat in a
V-shape,—it is also important that the drill should be revolved with
perfect regularity, so as not to jar or jolt the pearl, as this is
likely to lead to the cracking of the pearl or to the breaking of the
drill. This latter happens not infrequently, and is due either to the
structure of the pearl, the clogging of the drill, or to encountering a
hard grain of sand inclosed in the pearl. Should the drill break in the
pearl, it can best be removed by drilling from a point directly
opposite, and slowly forcing the broken drill outward. This process
requires great care in the regulation of the speed, and great exactness
of direction in order to meet the broken drill accurately.
Pearl drilling was formerly a laborious process, and it was scarcely
possible for a driller to perforate more than from forty to fifty pearls
per day by means of the bow-drill operated by hand. Now, by the use of a
modern machine, 1500 pearls of average size can be drilled without any
difficulty in the same time.
Some of the most successful drilling of fine pearls is done by means of
the bow- or fiddle-drill. The arm of this is made either of steel or of
wood, with a strong cord stretched across it in the style of an archer’s
bow. The drill is inserted in the end of a brass circular disk with a
V-shaped groove on its edge, to admit of the string being passed
entirely around it like a pulley, so that when the drill is placed on
anything and held at the other side, and the bow is moved up and down,
the wheel with the drill-end rotates rapidly.
If the pearl is not properly secured, if the drill point is too
irregular, if it is not properly centered, or if it is too rapidly
rotated at the start, one or more layers of the pearl are likely to be
broken, giving an irregular, ragged appearance. If, again, the drill is
rotated too rapidly as it is leaving the other side of the pearl, one or
more layers are occasionally forced off, and this in turn will produce a
break on the pearl. It happens not infrequently that pearls are broken
away on the surfaces at both drill holes if the workman is careless.
As pearls have become more valuable, only the most efficient workmen are
employed in drilling them. Whereas formerly a drill hole would be half a
millimeter in diameter, at present it is much smaller, and such drilling
requires the greatest skill in manipulation. The use of these very fine
drill holes is due principally to the fact that pearls have become so
valuable that the slightest loss, even the fraction of a grain, would
amount to a considerable sum in a necklace of large pearls.
When a pearl has been perforated with a very fine drill hole, the hole
may be enlarged somewhat by using a slender copper wire, the fineness of
the drill hole itself, charged with either diamond-dust, emery, or sand.
When the wire thus charged is drawn in and out, the drill hole can be
enlarged to any desired size.
A large pearl is held in the hand or secured in a wooden block, or else
it is held in a small pair of forceps with a rounded, cup-shaped
receptacle at the end, which is usually lined with chamois leather and
is pierced with a hole through the center. This hole serves as a guide
for the drill, directing it while the pearl is being perforated.
Adjustable cups or forceps with cup-like ends of every size are
necessary, according to the size of the pearl; and in order that it may
be properly seen, it is requisite that the pearl should always be larger
than the cup in which it is placed.
The poorest part or spot is selected to form the beginning of the drill
hole. The pearl is placed in a pair of calipers with a circular disk,
one end of the caliper being placed on the spot to be pierced, the other
end naturally touching exactly opposite, the pearl absolutely centering
it. As these caliper ends have been rubbed with either rouge, lampblack,
or some colored substance that will readily rub off, these two spots of
color remain on the pearl and serve as a guide for the driller. The
drill end is then placed on the pearl, and the bow moved up and down;
and so rapid is this work that five pearls weighing fifteen grains each
can be drilled with the greatest care in less than one hour’s time. Of
small pearls, weighing about one grain, as many as fifty have been
drilled in less than one hour by the hand-drill method.
Many of the thinnest and best drills are made out of thin steel needles.
These are ground flat by means of a small carborundum wheel, so as to
have two flat sides. They are then thin pointed, and with a V-shaped
edge. These prevent the drill from clogging up, allowing the fine dust
to pass upward and outward readily, and the hard steel almost invariably
penetrates the central core of the pearl, no matter how hard or tough
this may be. The needle-drill is then secured in a small chuck attached
to the brass revolving wheel. Some recommend lubricating a drill with
milk when it is employed for piercing a pearl, but a well-made drill,
that allows the dust to escape as it is formed, does not require this
treatment. The drill should always be made to revolve quite slowly so
that no unnecessary heat may be generated by friction to injure the
color of the pearl and also to avoid the possibility of the drill
becoming clogged by the pearl-dust.
By means of centering calipers or markers, the driller, especially in
the drilling of a large pearl, will generally drill first from one end,
and then reverse the pearl and drill from the other end, meeting
absolutely in the center. This prevents the breaking of the outer layer
of the pearl. A skilful workman can, by turning the pearl, so operate
the calipers that the true center can be obtained, even if the pearl is
not absolutely round, and the drill holes so centered that the
irregularity of the pearl is less apparent.
When the pearl has been half drilled through from one side, considerable
caution is necessary in drilling from the other, that when the two drill
holes are about meeting the drill be not revolved too rapidly, as the
clogging is likely to crack the pearl or break the drill. If the pearl
is only to be drilled one fourth or one half through, the depth can
always be gaged by watching the drill-end, first, by measuring the
drill-end itself, and, secondly, by noting to what part of it
pearl-powder adheres.
Pearls are more easily manipulated than any other gems. They are also
more easily damaged. Still, when properly treated by the workman, there
is no material that offers him more satisfactory results than the pearl,
if good judgment be used.
Drillers occasionally find that when the drill reaches the center of the
pearl, there is a sharp click, the pearl often breaking at this point.
This is evidently due to the fact that a harder kernel may exist in the
center, such as a tiny grain of sand, which can turn the drill point; or
else the resistance may cause the tiny drill to break.
When a pearl is cracked by a blow or by some accident, it is customary
to drill it at the end of the largest crack; this method prevents the
crack from extending in that direction. These fissures are sometimes
partly filled by means of a solution, and may not be visible at the time
when the pearl is bought, but they are liable to appear later.
To illustrate the difference in the care used in drilling, we have
selected eight pearls from a paper of poor ones, and reproduce two views
of them, one to show the irregularity of the pearls, and the other to
show the varying size of the drill holes. Those on the left were drilled
by an artist, while those on the right show the work of an inexperienced
driller.
At present pendant pearls are never drilled entirely through, and rarely
more than half way. But in the Orient, and even in Europe from the
fourteenth to the sixteenth century, they were often entirely pierced;
even pear-shaped pearls were entirely drilled through, with a metal edge
projected below for safety. Frequently old pearls, and more especially
oriental pearls, have been entirely drilled through, as are often large
oriental rubies, diamonds, and sapphires. When these are set, the holes
are either plugged with pearl shell and polished smooth, or a tiny ruby
or diamond is set in a metal rim fitting entirely into the drill hole or
only slightly projecting. This is well instanced in the portrait of
Marguerite of France (1553–1615), in which the artist Delpech shows all
the pear-shaped pearls worn by the French queen entirely pierced.
Frequently, where pearls have been drilled by oriental workmen, the
drill holes are exceedingly large, five or six times the width of the
silk string; in fact often from one to two millimeters in diameter. In
the search to supply the great demand, many oriental pearls have been
secured which formerly were strung to an oriental jewel by means of a
thick wire; it is necessary to close this aperture, as the pearl would
lie unevenly on the string. This is done by introducing a
mother-of-pearl plug, through which a new drill hole is made. Unless the
pearls are unstrung, this is rarely visible; but not infrequently the
plug drops out. In other cases the pearl has been drilled not only from
end to end, but also from the side, and this third hole is filled with a
plug of mother-of-pearl and polished over so as to hide the blemish from
the buyer. It is also no uncommon thing for a purchaser to find, after a
year, that cracks begin to develop where none apparently existed at the
time of his purchase, or they were so minute as to be considered of no
consequence.
One of the earliest references to drilling pearls was made by Rugerus, a
monk who lived in the eleventh century. He says:
Pearls are found in the sea-shell and shells of other waters; these
are perforated with a fine steeled instrument which is fixed in
wood, having a small wheel of lead, also another wood in which it
may be turned, to which a strap must be placed by which it may be
revolved. But should it be necessary that the aperture of any pearl
be made larger, a wire may be placed in the opening with a little
fine sand, one end of which may be held in the teeth, the other in
the left hand, and by the right the pearl is conducted upwards and
downwards, and in the meantime sand is applied, that the apertures
may become wider. Sea-shells are also cut into pieces and are filed
as pearls, sufficiently useful upon gold, and they are polished as
above.[417]
In “The Toy Cart,” a Hindu drama by Sudrake, who lived about the
beginning of the Christian era, there is a description of a jeweler’s
workshop attached to the house of a courtezan. He says: “Some set rubies
in gold, some string gold beads on colored thread, some string pearls,
some grind lapis lazuli, some cut shells and some grind and pierce
coral.”[418]
The Chinese and Korean method of drilling pearls differs materially from
that of the Occident. A pear-shaped pearl is frequently drilled
horizontally and secured by wire or silk, and not drilled
perpendicularly, as with us, to have a metal wire or peg fastened into
it. If the orientals drill a pearl perpendicularly, the hole is
generally carried entirely through it, and a gold knot, which is used as
a bead, is placed at the lower end, and sometimes a tiny gem is set in
this peg, or else the pearl is secured either by some projection below,
or by means of a bit of enamel, or some other object may be attached to
the gold or wire below it. Button pearls, especially those of the
abalone, are drilled horizontally through the base and secured to the
ornament, or to the silk or other material on which they are sewed, by
means of a thread or wire; or else they may be drilled from below by
means of two sloping holes forming a V, the thread or wire being passed
upward until it strikes the angle, and then passed outward again through
the other branch of the hole. Many fine, round, and pear-shaped pearls
of oriental origin may be seen with this end closed either with a speck
of pearl, a diamond, or a ruby.
A most interesting and careful description of the methods of drilling
pearls was given by James Cordiner in his valuable volume, “A
Description of Ceylon,” published in London in 1807, pages 64–66.
[Illustration:
Scraping ends of silk threads for stringing pearl necklace
]
[Illustration:
Stringing a pearl collar in sections; cleaning and reaming out a pearl
]
[Illustration:
Sliding a pearl along the string in pearl stringing
]
[Illustration:
Tying a knot between pearls in pearl stringing
]
PEARL STRINGING
The next operation which claims attention is the drilling of the
pearls. I neglected to inspect this part of the business; but have
been informed that much admiration is excited, both by the dexterity
of the artist, and the rude simplicity of the machinery which he
employs. A block of wood, of the form of an inverted cone, is raised
upon three feet about twelve inches from the ground. Small holes or
pits of various sizes are cut in the upper flat surface, for the
reception of the pearls. The driller sits on his haunches close to
this machine, which is called a vadeagrum. The pearls are driven
steady into their sockets by a piece of iron with flat sides, about
one inch and a half in length. A well tempered needle is fixed in a
reed five inches long, with an iron point at the other end, formed
to play in the socket of a cocoanut shell, which presses on the
forehead of the driller. A bow is formed of a piece of bamboo and a
string. The workman brings his right knee in a line with the
vadeagrum, and places on it a small cup, formed of part of a
cocoanut shell, which is filled with water to moderate the heat of
friction. He bends his head over the machine, and applying the point
of the needle to a pearl sunk in one of the pits, drills with great
facility, every now and then dexterously dipping the little finger
of his right hand in the water, and applying it to the needle,
without impeding the operation. In this manner he bores a pearl in
the space of two or three minutes; and in the course of a day
perforates three hundred small or six hundred large pearls. The
needle is frequently sharpened with oil on a stone slab, and
sometimes, before the operation is performed, is heated in the flame
of a lamp.
The large pearls are generally drilled first, in order to bring the
hand in to work with more ease on those of a smaller size; and
pearls less than a grain of mustard-seed are pierced with little
difficulty.
After the pearls have been drilled, they must be immediately washed
in salt and water, to prevent the stains which would otherwise be
occasioned by the perforating instrument.
A quaint description of pearl drilling was given by Anselmus de Boot in
1609.[419]
Since all are not aware of the manner in which pearls are
perforated, I wish here to give an account of the method. The
handle. A, is held with the left hand, and then the handle, B, of
the bow is pushed back and forth with the right hand, so that there
is a reciprocal movement of the lance AC. The extreme end, C, has a
needle, not so sharp as to come to a point, but slightly blunted.
The needle is placed on the pearl which is to be perforated. If the
pearls are too small to be held, they are fastened in the case, D,
with a small hammer of soft wood, lest they should slip. The board
is inclosed on every side by strips of wood so that the water which
comes from the pearls shall not flow off. The bow being moved, the
needle penetrates and pierces the pearl and it is not corroded by
the water.
A mythical story, but a pleasant one, is told of a great pearl collector
who had owned a wonderful pear-shaped pearl for many years and had
absolutely failed to find any match for it. After years of fruitless
search he was at last rewarded by finding an absolutely perfect mate. He
took this to his favorite jeweler in one of the great capitals of
Europe, and ordered the new gem to be pierced to match the other so that
both could be set. The jeweler called a small German boy from an
adjoining workshop, simply saying, “Jakey, drill this pearl to match the
other.” The collector was dumfounded that no caution should be given to
the boy when so important a piece of work was intrusted to his care.
Scarcely had the boy left the room when the collector inquired of the
jeweler, almost in consternation, “How can you trust so valuable a pearl
to so small a boy without a word of caution?” To this the dealer
replied: “Jakey is the most careful pearl driller I have ever known. I
know that there will be no failure in the drilling. I have never
cautioned him about such work. He never has drilled a pearl wrong. Had I
warned him of the value of the gem or told him how important a piece of
work he was doing, he probably would have become nervous and, as a
result, your pearl would have been cracked.” The conversation had
scarcely been completed before Jakey returned with the pearl as
beautifully drilled as the original one which it matched.
In the Orient and elsewhere, when it is considered desirable to mount a
pearl so that it shall not turn, especially when only one part of the
pearl is perfect and that is to remain outside, the drill hole is
sometimes made square, that is to say, drilled round and then reamed out
with a small saw until it becomes square, when a square wire is
inserted; or else the pearl is first drilled with a tiny round hole and
this is then reamed out until it is triangular, when a triangular wire
is introduced. This method is sometimes used for studs or ring-settings.
In setting pearls with points or claws on the wire or band of a ring,
the pearls are drilled only half way through. A gold pin is then
inserted, and sometimes a thread is cut into the pearl itself; it is
secured by means of gum mastic or some other strong gum. Occasionally,
to add greater strength, a side pin is put in, so that the pearl is
drilled with two bits of metal, which penetrate the one side in a
perfectly straight line and the other at an angle of about twenty-five
or thirty degrees (this is called side-pegging). This gives more
strength and firmness to the pearl itself, and prevents it from twisting
or twining and becoming loose. Sometimes the pearl hole is drilled so
that the opening is that of a screw-thread, in order to hold it to the
earring, the stud, or the ring. The gold pin which is inserted to attach
the pearl to the ring or stud has a screw-thread also, and the peg or
pin is screwed on as well as secured.
An ingenious method, termed “keying,” for securing the peg in pearls to
be set on rings or studs, consists in drilling a hole half through the
pearl and then two smaller holes or grooves on each side of the first.
Cutting tools of a T-shape are now introduced into the aperture and
worked about until the pearl is undercut all around, so that when a peg
with a cross-piece is inserted, the latter can be turned within the
pearl until it sets at right angles with the widest part of the
aperture. In this way the peg is permanently secured and cannot slip
out.
The fact that in recent years more pearls have appeared in necklaces
that are irregularly bored, that the bore holes are so large that they
are plugged with mother-of-pearl, or that one meets with pearls in which
a plug has been placed in the side immediately in the center between the
two drill holes, is due to the fact that the great demand has resulted
in the destruction of many oriental ornaments in which the pearls were
drilled in various ways, as well as in the destruction of the different
Magyar and other semi-official jewels of eastern Europe.
The most primitive known drills were the flint drills, made by the North
American Indians by chipping chert or flint-like minerals to a fine
point. With these rude instruments a large, irregular hole was made,
which generally measured several times the diameter of the fine drill
hole made by a modern pearl driller with an improved drill. The Indians
are also said to have used hot copper drills for boring holes.
The earliest, and still a very general and perhaps the best way of
drilling pearls, is by means of the bow- or fiddle-drill. This method
has been used in a more or less perfected form by all the aboriginal
peoples of the New World from Iceland to Tierra del Fuego. But as none
of these peoples were familiar with fine, hard steel, they scarcely ever
succeeded in making drill holes as fine as those that can be produced by
the use of tempered steel. By the latter means, pearls half an inch in
diameter are often drilled entirely through with an aperture no larger
than a thin bit of straw.
The largest and finest pearls are frequently drilled with the smallest
holes, as the slightest loss in weight means a diminution in value.
Then, too, a pearl with a small drill hole is not so liable to shift on
the string, and thus is less likely to cut the silk thread which holds
the pearls together.
It would be difficult to enumerate all the tricks to which some jewelers
now resort in order to utilize every fragment of a pearl they can lay
their hands on. Some of them are wonderfully clever at reconstruction,
but to the woman who loves pearls, nothing can take the place of the
soft, beautiful, round gem, with its natural surface.
In sorting pearls for the smaller necklaces, it is customary to open up
a number of dozen bunches of the East Indian pearls as they are sent
from the East, strung, the ends fastened together in bunches, and then
sealed. These pearls are placed on a table and are first arranged
according to color and luster on the sorting board. They are then
grouped according to size and graduation, the greatest care being
exercised in the selection for color, luster, and form. In this way ten
necklaces may be re-strung into ten others, the necklaces probably being
improved as regards selection, or else better arranged for the uses to
which the jeweler wishes to put them.
In the case of the larger necklaces, it frequently requires many years
of selection and arrangement before one becomes perfect enough to pass
the criticism or suit the fancy of the jeweler.
We have no record as to when the first pearl necklace was strung, nor
have we a definite record of the first use of silk for stringing a
necklace. The earliest illustration that we have been able to obtain of
the use of pearls in the form of a necklace is the one from Susa, in
which the pearls were secured with gold. A Syrian necklace, dating about
one or two centuries before Christ, was strung by means of a bronze
wire. We will endeavor to give a few facts on the interesting process of
preparing pearls for wearing.
Pearl stringing is an art, easy as the process may seem, and it is
interesting to note the precision, care, and delicacy with which the
pearl stringer performs his task. The first step is to grade the pearls
according to their size and color, so that they may produce the best
possible effect. The largest and finest pearl is placed in the center;
alongside of this, on each side, are laid the two pearls next in size
which are the most nearly alike in form and hue; and so on to the end of
the necklace. This grouping requires both experience and judgment, and
is of great importance, since the value of the pearls is often
considerably enhanced by a proper arrangement. A skilful stringer is
able to grade them so cleverly that only a trifling difference will be
found in the weight of the two halves of a necklace.
The stringing process consists in securing the end pearl by a knot to
the diamond, pearl, or other clasp which may be used. When a necklace is
being strung, the thread is passed through the metal eye, or pearl, or
other object that serves as a clasp. It is then tied with one knot,
passed through the next pearl, and knotted between that and the second
pearl, and sometimes between the second and the third, thus making the
joint doubly secure. The other pearls are then strung in their order, a
knot being placed after each fifth, fourth, third, or second pearl, or,
should there not be enough to give a proper length to the necklace,
between each single pearl. The deftness with which the knot is tied so
as not to hold the pearl too tightly, and risk the breaking of the
thread, and the precision with which forty, fifty, and even sometimes
several hundred knots are made on a single string, is a pleasing
operation to witness, and requires the greatest care and nicety of
touch. If knots are made frequently between the pearls, there is less
danger of losing them should the thread break, as only one or two can
fall off; sometimes, indeed, when the drill holes are very small, the
silk thread, waxed or unwaxed, fits so closely that the pearl does not
become detached even when the thread breaks.
The thread used is invariably of silk of the highest standard of purity,
strength, and texture, undyed, and not containing any chemicals. Two or
three of these threads are held together, then with a knife the edges
are very carefully scraped till the combined material of the three
threads is less than the thickness of one. Some use a needle to scrape
or fray to a sharp point. Then this point is stiffened by means of
“white glue,” the best material of this kind being pure gum arabic
dissolved in water. A little of this is rubbed on the pointed threads.
It stiffens in a moment, then the pearls are passed on, one after the
other. If the pearls to be strung are already on a necklace, this
process is simplified by the unknotting of the end of the necklace to be
re-strung; two or three of the pearls are slid on to the new string, the
ends or points of the new necklace thread are twisted together with the
old ends and the pearls are simply transferred.
Frequently the holes have been drilled so as to leave the rims rather
sharp; in this way the thread may be frayed out or even cut. This sharp
edge can easily be removed by careful reaming. Silk of pure quality is
the best material known for stringing pearls. A series of experiments
were made with every available fiber of sufficient durability from every
quarter of the globe, but silk alone was found to possess the strength,
the flexibility, and the smoothness necessary to permit a very fine set
of threads to pass through an opening as small as the drill hole of a
pearl. In the case of a long chain or sautoire, more than three hundred
pearls will be strung on a single row, one of over eighty inches in
length containing over three hundred pearls, and it requires a degree of
neatness and patience that few possess to do this in exactly the right
way, so that the thread may not be cut, that the pearls may not be too
tightly strung, and that the ends shall be carefully attached at the
clasp, so that the necklace may hang well and there may be no danger of
the ends breaking loose.
According to the frequency with which it is worn, a necklace should be
re-strung every three, six, or twelve months. The proper time for
re-stringing can generally be determined by the stretching of the thread
so that it can be seen either between the pearls or at either end,
giving the impression that one or more pearls are missing. A newly
strung necklace is taut.
Where a collar is from thirteen to fourteen inches in length, there are
frequently twenty-three rows of pearls, kept straight by four jeweled
bars, and sometimes from ten to twenty-five pearls in a section between
a bar. This would mean that there are more than two thousand pearls in a
collar of small pearls. When one considers that at each bar and at the
catch and clasp of the collar it is necessary to make a knotting, it is
not surprising that it requires from three to four days’ time of a very
expert pearl stringer to string or re-string such a pearl collar. A
splendid example of such a twenty-three-row collar is that belonging to
Señora Diaz, wife of the President of the Republic of Mexico.[420]
Frequent stringing may sometimes serve as a protection for pearls, as,
if wax is used, the drill hole is likely to become coated with wax from
the thread, and this prevents the absorption by the pearl of
perspiration or moisture of any kind through the thread. Indeed, the
thread itself, when waxed, does not readily absorb moisture, and as the
interior of the pearl also becomes waxed, this serves to protect it from
the absorption of humidity of any kind.
In making pearl necklets or muff-chains, a piece of gold wire of the
proper strength and pliability is taken. This wire is passed through the
hole of the pearl and then cleverly bent into a loop on each side and
firmly soldered. It is important that the wire should be very slightly
smaller than the dimension of the hole in the pearl so that it may fit
closely. Sometimes, instead of this method, a ring is soldered to one
end of the wire before this is passed through the pearl, the other end
being then secured in the manner described above. Still another method
is occasionally employed; in this a piece of the wire is bent into a
ring, but not quite closed, the aperture being just large enough to
admit the wire that has traversed the pearl; in this way the wire can be
introduced into the opening in the ring, which grips it tightly, and is
then soldered to it. In many cases two small rings are strung on the
wire on each side of the pearl before the loops are made, so that they
interpose between the latter and the pearl itself. This serves to
protect the sides of the pearl, as there is otherwise some danger that
the hole may become chipped or ragged; the same result can be obtained
if small caps, closely fitting the pearl, are used instead of the rings.
This is, however, only possible when the pearl is quite round, and in
this case the effect produced is often very attractive.
[Illustration:
NECKLACE OF SEED-PEARLS. UNITED STATES. CIVIL WAR PERIOD.
]
Many of the pearls set as rings and studs are no longer set in points,
but are set upon a peg, or are “pegged,” as it is termed. Setting a
pearl in claws generally hides more than one half of the entire sphere.
But if the pearl is not properly secured upon the peg, it will
occasionally fall off. However, this can be obviated to a great extent
by attaching the pearl to a double peg which keeps it from turning and
also prevents its falling off. Pearls have occasionally been damaged
with the shellac used, or when the gold peg on which the pearl is placed
was too hot.
In mounting very small pearls as link chains so as to form a continuous
pearly rope without any break in the way of gold links, occasionally
V-shaped cavities are drilled into each end of the pearl, and the
setting itself is hidden in this V-shaped cavity. This is only done
where the pearls are small and not of great value.
The jeweler, in setting pearls, must use the greatest possible care,
first, in cutting away the settings, as they are fastened to the pearl,
not to scratch or mar it; and then, when he files the settings, not to
allow the file to touch the pearl, as both the steel tool and the file
would injure it. He must particularly avoid placing the pearl too close
to a diamond, ruby, or other precious stone; for, even if the pearl only
slightly touches the gem against which it is set, a knock of the hand
may mar the pearl’s surface. More especially, as pearls are set at
present, “pegged” and without points, it is of the greatest importance
that they be worn in such a way that they may not touch the unexposed
edges of any precious stones, as this also would injure the pearls. For
lack of this precaution fine pearls have frequently been harmed.
A large jewelry firm has under consideration the following pearl order:
Any workman who in any way mutilates a pearl by filing, imperfect
drilling or shaping, or in any way affects the shape of a pearl, without
the authority of the foreman, will be called upon to pay for the same.
As pearls are natural objects, any change of the same to fit the
setting, or for attachment to any gold object, mutilates the gem and
greatly affects its value. If belonging to a customer, this frequently
means its replacement, often at a great cost to the jeweler.
Pearl “blisters” frequently have the appearance of being empty; they are
generally filled with a fluid, either water or the product of animal and
vegetable decomposition. These contents usually emit a peculiar and
unpleasant odor. As the exterior of the inclosure gradually wears away
and disappears, the contents of the blister are slowly absorbed by the
shell itself, and any organic or insoluble substances are deposited on
its inner surface.
Thus, when a shell shows any protuberance on this surface, the peeler
will cut or scrape away a portion of the decaying shell behind the spot.
Should he discover the hole of a borer, he lays the shell aside; but if
he finds it to be perfect at this spot, it is evident that the inclusion
came from within, and frequently it turns out to be an included pearl.
This is removed by breaking the shell, or by cutting around the
protuberance very near to its edge, and then breaking away the shell.
The pearl is often visible, and layer after layer of the covering mass
is removed with the greatest care by the peeler, who is rewarded by
bringing to light pearls of various qualities, and frequently those of
great value.
An instance in which, by opening a pearl blister, the speculator
received a good reward is given by Streeter, who says: “The _Harriet_
had the good luck to find, in 1882, a pearl 103 grains in weight, which
was inclosed in a huge blister. It was a fine _bouton_, of splendid
color in the upper portion, but a trifle chalky below. This was
attributed to the admission of salt water into the shell through a hole
made by a borer which happened to pierce the shell just where the pearl
lay, and had penetrated the latter for almost a quarter of an inch.”
Sometimes pearl masses are hollow. Barbot[421] mentions that a French
merchant residing in Mexico, having bought one of these pieces from a
fisherman at a low price, resolved to satisfy his curiosity by finding
out what was inside. He split it in two parts and was agreeably
surprised to find a pearl weighing 14¼ carats (57 grains), so round, of
such good water, and such fine orient, that he sold it in Paris for
nearly 5000 francs ($1000) in 1850.
Seed-pearl work was introduced into the United States, about seventy
years ago, by Henry Dubosq, who had studied the methods employed in
Europe and has been succeeded in this industry by his son, Augustus
Dubosq. The father bought a large quantity of English seed-pearl
jewelry, brought it to this country, and hired a number of girls to take
it apart carefully and re-string it with white horsehair, to learn how
it was made. With no more teaching, he established an industry that has
already lasted for three score and ten years.
Seed-pearl jewelry was most in vogue from the year 1840 to 1860. It was
generally sold in sets, in a case consisting of a collar, two bracelets,
two earrings, a small brooch, and a large spray or corsage ornament. If
the object was almost round, occasionally there was a larger central
pearl, weighing from one to five grains, usually a button pearl; or, if
the ornament was elongated, there were generally three larger pearls.
These sometimes possessed a fairly good luster. Seed-pearl jewelry was
at one time so popular, and the values were so small in this country,
that a $1000 seed-pearl set formed a principal feature of the Tiffany
exhibit at the International Exposition held at the Crystal Palace, New
York, in 1855.
[Illustration:
MOTHER-OF-PEARL SHELL FROM TAHITI
Illustration of a mother-of-pearl shell, showing where a blister has
been cut out. In this instance a large pear-shaped pearly blister
appeared almost in the center of the shell. A dealer removed this by
means of a saw, and was surprised to find that the mother-of-pearl,
instead of remaining intact, parted in two pieces. Between these two
pieces was a mass of green and white calcareous matter. The two
upper figures show the pearly side and the outside of the shell
whence the blister was cut. The figures below show the inside and
outside of each half of the blister and the earthy matter inclosed.
A is the pearl sawn from the shell.
B is the piece of pearl that parted from the back of this pearly mass.
C and F are two views of the included calcareous matter.
D is the reverse of A, showing the cavity.
E is the reverse of B; originally A rested on B.
There was no indication of any hollow space, or that the mass was not
perfect.
]
Seed-pearl tiaras sell for from $75 to $200 or $300 each. The work is
almost entirely done by girls, either German or of German origin. As
labor is higher and pearls have advanced in price, none of the old work
could now be duplicated for the amount it cost twenty or thirty years
ago. The stringing of the pearls on the English scroll means probably
twelve hours of continuous work. An efficient pearl worker receives
$3.50 a day, which consists of not more than eight hours, as, owing to
the very trying character of the work, clear daylight is necessary to
see the holes in the small pearls and in the mother-of-pearl shell.
The foundation of all seed-pearl work is mother-of-pearl. The shell is
brought in thin plates, measuring from one and one half to two and one
half inches square. One of the most popular and attractive patterns is
the English scroll. If a design is to be repeated, a brass figure is
made. For the fabrication of a brooch, for instance, a design is first
made by drawing on a paper or cardboard; then a brass plate or pattern
is cut out, leaving spaces wherever there are to be no pearls. After
this a slab of stock mother-of-pearl, nearest the size of the brass
plate, is selected, and is sawn out, using the brass plate as a guide
for the outlines. The mother-of-pearl is then pierced wherever a pearl
is to be secured, and the pearls for its embellishment are chosen, and
are strung onto the mother-of-pearl outlines with a special horsehair
thread. All the work that remains for the jeweler is the addition of a
pin or catch on the back. A representation is given of the designs, the
brass plate, the mother-of-pearl, the horsehair, the pearls, and the
completed brooch made by this model.
Fine horsehair is used for stringing seed-pearls, because the holes
drilled in them are usually too small to admit of the use of silk, and
it is very important that what is known as pulled hair, taken from a
living horse, should be used, as otherwise the hair is too brittle. This
hair, in bunches of from eight to fourteen inches in length, is sold at
an average price of $1.50 a pound, and frequently only one ounce is
selected for use from the entire pound.
All the pearls used by the seed-pearl workers are purchased in strings
and bunches; the finest are those known as the Chinese seed-pearls; they
are drilled and strung in bunches, weighing three ounces, and are worth
$40 an ounce. They are drilled with so fine an aperture that silk will
not pass through the pearl, and only horsehair can be used. The Indian
Madras pearls, however, have a larger drill hole and can be strung with
silk; they are at present worth from eight to fifteen cents a grain,
that is, $48 to $90 per ounce.
Immense quantities of these very minute pearls are also used in bunches
or strings, sometimes as many as twenty or thirty strings being grouped
together and either bound straight or else twisted into veritable ropes
of pearls.
Seed-pearls are sold by the ounce, a single ounce frequently containing
as many as 9000,—that is, fifteen pearls to the pearl grain or sixty to
the carat,—selling for from $48 to $60 an ounce. Naturally, some of
these pearls are even smaller than this, but the average is maintained
by those that are a little larger.
Pearls as small as 100 to a diamond carat are drilled and used in
seed-pearl work. Diamonds, rubies, and even sapphires, however, are cut
in brilliant form when they are as small as 250 to 300 to the carat, or
45,000 to the ounce. The price of these small pearls, however, is only
from eight to fifteen cents per carat, whereas diamonds of this size are
worth from $200 to $300, their value being three times that of those
weighing one sixteenth to one eighth carat each. This is due to the fact
that the labor expended in cutting the smaller diamonds is much greater
than that bestowed upon the pearls, which simply require drilling and
not cutting.
“Half-pearl,” as we have mentioned, is the name given to such pearls as
are round and spherically domed and are either somewhat flat or almost
the shape of one half of a whole pearl of the same diameter. They are
produced in two ways: some are cut away as hemispheres from the inner
surface of the shell of the pearl-mussel, but more usually they are the
better portions of defective whole pearls which are sawn or split by
hand into two “halves” with a minute saw, the defective part being
rejected altogether or classified as inferior half-pearl, while the
better half is classified as a I or II quality half-pearl. Frequently a
fine specimen is obtained from an elongated pearl, and sometimes two,
three, or even four half-pearls are secured from the various bright
parts of a round pearl. In splitting half-pearls, the pearl to be
operated upon is held by hand in a kind of grooved vice or pincers and
sawn through with a very fine saw; this process is at once simple,
rapid, and of insignificant cost.
Only pearls which cannot be cut are filed. In this process the poorer
side of the pearl in question is laid upon the file, and the operator
takes a piece of ordinary hard wood, so formed that he can grasp it
firmly in his hand, presses it down upon the pearl, and rubs the latter
on the file, removing all but the good side. In this way a half-pearl is
produced.
The smaller half-pearls are from .5 to .75 millimeters in diameter, and
an ordinary ounce of half-pearl material will number 18,000. Of the
manufactured half-pearls there are, on an average, 20,528 to an ounce.
The half-pearl industry is largely carried on in Idar, on the Nahe
River, and in Oberstein, in the Duchy of Oldenburg, Germany. The pearls
are usually purchased from London or Paris houses in lots valued up to
$12,000 or more, although some of the firms buy directly from India. In
Idar about one hundred people are employed in this industry. Frequently
it is pursued m the home of the manufacturer, who may employ from one to
a dozen or more workers. These generally include a sorter or arranger,
and a marker to indicate the part of the pearl which should be sawn off.
There is also a trimmer or one who finally adjusts the pearls.
An unusually clever bit of deception was practised by an American pearl
fisher who had found two pearl blisters of almost identical size. Both
of these blisters were hollow, and were alike in form. The pearl dealer
very cleverly polished down both sides, rounded off the edges, cemented
the two backs together, and except for a tiny edge they had all the
appearance of a drop pearl that was fairly perfect on both sides. It
required but a little heating to separate the parts and show the
deception.
In setting half-pearls, they are generally selected from large lots with
great care as to their being of uniform size. A circular place for the
setting is often drilled with a steel drill, either for several or for a
single one. The half-pearl is frequently placed on one or more tiny
disks of paper, to give it the exact height in the setting, and the edge
of gold is rubbed up against the pearl, which is thus secured in its
place; or else tiny edges of gold are left projecting between each
pearl. These are pressed down after the pearl is in place. This process
requires great delicacy and skill and is frequently employed in the
decoration of pearl lockets and watches. In some of the cheaper work,
the half-pearls are cemented into the shallow disks that were drilled
for them, but frequently they are secured by metal points skilfully
raised out of the disks in which the pearls are set, and then pressed
down to hold the latter in place. Although apparently frailly set, it is
surprising that half-pearl ornaments have been owned for more than a
century, scarcely a pearl dropping out; and even if one or two pearls
should be lost from the piece of jewelry, the expense of replacing them
is not very great. They are often not as safely set when they are
mounted with diamonds, rubies, or other stones, more especially in
rounded rings or bracelets.
In drilling gold for the setting of half-pearls, where the hole must not
be carried right through the metal, a so-called “pearl drill” is used.
This is designed to cut a hole with a flat base in comparatively thin
layers of metal without disfiguring the opposite side, a task that can
easily be accomplished if care be taken not to drill deeper than is
strictly necessary for the safe adjustment of the pearl. For the
construction of this drill a piece of round steel wire of suitable size
is chosen; this is hammered flat at one end and then filed away at each
side, leaving a small spike standing in the center, which projects a
little beyond the cutting edges and acts as a pivot on which the drill
revolves. The steel on both sides of this spike is filed down to a fine
edge, care being taken to preserve the horizontal line, so that when the
spike is embedded in the metal both cutting edges come into play
simultaneously. If the drill is in good condition, it does its work very
rapidly, since it is used in an upright drill-stock, whose weight gives
a uniform and constant pressure. A good range of sizes of this drill
should be kept ready for use, so that one may be found to suit the
dimensions of any given pearl. This is essential in order to make an
opening just large enough to hold the gem, so that it may fit tightly,
without the necessity of reaming out the hole.
Half-pearls were frequently used with the most pleasing effect in the
decoration of antique watches. A number of remarkable examples of this
type are among the collection of antique watches of Henry Walters of
Baltimore. This collection had been acquired by Tiffany & Co. after the
sale of the San Donato Palace, the watches having been withdrawn from
the prince’s collection by his sister sometime before the sale.
In mounting pearls on gold, a white paste is sometimes employed in
half-pearl mounting, which is called by the French jewelers _gouache_.
This substance contains white lead, and its use is liable to be
injurious to the workmen, cases of lead colic having been recently
recognized as thus produced. This subject has lately (1907) been brought
forward at the Société Médicale des Hôpitaux in Paris. The cases were at
first mistaken for appendicitis, but proved to be well-marked cases of
lead poisoning. They had not been reported previously, and are evidently
not frequent, those noted being confined to instances in which the
employees had carelessly been in the habit of removing an excess of the
paste with the tongue.
Pearls that are constantly worn with judicious care do not seem to
deteriorate in any way. By judicious care we mean that pearls should not
be dropped or thrown down violently or placed on any substance which is
likely to act injuriously on the surface of the pearl itself.
Strings of pearls should never be dipped into water or solutions of any
kind, because the string which passes through them is likely to absorb
and to draw the liquid into the pearl, and as the pearl is made up of
many concentric layers, it is quite possible that, through capillary
action, some liquid, either pure, or stained with a foreign substance,
might be brought into the pearl, which would in this way eventually
become discolored. Rings and brooches containing half-pearls frequently
change color from this cause; but contact with the skin, or with lace,
or with fabrics which are not stained with certain chemical solutions,
seems to have no injurious effect upon pearls.
[Illustration:
Ladies’ sewing case and scissors inlaid with half-pearls
Eighteenth Century
]
[Illustration:
Watch incrusted with half-pearls
Paris Exposition, 1900
]
[Illustration:
Snuff-box, ivory inlaid with fresh-water pearls
Eighteenth Century. Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art
]
[Illustration:
Watch incrusted with half-pearls
Paris Exposition, 1900
]
[Illustration:
Miniature of Catherine Emilie Peake, by Richard Cosway. Gold frame,
surrounded by half-pearls. Eighteenth Century
]
[Illustration:
Watch incrusted with half-pearls
Paris Exposition, 1900
]
It is quite possible that in some instances where pearls which have been
inherited are thought to have changed and lost their beauty, this belief
has been owing to an exaggerated opinion of their quality on the part of
those who expected to inherit them and who never had the opportunity to
examine them carefully. In other words, in many cases where pearls are
believed to have lost their luster, to have died, or partly died, there
seems, from the personal observation of the writer, to be little doubt
that they never were really fine pearls, and that no change had actually
taken place in them. That pearls change but slightly is evidenced by the
fact that a splendid necklace belonging to the Empress Eugenie, which
was purchased about the year 1860, is in as good condition to-day as
when it first passed into the hands of the unfortunate empress of the
Second Empire. Many of the pearls in the royal treasury in Vienna that
belonged to Maria Theresa, and those that were disposed of at the sale
of the French crown jewels in 1886, as well as the pearls that are in
the imperial collection at St. Petersburg, do not seem to show any
appreciable evidence of age.
The pearl is of a lower hardness than any of the precious or
semiprecious stones, and almost as soft as malachite, though not so
friable or liable to break as is that mineral; nevertheless, it is in
many ways one of the most indestructible of natural objects of the low
hardness. Still, pearls, and especially fine pearls, require some care;
but, if the same attention is accorded them as would be given to a fine
piece of lace, velvet, or other fabric, or to a fine jewel, they will
last for a number of generations. If, however, pearls are worn at all
times without removal, if they are worn in the bath, if they are thrown
on a dressing-table, dropped on the floor, or otherwise ill-treated, if
they are worn on dusty automobile rides, in bicycle riding, or during
other gymnastic or violent exercise, it is inevitable that their sides
will rub together and wear one another away. If they are worn in the
bath or in swimming, the silk string which holds them, should it become
soaked, may draw some of the water, accompanied perhaps with dust and
perspiration, through the drill hole into the center of the pearl, and
this is likely to be absorbed in turn by the various layers of the
pearl, in some instances undoubtedly affecting the color, changing it to
a yellow or a gray. It would be well not to wear pearls under the
exceptional conditions above mentioned; and, if they are carefully wiped
at times, so as to remove any perspiration or dust, their color is not
likely to be affected for a long period of time.
Dr. George Harley writes in the “Proceedings of the Royal Society,”
March 1, 1888, p. 463:
On one occasion being desirous to crush into powder a split-pea
sized pearl, we folded it between two plies of note-paper, turned up
the corner of the carpet, and placing it on the hard, bare floor,
stood upon it with all our weight. Yet, notwithstanding that we
weigh over twelve stone, we failed to make any impression whatever
upon the pearl, and even stamping upon it with the heel of our boot
did not suffice so much as to fracture it. It was accordingly given
to the servant to break with a hammer, and on his return he informed
us that on attempting to break it with the hammer against the pantry
table, all he succeeded in doing was to make the pearl pierce
through the paper and sink into the wooden table, just as if it had
been the top part of an iron nail, and that it was not until he had
given it a hard blow with the hammer against the bottom of a
flat-iron that he succeeded in breaking it.
As the foregoing and other notes had appeared on this subject, the
author was led to observe that pearls are possessed of greater
durability than is generally supposed. In order to demonstrate this
satisfactorily, he took a number of American pearls and placed them upon
different kinds of woods, such as white and yellow pine, white oak,
teak, ash, cherry, chestnut, and rosewood. He then stood upon them, thus
bringing a weight of more than two hundred pounds to bear upon them by
means of his heel. The pearls were driven into the different woods, with
the single exception of the rosewood, which offered greater resistance
so that the pearl only entered partly. In but one instance did a pearl
suffer by a slight scaling off. This shows the strength of the many
concentric layers, both mineral and vegetable.
This does not signify that pearls should be stepped upon, trodden upon,
or thrown about, as it is not unlikely that a pearl would crack if it
should fall from some height upon a hardwood or stone floor.
It is believed by many that wrapping pearls in dyed velvets or in fatty
woolen materials, and locking them up in safe-deposit vaults, may
slightly change them. On the other hand, there is no doubt that sunlight
will bleach a pearl, and hence it is that wearing them in the light and
air cannot injuriously affect them.
For cleaning pearls, first rub them with a cloth dipped in alcohol
diluted with warm (not hot) water, or in a weak solution of soap and
water, then dip another cloth in clean water and rub the pearls until
they are dry. Be careful not to leave them wet. Either salt, rice,
pearl-powder, or some exceedingly soft substance may aid in cleaning
them, but no abrasive such as ground pumice, electro-silicon, or any
powder that is sold as a polishing powder, should be used.
[Illustration:
EVOLUTION OF A SEED-PEARL BROOCH
Mother-of-pearl plate Brass model Pearl brooch completed
Design of brooch Mother-of-pearl sawn out
]
[Illustration:
Seed-pearls, Indian strings White horsehair for stringing
]
There are many things that will cause injury to pearls. Occasionally
they are affected by the wearer having exudations from the skin induced
by some disease or else by acids which pass out through the pores with
the perspiration. A smoky atmosphere in which a sulphuric acid is
present owing to sulphur in the coal, violent usage such as knocking
severely, or dropping—all of these will in time cause more or less
injury to a pearl, more especially to one of the whiter varieties; but
it is believed that those of a yellowish cast are not so susceptible.
Diderot mentioned this as early as 1765.
The “life” of a pearl is said to be fifty, one hundred, and perhaps even
one hundred and fifty years; they certainly last for several
generations. It has been asserted, without any particular authority,
that pearls from the Pacific Ocean and those from Mexico do not last as
long as those from the Orient, but this statement is questionable.
If there be any foundation for the belief that it is not well to lock
pearls in a safe-deposit box, this is probably owing to the fact that
the absolute exclusion from the air may cause the drying out of the
organic constituent of the pearl. This may be obviated by putting the
pearls in a piece of linen absolutely free from any chemical, at the
same time placing with them a bit of blotting-paper or fiber-paper
saturated with water; the whole should then be wrapped up in paraffin
paper, which will prevent the evaporation of the moisture.
Many sentimental recitals have appeared in the press during the last ten
years in regard to the dying of pearls. In connection with this there is
a beautiful though mythical story to the effect that Carlotta, wife of
the ill-fated Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, was the possessor of a
large collection of pearls which had died, and that these pearls had
been placed in a casket and sunk in the depths of the Adriatic, opposite
the beautiful but unhappy palace home, Miramar, in the hope that the
salt water would revive and restore their original luster. When,
however, the time came to bring up the pearls from the sea, it was found
that the casket had, in some way, broken loose from the chains, and all
trace of it was lost. It is needless to state that there was absolutely
no foundation for this romantic tale; indeed, these very pearls were
afterward sold. Furthermore, pearls have never lived, and hence they can
never die. They do, however, decay, if exposed to influences which
destroy either the calcareous or the animal layer of the pearl itself.
This is due to many causes: first, overheating, sometimes through the
inexperience of a pearl driller; secondly, undue exposure to heat in the
washing of a pearl necklace; thirdly, exposure to acids or acid fumes.
Apparently there seems to be some foundation for the belief that if they
are confined in safe-deposit boxes, probably in contact with wool or
with the colored velvets of jewel-cases, the skin of the pearl may be
more or less affected. There is no question that in the oriental
fisheries so-called dead pearls have been found in the shell itself,
probably owing to some disease of the pearl-oyster; and they have also
appeared in the fresh-water pearl fisheries of the United States, where
the pearls have been too long boiled in the opening of the shell, or
where they have been swallowed and have passed through the body of some
ruminant, such as a hog, etc.
[Illustration:
Facsimile letter of M. Gaston Mogeaud, Director of the Louvre, Paris,
stating that the Madame Thiers’ pearls are in perfect condition, and
have never been in better health.
]
[Illustration:
MADAME THIERS’S PEARL NECKLACE, BEQUEATHED TO THE LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS
]
Probably about no necklace has more been printed than about the famous
necklace of Madame Thiers, now in the Louvre Museum of Paris. Article
after article has gone over the face of the earth, stating that the
pearls in this necklace were dying, and that a record was being kept of
the slow death that was overtaking them. Through the courtesy of the
director of the museum, M. Gaston Mogeaud, we are permitted to reproduce
the following statement from a letter, showing very clearly that there
is absolutely no truth in the assertion, and that this necklace has in
no way suffered, or is likely to suffer, for many years to come.
“The necklace of Madame Thiers has caused much ink to flow, to such an
extent that, a few months ago, the minister ordered an examination to be
made by three expert jewelers, who have found that the pearls are in
perfect condition, and have never been in better health.”
For assuring the safety of jewels there are the primitive methods such
as are used in the East Indies, of hiding pearls in out-of-the-way
places, where they often escape detection; or else they may be protected
by means of an armored room, like the gem-room that contained the
wonderful collection of the Duke of Brunswick when he resided in Paris.
Decoy necklaces have even been made to represent the original, and so
placed that they were taken away by the highwayman or stolen by the
burglar under the belief that he was stealing the jewels; while in other
cases the pearls have been carried in receptacles that would not be
taken for jewel-caskets, a device resorted to by some travelers.
A word in regard to the former system of strong boxes or small safes for
the home. These protect from fire and from the ordinary thief, but they
have sometimes not proved so invulnerable to the expert cracksman. Quite
recently a jewel chest has been devised which can be placed in a trunk
and carried from city to city by the owner. It is provided with an
exceedingly sensitive electrical apparatus, by means of which a loud
burglar alarm is set off should the chest be lifted even one
thirty-second of an inch or jarred ever so slightly. This alarm is set
automatically when the owner turns the key, and if once started, it will
ring for a couple of hours, stopping only when the box is unlocked, thus
preventing the carrying away of what is otherwise a portable box.
Lastly, there are the more advanced methods, in use during the past two
centuries, such as taking the jewels to a banker and allowing him to
place them in his vault, where they are guarded as well as are his own
belongings, but not always with the security of the modern safe-deposit
vaults, where the gems are absolutely under the control of the owner,
and can frequently be obtained at any hour of the day; or as safely kept
as they are when deposited in the safe deposit of the jeweler, in whose
establishment they can be cleaned, repaired, added to, or changed
without risking their removal to another building.
XV
PEARLS AS USED IN ORNAMENTS AND DECORATION
XV
PEARLS AS USED IN ORNAMENTS AND DECORATION
And the necklace,
An India in itself, yet dazzling not.
BYRON, _Marino Faliero_.
The brilliant diamond and the love of its possession has captivated many
to such a degree that it has often been the cause of intrigue and
bloodshed; and national history has been influenced by its acquisition
or retention. The pearl, however, though the most quiet of gems, has, in
its own way, found favor in the sight of emperors and empresses, kings
and queens, generals, nobles, and priests; and even savages have admired
its quiet, stately dignity.
The following pages are devoted to a description of the various
ornamental uses of the pearl in different times and countries.
Naturally, many of the famous pearls in the following chapter, if
considered purely as ornaments, might have found a place here.
The Egyptians of olden times do not appear to have used fine pearls,
although they probably knew of them on account of the proximity of the
Red Sea. M. J. de Morgan, the explorer, says: “In the tombs of Dashour I
have never seen any; the only ones that I know of in Egyptian jewelry
belong to the Ptolemaic period and are mounted in Greek style.”[422]
This statement is confirmed by Dr. William F. Petrie, the well-known
Egyptologist, who writes under date of July 26, 1907: “The pearl was
often used in Roman jewelry in Egypt, but I do not know of any instance
of it in pure Egyptian work. The Romans pierced it and hung it by gold
wire on earrings. They also made glass, pearl-like beads, called _luli_
by the modern natives. These beads are made by silvering glass beads and
then flashing over them another coat of glass.”
Among specimens of the late Egyptian work we may note here some objects
in the Louvre:
A pleasing decoration on gold wire is a necklace in the collection of
the Egyptian Gallery. In this very small pearls are used as a connective
decoration for the points of leaves, and to hold the leaves and
ornaments is a gold wire which is secured by bending. This piece
comprises 104 pearls, a greater number than is contained in any other
object of antiquity found in Egypt.
An Egyptian pendant of unknown origin is also shown in this collection.
At the lower end is a bull’s head, caparisoned, and the tip of each horn
is fitted with a ball like the _embolados toros_ of the Spanish
bull-fights. The rein is double, and above this there are two rondelles
of an unidentified material; then comes a rondelle of lapis lazuli, and
after this a rondelle of gold. The whole is strung with twisted gold
wire. The center stone is an hexagonal amethyst, evidently a crystal,
the two faces of which had been polished and incised. One of these faces
represents a priest with a staff of office, and the other a priest
holding an incense-burner with the hieroglyph of the altar. With one
hand he is offering the two sacrifices, the mineral and the vegetable;
in the other he holds a garland of flowers or leaves. Above this is an
Oriental pearl somewhat worn and abraded. All these are secured by a
twisted gold wire, to which four tiny gold beads of graduated size are
affixed at the top of the pendant.
There are six other pendants and earrings in the Egyptian Gallery, all
of which contain pearls, and in most instances these pearls have been
drilled and suspended by metal wires, unless they are used as an
ornament facing outward. In four instances they are secured by a peg of
gold.
The Assyrian and Persian bas-reliefs show that the sovereigns and great
personages of those countries adorned themselves profusely with pearls.
They wore them not only in their jewelry, but also on their garments and
even in their beards![423] The coins of the Persian kings also bear
testimony to the use of the gem in ancient Persia, since the sovereigns
are represented wearing tiaras ornamented with triple rows of
pearls.[424] The same may be said of the imperial Roman diadem from the
time of Caracalla (188–217 A.D.).
One of the most interesting of all ancient pearl necklaces,[425]
containing more pearls than any other that has been found, and in a
better state of preservation, is the Susa necklace now in the Persian
Gallery of the Louvre Museum. It consists of three rows, each containing
72 pearls, so that there are 216 in all. Ten gold bars, formed of three
small disks, each about five millimeters in diameter, divide the
necklace into nine equal sections; at each end there is a disk, ten
millimeters in diameter, to which the three strands are secured. If
there was any other setting, it has evidently disappeared, although it
is quite possible that there may only have been a string at each end, as
in the East Indian necklaces.
[Illustration:
ANTIQUE ORNAMENTS OF PEARLS
No. 1. Gold pin from Paphos, Island of Cyprus, mounted with large
marine and small fresh-water pearl, now in British Museum.
Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Gold earrings and pins set with pearls, now
in the Egyptian Gallery of the Louvre, Paris.
No. 9. Pearl and gold necklace found at Susa, Persia, now in the
Louvre, Paris.
]
This ornament was found on the site of the ancient Susa or Shushan by M.
J. de Morgan, February 10, 1901, in a bronze sarcophagus, which
contained the skeleton of a woman, adorned with a great number of gold
ornaments set and incrusted with precious stones. M. de Morgan gives
_circa_ 350 B.C. as the probable date of these objects. The pearls were
much deteriorated. About 238 were found, but many of them crumbled away
when they were touched. M. de Morgan considers that the necklace was of
the type of the “dog-collar” of to-day, and he believes that it
originally comprised from 400 to 500 pearls.
According to a personal communication from M. P. Cavvadias, of the
Société Archéologique d’Athènes, there are no pearls on the ancient
ornaments preserved in the National Museum at Athens. This is hardly
surprising in view of the fact that the greater part of these ornaments
belong to the archaic period of Greek art; that is to say, to a time
when the pearl was evidently unknown to the Greeks.
The fact that we do not find more evidence of the use of pearls in
Greece at a later period need cause no surprise, when we consider how
many of the treasures of Greek art have disappeared in the course of
more than twenty centuries. There can be no question that they were
known and used as ornaments at an early time, as we can infer from the
description of them by Theophrastus and later Greek authors.
Dr. Edward Robinson of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other
authorities on Greek art and archæology, maintain that the Arethusa
necklace, and other ornaments of that time, depicted on coins, etc.,
were meant to represent gold ornaments, as it is believed by many that
pearls were unknown in Greece at that period.
One of the most interesting specimens showing the use of a pearl in
ancient times is a very beautiful pearl pin from Paphos, on the Island
of Cyprus, which is mounted with a large marine pearl, probably the
largest antique pearl ever found, measuring fourteen millimeters in
diameter, and weighing about 70 grains. This, unfortunately, has been
very much abraded and worn away, although more than half of the pearl is
still present. It is surmounted by a small fresh-water pearl, four
millimeters in diameter, weighing about two grains and in a much better
state of preservation. This unusually interesting example of prehistoric
pearl is in the Greek and Roman department of the British Museum, and we
are able to show it by the courtesy of the keeper of that department,
Dr. Charles Hercules Read.
In excavations made last spring (1907), in the Hauran district in Syria,
Azeez Khayat found a number of loose pearls which had formed a necklace.
The tomb in which they were discovered was cut in the rock, and appeared
to be of Roman origin. The pearls were still attached to the old bronze
wire with which they had been strung. Mr. Khayat also mentions the
finding of a pearl pin, and a single earring bearing a pearl, in a
rock-tomb at Cæsarea, in Syria. Rock-cut tombs from ten to twelve feet
in depth are frequently discovered, and they probably date from the
beginning of the Christian era.
The habit was so common of using pearls as a base to throw up the
brilliance of other gems, that we may, perhaps, believe even in
Caligula’s slippers of pearls, with rubies and emeralds set upon them
like flowers.
The Roman ladies had a special favor for pearls as earrings, and it was
one of their consuming ambitions to possess exceptionally fine specimens
for this purpose. They preferred pear-shaped pearls, and often wore two
or three of them strung together. They jingled gently as they moved
about—a fitting accompaniment, it may be said, to their graceful
movements—and from this jingling the name _crotalia_, or “rattles,” was
applied to them.
The description given by Pliny of the pearl ornaments of Lollia Paulina
is the principal claim which the wife of Caligula has on our interest.
I myselfe have seen Lollia Paulina when she was dressed ... so beset
and bedeckt all over with hemeraulds and pearles, disposed in rewes,
ranks, and courses one by another; round about the attire of her
head, her cawle, her borders, her perruke of hair, her bongrace and
chaplet; at her ears pendant, about her neck in a carcanet, upon her
wrest in bracelets, & on her fingers in rings; that she glittered
and shone againe like the sun as she went. The value of these
ornaments she esteemed and rated at forty million Sestertij[426] and
offered openly to prove it out of hand by her bookes of accounts and
reckonings. Yet were not these jewels the gifts and presents of the
prodigall prince her husband, but the goods and ornaments from her
owne house, fallen to her by way of inheritance from her
grandfather, which he had gotten together even by the robbing and
spoiling of whole provinces. See what the issue and end was of those
extortions and outrageous exactions of his: this was it. That M.
Lollius, slandered and defamed for receiving bribes and presents of
the kings in the East; and being out of favor with C. Cæsar, sonne
of Augustus, and having lost his amitie, dranke a cup of poison, and
prevented his judiciall triall: that forsooth his neece Lollia, all
to be hanged with jewels of 400 hundred thousand Sestertij, should
be seene glittering, and looked at of every man by candle-light all
a supper time.[427]
[Illustration:
TYSZKIEWICZ BRONZE STATUETTE OF APHRODITE, SHOWING EARRINGS OF PEARL
AND GOLD OF EARLY GREEK PERIOD
Now in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.
]
And the taste of the Roman ladies for pearls has perpetuated itself in
Italy, though other of the luxurious habits which in their case
accompanied it, have long since died out. The women of Florence even now
are not content if they do not possess a necklet of pearls, and this
generally forms the marriage portion of the middle-class women. It is
thought, just as it was in ancient Rome, that this gives an air of
respectability, and forms a sure protection from insult in the street or
elsewhere.
One of the earliest illustrations showing a pearl earring is the one in
the ear of Julia, the daughter of Titus, incised on a splendid
aquamarine in the Bibliothèque Nationale. This gem was formerly in the
Treasury of St. Denis, and is considered to belong to the Carlovingian
period.[428]
So large and heavy were the earrings worn in Rome that there were women
known as _auriculæ ornatrices_, special doctresses whose sole occupation
was the healing of ear tumors and of injured or infected ears. In a
similar way, at the present day, we have the ear piercer, whose
vocation, however, is rapidly becoming useless because of the ingenious
modern devices for holding the pearls to unpierced ears; and we must
consider this eminently desirable when we think of the ear-piercing
outfits of the former jeweler, who never disinfected his apparatus, and
when we recall the fact that it was always expected that the ear would
swell, first, from the crude awl that was used, and, secondly, from the
unsterilized instruments.
That the Romans believed in decorating the statues of their goddesses
with pearls and dedicating them as offerings, is evidenced by the gift
of Cleopatra’s pearl, which was cut in halves to make earrings for the
Venus of the Pantheon; and by the buckler of British pearls for the
statue of Venus Genetrix, given by Julius Cæsar. Quite a number of
statues and busts of the Roman period, and some of an earlier time, have
the ears pierced for the reception of earrings, and it is highly
probable that pearls were used for this decoration. Among these are the
busts of Pallas and Juno Lanuvina in the Vatican; that of Eirene, a
marble copy of a work of Cephisdotus, in the Glyptothek, Munich, and the
Venus de Medici in the Uffizi, Florence.
Pottier[429] mentions several other Greek statues which show that
earrings were used for their adornment; as, for example, the winged
Victory of Archernos, in Delos; the head of one of the caryatids found
at Delphi, a cast of which is in the Louvre; the archaic Aphrodite of
the Villa Ludovisi; the Athena from the frieze of the temple at Ægina;
the Venus of Milo, etc. In other instances the ornament was simply
painted on the ear as is shown in the Aphrodite in white marble which
has been found in Marseilles. This may also have been the case in the
frieze at Olympia. The earrings used in these statues were usually metal
disks entirely covering the lobe of the ear. We have, however, many
representations of pearl earrings in the paintings at Pompeii, and on
cameos and coins. These show us several of the types mentioned by Pliny
and other authors; still, they are smaller and more unpretentious than
we might expect in view of the well-known luxury of the Roman ladies in
this respect. The greater part of the earrings represented show a pearl
suspended from a single wire; there are some, however, with three
pearls, one above the other,[430] and a few bearing several pearls
loosely hung together, answering to the description of the _crotalia_.
Others, again, bear pear-shaped pearls or _elenchi_.[431] It is a
singular fact that scarcely any of the busts of Roman women are
ornamented with earrings, but it is quite possible that the cause for
this must be sought in the desire of the artist to dispense with
unimportant details which might detract from the general effect he
wished to produce. We may note, however, four female figures in the
Gallerie des Empereurs in the Louvre Museum, with the ears pierced for
the reception of earrings (Nos. 1195, 1202, 1230, and 1269).
[Illustration:
Pearl earrings from Herculaneum and Pompeii
]
Many numismatists, among them Dr. F. Louis Comparette,[432] believe that
the necklaces and earrings represented on Greek coins from the fifth
century B.C. are intended to represent pearl ornaments, since the
personages depicted are in all cases female divinities, goddesses, or
nymphs, held in great veneration in the city where the coins were
minted, and it is almost certain that the artist intended to portray the
choicest and most beautiful of gems as an adornment for the beautiful
head of the city’s patron.
The Syracusan coins, by Euvenetus, minted in the early part of the fifth
century B.C., and bearing the head of Arethusa, seem to be the earliest
coins showing a neck and ear ornament. This was later imitated on the
Greek and Greco-Roman coins. A coin of Sulla shows a double necklace,
one strand consisting of round beads and the other of pendants. The
later coins almost always represent the goddesses with neck and ear
ornaments. Some of the latter, however, resembling amphoræ, are neither
round nor pear-shaped.
In view of the great fondness of the Romans for pearls, it is not
surprising that many of these gems have been found in the excavations at
Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Capodimonte. The collection of earrings
preserved in the Naples Museum is especially noteworthy. Here we can see
earrings consisting of a simple golden hoop, from which hangs a wire
bearing a single pearl; others in which a cross-bar is attached to the
hoop, and at each end of this bar is a loosely hung wire with a pearl at
its extremity, this earring suggesting the _crotalia_ mentioned by Pliny
(see Fig. A); and still others wherein the pearls are strung directly on
the hoop. The cross-bars are of various designs, sometimes entirely
smooth, and again shaped like a cornice or a pediment; in other cases we
have an earring with two pearls on a wire, then a pierced transparent
stone, and beneath that, two pearls terminating the large drop. A few of
the earrings are more elaborate, as, for example, one represented in
Fig. B which was found in Pompeii, March 8, 1870. Here there is an
emerald in the center, surrounded by gold rays, between which were set
eight pearls, two of which are now missing; above is a small pearl. The
single earring shown in Fig. D came from Herculaneum, and bears a
circlet of thirteen pearls, alternating with rubies and other stones;
beneath there is a link from which depends a pearl about seven and a
fifth millimeters in diameter, and weighing nearly twelve grains. The
fact that we know the latest date to which these pearls can be assigned,
namely, 79 A.D., renders them peculiarly interesting and valuable from a
historical point of view. Naturally, many of them are calcined or
otherwise damaged, but others are fairly well preserved as to form,
although the luster has departed from them. There are twenty-seven
earrings in the collection, and the pearls number about one hundred. No
great pearls were found.
In the Roman excavations, and in those of other early remains, many
objects are found in which there may be a sapphire, an emerald, or
several other stones, pierced, and pendant on a gold wire, with a blank
space between, showing that something was there originally. This object
has apparently decomposed and fallen away. We may reasonably suppose
that it was either a pearl or a glass bead, and it is unlikely that
glass would be used in connection with the more precious materials. This
pearl or glass may have been affected by the organic acids or the acids
resulting from the decomposition of the body with which the ornament was
buried for a score of centuries.
Among the ancient jewels containing pearls which are preserved in the
Hermitage at St. Petersburg, we may mention a broken gold ring with a
roughly cut turquoise and two pendants, each set with two pearls
separated by a garnet. This object was found in southern Siberia during
the reign of Peter the Great, and may belong to the second century
before Christ. Also may be noted a pair of gold earrings, with an
engraved six-rayed star, in the center of which a pearl is set, while
below hang three pendant sticks, two of which have a pearl at the
extremity. These earrings were found in 1892 in a tomb situated close to
the site of the ancient town of Chersonesus, in the Crimea. As a coin of
the Emperor Gordianus III (224–244 A.D.) was discovered in the same
tomb, we may assign the earrings to the first half of the third century
A.D.
Beside another pair of earrings, one of which is set with a pearl, and
two pearl-headed pins, all from the neighborhood of Tiflis, in the
Crimea, we may especially refer to an earring made of a plain, thick,
golden wire, on which seven pearls are threaded; one of these occupies
the center and the others are grouped around it. This earring was
purchased in 1903 by the Russian Imperial Archæological Commission from
a collector residing at Odessa; it is said to have been found on the
site of the ancient Greek colony of Olbia, but we have no definite
external or internal evidence to sustain this view.
We may also note the gold necklace and earrings[433] containing pearls
found near the site of Olbia during the reign of Napoleon III, and now
in the collection of the Roman, Campana. These objects are especially
interesting owing to the fact that the pearls are drilled and a gold cap
is set on each side.
A pair of pearl earrings were found in a tomb on Mount Mithridates, near
Kertch, in the Crimea. These earrings probably belong to the third or
fourth century of our era. Of the four pearls which originally adorned
the cross-bars, only one has been preserved. Another pair of earrings
was discovered in the same place. It is probable that they were
ornamented with pearls in a similar way, but the latter have entirely
disappeared.
[Illustration:
ANTIQUE PEARL ORNAMENTS
No. 1. Gold earring with turquoise top. Two pearls, two garnets, and
two pearls. Found in southern Siberia in 1726; believed to be of the
second century, A.D.
No. 2. Brass earring with one pearl and glass beads. Fourth century,
A.D.
No. 3. Brass dress pin. Sphere of amber, surmounted by a pearl. Found
near village of Mzchet Caucasus. Fourth century, A.D.
No. 4. Carnelian dress pins with pearl tops. Early Christian.
No. 5. Gold earring, hook and eye type. From Olbia, the site of an
ancient Greek colony. Fourth century, A.D.
Nos. 1 to 5 are from the collection of the Imperial Hermitage in St.
Petersburg.
Nos. 6–8–9. Pearl and gold earrings, Greek, from the Island of Cyprus.
Second century, A.D.
No. 7. Roman brooch (pearls and gold), found in the river Thames,
England. Ninth century, A.D.
]
Gabriele Bremond states in his “Viaggi di Egitto,” _Lib._ I, c. 30, that
it was a Mohammedan custom to embroider baldachins and carpets of
precious metals with pearls. This use is especially typified in a
baldachin of gold embroidered with pearls which is over the sepulcher of
Mohammed at Mecca.[434]
When the Mohammedans captured the Persian city Ctesiphon, in 637, they
collected an immense booty. Each of the 60,000 soldiers received the
value of 12,000 dirhems ($1560), a total of $93,600,000. Among the
treasures sent to Caliph Omar (581–644), in Medina, was a crown, perhaps
that of Khusrau I (499–579), which Tabari says was studded with 1000
pearls each as large as a bird’s egg.[435] There was also a wonderful
carpet 450 feet long and 90 broad, with a border of emeralds, rubies,
sapphires, and pearls, representing luxuriant foliage and beautiful
flowers. Tabari states that it was called the “Winter Carpet,” because
“the Persian kings used it in winter when there was no longer verdure or
flowers, for whoever was seated on this carpet thought he looked out
upon a garden or a green field.”[436]
On the occasion of the marriage of the Caliph Al-Mamun (786–833) with
the daughter of Hassan Sahal, all the grandees of Al-Mamun received
slaves of both sexes as presents from the bride’s father. The
preliminary negotiations were held at Fomal Saleh, and the road
traversed by the bride and bridegroom to reach Bagdad, a distance of one
hundred miles, was covered with mats of cloth of gold and silver. We are
told that the bride wore on her head-dress a thousand pearls, each of
which is said to have been of enormous value.[437]
Describing the birthday festival of Kublai Khan (_circa_ 1275 A.D.),
Marco Polo says: “The Great Kaan dresses in the best of his robes, all
wrought with beaten gold; and full 12,000 Barons and Knights on that day
came forth dressed in robes of the same colour, and precisely like those
of the Great Kaan, except that they are not so costly; but still they
are all of the same colour as his, and are also of silk and gold. Every
man so clothed has a girdle of gold; and this as well as the dress is
given him by the Sovereign. And I will aver that there are some of these
suits decked with so many pearls and precious stones that a single suit
shall be worth full 10,000 golden bezants [about $25,000].”[438]
In the Kan period, in China, the dead bodies of the emperors were
embalmed and wrapped in a garment ornamented with pearls. They were then
inclosed in a case of jade.[439]
Speaking of the jewels of the King of Maabar, or what is now known as
the Coromandel Coast, Marco Polo tells us: “It is a fact that the king
goes as bare as the rest, only round his loins he has a piece of fine
cloth and round his neck he has a necklace entirely of precious
stones,—rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and the like, insomuch that this
collar is of great value. He wears also hanging in front of his chest
from the neck downwards, a fine silk thread strung with 104 large pearls
and rubies of great price. The reason why he wears this cord with the
104 great pearls is (according to what they tell) that every day,
morning and evening, he has to say 104 prayers to his idols. Such is
their religion and custom; and thus did all the kings his ancestors
before him, and they bequeathed the string of pearls to him that he
should do the like.”[440]
A favorite East Indian amulet is known as the “Nao-ratna” or
“Nao-ratan,” and consists of “nine gems”: in former times the pearl,
ruby, topaz, diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli, coral, sapphire, and a
stone, not identified, called the gomeda. At the present time these
stones are generally the coral, topaz, sapphire, ruby, flat diamond, cut
diamond, emerald, hyacinth, and carbuncle. This talisman may suggest the
Urim and Thummin or sacred oracle of the Jews, which was said to have
been taken from Jerusalem in 615 A.D. by Khusrau II, the Sassanian
Persian king.
The East Indian custom for persons of quality was to wear a pearl
between two colored stones in each ear, that is, either between two
rubies or two emeralds; and Tavernier noted, about 1670, that there was
no person of any consideration in those regions who did not wear, in
each ear, a pearl set between two colored stones. Another favorite
ornament for women in India is a girdle elegantly embroidered, bearing a
large pendant pearl in front, where it is fastened.[441]
A necklace of twenty-seven pearls bears in India the name of _nakshatra
mālā, nakshatras_ (originally “stars”) being the name of the
twenty-seven divisions of the Hindu zodiac.[442]
In the Indian jewels often a small spot of enamel is fastened or melted
on to a gold wire, and then one or several pearls are hung upon it; or
beads of some gems, as sapphire, ruby, emerald, or even glass, may be
added or alternated with pearls. Then the enamel stop-piece is turned
down and the other end of the gold wire is twisted on to the setting,
loosely, in such a manner as to swing freely. It is the effect of these
dozens or even hundreds of swinging drops that add such grace and
elegance to East Indian jewelry.
[Illustration:
EAST INDIAN NECKLACE OF PEARLS, TABLE DIAMONDS, GLASS BEADS, GOLD AND
ENAMEL
Property of an American lady
]
In China, such precious stones as the ruby, sapphire—both blue and
yellow—the emerald, and the pink tourmaline, are not facetted, as with
us, but are generally polished in conformity to the shape of the bead or
other ornament, and never have a lathe-turned or cut appearance; they
are either set in cabochon or as beads, rounded, oval, or elongated. All
these forms, and the colors used by the Chinese, lend themselves well to
combinations with pearls; and hence pearls are often found in Chinese
jewelry, especially in those ornaments which are flexible and graceful,
in which the pearls and gems are strung on wire and allowed to swing
freely with a gentle tinkle when the wearer moves. This is not unlike
the setting of such gems in ancient Roman times. An admirable example is
shown and described in Bushell’s “Chinese Art” (Vol. II, plate 108, page
90). In this head-dress of a Manchu lady, there are combined with the
pearls, jadeite, amethyst, amber, and coral, on a gilt silver openwork,
with blue kingfisher feathers. This great cap of state is an admirable
example of pure Chinese design and workmanship. The pendant strings of
pearls are occasionally relieved by a bit of carved jade, carnelian or
coral, especially the latter. Another example, the “cap of state” has
silver-gilt openwork and immortelles (Taoist symbols), and is much
enhanced in beauty by a decoration or inlay of plates of the beautiful
blue feathers of the kingfisher, which are used so extensively and
effectively in Chinese jewelry. The pearls are scattered at intervals
over the cap, and ten strings of them hang from the sides of it. This is
believed to be of Manchu origin by Dr. Stephen W. Bushell, the great
Chinese scholar, to whom we are indebted for the use of the
illustration. We are also told that young ladies in China wear a sort of
crown constructed of pasteboard, covered with silk. This is adorned with
pearls, diamonds, and other jewels.[443]
The pearls on many Chinese ornaments were generally strung upon silk,
often with half a dozen or a dozen seed-pearls above and below the large
pearl, to hold the latter in place, and also to add a softness to the
whole jewel. The end pendant pearl, even if pear-shaped, was usually
pierced entirely through, and a wire that was worked through it was
flattened out, and this gold head was again ornamented in some way. A
Chinese pendant from the China-Japan war-loot offers an excellent
illustration of this kind of pearl-setting. This was preserved in a
double box of finely carved gold.
The rosaries containing 104 pearls, which are used to-day, were
mentioned centuries ago by Marco Polo, and an excellent pearl string of
this kind has been in the Russian Treasury at Moscow for over two
hundred years. Dr. Stewart Culin, the archæologist, who has paid much
attention to Chinese customs, informs us that the black and white
counters made for use in games by the Chinese are called black and white
pearls.
Dr. T. Nishikawa writes us in 1908 that pearls were used in Japan for
ornamental purposes more than a thousand years ago. Large abalone pearls
are found in images of Buddha made in 300 A.D. Fresh-water pearls,
usually from Dipsas and Unio, were also used. A beautiful color-print
was made by Hoku’ai of the first pearl, called “tide-jewel” by the
Japanese.
Most interesting pearls are those in a brooch in the British Museum,
which was discovered in 1839 while excavating a sewer opposite Ludgate
Hill in Thames Street, at the depth of about nine feet, in a
dark-colored artificial stratum of earth, unaccompanied by any remains
that could aid in throwing light upon its history. It is four inches and
a half in circumference, and is composed of a circular compartment an
inch and a quarter in diameter, set with variegated enamel, representing
a full-faced head and bust, with a crown on the head, and the drapery of
a mantle, formed of threads of gold effectively arranged so as to mark
the features of the face and the folds of the drapery; this is inclosed
in a border of rich gold filigree work, set at equal distances with four
pearls.[444] Dr. Charles Roach Smith attributes this brooch to the time
of King Alfred, and supposes it to have been executed in England by a
foreign artist. He only ventures a conjecture that the head might be
that of King Alfred.
Crowns, both ancient and modern, are richly ornamented with pearls. We
shall treat of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire and of the imperial
Austrian crown in the following chapter. One of the most interesting and
ancient is the famous crown of Khusrau II (reigned 590–638), made in the
latter part of the sixth century, which was brought to light by Shah
Abbas after a thousand years of concealment in an obscure fortress among
the mountains of Lauristan. It does not contain diamonds among its
ornaments, but is incrusted with pearls and rubies.[445]
From the representation given on the cup of Khusrau, the throne of the
Sassanian Persian kings appears to have been as large as a couch; it was
supported by four winged animals, whose model had been borrowed by the
Sassanians from their ancestors, and it was covered with an embroidered
stuff thrown over mattresses and cushions. If we may believe Tabari
(“Chronicles,” trans. by Zotenberg, Vol. II, p. 304), this throne was of
gold, enriched with precious stones, and surmounted by a crown of gold
and pearls, so heavy that the sovereign could not wear it, and therefore
had it suspended above his head.[446]
One of the crowns in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg was discovered in
1864 in a tumulus near Novo-Tcherkask, with many other valuable objects,
all of which had apparently been buried with some important personage.
This crown resembles somewhat that of Reccesvinthus in the treasure of
Guerrazar, although some portions of it seem to belong to the period of
the Roman empire. The conjecture has been made that the crown may have
been worn by a queen since it is decorated with a finely executed bust
of a woman in amethyst. The crown itself is of pure gold, and was
bordered with two rows of pearls, which have disappeared, leaving only
the small disks to which they were attached; besides these, it was
ornamented with a number of uncut precious stones. The date of this
object cannot be exactly determined, although the consensus of opinion
is that it belongs to about the third century after Christ. Possibly the
bust and some other portions, which appear to be of Greco-Roman
workmanship, are of this period, while the rest of the crown was
executed one or two centuries later; it is about seven inches in
diameter and two in height.[447]
Toward the end of the year 1858 a French officer who lived in Spain,
while making some excavations on a property he owned there, discovered
fourteen small gold crowns. They were taken to the Spanish mint and are
said to have been melted for bullion. New excavations on the same spot
brought to light eight other crowns of considerable weight, of the
finest workmanship, and incrusted with precious stones, pearls, etc.
There is no doubt that these crowns were buried in the early years of
the eighth century, when the Arabs, led by Tarik, invaded Spain and
forced the Gothic dynasty to take refuge in the north of Europe. The
importance of this discovery is very great, since it gives us positive
evidence of the development of the goldsmith’s art in Spain at that
early period. An inscription proves that one of the crowns was dedicated
in the second half of the seventh century, and it is one of the few
authentic memorials we possess of that epoch. In February, 1859, the
eight crowns were purchased by the French government and placed in the
Musée de Cluny. Two other crowns found in the same place were added in
1860, and complete the collection.
The largest of these crowns is that of the Gothic king, Reccesvinthus,
who was King of Spain from 649 to 672. It is composed of a wide band of
solid gold, ten centimeters wide and twenty-one centimeters in diameter
(about four and eight inches respectively). This band, which opens by
means of a hinge, is surrounded by two borders of gold set with the red
stones of Caria, called “gemmae alabandenses,” and the band itself is
studded with thirty large oriental sapphires of the greatest beauty.
Thirty fine pearls of appropriate size alternate with the sapphires on a
ground incrusted with the red stones above mentioned. From twenty-three
small gold chains depend large letters in cloisonné, and also incrusted,
forming the sentence: RECCESVINTHUS REX OFFERET. Each letter has a gold
pendant with a pearl from which hangs a pear-shaped sapphire.
The crown is suspended from four chains, converging to a double floral
ornament of solid gold, adorned with twelve sapphire pendants. This
ornament, the leaves of which are open, is surmounted by a capital of
rock crystal, then comes a ball of the same material, and the whole is
terminated by the gold center to which the four chains are attached.
The cross, which is suspended underneath the crown by a gold chain, is
remarkable for its elegance and its richness. It is of solid gold and is
inlaid with six very fine sapphires and eight large pearls, each of
which is mounted in relief with claws. At the back, the cross still
bears the wire by which it was attached to the royal mantle. The inside
of the crown is quite smooth; the outside is composed of elegant
fleurettes in openwork, the leaves being filled with the same species of
red carnelian mentioned above. There are thirty sapphires, all of the
finest water, and a few of them show the natural facetted
crystallization; the two principal ones, placed in the center of the
band, are thirty millimeters in diameter. The pearls are of an
exceptional size, and only a few of them have been injured by time. The
total number on the crown, cross, and top ornament, is seventy, thirty
of which are unusually large. The chains are each composed of five
openwork ornaments with an enamel paste inlaid in the gold edge. A close
examination of the crown shows that it had been worn before the king
presented it to some church.
The royal Hungarian crown given to St. Stephen by the pope in the year
1000 A.D., when Hungary became an empire, is one of the most ancient
crowns in existence. It contains 320 pearls and was procured in
Byzantium. It was pledged to the emperor, Frederick IV, by Queen
Elizabeth of Hungary, probably about 1440.
[Illustration:
CROWN OF RECCESVINTHUS AND OTHER GOTHIC CROWNS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY
From the treasure of Guarrazar, near Toledo
Musée de Cluny, Paris
]
In the cathedral of Prague (the metropolitan church of St. Vitus) there
may be seen the crown which was made by the order of Charles IV (1378)
out of four pounds, ten and a quarter ounces of gold. It is adorned with
twenty-nine pearls, forty-seven rubies, twenty sapphires, and
twenty-five emeralds. The value of the gold and gems was estimated at
$10,000 in 1898, which is probably less than it would be worth to-day.
The sacred crown worn by St. Wenceslaus was inserted within the crown of
Charles IV at the instance of Queen Blanca. The golden scepter and the
golden orb are of very beautiful workmanship. The scepter has six
rubies, eight sapphires, and thirty-one pearls. There may also be seen
in the treasury a gilded monstrance, in the style of the Renaissance,
studded with pearls and precious stones, a gift of the princely family
of Schwarzenberg. Within the same cathedral, in the tabernacle of the
chapel of St. Ludmilla, wife of the first Duke of Bohemia, is the head
of that saint, bearing a crown studded with 1800 pearls.[448]
The crown of Vladimir, with its singular and thoroughly Russian form, is
preserved in the treasury of the Kremlin at Moscow, and has been used at
the coronation of all the Russian emperors. It has borne the name of the
crown or cap of Monomachus from the reign of Ivan IV. Although, to judge
from this designation, the crown was probably executed in the twelfth or
thirteenth century, there is a legend to the effect that it was sent, in
988, from Byzantium by the ruler as a gift to St. Vladimir. It is
executed in filigree work, and is surmounted by a plain cross with four
pearls at the extremities; between these pearls are set a topaz, a
sapphire, and a ruby. The crown itself is ornamented with four emeralds,
four rubies, and twenty-five pearls from Ormus, set in gold. The cap has
a bordering of sable fur, and is lined with red satin. (See Maskell,
“Russian Art,” London, 1884, p. 125.)
The imperial state crown of her Majesty Queen Victoria, was made in the
year 1838 by Messrs. Rondell and Bridge, with jewels taken from old
crowns, and others furnished by command of her Majesty. It consisted of
diamonds, pearls, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, set in silver and
gold. It had a crimson velvet cap with ermine border, and was lined with
white silk. Its gross weight was thirty-nine ounces five pennyweights
troy. The lower part of the band above the ermine border consisted of a
row of 129 pearls, and the upper part of a row of 112 pearls; between
these rows, in the front of the crown, was a large sapphire (partly
drilled) purchased for the crown by his Majesty George IV. In the front
of the crown, and in the center of a diamond Maltese cross, was the
famous ruby said to have been given to Edward, Prince of Wales (the
Black Prince), by Don Pedro, King of Castile, after the battle of
Nájera, near Vittoria, 1367 A.D. This ruby was worn in the helmet of
Henry V at the battle of Agincourt, 1415 A.D. It was pierced quite
through, after the eastern custom, the upper part of the piercing being
filled up by a small ruby. From the Maltese cross issued four imperial
arches composed of oak leaves and acorns, thirty-two pearls forming the
acorns. From the upper part of the arches were suspended four large
pendant, pear-shaped pearls with rose diamond cups.[449] Writing in
1850, Barbot, the French jeweler, placed the value of this crown at
$600,000.
The crown of St. Edward, the official crown of England, is used at each
coronation.[450] The original crown of this name was destroyed by the
republicans in 1649, but at the time of the coronation of Charles II,
another crown was made to take its place, under the direction of Sir
Robert Viner. As far as can be known, this crown was an exact copy of
the older one, which was worn by Edward the Confessor, and perhaps even
by King Alfred. The crown in use at present is of gold, richly studded
with pearls and precious stones of various kinds: diamonds, rubies,
emeralds, and sapphires. There is a mound of gold on top, and on this a
cross of gold ornamented with very large oval pearls, one attached to
the top and the two others pendant from the ends of the cross. The
present arrangement of the jewels cannot date back earlier than 1689, as
the crown was found to be despoiled of them at the time of the accession
of William and Mary. Those now in the crown are acknowledged to be
inferior to the former ones.
The orb or mound which is placed in the king’s hand immediately after
his coronation, is a ball of gold, six inches in diameter, surrounded by
a band of the same metal ornamented with roses of diamonds set around
other precious stones, and bordered with pearls. It is surmounted by a
cross, embellished with four larger pearls at the angles near its
center, and three others at the ends. The orb, including the cross, is
eleven inches high, and it is figured on the coins of many of the
English kings, who are represented holding it in their left hands.
The regalia of Scotland,[451] consisting of the crown, scepter, and
sword of state, are preserved in the castle of Edinburgh. It is not
certainly known at what time this crown was executed. At the coronation
of Robert Bruce (1274–1329) a simple circlet of gold was used; this fell
into the hands of the English after the battle of Methven in 1306. In
1307 Edward I issued a pardon at the request of his “beloved Queen
Margarate,” to a certain Galfredus de Coigniers, who was said to have
concealed and kept “a certain coronet of gold with which Robert the
Bruce, enemy and rebel of the King, had caused himself to be crowned in
our own Kingdom of Scotland.”
[Illustration:
Photograph by W. & D. Downey, London
HER MAJESTY, QUEEN ALEXANDRA OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, EMPRESS OF
INDIA
]
Sir Walter Scott, in his account of the regalia, gives it as his opinion
that the present crown was probably made for Robert Bruce at a later
date, and that it was used at the coronation of his son, David II
(1324–1376). The style of workmanship indicates a fourteenth-century
origin. The crown was originally open and was arched over by James V
(1512–1542). As Scott notes, this was done to many royal crowns in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in order to assimilate them to the
type of the old imperial crowns.
The following description is slightly abridged from that given by Sir
Walter Scott:
The lower part consists of two circles, the undermost much broader
than that which rises over it; both are of the purest gold and the
uppermost is surmounted by a range of _fleur-de-lis_ interchanged
with crosses _fleurées_, and with knobs or pinnacles of gold topped
with large pearls; this produces a very rich effect. The under and
broader circle is adorned with twenty-two precious stones, betwixt
each of which is interposed an oriental pearl. The stones are
topazes, amethysts, emeralds, rubies and jacinths; they are not
polished by the lapidary, or cut into facets in the more modern
fashion, but are set plain, in the ancient style of jewellers’ work.
The smaller circle is adorned with small diamonds and sapphires
alternately. These two circles, thus ornamented, seem to have formed
the original Diadem or Crown of Scotland, until the reign of James
V, who added two imperial arches rising from the circle, and
crossing each other, closing at the top in a mound of gold, which
again is surmounted by a large cross _patée_ ornamented with pearls
and bearing the characters J.R.V. These additional arches are
attached to the original crown by tacks of gold, and there is some
inferiority in the quality of the metal.
The bonnet or tiara worn under the crown was anciently of purple,
but is now of crimson velvet, turned up with ermine—a change first
adopted in the year 1695. The tiara is adorned with four superb
pearls set in gold, and fastened in the velvet which appears between
the arches. The crown measures about nine inches in diameter,
twenty-seven in circumference, and about six and a half in height
from the bottom of the lower circle to the top of the cross.
The scepter, made by order of James V at the time he added the arches to
the crown, is a slender silver rod about thirty-nine inches long. An
antique capital of embossed leaves supports three small figures
representing the Virgin Mary, St. Andrew, and St. James, above which is
a crystal ball, surmounted by an oriental pearl.
The regalia have passed through many vicissitudes. After the execution
of Charles I, his son Charles II was crowned King of Scotland at Scone
on January 1, 1651. On the advance of the parliamentary army into
Scotland, the regalia were placed in the care of the Earl Mareschal who
preserved them in his castle of Dunrottar, and here they were kept until
the castle was besieged and on the point of falling into the hands of
the English. In this extremity, they were rescued by Christian Fletcher,
wife of the Rev. James Granger, minister of Kinneff. She obtained
permission from the English general to pay a visit to the Lady Mareschal
and succeeded in carrying off the regalia. Her husband buried them in
the church of Kinneff, just in front of the pulpit. When they were
brought to light again after the Restoration, an Act of Parliament was
passed which, after reciting Christian Fletcher’s services in the
matter, stated: “Therefore, the King’s Majestie, with advice of his
estates in Parliament, doe appoint Two Thousand Merks Scots to be
forthwith paid unto her by his Majestie’s thresaurer, out of the
readiest of his Majestie’s rents, as a testimony of their sense of her
service.”
In 1707, after the union of England and Scotland, it was considered
wiser to remove the regalia from public view, since they were calculated
to arouse memories of the old Scotch monarchy. These precious objects
were therefore inclosed in a chest, which was their usual receptacle,
and locked up in the crown-room, a strong vaulted apartment in Edinburgh
Castle. There the regalia remained until 1817, when, as doubts had been
expressed as to their existence, a commission of investigation was
appointed, one of the members being Sir Walter Scott. The chest—which
had probably been the jewel-safe of the Stuarts—was forced open, and the
regalia were found within, just as they had been deposited in 1707.
An imperial German crown does not exist; a design has been made and
accepted, but at the present date, 1907, it has not yet been executed.
On festive occasions, when the imperial insignia are necessary, the
Prussian insignia are used, especially the Prussian royal crown. This
consists of a circlet of gold set with thirteen diamonds. On this are
five leaves, each composed of three larger diamonds and a smaller one,
and four prongs, each bearing a diamond and above it a large pearl. From
the five leaves start the same number of semicircular arches, tapering
toward the central point, where they unite. Each of these is set with
ten diamonds of decreasing size. On the center rests an imperial globe.
It consists of a large Indian-cut sapphire,—the counterpart of the one
on the Austrian imperial crown, evidently dating from the time of the
Crusades,—and above it rises a chaplet ornamented with diamonds. The
crown has a lining of purple velvet reaching to the arches. Between the
arches are eight pearl pendants of an average weight of 80 grains; they
are 25 millimeters in length, and have a fine, brilliant white color,
although they are not perfectly regular in form.
In addition there belongs to the regalia a pearl necklace of three rows;
the first consists of thirty-seven pearls averaging 28 grains each; the
second of thirty-nine pearls averaging 34 grains, and the third of
forty-five pearls averaging 39 grains. There is also a guard chain of
114 pearls, averaging 20 grains, making a total of 2280 grains for the
chain. These pearls are also of irregular form.[452]
The crown jewels of the Sultan Abdul-Aziz (1830–1876) were of immense
richness and value. At the exhibition in Vienna, 1873, many of these
were exhibited in a building created specially for the purposes of
display and protection. They were in five compartments, in what might be
termed five impregnable fire-proof safes of a peculiar construction.
Among other interesting objects was the armor of Sultan Murad I
(1319–1389), the founder of the Ottoman empire in Europe. This armor is
of the most delicate oriental workmanship. Diamonds, pearls, and rubies
are worked broadcast over it with exquisite taste.[453]
In Germany and Austro-Hungary there are many valuable ecclesiastical
ornaments, some of which possess great interest for the history of early
German art. They also serve to show the appreciation of the pearl even
in the Dark Ages and the Early Renaissance period.
One of the most curious productions of early German art is a reliquary
in the form of a sack, which is from Enger near Herford, and is
exhibited in the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin. It is set with cameos
and pearls; several of the latter have dropped out; a few, however,
remain in their setting. According to a very probable tradition, this
reliquary was given by Charlemagne to the Saxon duke, Wittekind, on the
occasion of his baptism in 785. It is of very rude and primitive
workmanship and, if we accept the tradition, it is not unlikely that it
was executed at Aix-la-Chapelle.[454]
An interesting example of German art, from the time of Archbishop Egbert
of Treves (977–993), is a frame now in the Beuth-Schinkel Museum, at
Charlottenburg. This was probably the framework of a portable altar. It
is decorated with a simple geometrical design in the three primary
colors, and has four polished stones and four pearls on the outer border
of gold filigree. Another example of the art of Treves at the time of
Archbishop Egbert is the Echternacher Codex. The gold-plated cover is a
worthy product of the school: ivory, enamel, and mosaic are combined in
its decoration with rows of pearls. Among the representations of many
saints, appears the figure of the Empress Theophanu, daughter of the
Greek emperor, Romanos II, with the inscription “Theophaniu imp.”
Opposite is a youthful figure, probably that of her son, Otho III. It
seems likely that the work was executed, at the command of the empress,
between 983 and 991.[455]
In the cathedral of Treves is the portable altar known as the altar of
St. Andrew. This was primarily a reliquary and secondarily an altar. In
memory of the relic of the sandal of St. Andrew, which was greatly
prized by Archbishop Egbert, this altar bears the representation of a
foot executed in wood and covered with plates of gold. The front of the
case is divided into three fields; that in the middle containing a
Byzantine lion in gold relief, and the others the symbols of the four
evangelists in enamel work. The border is formed of rectangular pieces
of enamel and smaller ones of gold, and it is set with round stones
alternating with half-pearls; the ends are covered with filigree and
enamel work wherein are embedded strings of pearls. A coin of Justinian
II is set in the middle of the back of the case and is surrounded by a
wreath of larger pearls.[456]
A gold cross, the work of Rogkerus Theophilus, is in the Kunstgewerbe
Museum in Berlin, and comes from Herford. The frame, which is of wood,
is covered with plates of gold; at the extremities and in the center are
groups of precious stones surrounded by pearls; at the base is a fine
Augustan cameo with a wreath of pearls; the entire cross is covered with
filigree work and decorated with pearls in groups of threes. The
arrangement of the precious stones, and the enhancement of their beauty
by means of the circles of pearls, are highly artistic. As a work of
Rogkerus, this cross must have been executed at the very end of the
eleventh century and it may be regarded as one of the finest examples of
the art of this period.[457]
A very rich collection of ecclesiastical ornaments is contained in the
treasury of the cathedral of Gran in Hungary.[458] One of the most
interesting objects is a reliquary in the form of a Latin cross, which
is of great historical and artistic value. An inventory made after 1528
describes it briefly: “crux aurea continens lignum vitae” (a gold cross
containing the wood of life). Although this reliquary probably belongs
to the end of the twelfth century, the inventory of 1659 describes it as
a gift of King Stephen, and proceeds to say that the kings of Hungary
took their coronation oath upon it. This custom has been preserved to
the present day, and Emperor Francis Joseph, on the occasion of his
coronation as King of Hungary, June 8, 1867, swore, upon this cross, to
uphold the constitution and the laws of the land. The cross is decorated
with plates of gold in filigree design, and has four en cabochon cut
sapphires and eighteen oriental pearls.
The greatest treasure of the collection is known as the cross of
Corvinus, King of Hungary, and is decorated with a great number of
pearls.[459] It is a remarkable example of early Italian Renaissance
art. The entire structure is about twenty-eight inches high; the
pedestal is triangular and ornamented with pearls and precious stones;
three sphinxes bearing shields with the arms of Corvinus support a disk
from which springs a triangular support sloping outward; on the three
sides are mythological figures. Upon this base rests the chapel, a light
Gothic structure with the figure of the Saviour bound to a pillar in the
center, and the busts of three prophets in the niches outside. Above all
is the crucifix, on each side of which are figures of the Blessed Virgin
and of St. John. Around the base and about each division of this
elaborate design is a row of pearls; the Gothic chapel is surmounted by
a close-set row, and each of its six pinnacles terminates in an oval
pearl. The cross itself has fifteen large pearls disposed in twos and
threes, and many smaller ones. There are at least two hundred pearls on
the whole structure.
Another cross, with the arms of the primate, George Szolepchényi, and
bearing the date 1667, is of pure design and richly decorated with
pearls and precious stones.[460] It is quite possible that this cross,
which seems to belong to a better period, was bought by the archbishop,
who afterward added his arms. There are thirteen oriental pearls, three
at the top, three at the end of each of the arms, and four at the
intersection. This cross was used as an “instrumentum pacis,” for the
kiss of peace, on solemn occasions such as coronations.
We may also note the pendant with the image of the Virgin Mary as
patroness of Hungary, which is of gold enamel and has two pendant pearls
and a sapphire, and likewise the pectoral cross of the primate, Emerich
Losy; this is of gold, decorated with green, blue, and black enamel, and
has three pendant pear-shaped pearls, one quite large, as well as
thirty-four smaller round pearls.
Among the many valuable and interesting objects in the treasury of the
house and chapel of Maria Loretto am Hradschin,[461] at Prague, there is
a monstrance of silver-gilt, thirty-seven and a half inches high and
fifteen and three quarter inches wide. It dates from the beginning of
the eighteenth century, and is not a harmonious whole, but only a
combination of different ornaments of precious stones, corals, and
several hundred pearls of various sizes. All these are the devotional
offerings of now unknown givers, and many of the pieces are of artistic
workmanship. This monstrance owes its origin to Josef von Bilin, who was
a monk of the Capuchin order and a sacristan of Maria Loretto. On
account of the many pearls which adorn it, it is known by the name of
the “Pearl Monstrance.”
Another monstrance of Arabic gold, of the year 1680, is twenty inches
high and is studded with fifty-one pearls, of which twenty-nine surround
the disk, while the remainder are on the plate and the base. There are
also two crowns of silver-gilt for the statues of the Virgin and of the
Infant Jesus. The larger of these crowns has eighteen diamonds, a ruby,
and 102 pearls set in two rows; while the smaller has nineteen diamonds
and a great number of pearls; both crowns are made up of the offerings
of the faithful.
In a historic description of the pearls in the treasury of the Kremlin,
Margeret, a Burgundian captain (“Estat de l’empire de Russie,” 1649),
says that the treasury was “full of all kinds of jewels, principally
pearls, for they are worn in Russia more than in the rest of Europe. I
have seen fifty changes of raiment for the emperors around each of which
there were jewels for a bordering, and the robes were entirely bordered
with pearls, some with a border of pearls measuring a foot, half a foot,
or four inches in width. I have seen dozens of bed-coverings embroidered
with pearls.”[462]
In the treasury of the celebrated Troiza Monastery near Moscow, there is
an immense collection of ornamental objects for ecclesiastical use, the
value of which has been estimated at many millions of rubles. Here may
be seen miters and bishops’ crooks—many of them of solid gold and set
with precious stones—Bibles and missals in golden bindings, priestly
vestments, altar-cloths, etc., all literally covered with pearls. There
is also a dish filled with large pearls of enormous value.[463]
The use of fresh-water pearls in one of the most interesting
ecclesiastical objects of antiquity is shown in the “Shrine of St.
Patrick’s Gospels,” which is in the Dublin Museum. It was purchased by
the Irish Royal Academy in 1845 for £300 ($1500). This shrine, known as
the “domnach airgid,” is of Irish manufacture and was perhaps made in
the eleventh or twelfth century. It was found in the neighborhood of
Clones, in County Monaghan, and is ornamented with three bosses which
contained uncut crystals, and are decorated with figures of grotesque
animals and traceries enameled in blue paste; between these may be seen
representations of four horsemen. On each of the four corners there was
a fresh-water pearl, one of which still remains in its setting.
According to George Petrie, LL.D., in his “Christian Inscriptions in the
Irish Language,” the shrine bears an inscription to the effect that it
was made by John O’Barrdan at the instance of John O’Carbry, Abbot of
Clones, who died in 1353.
[Illustration:
CROWN OF ST. EDWARD
The official crown of England
]
Dr. R. F. Scharff informs us that there is also in the Dublin Museum a
modern Celtic gold brooch, presented to Queen Victoria on the occasion
of her visit to Ireland in 1849, and containing a pearl of beautiful
luster, discovered in Lough Esk, which is in the western part of
Ireland. Dr. Scharff says that this pearl is undoubtedly from the
_Margaritifera margaritifera_.
Mr. W. Forbes Howie of Dublin writes that the shrine of O’Donnel, made
in 1084, originally contained pearls. It still retains some pieces of
amber and coral. Mr. Howie believes that fresh-water pearls were freely
used in the decoration of ancient Irish shrines.
The inventories of jewels and ornaments belonging to the kings and
queens of France, to the nobility, and to the treasures of the
Sainte-Chapelle, in Paris, and of the abbey and church of St. Denis, all
mention a large number of objects decorated with pearls.[464] The more
important of these are given below.
The following ornaments decorated with pearls are mentioned in the
inventory of Louis, Duke of Anjou, which was made _circa_ 1360:[465]
A large silver-gilt foot for a vase or chalice, resting upon six
lions couchant, and set with groups of four pearls with a garnet in
the middle.
A half girdle of gold with a hinge bearing two ornaments, one a
balas set between two eagles. Between the ornaments is a gold bar
set with eight pearls in two rows. In front is a clasp with a large
sapphire in the middle, surrounded by two balases and two sapphires
alternating with pearls.
A gold brooch having a balas-ruby in the middle, and at each side
four sapphires and four clusters each of five quite large pearls.
A gold brooch of a very pretty design, with five balas-rubies, two
sapphires, and eight very round pearls weighing about four carats
each. At each end of the brooch is a flat pearl weighing about five
carats.
There is in the Bibliothèque Nationale[466] in Paris, the original
record of the execution of the testament of the Comte de Montpensier,
son of the Duc de Berri. This document was written in 1398, and it
mentions that the sale of the jewels and plate of the count produced the
sum of “2390 livres tournois 11 sols 3 deniers [about $8265].” In the
record we have a description of “a large gold cup, weighing 5 marcs, 7
ounces, 1 gros [nearly 3 lbs.], whereon there is a crown of precious
stones.” The decoration of the cup comprised thirty large pearls, six
balas-rubies, and four sapphires, and we are told that the Duc de Berri
retained it for his own use.
An early mention of the use of pearls in rings occurs in the inventory
of the Duc de Berri,[467] to whom we have just referred. This inventory,
which was made in 1416, notes a gold ring with black enamel, set with a
pearl called “the great pearl of Berri.”
The inventory of the personal property of Marguerite, Countess of
Flanders, the mother of the Duke of Burgundy, was made in 1405.[468] In
this inventory we have a list of an immense number of ornamental objects
of every sort and kind, and everything, from the ducal crown to the
smallest trinket, is garnished with pearls. In most cases the number of
pearls is given, and we find that no less than 4494 are enumerated.
Evidently the duchess was ever ready to honor the precious gem to which
she owed her name, and fully recognized its poetical significance. The
following are a few of the more noteworthy ornaments in the inventory:
The circlet of the great crown, composed of eight sections; four of
which each comprise sixteen pearls, four diamonds, and four
balas-rubies, with a sapphire in the center; the four others contain
sixteen pearls, four diamonds, and four sapphires, with a balas-ruby
in the center; beside this there are two pearls in each section.
Also, eight large fleurons of the great crown, four of which bear
each twenty-three pearls, five diamonds, three balas-rubies and a
sapphire, and the other four each twenty-three pearls, five
diamonds, four sapphires, and a balas-ruby; and eight small fleurons
of the said crown garnished each with a pearl, a sapphire, and a
balas-ruby. The whole is valued at 8724 florins ($22,682).
A gold cap with ten large ornaments fashioned like brooches, five of
which are each of six pearls and a balas-ruby, and the other five
each of five pearls and two balas-rubies, and between each ornament
there is a balas-ruby. This is appraised at 2159 florins ($5613).
A head-dress garnished with balas-rubies and sapphires and tassels
of large pearls, each of six pearls, and with a row of larger
balas-rubies, larger sapphires and larger pearls. This was estimated
at 2030 florins ($5278).
A gold necklace, enameled white and green, garnished with nine
rubies, thirteen diamonds and thirteen pearls, with a clasp of three
small rubies, and three large pearls with one large diamond in the
center. The worth of this necklace is given as 1923 florins ($5000).
The jewels and ornamental objects in this inventory are appraised at
the sum of 56,129 florins,—about $145,000,—equivalent to a much
larger sum to-day in consideration of the greater purchasing power
of money in the fifteenth century.
In 1480, during the reign of Louis XI, an inventory was made of the
objects preserved in the treasury of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.[469]
We select the following items from this inventory:
A very beautiful cross, covered with gold, bearing on one side a
crystal reliquary which contained a piece of the True Cross. On
supports attached to the cross were images of the Virgin Mary and of
St. John, each holding a reliquary. The cross itself rested on a
square silver-gilt base bearing the images of the four evangelists.
The ornamentation consisted of fifty large Scotch pearls and 142
small ones, intermixed with garnets and emeralds; there were also
many balas-rubies and sapphires of different sizes. The inventory
says: “The goldsmith Nicholas Roet declares that the stones are
genuine and that the pearls are from Scotland.”
Another gold cross, resting on a silver-gilt base which bore the
arms of France and Burgundy, was decorated with fourteen sapphires,
twenty balas-rubies, and twenty-four Scotch pearls. On the base were
the figures of St. Louis and of the queen, kneeling in prayer.
Still another cross, covered with gold and of Venetian workmanship,
bore thirty-nine pearls, twenty-seven balas-rubies, and four
sapphires. A clasp attached to this cross was set with four large
perforated pearls surrounded by small emeralds and sapphires.
A silver-gilt ornament, consisting of a golden image of St. Louis
seated on a silver throne and holding in his hand a reliquary
decorated with twelve pearls, six emeralds, and six Alexandrian
rubies. The crown of the image was set with four large oriental
pearls, three balas-rubies, etc.
An ivory image of the Virgin Mary, supported by a silver-gilt base
with the arms of France. This base was borne by four lions. On the
head of the Virgin was a crown of gold adorned with eight large,
round, oriental pearls and four small ones, as well as four emeralds
and four balas-rubies. On the breast of the image was a very large,
square emerald.
A splendid miter studded with good-sized pearls and decorated with
emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and balas-rubies. The pendants were
covered with seed-pearls and precious stones.
A fine chasuble of Indian satin lined with crimson taffeta and
covered with lilies, birds, unicorns, etc., embroidered in gold and
pearls. It was also adorned with small clusters of pearls and with
two shields bearing the arms of France and Navarre, quartered.
A beautiful copy of the gospels with covers of gold, ornamented with
fourteen large sapphires, thirteen balas-rubies, two cameos, and
eighty-nine good-sized pearls.
The following items are taken from the inventory of the treasury of the
abbey of St. Denis, made in 1534, during the reign of Francis I. This
record is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris:[470]
A crown of gold, with four fleurons, garnished with several
balas-rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and pearls; valued at 59,980
crowns (about $135,000).
A golden cross and within it a piece of the True Cross which
belonged to “Jeanne d’Evreux, royne de France et de Navarre,”
valued, with the pearls that decorate it, at 345 crowns ($776).
A wooden chest containing eleven cases in which were many precious
stones and large and small pearls, both oriental and Scotch; valued
at 1858 crowns ($4180).
A number of priestly vestments embroidered with seed-pearls are
inventoried at 1200 crowns ($2700).
A blue satin chasuble bordered with pearls is valued at 350 crowns
($787).
An altar-table, set in the “grand altar,” is described as
elaborately decorated with “arches and pillars and images of gold”
in low relief, and garnished with precious stones and pearls. The
value is given as 1203 crowns ($2700).
Another altar-table similarly ornamented is valued at 2645 crowns
($5850). Above this table was a great cross of gold with a silver
border, called the “cross of St. Eloysius” (the patron saint of
goldsmiths); this was valued at 2291 crowns ($5154).
Over the sarcophagus containing the body of St. Denis, there was “a
large tabernacle of wood-work resembling a church, with a lofty nave
and low arches.” In this nave and in the transepts there were three
representations of sarcophagi; the whole was covered with gold,
precious stones, and pearls, and was valued at 7275 crowns
($16,368).
The head of St. Denis, incased in gold, was borne by two silver-gilt
angels, while a third held a small shrine containing a portion of
the jaw-bone of the saint. All these objects were studded with
precious stones and pearls, and were valued at 5622 crowns
($12,650).
There were also in the treasury several miters covered with
“ounce-pearls” and decorated with gold and silver bands; on this
field several larger pearls were set. One of these miters is valued
at 964 crowns ($2169) and another at 509 crowns ($1135).
The total value of the articles inventoried is 185,500 crowns (at
least $417,375).
Inventories of the property of the dukes of Lorraine, dated 1544, 1552,
and 1614, mention a number of pearl ornaments. In the inventory of 1544,
made about the time of the accession of Francis I of Lorraine, we read
of “a very fine case of silver-gilt around which are thirteen personages
in gold, and on the lock three balases and five pearls.” The inventory
of 1552, made while Charles II was duke, mentions “a cap of crimson
velvet whereon there are large pearls,” and another cap “entirely
covered with pearls.” It is, however, in the inventory of 1614, made a
few years after the accession of Henry II of Lorraine, that we find the
greatest number of items relating to pearls. An estimate of the value of
the rings and jewels was “faicte du commandement de son Altèze par
jouailliers et Lapidaires et Espertz dudit ars.” All these jewels were
to remain forever the property of the Duchy of Lorraine. Among the items
relating to pearls, the following are worthy of note:
A gold collar with seven settings, each containing one large diamond
and two large pearls. The diamond in the center was believed to
weigh fifteen carats, and the collar was valued at 35,000 crowns
(about $70,000).
Another collar contained seven diamonds and sixteen pearls set in
pairs, and was considered to be worth 19,750 crowns (about $40,000).
A collection of one hundred large pearls, some weighing twenty
grains, some twenty-four, some twenty-eight, and a few thirty-two
grains, were estimated at 12,000 crowns ($24,000).
A large pearl, very nearly pear-shaped and almost as large as a
pigeon’s egg, was set down at 2000 crowns ($4000).
A very fine pear-shaped pearl weighing forty-eight grains was valued
at 800 crowns ($1600).
Another pear-shaped pearl weighing about thirty-two grains was
placed at 500 crowns ($1000).
Four other pear-shaped pearls, nearly as large as the one above
mentioned, were estimated at 300 crowns ($600), while a round “pearl
of Seville” was valued at only fifty crowns ($100).
Six clusters of pearls, each containing two of fourteen grains, and
four of eight grains, were thought to be worth 700 crowns ($1400).
A large chalice was decorated with seven large oriental emeralds and
eight clusters, each composed of fourteen fine, round pearls, six of
twelve grains and eight of eight grains; the whole valued at 2400
crowns ($4800).
A hat ornament composed of eleven fine rubies and ten large, round
pearls, each weighing twelve grains, was estimated at 800 crowns
($1600).
A similar ornament, composed of thirteen rubies and fourteen pearls,
partly flat and partly round, was placed at 2000 crowns ($4000).
A collar set with seven fine rubies and the same number of round
pearls, each weighing twelve grains, and with seven other pendant
pearls, was valued at 550 crowns ($1100).
There was also a bed called the “bed of pearls,” which was
elaborately decorated with ornamentation in gold and richly studded
with pearls.
The inventory made in 1634 of the ornaments, etc., contained in the
abbey of St. Denis, offers some new material and a fuller description of
a few of the objects mentioned in the inventory of 1534. The most
noteworthy entries are given below:
A golden scepter upon a staff of wood. The scepter bears the figure
of Charlemagne seated upon a throne; at the corners are two lions
and two eagles (one of the latter was lacking in 1634). The figure
holds a scepter in its right hand, and a globe surmounted by a cross
in its left; on its head is a crown with a large, round, oriental
pearl valued at 200 livres ($135). The throne rested on a
fleur-de-lys, beneath which was a ball of gold ornamented with eight
oriental pearls. Around the throne was the inscription: “Sanctus
Carolus Magnus Italia Roma Gallia Germania,” and three clusters of
three pearls each. The value of this scepter was given at 3300
livres, or about $2200.
The reliquary of the hand of St. Thomas. Two angels, resting on a
silver-gilt base, bore the crystal receptacle containing the relic.
The ornamentation consisted of eight clusters of four large pearls
each, with a small diamond in the center. On the hand was a gold
band bearing the inscription: “Hic est manus beati Thomae apti. quam
misit in latus domini nostri Jesu Christi.” On the hand was a
pontifical ring set with a large sapphire. The reliquary also bore
the images of St. John the Baptist, of St. Thomas, and of the Virgin
Mary. It was valued at 5590 livres, or about $3700.
A vessel made of a porphyry resembling jasper and embellished with
forty-six pearls; estimated at 1500 livres ($1000).
A cope given by Anne of Bretagne, Queen of France, and bearing six
scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary embroidered in gold and
pearls; the whole bordered with pearls and gold of Cyprus. On the
cope were the letters A and S, and the words “plutost mourir.” There
were two ounces of pearls. Valued at 2000 livres ($1350).
A vase of rock crystal, of antique workmanship, with a cover and
base of silver-gilt; the top decorated with a band of amethysts,
garnets, and sapphires, alternating with Scotch and oriental pearls.
On the base are various precious stones and twenty-three Scotch and
oriental pearls, and the inscription “Hoc vas sponsa dedit Anor.
regi Ludovico.” This vase was given by Eleanor of Aquitaine to her
husband, Louis VII of France (1137–1180), by whom it was bestowed
upon Suger, Abbot of St. Denis (1082–1152). The goldsmith work and
decoration belong to the time of Suger. The vase is now in the
Louvre.
A chalice of agate, with two handles, and engraved with the figures
of men, animals, and birds. It stood on a foot of gold adorned with
sixteen sapphires, forty-four pearls, and twenty-two clusters of
fourteen pearls each. This chalice rested upon a paten of porphyry
decorated with seven fishes inlaid in gold, and with a bordering of
pearls and precious stones disposed around the edge. Both together
valued at 25,000 livres (about $16,000).
[Illustration:
THE EMPRESS DOWAGER OF CHINA
From a portrait painted by Miss Katharine A. Carl
]
A vase of agate with a foot of silver-gilt, and furnished with a
cover and a spout in the form of a serpent, both of silver-gilt.
Around the base an inscription: “Dum libare deo gemmis debemus et
auro, Hoc ego Sugerus offero vas domino” (Since we should pour
libations to God out of gems and gold, I, Suger, offer this vessel
to the Lord). This vase, which is now in the Louvre and is of
sardonyx, was enriched with many precious stones and with nineteen
Scotch and oriental pearls. The value given was 1500 livres (about
$1000).
A book beginning: “Kyrie Eleison,” with covers of wood, one overlaid
with gold and the other with silver. On the golden cover was an
ivory crucifix, and images, in ivory, of the Virgin Mary and of St.
John. The cross was bordered with seed-pearls, as were the diadems
of the images. The cover was also decorated with an engraved
crysolite, an engraved peridot, and with sapphires, emeralds, and
garnets.[471]
A curious item regarding the use of pearls in embroidery is contained in
one of the inventories of the dukes of Burgundy, made in 1414; this
reads as follows:
The sum of 276 livres 7 sols 6 deniers tournois (about $960), the
price of 960 pearls destined to ornament a dress; along the sleeves
are embroidered the words of the song “Madame, je suis joyeulx,” and
the notes are also marked along the sleeves. On each sleeve are 264
pearls which help in forming the notes of the said song, numbering
142; that is to say, a square made of four pearls for each
note.[472]
Mention is made in two old French documents of the use of pearls from
Compiegne in ornamentation. In the “Inventaire de la royne Clémence,” in
1328, we read of “a cock covered with precious stones and bearing a
pearl of Compiègne”; and in the “Comptes Royaux,” under date of 1353,
appears this item: “For four pearls, oriental, Scotch and of Compiègne,
for the said arm-chair, 48 crowns.” As these pearls could not have been
found in Compiègne, we may suppose that there was a market for their
sale in that place, which gave rise to the designation.[473]
The English authority and writer on early English silver, F. Alfred
Jones, communicated, under date of September, 1907, that pearls were
rarely used in old English plate; in fact, any such embellishments were
of exceedingly infrequent occurrence. They are, however, frequently
mentioned in the inventory of the marvelous collection of gold plate
dispersed by Charles I of England, which may have dated from the time of
the looting of the churches and monasteries by Henry VIII.
The following items are from the inventories of Philip II of Spain and
of Margarita, wife of Philip III. The original documents are in the
Austrian archives.
A golden cup which came from England. Around the foot was a wreath
of fifteen fleurons, each containing pearls, and also four St.
Andrew’s crosses comprising eighteen pearls each. The interior of
the cup showed scenes from the life of St. George and was studded
with pearls, while thirty-one pearl pendants hung from the edge.
11,897 reals (about $1700).[474]
Some curious jewels, belonging to Queen Margarita, wife of Philip III of
Spain, were entered in an inventory made in 1611.
An imperial eagle, full of diamonds, that came from England, with
two pendants of two pearls, which could be unhooked from the said
eagle and were worn by her Majesty at two masks as earrings. Valued
at 77,000 reals (about $11,000).
Gold earrings, enameled in various colors, with seven diamonds in
each one and three pendant pearls, two small ones of equal size and
the other shaped like a pear. Valued at 1320 reals ($188).[475]
In the older Spanish jewelry pearls were frequently entirely pierced
through, as if they had been worn in necklaces; and if hung as drops of
one to three or more, they were strung on a wire, the upper end usually
forming an ornament, and they were kept from falling off below by
flattening the lower end of the wire, this flattening acting as a stop.
These styles have a marked resemblance to the oriental methods elsewhere
described, and suggest the derivation of the early Spanish pearl
mounting from the Moorish occupation of the country. If they were set
singly on any part of the jewel, they were put on a wire peg fastened to
it, and then the end of the wire which projected was hammered flat to
keep the pearl in place. Excellent examples of these styles are the
Spanish earrings in the collection of the Hispano-American Museum of New
York. The same method was used in Transylvania in the seventeenth
century with remarkably artistic effect.
The pearls of the Virgin of the Rosary in the church of St. Domingo,
Lima, were famous. It is believed that they were sold in the war of
independence. Those of the monstrance in the sanctuary of the cathedral
of Lima were sold during the last war with Chile. The monstrance of the
cathedral of Cuzco still shows pearls and emeralds, but they are of
small size.
A lady who left a great fortune in pearls to the church of Nazareno and
the House of the Poor of the church of St. Peter, Lima, was Doña Maria
Fernandez de Córdoba, from the family of Borda, grandmother to the
minister of Peru in Washington. She was a descendant of Hernan Cortés
and of Pizarro by her ancestor Carmen Cortés.
The pearls of Lima figure prominently in the history of the Peruvian
families. The war of independence, which ended in 1822, was followed by
the suppression of the entailed estates; this forced a division of the
family fortunes, and it became necessary to sell the family jewels in
Europe. Thither went all the famous pearls of the Peruvian aristocracy,
whose luxury is proven by the fact that in 1780 there were in Lima no
less than two thousand private carriages.
One of the most remarkable uses of Bohemian pearls was that of a large
triptych owned by Count Moritz of Lobkowitz and Duke of Raudnitz. It
measured six or more feet in height. The entire borders were ornamented
with pearls. The center of the triptych represented the ascension of
Christ on a chariot drawn by lambs. In the panel to the right was the
Angel Gabriel, and to the left the Virgin Mary praying. The borders and
lettering were magnificently embroidered and decorated in Bohemian
pearls. This object probably dated from the sixteenth or early part of
the seventeenth century. It was estimated by one of the authors to
contain at least one hundred thousand pearls.
Madame Zelie Nuttal, the great Maya scholar, personally writes that
pearls are not mentioned either as articles of tribute or of decoration
in ancient Mexican codices; possibly a lack of fine, hard instruments
with which to drill holes in pearls may have caused them to be
comparatively little used in personal adornment. Neither do they appear
to have been found incrusted in prehistoric objects, and we have no
written evidence of their having been used in this way. We do not know
of any instances of the wearing of pearls by the Indian women, but the
women of the higher classes used to wear them profusely, more especially
drop-earrings and pendants. Madame Nuttal also communicates as follows:
Bernadino de Sahagun states: “There are also pearls in New Spain,
and they are familiar to everybody. They are named epyollotti,[476]
which means the heart of the shell, because they are formed in the
shell of the oyster.” In Molina’s dictionary “seed-pearls” are named
“piciltic epyollotti,” which means “water-stars,” a poetical name,
composed of the word a = att = water, and cittallin = star. The
latter name leads us to infer the possibility that the “star-skirt,
or skirt of, or with stars,” the “cittallin icue” of the living
image of the goddess “Tlamateculitti” was decorated with _pearls_,
although it is only described (Book II, chap. 36) as being “of
leather, cut into strips at the bottom (forming a fringe), at the
end of each of which hung a small shell named ‘cueclitti’ which
reproduced a sound when she walked.” As it is stated that this
“star-skirt” was worn over “a white one” it seems as though it must
have been of the kind, represented in codices and sculptures, made
of openwork and netlike, and studded with round objects—possibly
pearls—at the crossings or in the centers of the open spaces.
Oil-paintings of the madonnas represent them with robes richly
embroidered with pearls, and wearing “ropes of pearls.” The Virgin of
the Rosario, in the church at Santo Domingo, Mexico, was noted for her
pearls, and there is a small oil-painting of this virgin, in which she
is depicted with a wealth of pearls.
In the Bohemian National Exposition, held at Prague in 1891, Count
Schwarzenberg exhibited four embroideries, each fourteen by eight
inches. They were embroidered with Bohemian pearls found on his domains
a century or more previous, and contained many thousands of pearls.
In Hungary pearls have always been the favorite jewels, especially among
the aristocracy, and they have served to adorn the national costume of
both men and women. A century ago nearly every family of distinction
owned a necklace, but most of the pearls were small and of indifferent
quality. Since that time fine pearls have become more usual, and many
wealthy Hungarian families have acquired beautiful pearls of good size
and excellent quality, and many splendid necklaces can now be seen in
Hungary. The following are some of the finest:
A necklace of three large rows, owned by the Archduke Joseph and
valued at one million francs.
A still larger necklace in the possession of Prince Nicholas
Esterhazy; this, however, is an entailed heirloom, and may not be
parted with without the king’s permission.
A very fine necklace of five rows, also an entailed heirloom, owned
by Count Maurice Esterhazy.
A large necklace, possessed by Countess Alois Karoly, wife of the
late ambassador in London. This is another entailed heirloom; its
value is at least a million and a half francs.
An unusually large necklace of four rows, such as one rarely sees,
owned by the Countess Wenkheim. The pearls are white, and have a
good shape, but not much brilliancy. The average size of these
pearls is approximately twenty-four grains.
An equally large necklace consisting of a single row, averaging
twenty-six grains, in the possession of Countess Louis Batthyani.
There are a great many other necklaces of fine quality, worth from
300,000 francs down to 100,000 francs, belonging to families such as
those of Count Joseph Hunyadi, Countess Festetics-Hamilton, Count
Landor Nako, Peer Leo Lanczi, Count Albert Apponyi, Mr. Eugene
Dreher, Madame Emma de Bachrach, etc., etc. Indeed, almost every
wealthy family of the better class owns a necklace worth up to
100,000 francs and over.
[Illustration:
PEARL ORNAMENTS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
Hungarian Aigret Earring, Hungary
Earrings, Nijni-Novgorod Spanish earring
]
The portraits of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries
afford us many interesting evidences regarding the various forms of
jewelry in which pearls were used. Indeed, had we no other records,
these pictures alone would prove the great popularity of the gem as an
ornament.
In the finely executed portrait of the Duchess Anne de France, she wears
a coronet with three pearls at each point. It seems to be made up of
three large pearls, set on a row of pearls circling the entire top of
her head, beneath which is a row of great emeralds, and then another row
of pearls. Flaring downward and entirely covering the side of her head
near the ear, are two rows of pearls with a row of fine emeralds between
them, the rows of pearls deflecting slightly downward until the chin
line is reached, and then turning back and slightly upward, meeting at
the back. As in the crown cap, the same severe decoration in pearls is
the main feature, and is repeated on each side of the robe, the front of
which is of ermine. Beginning on a line with the shoulder is a broad
band of pearls and emeralds set in gold which extends below her waist.
At the top of this are six pearls set in a straight line. Then from the
end of this line, dropping straight down, is a row on each side. Between
the two rows is a gem, then two great pearls and another gem, then two
more pearls, this being repeated to below the waist. The ermine is held
at her waist by a trefoil reversed; that is, two pearls above and one
below a great gem, and then a trefoil reversed below this. This portrait
is dated 1498 and is on a triptych in the cathedral of Moulins.
Quite unique is the pearl decoration in a picture of St. Barbara,
painted by an artist of the French school, and dated 1520, which is in
the National Museum of Budapest. This artist uses pearls with the utmost
severity of taste and richness. Beginning a trifle above the center of
her forehead is an emerald ornament, and on each side there extend to
the back of her head three rows of pearls, not placed exactly one row
above the other, but the rows intertwined with each other. The whole is
enriched by a great string of pearls about her neck. The effect produced
is extremely artistic and beautiful.
Catharine de’ Medici wore two rows of pearls on her bonnet, and a quaint
necklace in sections of two rows of four pearls, with a large pearl
between; a pear-shaped pendant on a Renaissance jewel; a row of pearls
around her low-cut bodice, and a girdle of jewels alternating with
pearls, which extended to the lower end of her gown. In addition to all
this, she wore a bracelet of jewels with a pearl set between each
ornament. This artistic combination is best shown in her portrait in the
Uffizi, Florence (No. 726), painted by an unknown artist.
One of the most unique, rich, and chic collections of pearls, and one
worn with unusual grace, is that of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia,
shown in the fine portrait of her by Coello Sanchez. In this portrait
her hat shows the plumes embroidered with slanting rows of three, four,
and five pearls. In the center of the hat is an ornament shaped like a
flower, with seven large pearl petals surrounding a great pearl center.
The hat is tilted to one side showing her hair on the left, while a
little to the right of the center of her forehead, and touching it,
there hangs from her hair a great pear-shaped pearl, which adds a
wonderful amount of character to the jeweling of her head. Around her
neck is a high fluted ruff; below which is a collar of large gems
relieved by an ornament of two pearls placed between each gem. The same
interesting motive is carried out in a girdle of gems which comes down
very low to her waist, terminating in a large jeweled heart ornament.
The painting shows sixteen remarkable pearls in the collar, and
thirty-six pearls in the jeweled girdle.
A very interesting collection of portraits was exhibited last spring
(1907) at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The pictures are
contained, in some instances, in old illuminated manuscripts, while in
others they are contemporary crayon sketches. Many pearl decorations are
represented, and we give a few of the most important.
The portrait of Anne de Bretagne (1476–1514), wife of Louis XII,
from the “Heures d’Anne de Bretagne,” illuminated by Jean
Bourdichon, represents the queen kneeling; she wears a collar
ornamented with groups of four pearls alternating with precious
stones.
A crayon sketch of Françoise de Foix, Comtesse de Châteaubriant
(1490–1537), who became the mistress of Francis I, shows her wearing
a hood or coif ornamented with forty oval pearls. She also wears a
necklace of sixty fine round pearls.
Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566), granddaughter of Charles VII and
Agnes Sorel, is represented with a head-dress similar to that worn
by the Comtesse de Châteaubriant . It has a border of sixty round
pearls. This crayon is of the time of Jean Clouet.
A portrait of Philip Strozzi (1541–1582) who, although an Italian,
had the rank of colonel-général in the French army, is interesting
as an illustration of the wearing of earrings by the men of this
period. The fine round pearl which hangs from his ear strikes us now
as a curious ornament for a warrior.
A crayon sketch of Gabrielle d’Estrées (d. 1599), mistress of Henri
IV, is attributed to the hand of Daniel Dumonstier. Here may be seen
a splendid pearl necklace, which apparently consists of six
sections, each comprising three rows of eight round pearls, the
sections being connected with each other by a large oval pearl. The
necklace, which hangs down over the bosom, is fastened by a clasp in
the form of a four-leaved clover, from which depend two other
sections similar to those described above, and terminating in an
oval pearl pendant.
The portrait of the Duchesse de Montpensier (1627–1693), the “Grande
Mademoiselle” of Mme. de Sévigné’s letters, is from the “Maximes de
nostre salut,” dedicated to the duchess by the author, M. de la
Serre, and is attributed to Nicolas Jarry. It represents the duchess
wearing a beautiful necklace of round pearls and a large pear-shaped
pearl earring, while another pear-shaped pearl depends from a clasp
which serves to loop up her fichu on the shoulder.
A fine example of the Renaissance style existing in the sixteenth
century is that of a gold and enamel necklace of Italian workmanship,
embellished with pearls. This necklace was presented to the Louvre
Museum by Don A. de Rotschildt. The two-pearl motive is carried out
exquisitely, two pearls appearing in a small connecting ornament between
two larger enameled and engraved gold plaques, which represent scenes
from the life of our Saviour.
At the exposition of 1900 there was shown in the Russian Pavilion, a
most interesting collection of jewelry of decidedly oriental character,
dating from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. These jewels were
said to have belonged to the Emir of Bokhara. They differed slightly
from the East Indian in character, and generally consisted of
combinations of pearls, rubies, and emeralds, the three colors of these
gems predominating. One of the most interesting of the necklaces,
acquired by J. Gelatley, Esq., shows an arrangement of the pearls which
is peculiarly attractive and decorative.
The heraldic significance of pearls has at times been very important.
While in the eighteenth century the crowns of the French nobles were
surmounted with silver points, it appears that in the sixteenth century
they were provided with pearl points. According to Rudolphus,[477] the
dukes wore a leaf crown of eight leaves, with or without as many
commingled pearl points; the marquises a crown of four leaves with
twelve pearl points, or with four groups of three pearls set one over
the other; and the counts, a pearl crown which sometimes had four pearls
in each corner, one above the other. The viscounts wore a gold ring set
with four pearls, and the barons a gold ring entwined with pearls.
The same is true of the English coronets. Instead of the pearls which
they bore at an earlier period, silver balls are now used on those of
the English barons, viscounts, earls, and marquises. This change
probably owed its origin to the desire on the part of the sovereigns to
confine the official use of pearls and other precious stones to
themselves. The rules at the coronation of Edward VII forbade the use of
pearls except as a special royal privilege. The earl’s coronet has eight
balls raised on points, with gold strawberry leaves between the points.
The marquis wears one with four gold strawberry leaves and four silver
balls alternating, the latter raised above the rim.[478]
A pearl and gold ring, formerly belonging to Washington, is now in the
possession of Vice-Chancellor E. B. Learning, of Camden, N. J. It bears
in the center a lock of Washington’s hair under a conical glass, around
which is a setting of blue and white enamel with a square of red at each
corner. The whole is surrounded by a circle of thirteen pearls. This
ring was presented by Washington to Lieutenant Richard Somers prior to
the latter’s departure on the expedition against the Algerine pirates in
Tripoli, in the course of which he lost his life. Before his departure
he left the ring with his sister, Sarah Keen. Vice-Chancellor Leaming’s
paternal grandmother inherited it as heir to Somers’s estate, and from
her it descended successively to her son and grandson. The lock of
Washington’s hair is admitted to be one of only three now existing, of
the other two, one is at Washington’s headquarters at Newburg and the
other in the museum at Boston. The ring was exhibited at the Centennial
Exposition in 1876.
And what a wealth of pearls was seen at the marriage of the late Emperor
Frederick III of Germany with Princess Victoria, in 1858! The wedding
gift of the bridegroom consisted of a necklace of thirty-six enormous
pearls, three superb ones in the middle, and graduated in size toward
the ends. From her mother, Queen Victoria, the bride received a diamond
necklace and three massive brooches set with unusually large pearls; and
from Prince Albert, a magnificent hair-net of pearls, diamonds, and
emeralds. The king and queen of Prussia presented a diadem of brilliants
surrounded with a splendid circlet of pearls. On the day of her entry
into Berlin, the queen bestowed on the bride a costly brooch of pearls
and diamonds, representing a bouquet, the leaves of which consisted of
diamonds, while the flowers themselves were of pear-shaped pearls of
large size, one weighing 160 grains, and fourteen of them weighing 600
grains together.
One of the most splendid and best known collection of pearls, and one
worn with as much grace as any in Europe, consists of those owned by the
dowager Queen Margherita of Italy, whose name signifies pearl, and who
has always been fond of the ocean jewel. Her husband, King Humbert, made
her many presents of this regal gem. A photograph, signed by the queen
and sent to us for this volume by her gracious courtesy, shows her
wearing her magnificent twelve strings of pearls, a pearl bracelet, and
a pearl tiara with pear-shaped pearl tips.
[Illustration:
MARGHERITA, DOWAGER QUEEN OF ITALY
]
At the coronation of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, beside her
coronation crown, the latter wore many of her richest and most beautiful
jewels. These consisted of seven immense rows of pearls, each
twenty-four to thirty inches in length, hanging below five large neck
circlets of diamonds and a great corsage ornament which covered her
entire bodice; and beneath part of this was a splendid ornament of
diamonds with large, pear-shaped pearls.
A careful study of the decorations conferred by potentates and
governments shows that the pearl is rarely used in the ornamentation of
these marks of distinction. A notable exception is that given by the
Siamese government. This decoration is known as the nine-jewel Siamese
decoration, and bears a large center pearl. It is only conferred on nine
members of the royal Siamese family, including his Majesty the King of
Siam. The central pearl represents the king and the eight other jewels
surrounding it the members of his family. It is strange that Siam should
find so much significance in white, as is illustrated by the white
elephant, and also by the use of the white pearl for this order.
The Order of Christ, the chief Portuguese order, has a long cross
enameled in bright red surcharged with a white cross and bordered with
fine pearls. The effect is both striking and beautiful.
The order of the crown of India is a jeweled badge with a device
composed of the imperial cipher, E. R. and I., in diamonds, pearls, and
turquoises, set within a border of pearls and surmounted by the imperial
crown.[479]
A remarkable pearl necklace was recently the subject of litigation in
England. It was the property of the late Duchess of Sermonata, an
Englishwoman who married an Italian. She was a daughter of the late Lord
Howard de Walden, one of the wealthiest of the English nobility. The
duchess was in the habit of investing all her spare cash in pearls, and
it seems that she chose a very good form of investment, since pearls
have increased in value to a greater extent even than diamonds during
the same period. Of the ten rows of which this necklace consisted, six
were deposited for safekeeping in a London bank and the other four were
in Florence at the time of the death of the duchess. She had bequeathed
the gems at the bank to her niece, Miss Henrietta Ellis, and had left
directions that, if her pearl necklace was in London when she died, it
should be sent to her Italian executors. All the jewels are now claimed
by these executors, while Miss Ellis contends that it was the intention
of the duchess to leave to her the pearls in the hands of the London
bankers. The necklace consisted at one time of ten rows; the first,
thirteen and a half inches long, comprised forty-one pearls; the second,
fourteen inches in length, thirty-nine pearls; the third, fourteen and a
half inches, forty-three pearls; the fourth, seventeen inches,
forty-seven pearls; the fifth, seventeen and a half inches, forty-nine
pearls; the sixth, nineteen and a half inches, fifty-five pearls; the
seventh, twenty-one inches, sixty-six pearls; the eighth, twenty-three
and a half inches, seventy pearls; the ninth, twenty-six inches,
eighty-two pearls; the tenth, twenty-nine and a half inches, ninety-one
pearls. The total number of pearls is 583, and the necklace is valued at
$150,000.
A widely advertised necklace of large size was shown in the English
section of the Paris Exposition of 1900. This necklace consisted of
forty-six pearls weighing 1596 grains, and was valued at $450,000. It
was loaned by an English gentleman now dead, and was returned to him at
the close of the exposition and later dispersed.
In regard to the possession of pearls by families in the United States,
we may safely say that there is not a letter in the alphabet under which
we cannot find the names of from one to a dozen families, owning single
strings or collections from the value of $10,000 to $200,000, or even
more. If one is a wearer of jewels, pearls are an absolute necessity;
indeed, they are as essential and indispensable for the wealthy as are
houses, horses, and automobiles. At no period in the world’s history
have pearls been more widely distributed; and some of those of to-day
are finer in quality and orient, and also more carefully matched, than
those in the great collections of the past. Of course there are
exceptions, where royal personages have been careful observers and have
used good taste, but it is a question whether there have ever been more
critical or better buyers, as far as selection is concerned, than are
many American men and women who have purchased this gem.
One of the largest pearl necklaces in the United States is in the
possession of an American lady. There are perhaps thirty pearls in the
necklace, weighing in all about 1400 grains; the largest pearl weighs
nearly 120 grains. There is also one of 75 grains and one of 70 grains,
the others graduating down to 20 grains.
[Illustration:
COLLECTION OF BLACK PEARLS BELONGING TO AN AMERICAN LADY
]
With increasing wealth, and a demand for rich rather than gaudy or showy
jewelry, there is nothing that commends itself so highly as the pearl,
which acts as a foil to the diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire, and at
the same time harmonizes with them and in fact with all the colored
stones. The true pearl, as it increases in size and beauty, becomes
proportionately more rare and costly; and yet it differs from other
jewels in the fact that they are mined in the depths of the earth, and
their existing quantity is speculative, while the home of the pearl is
much more accessible, and it is possible to make an estimate of the
number of pearls in course of growth. Pearls, however, are forming all
the time, while other gems are perhaps to-day as they were ages before
the advent of man. Nevertheless, even if pearls were cultivated as they
should be, and people cared for the mollusks as the oyster-gatherer does
for his crop—by planting it, guarding it and gathering it
systematically—still, the ever-increasing demand would more than balance
the greater supply. As we have said, at no time since pearls were worn
have they enjoyed such favor; and while they have always increased in
value, this increase has never been so rapid as in the past ten years.
They are jewels which can be worn by young or old, and which adapt
themselves to every fabric that man or woman can use for attire; whether
they are white, gray, or black, they are never obtrusive, but always
have a refining effect. Round as the globe upon which we live, they will
probably be worn and appreciated as long as life exists upon this
sphere.
It is interesting to note the change of taste and the difference of
opinion, at various epochs, in regard to the respective merits of
pear-shaped and round pearls. In the Roman period the pear-shaped pearls
were more highly valued; in the eighteenth century round pearls were
esteemed the more valuable, while at the present day they are both on
about the same basis.
With the progressive twentieth century taste for independence in
fashion, our modern ladies take from every epoch what they think will
best suit their superrefined beauty. Therefore we are not surprised to
find in their jewel-cases the long earrings and large brooches adorned
with seed-pearls, similar to those worn by their grandmothers of the
early Victorian period. Although these jewels cannot be considered very
beautiful according to the artistic standard of to-day, they,
nevertheless, lend to their wearers a certain quaint dignity and
piquancy which is very attractive.
As an instance of modern pearl-wearing by a lady of the present century,
we may note a portrait in which there is a simple necklace of large
pearls; over this a collar of twenty-three rows of pearls with a diamond
centerpiece, and to relieve the severity, a sautoir, which is made up of
alternate pearls and diamonds, and pearl earrings. No better
illustration can be given than the portrait of Señora Carmen Romero
Rubio de Diaz, wife of President Porfirio Diaz of Mexico, which, by her
courtesy, we are able to figure.
The gathering of a great necklace is not the work of a day; it often
requires many years. Such necklaces are frequently held for a long time
by dealers or by a number of people who are interested in their sale,
and whenever one or more pearls can be purchased which form a better
graduation or which are of better color or more perfect, they are
usually purchased to improve the necklace if the price is a proper one.
In the early sixties, when most American women aspired to owning a pair
of diamond earrings, it was not uncommon for ladies to start with a
hundred, two hundred, five hundred, or a thousand-dollar pair, and, for
a dozen years to come, to add an annual sum of one hundred, two hundred
or five hundred dollars to increasing the size of these by exchanging
them with the dealer at the cost price and paying the difference between
the value of the pair that had been purchased and that of the new pair.
In this way ladies who never would have thought of spending five
thousand dollars for a pair of earrings, virtually made a savings-bank
of the jewels. This is frequently done with pearls. A small necklace or
a few pearls will be purchased; these are added to annually or at such
times as the owner may have spare savings or gifts to invest. It is not
uncommon for a family to buy a pearl for a daughter on her first
birthday, and each succeeding year add one pearl to this, so that she
may first wear one pearl, then two, then three, and by the time the
young lady makes her début in society, a good start has been made toward
a pearl necklace. It was the custom of King Humbert of Italy to present
his queen, Margherita, with one fine pearl every year, and with this
succession of annual gifts she possessed one of the finest collections
in Europe.
In the portraits of the four daughters of the present Czarina of Russia,
the Grand Duchesses Tatiana, Olga, Maria, and Anastasia, we can see that
their pearl necklaces were built up gradually, as that of the eldest
daughter is notably longer than those of her younger sisters. These
pearls were annual gifts from the Czar and Czarina and from others of
the imperial family.
There are few ornaments worn by man or woman that have not at one time
or another been bepearled, either with large or small pearls, with one
pearl or many pearls, with pearls of high or low degree, and no object
is ever made the less rich by the addition of the peerless gem of the
ocean depths.
As the prices of pearls have increased, naturally the single objects
containing them have also become more costly. It is not unusual to see
rings with pearls each costing from $5000 to $10,000, $20,000, and even
$30,000 and over, the pearls not infrequently being in button form.
Rings are occasionally made up of one white and one black oriental
pearl, and if a pink one is combined with these, it is either a
fresh-water or a conch pearl. Such rings sell for $5000, $8000, $10,000
and $15,000 each.
Pendant pearls, either round, ovate, drop, or pear-shaped, sell from
$5000 to $10,000, $20,000, $50,000, and even $100,000.
The prices for one or two choice pearls worn for the adornment of a
man’s shirt-front are $2000, $3000, $5000, and even $10,000.
[Illustration:
SENORA CARMEN ROMERO RUBIO DE DIAZ, WIFE OF PRESIDENT PORFIRIO DIAZ OF
MEXICO
]
In link buttons, slightly ovate, button or round pearls are used, the
link being made up of one white and one black pearl, costing $2000,
$3000, $5000, and even $20,000 a set.
It is not unusual for a man to wear a scarf-pin set with a round, ovate,
or pear-shaped pearl costing $2000, $5000, $10,000, $15,000, and even
$30,000.
For men’s scarf-pins, a variety of colors are frequently selected, such
as a white oriental, a pink American, a pink conch, or a gray and black
oriental pearl.
Single pearl necklaces sell for $1000, $2000, $5000, $8000, $10,000,
$15,000, $20,000, $50,000, $100,000, $250,000, and $500,000 necklaces
are not unknown.
Tiaras sell for $10,000, $20,000, $50,000, and $100,000.
Waistcoat buttons, sometimes made up of baroque pearls, cost from $200
to $500; sometimes, however, when fine pearls are used, the price paid
for a set of five or six buttons is as high as $10,000.
It is scarcely possible to mention all the various forms in which the
pearl has been worn: whether as a spray of many small pearls or a few
large ones, either round, ovate, or pear-shaped for aigrets; in points
on crowns, used either for ornamental or heraldic purposes; for the
decoration of the orbs, scepters, and crowns of kings and emperors; for
forming an edging on bonnets, caps, fillets, or diadems; in pendant
form, usually consisting of one, although sometimes of three or four
pendants in rows and lines to ornament the side of the face; or one,
two, three, or a bunch together to adorn the ear; as a single pearl on a
wire or a group of them, as worn in the nose of the East Indian beauty;
as a single, two, three, or many-rowed necklace to grace the lady, the
queen, and the empress; or else in six, ten, to twenty or more rows with
a tiny gold jeweled bar, or a large diamond center, in the form of
collars; as a long chain from four to ten feet long to hang from the
neck to the waist, or else to be worn once, twice, or thrice around the
neck, hanging down and then encircling the waist in the form of a
sautoir; either as a single drop, consisting of an ovate or pear-shaped
pearl or a number of them together in the form of a pendant combined
with diamonds; as a single pearl surrounded with pearls or diamonds for
buttons to adorn my lady’s crown; in rows, or combined with jewels and
enamel, in the form of a bow-knot with long bunches of pearls, for
shoulder bars; either as one pearl alone or alternating with gold wire,
with jewels, or with many pearls, in endless forms, as bracelets; either
as a single row, two rows or alternate rows in infinite variety on
bodices, as worn in the past more than at the present; in a single row
on ornamenting metal, enamel, or jewelwork in the form of girdles; in
five hundred forms for rings; as an embroidery or in rows pendant on
slippers; and, finally, as a stole. These are only a few of the uses to
which a lady can put pearls.
By men, pearls are worn to adorn the shirt, to wear in the scarf, as
link buttons, as waistcoat buttons, or as a fob. The pearls used in this
way are sometimes quite as expensive as any of those worn by the ladies.
Ecclesiastics, for more than two thousand years, have appreciated the
richness of bepearling. In Russia we find pearls decorating crosses,
missal covers, vestments, bindings on books, chalices and crook-tops;
they are employed as borders to ikon frames, or for the decoration about
the Madonna and Child. In Persia we find pearl-embroidered rugs,
pillows, and bolsters. Half-pearls are used in quaint decorations for
watches, snuff-boxes, miniatures, and portrait frames. Even saddles and
horse-trappings in the East do not escape the charm and beauty of the
pearl. Even the English coronation spoon is known for the pearls which
ornament it.
Of the many forms of earrings that have come down to us, none is simpler
or daintier than a single pearl worn as an ear-screw, or partly or
entirely strung on a thin gold wire. Another dainty style is three
pearls, worn one below the other as in ancient Rome, known as a triclum;
or the round pearl with a pear-shaped pendant or bunches of pearls known
as crotalia, also worn in ancient times.
A pearl necklace is usually clasped either by a round or ovate pearl,
drilled so that the catch and snap are contained within the pearl
itself, or else by a pearl surrounded by diamonds, rubies, or other
gems. Such a clasp frequently serves to bind from two to fifteen rows of
pearls, the first or smaller row encircling the neck, and each row in
turn being larger until the fifteenth row reaches to the bosom or even
to the waist.
Pearl collars are usually made up of four, six, ten, twenty, and even
twenty-five rows; often of very small pearls, generally fitting closely
to the neck. The pearls are held in position either by four gold,
diamond, or jeweled bars, or frequently the entire front of the collar
is occupied by a large diamond ornament.
In ancient times, pearls were a favorite decoration of crosses;
frequently an entire cross was made up of pearls, either of a single or
a double row. Many portraits dating from the fifteenth to the
seventeenth century show the cross used in connection with a necklace,
this either starting from the top of the cross or from each side at the
end of each arm. Sometimes from below the arms and the lower part of the
cross there hung pendant either round or pear-shaped pearls. We have
other instances where at the top, the cross was attached to a pearl
necklace, while below each of the two arms there hung a pearl, and from
the lower part of the cross a double necklace again reached to the back
of the neck. Frequently a festoon collar will be made up of five rows of
pearls, each of a graduated length, and pendant on each a diamond.
Recently pearls have been drilled and invisibly joined by fine platinum
links, so as to form a continuous ribbon or even a collar two inches
wide; occasionally, a Greek border or some other design, of larger
pearls or of diamonds, rubies, sapphires or other gems, is interwoven.
This constitutes a veritable, smooth pearl cloth, or pearl mesh, very
beautiful and also comfortable to wear. Indeed, a purse, measuring five
by six inches, has been made of this cloth of pearls.
[Illustration:
Jade jar inlaid with pearls set with fine gold
Heber R. Bishop Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art
]
[Illustration:
Japanese decoration set with pearls
Order of the crown of the First Class. Metropolitan Museum of Art
]
Dust-pearls, too minute to drill, and numbering over 100,000 to the
ounce, were used, in the latter part of the eighteenth and the early
part of the nineteenth centuries, for the embellishment of the hair-work
then so much in favor and which was placed under glass. Where foliage
was represented the leaves were made of the most minute seed-pearls,
graduated in size and set on an outline of enamel or white paint, the
pearls being cemented to the outline. This added a softness to the
hair-work and other decoration.
As long as the pearl has been known, there has been a desire to obtain
possession of one in some of its degrees of perfection, and for this
reason many attempts have been made to prepare something that might pass
for a pearl or even suggest a pearl. Sometimes the mother-of-pearl shell
has, naturally, a protuberance, either round or pear-shaped, which, if
cut off and highly polished may resemble an imperfect pearl; and this
operation is often so cleverly performed that, at the first glance, this
object may pass for a true pearl. In Russia, and especially in Bohemia,
they have gone farther than this. They have cut out a bit of
mother-of-pearl shell, leaving a piece of the natural shell for the top,
or the part that will be visible, and rounding off the rest of the
surface so as to give it a pearly effect. These objects are of trifling
value and are used in necklaces and earrings, and in the ornamentation
of icons and miniature frames and even as beads. Glass with either an
exterior or interior coating of a nacreous substance is sometimes made
absolutely round, while at other times it is made with many
imperfections so as to resemble either a marine baroque or a fresh-water
irregular pearl. The North American Indian, as described elsewhere, has
coated little balls of clay with a powder made from a pearl-bearing
fresh-water mussel and then baked them.
XVI
FAMOUS PEARLS AND COLLECTIONS
XVI
FAMOUS PEARLS AND COLLECTIONS
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly
pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and
sold all that he had and bought it.
_St. Matthew_, XIII, 45, 46.
In the course of twenty centuries many pearls and pearl collections have
become famous, either because of their intrinsic value or else through
historic associations. An attempt is made here to list briefly the more
important of these. While we have purposely omitted any mention of the
pearl collections in private hands at the present time, some of which
are more valuable than many of those noted in the following pages, we
have, nevertheless, given the principal sales of pearls at auction
during the past twenty years. Many specimens of remarkable size and
beauty have changed hands in this way, more especially in England.
CLEOPATRA PEARLS. Next to that “pearl of great price,” mentioned by
Christ, probably the most famous of all pearls were the two which Pliny
records as having been worn in the ears of Cleopatra, “the singular and
onely jewels of the world and even Nature’s wonder.” This writer does
not note their size, but estimates their value at sixty million
sestertii. We have already quoted the passage in which Pliny relates how
one of these pearls was dissolved and swallowed by Cleopatra in order to
win a wager she had made with Antony. After the death of that queen the
other pearl “was cut in twaine, that in memoriall of that one halfe
supper of theirs, it should remaine unto posterite, hanging at both the
eares of Venus at Rome in the temple of Pantheon.”[480] Budé estimated
the value of the pearl dedicated to Venus at 250,000 _escus_ of
gold.[481]
Another famous pearl mentioned by Pliny was the one which Julius Cæsar
presented to Servilia, mother of Brutus, the value of which he notes as
six million sestertii.[482]
PEROZ PEARL. The historian Procopius,[483] of the sixth century, tells
of a magnificent pearl which belonged to Peroz, or Firuz (459–484), one
of the Sassanian kings of Persia. In the course of his disastrous battle
with the White Huns, in which both he and his sons perished, Peroz,
having a presentiment of the misfortune about to befall him, took the
pearl from his right ear and cast it away, lest any one should wear it
after him. This pearl is described as being “such as no king had ever
worn up to that time.” Procopius, however, thinks it more probable that
the ear of Peroz was cut off in the combat, and he states that the
emperor (Zeno, 426–491) was very anxious to buy the gem from the Huns,
but that all search for it was in vain. Nevertheless, a rumor was
current that it was recovered later, but that another pearl was
substituted for it and sold to Kobad, a successor of Peroz.
A different version is given by Panciroli,[484] who quotes Zonaras, a
Byzantine historian of the twelfth century, as his authority. According
to this version Justinian the Great, who succeeded to the throne
forty-three years after the death of Peroz, offered one hundred pounds
of gold (about $25,000) for the pearl, but the barbarians refused to
part with it, preferring to keep it as a memorial of Persian folly. On
the coins of Peroz he is represented wearing an earring with three
pendants, one of which may have been this wonderful pearl.
CHARLES THE BOLD. One of the greatest jewels of the fifteenth century
was that belonging to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1433–1477).
According to notes and drawings[485] made in 1555 by J. J. Fugger of
Nuremberg, who was the banker jeweler of his generation, this consisted
of a large pyramid diamond five eighths of an inch square at the base,
with the apex cut as a four-rayed star in relief; surrounding this were
three rectangular pyramid-shaped rubies and three magnificent
pear-shaped pearls, and a large ovate pearl was suspended from the
lowest ruby. The pear pearls are described as measuring half an inch in
diameter and must have weighed about sixty grains each. This magnificent
jewel was probably the most celebrated in Europe during the fifteenth
century. According to Comines, on the defeat of the Grand Duke and the
plundering of his baggage by the Swiss at Granson in 1476, the ornament
was found by a careless soldier who tossed it away, but retained the
gold box containing it. On second thought, he searched for and recovered
the jewel and sold it to a priest for one florin, and the ecclesiastic
sold it to a Bernese government official for the sum of three florins.
Some years later this jewel, together with the ducal cap of Charles the
Bold, which was covered with pearls, and bore a plume case, set with
diamonds (points), alternating with pearls and balas-rubies, was sold by
the Bernese government to Jacob Fugger, as related by J. J. Fugger in
the manuscript above noted, “for no more than 47,000 florins.” In the
vain hope that it would be purchased by Emperor Charles V, grandson of
Charles the Bold, Fugger held the jewel for many years, but he broke up
the cap and reset the stones in it for Maximilian II. The brooch was
finally sold to Henry VIII of England just before his death, and it
passed to his daughter and successor, Bloody Mary, who presented it to
her Spanish bridegroom, Philip. Thus, after seventy-six years, the jewel
was restored to a descendant of the original owner. This history has
been given at some length owing to its illustration of the manner in
which great pearls were easily lost on battle-fields and were passed
about from one country to another.
[Illustration:
GAIKWAR OF BARODA, 1908
]
TARAREQUI PEARLS. The early American fisheries yielded several
magnificent pearls, many of which eventually became part of the imperial
Spanish jewels. Prominent among these was the _Huerfana_ or _Sola_.
According to Gomara, this was secured in 1515 from the Indians at
Tararequi, in the Gulf of Panama, in a large collection which weighed
880 ounces. It was pear-shaped and weighed thirty-one carats. Gomara
states that this pearl was purchased from Gaspar de Morales, leader of
the Spanish expedition, by a merchant, for the sum of 12,000 castilians.
“The purchaser could not sleep that night for thinking on the fact that
he had given so much money for one stone, and sold it the very next day
to Pedrarias de Avila, for his wife Donna Isabel de Bovadilla”; and
afterward it passed to Isabella, wife of Emperor Charles V (1500–1558).
It was remarkable for its luster, color, and clearness, as well as for
its size. Another large pearl in this collection weighed twenty-six
carats.
OVIEDO PEARL. As already noted on page 237, in his “Historia natural y
general de las Indias,” published at Toledo in 1526, Gonzalo de Oviedo
wrote of having purchased at Panama a pearl weighing twenty-six carats
for which he paid 650 times its weight in fine gold, and which he
claimed was the “greatest, fairest and roundest” that had ever been seen
at Panama. Probably this was the twenty-six-carat pearl obtained at
Tararequi by Gaspar de Morales in 1515. At 650 times its weight in gold
the value of this pearl would be $2294.54; representing a base of $.2124
per grain; but at a base of $5 per grain the same pearl would be worth
$54,080, equaling 15,320 times its weight in gold.
TEMPLE OF TALOMECO. Among great collections of pearls, some writers
would place that described by Garcilasso de la Vega as having been found
by De Soto and his followers in 1540 in the Temple of Talomeco near the
Savannah River in America.[486] According to Garcilasso, the quantity of
pearls there was so great that 300 horses and 900 men would not have
sufficed for its transportation, vastly excelling every other if not all
other collections in the history of the world. Unfortunately the
accuracy of this account has not been unquestioned.
LA PEREGRINA. Most celebrated among the early American pearls was La
Peregrina (the incomparable), or the Philip II pearl, which weighed 134
grains. According to Garcilasso de la Vega, who says that he saw it at
Seville in 1597,[487] this was found at Panama in 1560 by a negro who
was rewarded with his liberty, and his owner with the office of alcalde
of Panama. Other authorities note that it came from the Venezuelan
fisheries in 1574. It was carried to Spain by Don Diego de Temes, who
presented it to Philip II (1527–1598). Jacques de Treco, court jeweler
to the king, is credited with saying that it might be worth 30,000,
50,000 or 100,000 ducats, as one might choose to estimate, for in fact
it was so remarkable as to be beyond any standard valuation. If we can
credit Garcilasso, at one time this pearl decorated the crown of the
Blessed Virgin in the church of Guadeloupe, which was resplendent with
gems.[488] A contemporaneous account[489] notes that it was worn at
Madrid by Queen Margarita, wife of Philip III, at the fêtes given in
celebration of the treaty of peace between that country and England in
1605.
CHARLES II PEARL. Somewhat similar to the foregoing was the pearl of
Charles II of Spain (1661–1700), which was presented to that monarch by
Don Pedro de Aponte, Conde del Palmer, a native of the Canaries. This
gem was found in 1691, or more than a century after La Peregrina. These
two pearls were nearly equal in size, and for many years they were worn
as earrings by the successive queens of Spain. It is reported that they
were destroyed in 1734, when a large portion of the old palace at Madrid
was burned.[490]
[Illustration:
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS
The property of the Earl of Leven and Melville. About 1559–1560
]
The jewels of the Spanish crown have passed through so many vicissitudes
that it is not surprising that but few of them remain in the Spanish
treasury. After the overthrow of the Spanish monarchy by the French in
1808, Ferdinand VII, during the time of his exile, disposed of many of
these jewels. It is asserted that, after the deposition of Queen
Isabella, in 1868, the crown jewels were divided between herself and her
sister, the pious Duchesse de Montpensier, and a considerable portion
was eventually distributed among the numerous descendants of the latter.
It is also stated that there is no mention of the Spanish crown jewels
during the reign of King Amadeus, the first sovereign of the restored
monarchy. There are, however, great quantities of pearls and other gems
belonging to the various madonnas in the Spanish churches, as, for
example, Nuestra Señora de Atocha, Cavadonga and others.
PEARLS OF MARY STUART. The pearls owned by the unfortunate Mary Queen of
Scots (1542–1587) were among the most beautiful in Europe. Inventories
of these[491] show great _bordures de tour_ of large pear pearls with
_entredeux_ of round pearls, long ropes of pearls strung like beads on a
rosary, carcans or broad belts set with pearls, and a large number of
loose pearls. Many of these appear in the portraits of this popular
queen; but probably the most remarkable exhibition of them is in the
portrait now owned by the Earl of Leven and Melville,[492] which appears
to agree fairly well with the inventories of her jewels, although this
portrait is not wholly free from impeachment as to its accuracy and
contemporaneousness.
After the downfall of the queen, most of her jewels were sold, pawned,
or lost by theft. A number of them passed into the possession of Queen
Elizabeth in 1568, in a manner not wholly satisfactory to lovers of
justice. Some of these were described in a letter dated May 8, 1568, and
addressed to Catharine de’ Medici by Bodutel de la Forest, the French
ambassador at the English court, as “six cordons of large pearls, strung
as paternosters; but there are about twenty-five separate from the
others much larger and more beautiful than those which are strung. They
were first shown to three or four jewelers and lapidaries of this city,
who estimated them at three thousand pounds sterling, and who offered to
give that sum; certain Italian merchants who viewed them afterwards
valued them at 12,000 _escus_, which is the price, as I am told, this
queen [Elizabeth] will take them at. There is a Genevese who saw them
after the others and estimated them as worth 16,000 _escus_
[$24,000].”[493]
Catharine de’ Medici, who was a mother-in-law of Mary Stuart, was very
anxious to obtain these pearls; but the ambassador wrote on May 15,
1568, that he had found it impossible to purchase them; for, as he had
told her from the first, they were intended for the gratification of the
Queen of England, who had purchased them at her own price, and was even
then in possession of them.[494]
QUEEN ELIZABETH’S PEARLS. Although in her youth she is said to have had
a distaste for personal decorations, in her later years Queen Elizabeth
entertained an extravagant fondness for pearls. In speaking of her
portraits, Horace Walpole says: “A pale Roman nose, a head of hair
loaded with crowns and powdered with diamonds, a vast ruff, a vaster
fardingale, and a bushel of pearls, are features by which everybody
knows at once the pictures of Queen Elizabeth.”[495] And to the end, her
love for them was unabated, for in the last tragi-comic scene of her
life, to meet the Angel of Death himself, she was dressed up in her most
splendid jewels with great pearl necklaces and earrings and pendants, as
Paul Delaroche so successfully pictured in his remarkable painting in
the Louvre.
The faded waxwork effigy of her, long preserved in Westminster Abbey in
that curious collection of effigies[496]—the “Ragged Regiment,” as
Walpole called them—has a coronet of large spherical pearls in wax, long
necklaces of them, a great pearl-ornamented stomacher, pearl earrings
with large pear-shaped pendants, and even broad, pearl medallions on the
shoe-bows. In accordance with that singular custom which prevailed from
the time of Henry V (1422), to that of Queen Anne (1714),[497] this
effigy lay on her coffin at the funeral and caused, says Stow in his
Chronicle, “such a general sighing, groning, and weeping, as the like
hath not beene seene or knowne in the memory of man.” A contemporaneous
poet wrote that when the corpse with the effigy passed down the Thames
to lie in state at Whitehall,
Fish wept their eyes of pearl quite out,
And swam blind after.
GRESHAM PEARL. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Thomas Gresham,
the merchant prince, was credited with possessing a pearl valued at
£15,000, which he reduced to powder and drank in a glass of wine to the
health of the queen, in order to astonish the Spanish ambassador, with
whom he had laid a wager that he would give a more costly dinner than
could the Spaniards.[498] No other information regarding this pearl
seems available. The valuation certainly appears excessive when compared
with that of some other pearls of that period.
We quote an item from Burgon,[499] taken from the manuscript journal
kept by Edward VI:
25 [April, 1551]. A bargaine made with the Fulcare for about 60,000
l. that in May and August should be paid, for the deferring of it.
First, that the Foulcare should put it off for ten in the hundred.
Secondly, that I should buy 12,000 marks weight at 6 shilinges the
ounce to be delivered at Antwerpe, and so conveyed over. Thirdly, I
should pay 100,000 crowns for a very faire juel of his, four rubies
marvelous big, one orient and great diamount, and one great pearle.
RUDOLPH II PEARLS. The scientific, art-loving, but eccentric Rudolph II
(1552–1612), Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, gathered about him at
Prague a great collection of jewels and wealth of all sorts. The values
of his pearls and precious stones, of the gold and silver articles, was
estimated by the archæologist, Jules Cæsar Boulenger, at seventeen
millions of gold florins, which was a very considerable sum at that
time, as appears when we consider that one hundred gold florins annually
was deemed a good salary for an official at the emperor’s court. De Boot
mentions a pearl belonging to Rudolph II which weighed “thirty carats
and cost as many thousands of gold pieces.” It is quite likely that this
was the one noted by Gomara as coming from the Gulf of Panama,[500] and
which Rudolph probably inherited from his grandfather, Emperor Charles
V. The pearl bought by Oviedo in Panama, prior to 1526, may be one of
the principal decorations of the imperial crown of Austria.
We read in that curious and interesting book, “The Generall Historie of
the Turkes,” by Richard Knolles,[501] that Abbas the Great, Shah of
Persia (1557–1628), after having defeated the Turks in many battles,
desired to form an alliance with Emperor Rudolph II, and to induce him
to break his engagements with the Turks. To this end Shah Abbas, in 1610
sent an embassy to Prague, with many valuable gifts for the emperor,
among which were “three orientall pearles exceeding big.” It has been
conjectured, and it is also claimed, that these may be three of the
eight pear-shaped pearls which are now to be seen in the crown of
Rudolph II. One of the largest pearls in the Austrian crown, as we have
stated, is most probably the Oviedo pearl.
CHARLES I PEARL. Admirers of Vandyke’s pictures of Charles I (1600–1649)
readily recall the pearl pendant from his right ear, which appears in
nearly all of his portraits by that artist. Janin wrote: “This pearl in
the ear of his majesty was greatly coveted, and as soon as his head had
fallen, the witnesses of the dreadful scene rushed forward, ready to
imbue their hands in his blood in order to secure the royal jewel.” It
seems more probable that the martyr king would have left this gem in the
hands of a trusty friend for his family than to the risk of injury by
the ax and to be torn from his mutilated head by a scrambling mob.
OWING to their control of the great fisheries, the most valuable
collections of pearls have been held by eastern monarchs, and
particularly by those of India and Persia. It has been estimated that
one third of the portable wealth of these countries is in jewels. Most
Orientals are as suspicious of interest in their jewels as they are of
inquiry regarding their harems, imagining, doubtless, that the interest
conceals a sentiment of cupidity, hence it is not practicable to give a
minute description of them. However, several travelers have recorded
glowing accounts of collections which they have examined, which read
much like a description of Aladdin’s palace in the Arabian Nights. Among
these, some of the greatest are the
PEARLS DESCRIBED BY TAVERNIER. For accounts of remarkable pearls in
eastern countries in the seventeenth century, we are indebted to that
well-informed old French jeweler, Tavernier, one of the most remarkable
gem dealers the world has ever known. He made numerous journeys to
Persia, Turkey, Central Asia, and the East Indies, gaining the
confidence of the highest officials and trading in gems of the greatest
value. After amassing a large fortune and purchasing a barony near Lake
Geneva, he died at Moscow in 1689 while on a mercantile trip to the
Orient, at the age of eighty-four years. His “Voyages,” published in
1676–1679, reveal a critical knowledge of gems, a remarkable insight
into human nature, and the absence of any intention to impart misleading
information.
In the first English edition of his travels, published in 1678,
Tavernier gave sketches of five of the principal pearls which came under
his careful observation.
Figure 1 of Tavernier’s diagram shows what he considered “the largest
and most perfect pearl ever discovered, and without the least defect.”
The weight of this pear-shaped gem does not appear to have been noted,
but from the sketch it may be estimated at about 500 grains. Tavernier
states that the bloodthirsty Shah Sofi, King of Persia, purchased it in
1633 from an Arab who had just received it from the fisheries at El
Katif. “It cost him 32,000 tomans, or 1,400,000 livres of our money, at
the rate of 46 livres and 6 deniers per toman ($552,000).”[502]
[Illustration:
QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND
]
[Illustration:
ELIZABETH OF FRANCE
]
Very much smaller but more beautiful than this great pearl, was the one
which Tavernier saw in 1670 at Ormus in the possession of the Imam of
Muscat, who had recently recovered the Muscat peninsula from the
Portuguese. The jeweler stated that although this weighed only twelve
and one sixteenth carats (forty-eight and a quarter grains),[503] and
was not perfectly round, it surpassed in beauty all others in the world
at that time. It was so clear and lustrous as to appear translucent. At
the conclusion of a grand entertainment given by the Khan of Ormus, at
which Tavernier was present, the Prince of Muscat drew this gem from a
small purse suspended about his neck, and exhibited it to the company.
The Khan of Ormus offered 2000 tomans (about $34,500) for it, but the
owner would not part with his treasure. Tavernier states that later the
prince refused an offer of 40,000 _escus_ ($45,000) from Aurangzeb, the
Great Mogul of India.[504]
Figure 3 in the diagram represents a pear-shaped pearl of fifty-five
carats (220 grains) which Tavernier sold to Shaista Khan, uncle of the
Grand Mogul. Although of large size and good shape, this was deficient
in luster. According to the jeweler, this pearl was from the Island of
Margarita on the Venezuelan coast, and was the largest ever carried from
Occident to Orient.
Tavernier listed among the Great Mogul’s jewels a large olive-shaped
pearl, perfect in form and luster. The weight was not noted, but from
the sketch which he gave (see Fig. 4) it may be estimated at about 125
grains. It formed the central ornament of a chain of emeralds and
rubies, which the Mogul sometimes wore about his neck. He also listed a
round pearl of perfect form (see Fig. 5). The weight of this also is not
noted, but from the sketch it may be estimated at 110 grains. This was
the largest perfectly spherical pearl known to Tavernier. Its equal had
never been found, and for that reason it was kept with the unmounted
jewels.
Among the other pearl treasures of the Great Mogul, Tavernier noted the
following:
(a) Two grand, pear-shaped pearls, one weighing about seventy
ratis,[505] a little flattened on both sides, and of beautiful water and
good form. (b) A button-shaped pearl, weighing from fifty-five to sixty
ratis, of good form and good water. (c) A round pearl of great
perfection, a little flat on one side and weighing fifty-six ratis; this
had been presented to the Great Mogul by Shah Abbas II, King of Persia.
(d) Three round yellowish pearls weighing from twenty-five to
twenty-eight ratis each. (e) A perfectly round pearl, thirty-five and a
half ratis, white and perfect in all respects. This was the only jewel
purchased by the Great Mogul himself, the others being inherited or
coming to him as presents. (f) Two pearls perfectly shaped and equal,
each weighing twenty-five and a quarter ratis. (g) Also two chains, one
of pearls and rubies of different shapes pierced like the pearls; the
other of pearls and emeralds, round and bored. All of these pearls were
round and ranged in weight from ten to twelve ratis each.[506]
PEACOCK THRONE. The famous Takht-i-Tâ’ûs, or “Peacock Throne,” at Delhi
doubtless contained the greatest accumulation of gems in the seventeenth
century. It was completed, in the eighth year of his reign (1044 A.H.,
1634 A.D.) by Shah Jehan, greatest of Mogul sovereigns, who likewise
built the Taj Mahal at Agra, one of the most beautiful edifices ever
designed by man. Abd-al-Hamid, of Lahore, in his Pâd-shâh-nâmah, “Book
of the King,” composed prior to 1654, writes as follows:[507]
In the course of years many valuable gems had come into the imperial
jewel house, each one of which might serve as an ear-drop for Venus
or as an adornment for the girdle of the Sun. Upon the accession of
the emperor, it occurred to him that, in the opinion of far-seeing
men the acquisition of such rare jewels and the keeping of such
wonderful brilliants could render but one service, that of adorning
the throne of the empire. They ought, therefore, to be put to such a
use that beholders might benefit by their splendour and that majesty
might shine with increased brilliancy.
As described by Tavernier in 1676, great quantities of pearls were used
in the ornamentation of this throne, the arched roof, the supporting
pillars, the adjacent sun-umbrellas, being well covered with these gems,
many of them of great value. The choicest one was pear-shaped, yellowish
in color, and weighed about fifty carats (200 grains);[508] this was
suspended from a great ruby which ornamented the breast of the peacock.
“But that which in my opinion is the most costly thing about this
magnificent throne is that the twelve columns supporting the canopy are
surrounded with beautiful rows of pearls, which are round and of fine
water, and weigh from 6 to 10 carats each [24 to 40 grains].”[509] The
total value of the jewels entering into the ornamentation was estimated
at 160,500,000 livres or $60,187,500; and the present value of the
throne as it stands in the shah’s palace at Teheran, whither it was
carried by Nadir Shah from the sack of Delhi in 1739, even though
divested of many of its most valuable gems, is estimated at
$13,000,000.[510] The designer of the Peacock Throne was Austin de
Bordeaux, who also planned the magnificent Taj Mahal. He was named by
Shah Jehan, “Jewel-Handed,” and received a salary of two thousand rupees
a month.
SHAH’S “TIPPET.” Sir Harford Jones Brydges’ description of the jewels of
the Shah of Persia at Teheran is of particular value, since he had
formerly dealt in jewels and was an expert in such matters. He says:
I was particularly struck with the king’s tippet, a covering for
part of his back, his shoulders and his arms, which is only used on
the very highest occasions. It is a piece of pearl work of the most
beautiful pattern; the pearls are worked on velvet, but they stand
so close together that little, if any, of the velvet is visible. It
took me a good hour to examine this single article, which I have no
fear of saying can not be matched in the world. There was not a
single pearl employed in forming this most gorgeous trapping less in
size than the largest marrow-fat pea I ever saw raised in England,
and many—I should suppose from 150 to 200—the size of a wild plum,
and throughout the whole of these pearls, it would puzzle the best
jeweler who should examine them most critically to discover in more
than 4 or 5 a serious fault. The tassel is formed of pearls of the
most uncommon size and beauty; and the emerald which forms the top
of the tassel is perhaps the largest perfect one in the world....
For some days after I had seen these jewels, I attempted to make an
estimate of their value, but I got so confused in the recollection
of their weight and the allowance to be made in some of them for
their perfection in water and color, that I gave it up as
impossible. I cannot, however, think I shall much mislead if I say
that on a moderate, perhaps a low calculation, their value cannot be
less than fifteen millions [sterling?] of our money.[511]
SHAH’S PEARLS IN 1820. Nearly a century ago the elaborate state costume
of the Shah of Persia was described by the English artist, Sir Robert
Ker Porter. In this description he mentioned particularly the pearls in
the tiara, the pear-shaped pearls of immense size with which the plumes
were tipped, the two strings of pearls—“probably the largest in the
world”—which crossed the king’s shoulders, and the large cushion incased
in a network of beautiful pearls against which he reclined.[512]
PEARLS OF THE GAIKWAR OF BARODA. Among the greatest jeweled treasures of
India are those of the present Mahratta Gaikwar of Baroda, who has
precedence over all the rulers in India at all functions, and is one of
the most prominent and enlightened of the Indian princes. He governs a
province of about 8225 square miles and 2,415,396 inhabitants in the
northwestern part of India, 248 miles north of Bombay. Most of these
treasures, whose value is estimated at a dozen million dollars, were
collected by his predecessor, Mahratta Khandarao, who lived in barbaric
splendor, and they are rarely worn by the present gaikwar. These
treasures include a sash of one hundred rows of pearls, terminating in a
great tassel of pearls and emeralds; seven rows of superb pearls whose
value is estimated at half a million dollars; a litter set with
seed-pearls, quantities of unstrung pearls, and more remarkable yet, a
shawl or carpet of pearls, which closely resembles the “tippet” at
Teheran described by Brydge. This carpet is said to be ten and one half
feet long by six feet wide, and to be made up of strings of pearls,
except that a border, eleven inches wide, and also center ornaments, are
worked out in diamonds. Some writers assert that this costly ornament
was originally intended by the late Mahratta Khandarao as a covering for
the tomb of Mohammed. Others state that it was designed as a present for
a woman of whom he was enamoured, but that the British resident
interfered, claiming that the wealth of Baroda was not sufficient to
warrant such an expensive gift on the part of the ruler. This ornament
is now retained among the regalia at Baroda, and is probably the most
costly pearl ornament in the world, its value being estimated at several
million dollars.
SUMMER PALACE IN 1860. Many superb pearls were among the precious
objects in the Yuen-Min-Yuen or Summer Palace in Pekin at the time of
its capture by the European forces in 1860. Numbers of these were lost
in the confusion of the sacking and plunder, when the soldiers’ pockets
were filled and the floors were strewn with jewels, beautiful objects of
gold and silver, rich silks and furs, carved jade, lapis lazuli, etc.
Some of the pearls found their way to Europe, and especially to France
and England. They were of good size and luster and were mostly yellowish
in color. Unfortunately, many were crudely drilled with large holes, and
had been strung on gold wires by which they were attached to the idols
they decorated at the time they were stolen. More than one hundred, each
over thirty grains in weight, were received in England, and sold at an
average of nearly one thousand dollars.
[Illustration:
PEARL CARPET OR SHAWL OF THE GAIKWAR OF BARODA
]
A similar booty came from the spoliation during the war between China
and Japan in 1894, and during the Boxer outbreaks of 1901, and
quantities of pearls, often large and of fine color, but a little the
worse for wear, were brought to the United States and Europe by the
soldiers and officials, and also by traders and travelers who obtained
them in China. The pendant figured is one of these objects.
THE GOGIBUS PEARL. This famous pearl, said to have been the largest in
Europe, weighed no less than 126 carats (504 grains). It was pear-shaped
and of fine orient, and was brought from the West Indies, in 1620, by
François Gogibus, a native of Calais, who sold it to Philip IV of Spain.
As no match could be found for this magnificent gem, it was mounted as a
button in the royal cap.[513]
LA REINE DES PERLES. The large round pearl of the French crown jewels
which is listed in the inventory of 1791 at 200,000 francs, was
purchased in 1669[514] for the sum of 40,000 livres, from a gem dealer
named Bazu, who had traveled in the East at about the time of
Tavernier’s voyage. In the inventory of 1691, it is described as “a
virgin pearl, perfect, round, and of fine water,” weighing 27½ carats
and valued at 90,000 livres. When the greater part of the jewels were
stolen from the Garde-Meuble in 1792, we are told that the thieves took
a pearl inclosed in a gold box on which was written: “The queen of
pearls.” This was most probably the one we have described and there is
reason to believe that this same pearl came later into the possession of
the Zozima brothers, and was called La Pellegrina.
LA RÉGENTE. This name was bestowed upon a big, ovate pearl which was in
the collection of the French crown jewels. This pearl, which weighs 337
grains, was furnished in November, 1811, by the court jewelers, Messrs.
Noitat, for a tiara, worn by Marie Louise, Empress of France. By order
of the emperor, Napoleon III, the pearl was taken out of the tiara and
mounted, in August, 1853, by the Paris jeweler Lemounier into a brooch.
This great brooch, with “La Régente” as the central gem, was bought by
Faberge & Company of St. Petersburg, Russia, for the Princess
Youssoupoff at the “Vente des Diamants de la Couronne” in 1887.
LA PELLEGRINA. For nearly a century there has been in Russia one of the
most lovely pearls in the world; this is La Pellegrina, formerly owned
by the Zozima brothers of Moscow, who were antiquarians of note in St.
Petersburg. In 1818 a small book of forty-eight pages was written about
this beautiful gem by G. Fischer de Waldheim, vice-president of the
Imperial Medico-Chirurgical Academy, probably the only book ever devoted
to a single pearl. According to this writer, La Pellegrina was purchased
at Leghorn by one of the Zozima brothers from an English admiral who had
just returned from India. It combines all the requisites of perfection:
it is absolutely spherical and has never been pierced; its luster, its
silvery sheen, make it appear almost transparent, and for a pearl of
this high grade, it is of remarkable size, weighing 111½ grains.
The Zozima brothers retained it in a sea-urchin shell mounted in gold
and with a convex lens as cover; this was contained in a silver box, and
this in turn in another box studded with gems. Although the lens
enlarged the appearance of the pearl, it detracted from its beautiful
form, giving it an oval shape. But when removed from the triple
inclosure, it rolled about like a globule of quicksilver, and surpassed
that metal in whiteness and brilliancy.
Everything that is beautiful and perfect takes such possession of
the beholder that words become insufficient to express his feelings;
and that is what happened to me in the case of La Pellegrina of
Zozima. One must have seen an object of this kind in order to
appreciate the impression it makes. As an evidence of this, I shall
note the last visit which I made to the owner in company with
several distinguished persons.
After having examined many curious medals and coins, and also some
pearls which exceeded in size the one of which I treat, and after
they had received their due meed of admiration, La Pellegrina
appeared, rolled upon a sheet of paper by the owner’s little finger.
Attention and admiration was depicted on every face; a perfect
silence reigned. It was only when the pearl had been removed very
carefully lest it should slip away, and was again triply enclosed,
that we recovered the power of speech and could unanimously express
our admiration.[515]
As it had been stated that this pearl was in the possession of the
Princess Youssoupoff, Mr. Henry W. Hiller of New York, who was in St.
Petersburg, courteously made inquiries and was successful in obtaining a
view of the two splendid pear-shaped pearls. These are almost exactly
alike, but neither of them can well be La Pellegrina, since this is a
round pearl; possibly the one on the right may be La Peregrina.[516]
[Illustration:
THE HOPE PEARL. WEIGHS 1800 GRAINS
Actual size
]
The owner of La Pellegrina in 1818, Z. P. Zozima, died in Moscow at a
great age, in 1827. He was a Greek dealer in curiosities and gems, who
had resided in Moscow for a long time, and had many clients among the
nobility of Russia. It is stated that a few months before his death the
best pieces of his collection, including La Pellegrina, were stolen from
him by a compatriot.
MOSCOW PEARL, 1840. The German traveler, Johann Georg Kohl (1808–1878),
in the account of his travels in Russia, relates an interesting incident
connected with a beautiful pearl in the Imperial Treasury. Shortly
previous to 1840, a rich Moscow merchant died in a convent, whither he
had retreated after the manner of the wealthy pious ones of his nation.
Feeling the approach of age, he had given up the toils of business to
his sons. His wife was dead, and the only beloved object which even in
the cloister was not separated from him was a large, beautiful, oriental
pearl. This precious object had been purchased for him by some Persian
or Arabian friend at a high price, and, enchanted by its water,
magnificent size, and color, its perfect shape and luster, he would
never part with it, however enormous the sum offered. He himself
inhabited an ordinary cell in the convent; but this object of his love
reposed on silk in a golden casket. It was shown to few persons, and
favorable circumstances and strong recommendations were necessary to
obtain such a favor. A Moscow resident reported the style and manner of
the ceremony. On the appointed day he went with his friends to the
convent, and found the old gentleman awaiting his guests in his holiday
clothes. Their reception had something of solemnity about it. The old
man went into his cell and brought out the casket in its rich covering.
He spread white satin on the table, and, unlocking the casket, let the
precious pearl roll out before the enchanted eyes of the spectators. No
one ventured to touch it, but all burst into acclamations, and the old
man’s eyes gleamed like his pearl. After a short time it was returned to
the casket. During his last illness, the old gentleman never let the
pearl out of his hand, and after his death it was with difficulty taken
from his stiffened fingers.
There seems to be a great similarity between the description of this
pearl and that of La Pellegrina, although we have been unable to verify
our surmise as to their identity.
THE HOPE PEARL. In the first half of the last century, Henry Philip
Hope, a London banker, brought together a great collection of gems,
among which were many pearls. The most famous of these was the
often-described Hope pearl, one of the largest known; the value of
which, however, is not in proportion to its size, owing to its irregular
formation. As described in the catalogue of the Hope collection,
published in 1839, this oriental pearl is of an irregular pear-shape,
weighs 1800 grains, or three ounces, measures two inches in length, and
in circumference four and one half inches at the broadest and three and
one fourth inches at the narrowest end. The color at the larger end is
of a bronze or a dark green copper tint, this gradually clearing into a
fine white luster for within one and one half inches of the smaller end.
This baroque pearl was firmly attached to the shell, and it yet shows
the point of attachment, which has been polished so as to correspond to
the remaining portion. It is attractively mounted, the smaller end being
capped with an arched crown of red enameled gold set with diamonds,
rubies, and emeralds.[517] After remaining in the Hope jewel collection
at the South Kensington Museum for many years, it was sold at auction,
at Christie’s, in 1886, when that collection was placed on the market.
This pearl is now held by Messrs. Garrard & Company of London, at the
price of £9000.
The Hope collection also contained about 148 pearls of good form.
Notable among these were the following: (a) a conical pearl weighing
151 grains, cream-white in color, from Polynesia; (b) a bouton pearl
of 124 grains, bluish-white at the top and encircled by a dark bronze
color; (c) an oval cream-colored pearl, weighing ninety-four grains,
from the South Seas; (d) an eighty-nine-grain, roughly spherical
pearl, one side bluish and the other of a light bronze; (e) an
eighty-five-grain, acorn-shaped, bluish-white pearl, with a band of
opaque white near the base; (f) an oval conch pearl, pink in general
color and somewhat whitish at the ends, weighing eighty-two and one
fourth grains; (g) another conch pearl, seventy-seven and one half
grains, button-shaped, yellowish white with a slight shade of pink;
(h) a seventy-six-and-one-half-grain drop-shaped pearl of a
_chatoyant_ aspect, of white color shaded with red, purple, and green;
and (i) a pear-shaped Scottish pearl of thirty-four and three fourths
grains, of a milky bluish caste, slightly tinged with pink.
VAN BUREN PEARLS. Among the collections of the United States National
Museum are two pendant pearls each weighing about thirty grains, and a
necklace containing 148 pearls with an aggregate weight of 700 grains.
These were presented in 1840 to President Van Buren by the Imam of
Muscat. They were deposited in the vaults of the Treasury Department,
where they remained until a few years ago, when, by the order of the
Secretary of the Treasury, they were transferred to the custody of the
National Museum where they now are.
[Illustration:
HER GRACE, THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH
]
THIERS NECKLACE. In the galleries of the Louvre at Paris may be seen a
pearl necklace formerly owned by the wife of President Thiers
(1797–1887), consisting of 145 pearls in three rows. The weights of the
three largest individual pearls are fifty-one, thirty-nine, and
thirty-six grains, respectively. The aggregate weight is 2079 grains,
and the value at the time of their deposit was estimated at 300,000
francs. This is on a base of $2.02; at a higher valuation the figures
would be:
$148,947 = $71.64 per grain; base, $5
238,315 = 114.63 per grain; base, 8
the last being very probably nearer to the correct value of the necklace
at the present time.
TIFFANY QUEEN PEARL. Doubtless the most famous pearl ever found within
the limits of the United States, and likewise one of the choicest, is
the well-known “Queen Pearl,” found in Notch Brook near Paterson, New
Jersey, in 1857.[518] In form it is a perfect sphere, and weighs
ninety-three grains. The history of the discovery and of the sale of
this beautiful gem is set forth on page 260.
THE BAPST PEARLS. Very practical is the account given by Streeter of a
pair of magnificent spherical pearls exhibited at the Paris Exhibition
in 1878 by Messrs. Bapst of Paris. One of these pearls—then weighing 116
grains—was purchased by Mr. Streeter in 1877, and by him sold to a
leading merchant of London, who skilfully removed a blemish on it,
reducing it to 113¾ grains in weight. After holding it for some months,
it occurred to him that it would match a pearl sold by Hunt and Roskell
to Dhuleep Singh about fifteen years previously. On comparison, the two
were found to match perfectly, one weighing 113¾ and the other 113¼
grains. The two were eventually sold early in 1878 “for £4800, which was
even then much below their value, and to-day they would be worth
£10,000. They were exhibited in the great Paris Exposition in 1878,
where they attracted universal attention, and were pronounced by
connoisseurs to be the most extraordinary pair of pearls ever seen in
Europe. They were sold from the exhibition to an individual for a very
large sum.”[519]
THE “SOUTHERN CROSS.” The “Southern Cross” is an unusual pearl or rather
cluster of pearls which attracted much attention twenty years ago. It
consists of nine attached pearls forming a Roman cross about one and one
half inches in length, seven pearls constituting the shaft or standard,
while the arms are formed by one pearl on each side of the second one
from the upper end. The luster is good, but the individual pearls are
not perfect spheres, being mutually compressed at the point of juncture
and considerably flattened at the back. If separated, the aggregate
value of the individual pearls would be small, and the celebrity of the
ornament is due almost exclusively to its form. This striking formation
was exhibited at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at London in 1886,
and later at the Paris Exhibition in 1889, where it was the center of
interest, and obtained a gold medal for the exhibitors. It is reported
that an effort was made to bring about its sale at £10,000, the owners
suggesting that it was especially appropriate for presentation to Leo
XIII, on the occasion of his jubilee in 1896. The writers have been
unable to obtain information as to its present location.
Much information relative to the “Southern Cross” was volunteered by
Henry Taunton in the very interesting account of his wanderings in
Australia. He presents apparently reliable statements showing that it
was found on March 26, 1883, off Baldwin Creek in Lat. 17° S. and Long.
122° E., by a boy named Clark, in the employ of James W. S. Kelly, a
master pearler. When delivered to Kelly, it was in three distinct
pieces, but the boy reported that it was in one piece when he found it a
few hours before. Kelly sold it in the three pieces in which he received
it for £10 to a fellow pearler named Roy; Roy sold it for £40 to a man
named Craig, and he sold it to an Australian syndicate.
However, according to Taunton’s positive statement, there were only
eight pearls in the cluster when it was sold by Kelly in 1883, and to
make it resemble a well-proportioned cross—the right arm being
absent—another pearl of suitable size and shape was subsequently secured
at Cossack and attached in the proper place to the others, which, in the
meantime, had been refastened together by diamond cement, thus making
three artificial joints in the present cluster. “As if to assist in the
deception, nature had fashioned a hollow in the side of the central
pearl just where the added pearl would have to be fitted; and—the whole
pearling fleet with their pearls and shells coming into Cossack about
this time—it was no difficult matter to select a pearl of the right size
and with the convexity required. The holder paid some ten or twelve
pounds for the option of selecting a pearl within given limits; and then
once more, with the aid of diamond cement and that of a skilful ‘faker,’
this celebrated gem was transformed into a perfect cross.”[520]
MORGAN-TIFFANY COLLECTION. Probably the most interesting assortment of
American pearls is the Morgan-Tiffany Collection in the American Museum
of Natural History, New York. The excellence of this collection lies,
not in the high cost of any individual pearl, but in its illustrating in
a comprehensive manner the great variety, colors, and forms of American
pearls. Not only are the many varieties of fresh-water pearls
represented, but likewise abalone pearls from the Pacific coast, conch
pearls from the Gulf of Mexico, and a good assortment of pearly
concretions from edible oysters and clams of the Atlantic coast.
This collection contains 557 species of white and colored Unio pearls,
four multicolored, five mallet-shapes, 166 baroques, thirty-nine hinge
pearls, twenty pearlaceous masses, thirty-four clam (Venus) pearls,
fifteen abalone pearls, eleven conch pearls, and twelve oyster (Ostrea)
pearls. The collection was exhibited in two parts, the first at the
Paris Exposition of 1889, and the second at the Paris Exposition of
1900. On each occasion a gold medal was awarded.
COUNT BATTHYANI’S PEARL. A curious history is connected with a beautiful
black pearl[521] which was at one time in the possession of Count Louis
Batthyani, the premier of the revolutionary government of Hungary. The
count was shot in 1849, by the orders of a court-martial, and on the eve
of his execution he gave the pearl, which he had worn mounted on a
scarf-pin, to his trusty and faithful valet. The latter left it to his
son, who, when in straightened circumstances, sought to raise money upon
the pearl. The pawnbroker of the small town was distrustful of its value
and took it to Budapest for appraisal. There the suspicions of the
authorities were aroused, an investigation was ordered, and it was
finally discovered that the pearl had been stolen one hundred and fifty
years before from the English crown. The English government redeemed it
for the sum of £2500 ($12,500). How it came into the possession of Count
Batthyani is a mystery; probably he purchased it from some antiquarian.
In 1900 there was shown in Paris one of the most important black pearls
of any time, a pear-shaped pearl of forty-nine grains, of a most
wonderful black color with a green sheen, as perfectly formed as though
it had been turned out of a lathe; it did not terminate in a point at
the small end, but was slightly flattened. It was so beautiful an object
that it almost seemed it should never be drilled for mounting. This
pearl ultimately sold for more than $30,000, and it is probably the
finest black pearl that has ever reached the European markets.
According to a personal communication from E. Z. Steever, governor of
the District of Sulu, the largest pearl that he has seen in the islands
belongs to the sultan, and is now in the possession of Hadji Butu,
former prime minister. It is an oblate spheroid, there being a trifling
difference between the two diameters. The upper hemisphere is very
beautiful; the lower one has a few minute, black specks which are
superficial and could be easily removed, the pearl not having been
treated since it was taken from the oyster. This pearl measures five
eighths of an inch at its greatest diameter and is said to weigh twelve
carats (forty-eight grains). Hadji Butu informed Governor Steever that
the sultan had refused $25,000 for the pearl in Singapore.
The Nordica pearl is the finest abalone of which we have any record. It
weighs 175 grains, is a drop pearl of a greenish hue, with brilliant red
fire-like flashes, and serves as a pendant to the famous collection of
colored pearls belonging to the beloved and admired American prima
donna, Madam Nordica.
At the International Exposition in Paris in 1889, Mr. Alphonse Falco,
president of the Chambre Syndicale, exhibited a round pearl, white and
lustrous, weighing seventy grains, and valued at 50,000 francs.
Augusto Castellani, the well-known Italian jeweler of Rome, in the year
1868, during the Papal regime, executed a crown for King Victor Emmanuel
II. This crown was destined for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in
Jerusalem, and on it is a pearl which, although slightly irregular, is
as large as the famous Gogibus pearl.
A remarkable golden-yellow pearl from Shark’s Bay, West Australia, is in
the possession of a New York lady; it weighs thirty and one half grains,
is perfectly round, and is without a flaw or blemish.
CROWN JEWELS OF FRANCE. The collection of gems known as the Crown Jewels
of France owed its origin to Francis I (1494–1547). While in Bordeaux,
on his way to meet his bride, Eleanor of Austria, sister of Emperor
Charles V, Francis created by letter patent the Treasure of the Crown
Jewels, giving to the state a number of his most valued diamonds, under
the condition that at each change of sovereign a careful inventory
should be made. The original collection consisted of six pieces of
jewelry valued at 272,242 “_écus soleil_,” or about $700,000. The crown
jewels have passed through many vicissitudes in the course of time. A
number of the gems were at various times pledged as security for loans
made in France and Italy, and it is said that in 1588, during the reign
of Henry III, all the jewels disappeared from the royal treasury. Henry
IV strove to regather the scattered ornaments, but it was only in the
reign of Louis XIV that the collection became really important. At the
time of the French Revolution, in 1791, an inventory was made by the
order of the National Assembly.
[Illustration:
THE MADAM NORDICA COLLECTION OF COLORED PEARLS
The Nordica drop pearl weighs 175 grains
]
The jewels were then deposited in the Garde-Meuble, where they were
exposed to public view. Either they were very carelessly guarded, or the
guardians were in collusion with a band of thieves, for the room wherein
they were kept was entered on five successive nights, and when the theft
was finally discovered only about 500,000 francs’ ($100,000) worth of
the gems remained. Many of the most valuable objects were, however,
traced and recovered. Napoleon I, when he became emperor, made every
effort to enrich the treasure, and purchased gems to the value of
6,000,000 francs ($1,200,000), and subsequent rulers added to the
collection on various occasions.
At the time of the official inventory in 1791 the entire collection of
pearls was estimated at about 1,000,000 francs ($200,000). The finest
specimen in the collection was a splendid round pearl weighing 109¼
grains[522] and estimated at 200,000 francs ($40,000), or $366 per
grain, on a base of $3.35. Then came two pear-shaped pearls of a fine
orient and well-matched, weighing respectively 117¾ and 113 grains, and
valued at 300,000 francs ($60,000) or $260 per grain, on a base of
$2.25. In addition to the above there were twenty-five separate round
pearls which had constituted the necklace of the queen; they ranged in
weight from 36 to 165½ grains, and were valued at about 90,000 francs
($18,000). Beside the pear-shaped pearls to which we have alluded, there
were two other pairs, each valued at 32,000 francs ($6400) for the two
pearls; they averaged about 100 grains in weight. In addition to these
there were two weighing respectively 175½ and 205¼ grains, each valued
at 20,000 francs ($4000), and seven others ranging in weight from 92½ to
167 grains and valued at from 10,000 to 15,000 francs ($2000 to $3000).
The best oval pearl was one weighing seventy-six and one half grains and
estimated at 20,000 francs ($4000); there were two others, one of
ninety-three grains, valued at 12,000 francs ($2400), and one of 121
grains, valued at 10,000 francs ($2000). We may also mention an
egg-shaped pearl weighing 145¼ grains, estimated as worth 10,000 francs
($2000), and a button pearl of 198 grains entered at 15,000 francs
($3000). Beside these separate pearls there were eleven strings
comprising 310 pearls, weighing in all 6778 grains and valued at but
29,400 francs (about $6000). The average per pearl was 95 francs ($19),
less than one dollar a grain.
These pearls, according to their beauty, would now be worth from four to
six times the valuation here given, so that the two large pear-shaped
pearls of the French crown may be worth to-day $200,000 and the great
round pearl from $100,000 to $250,000.
Many of these pearls were a century old. They were collected at a time
when not as much attention was paid to their absolute perfection and
beauty as at the present time, for there probably never has been a
period when rare and perfect pearls, diamonds, or rubies have been
appreciated so much more highly than those of mediocre quality.
RECAPITULATION
Weight in grains Value
No. Average Total Francs U. S. currency
Round Pearls 1 109¼ 200,000 $40,000
3 79 238½ 29,000 5,800
11 77¼ 804½ 37,300 7,460
7 64½ 450½ 19,400 3,880
14 53¾ 753¼ 23,100 4,620
43 34½ 1488½ 16,100 3,220
Pear-shaped 2 115⅜ 230¾ 300,000 60,000
4 99¼ 397½ 64,000 12,800
6 163⅛ 978¾ 92,000 18,400
8 114¼ 914¼ 55,000 11,000
47 42¼ 1989¾ 24,600 4,920
Oval 3 27 290½ 42,000 8,400
9 72½ 654¼ 20,100 4,020
11 43 473¾ 5,000 1,000
Egg-shaped 1 145¼ 10,000 2,000
Irregular 12 39½ 475¼ 7,300 1,460
Button 1 198 15,000 3,000
6 66¼ 398 4,900 980
Baroque 4 37½ 150¾ 1,500 300
Strings 310 21⅞ 6778 29,400 5,880
——- ——— ——————— ——————— ————————
503 35⅜ 17,919¼ 995,700 $199,140
[Illustration:
GRAND PEARL DIADEM OF THE FRENCH CROWN JEWELS
Containing 212 pearls weighing 2452 grains, and 1990 diamonds weighing
74 27–32 carats. Worn by the Empress Eugénie
]
After the downfall of Napoleon III and the proclamation of the French
Republic, the jewels were inventoried, and, by a law passed December 10,
1886, it was decreed that a large part of the treasure should be sold at
public auction. The sale was held in the Pavilion de Flore, a part of
the Palace of the Tuileries, on May 12, 1887, and, very naturally, all
the principal gem dealers and collectors were represented. A number of
remarkable pearl ornaments were among the objects offered at this sale,
one of the most beautiful being a diadem of an exceptionally artistic
openwork design, adorned with large, round pearls and surmounted by a
row of magnificent pear-shaped pearls. The total number of pearls in
this diadem was 212, and their weight 2452 grains. It was sold for the
sum of 78,000 francs ($15,600). The coronet which accompanied the diadem
comprised 274 pearls, weighing 984 grains; the design was similar to
that of the diadem, but the points consisted of a round and a
pear-shaped pearl in alternation. This ornament realized the sum of
30,000 francs ($6000). A large brooch of very elaborate and beautiful
design, beside a number of smaller pearls, comprised four fine,
pear-shaped pendants, weighing 100 grains each, and two choice bouton
pearls, and had in the center the famous pearl known as “La Régente,”
which was purchased in 1811 for 40,000 francs ($8000). This splendid
ornament brought the sum of 176,000 francs ($35,200). Four other
brooches each contained seven pearls and many brilliants, the
twenty-eight pearls having a total weight of 1496 grains, an average of
more than fifty-three grains. Each brooch had two pearls surrounded with
brilliants, and five large, pear-shaped pearls set as pendants. They
were sold to different purchasers at prices ranging from 18,500 francs
($3700) to 43,000 francs ($8600), the four together realizing 113,500
francs ($22,700).
Six pearl necklaces were also offered. One of forty-seven pearls
weighing 698 grains was sold for 34,600 francs ($6920), and two others,
each consisting of fifty-eight pearls, with a total weight of 524 and
400 grains respectively, brought the sum of 22,300 francs ($4460) and
15,000 francs ($3000). Another necklace composed of thirty-eight round
pearls and nine pear-shaped pendants, the total weight being 1612
grains, sold for 74,300 francs ($14,860). The two finest necklaces were
broken up into a number of separate lots. One of them, consisting of 362
pearls and weighing in all 5808 grains,—an average of a trifle over
sixteen grains,—was offered in four lots which together brought 295,800
francs ($59,160). The other necklace comprised 542 pearls weighing 6752
grains, and was disposed of in eight lots, realizing in all 331,800
francs ($66,360). Two bracelets adorned with 202 pearls and a number of
small brilliants were purchased for the sum of 90,200 francs ($18,040).
The total amount realized for the pearl ornaments was 1,261,500 francs
($252,300). There are several American ladies who own single strings of
pearls which are of more value than the whole pearl parure of the
Empress Eugénie.
Pearl parure of the crown jewels of France, worn by the Empress Eugénie,
and sold at the Tuileries, May 12, 1887.
A diadem containing 212 pearls, weighing 2452 grains.
A coronet with 274 pearls, weighing 984 grains.
Four brooches, each containing four large pearls, two round, two
pear-shaped, and three smaller ones, weighing in all 1496 grains.
A larger brooch comprising four large pear-shaped pearls, each weighing
100 grains. In the center is the pearl called “La Régente.”
Two necklaces each consisting of forty-seven pearls, with an aggregate
weight of 698 and 1612 grains, respectively.
Two bracelets with 202 pearls, weighing 2000 grains.
Five buttons, three with nine and two with ten pearls.
A necklace of 542 pearls, weighing 6752 grains.
Another necklace of 362 pearls, weighing 5808 grains.
Two other necklaces, each containing fifty-eight pearls, the total
weight being 400 and 524 grains, respectively.
SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL PEARL ORNAMENTS FORMING THE PEARL PARURE OF
THE FRENCH CROWN JEWELS SOLD AT PALACE OF THE TUILERIES IN MAY, 1887
Designation No. of pearls Aggregate weight Amount rec’d
grains francs
1 necklace 362 5,808 295,800
1 necklace 542 6,752 331,800
1 necklace 47 698 34,600
1 necklace 58 524 22,300
1 necklace 58 400 15,000
1 necklace 47 1,612 74,300
2 bracelets 202 2,000 90,200
1 large diadem 212 2,452 78,000
1 coronet 274 984 30,000
1 brooch 45 1,200 176,000
4 brooches 28 1,496 113,500
———— —————— ———-———-—
Total 1875 23,926 1,261,500
IMPERIAL AUSTRIAN SCHATZKAMMER. The weights and values of the great
gathering of pearls of the imperial Austrian Schatzkammer were carefully
estimated by one of the authors and by his friends, and it is the first
attempted inventory ever published.[523]
The imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire, preserved in the treasury
of the imperial Burg at Vienna, and known as the crown of Charlemagne,
has in front seventeen pearls weighing 424 grains, of which two weigh
fifty-six grains each. The remaining fifteen pearls average 20.8 grains.
The values of these pearls are as follows:
Base
$2.50 $5.00 $7.50
15 pearls, 20.8 grains $16,224 $32,448 $48,672
2 56–grain pearls 15,680 31,360 47,040
——————— ——————— ———————
Total $31,904 $63,808 $95,712
[Illustration:
THE IMPERIAL AUSTRIAN CROWN
Made by order of Emperor Rudolph II, in 1604
]
At the back of the crown there are eighteen pearls, weighing 180 grains.
One of these has a weight of twenty-six grains; the remaining seventeen
average 9.058 grains. The values estimated are as follows:
Base
$2.50 $5.00 $7.50
17 pearls, 9.058 grains $3,487.55 $6,975.10 $10,462.65
1 pearl of 26 grains 1,690.00 3,380.00 5,070.00
——————— ——————— ———————
Total $5,177.55 $10,355.10 $15,532.65
The pearls in the cross surmounting the crown have a weight of
thirty-six grains.
The imperial cross is profusely ornamented with pearls in front, while
the back consists simply of silver-gilt. There are three strings of
pearls in the front running in each direction. The total weight of the
pearls is 4092 grains; one weighing sixty-four grains, and the smallest
two grains.
The crucifix of the Golden Fleece is ornamented only in front with
pearls; these have a weight of but 136 grains.
The imperial Austrian regalia, dating from the time of Emperor Rudolph
II, are also in the imperial Burg; some of the emperor’s jewels were
sold at auction in Prague in 1728.
The crown is adorned with two rows of pearls, weighing respectively 960
and 840 grains; between these rows are pearls having a total weight of
440 grains, while the ornaments and eight large drops weigh 2052 grains.
The largest pearl on this crown weighs 104 grains. It is drop-shaped and
belonged to Rudolph II; it is slightly uneven and the color, although
white, is not that of a new pearl, but this pearl has a positive history
of three hundred and six years, and at the present time is probably the
oldest known unchanged pearl with a direct and authentic record.
The imperial orb is studded with pearls weighing in all 1560 grains.
Four of these weigh forty grains each, the others are of lesser size,
the smallest weighing ten grains. The scepter is adorned with pearls to
the weight of 300 grains.
In addition to these insignia and regalia there are in the treasury two
magnificent pearl necklaces, deposited by Empress Maria Theresa in 1765.
The first consists of a single string of 114 large-sized pearls with the
“Baden Solitaire,” a diamond of 30 carats, as a clasp. Three of these
pearls weigh from 92 to 100 grains each, and the whole string has a
total weight of 3400 grains. This would give us the following values,
the pearls averaging 29.82 grains.
Base
$2.50 $253,432.12
5.00 506,864.24
The other necklace contains 121 pearls of a total weight of 3788 grains,
arranged in three rows; these pearls average 31.3 grains, the largest
weighing forty grains and the smallest ten grains. The necklace has a
diamond clasp of 14–1⁄32 carats. The pearls are worth:
Base
$2.50 $296,450
5.00 592,900
7.50 889,350
Two bracelets with brilliant clasps, belonging to the same set, and
consisting of 240 medium-sized pearls weighing 2800 grains and averaging
11⅔ grains, have the following values:
Base
$2.50 $81,658.80
5.00 163,317.60
7.50 244,976.40
There is also a pendant of six pearls, weighing 300 grains and averaging
fifty grains; these pearls are worth:
Base
$2.50 $37,500
5.00 75,000
7.50 112,500
Another necklace, bequeathed to the treasury by the late Empress
Caroline Augusta, consists of eighty-six pearls disposed in two rows,
the largest pearl weighing seventy-two grains and the smallest eight
grains. The total weight is 2600 grains and the average, 30.2. This
necklace is worth:
Base
$2.50 $196,088.60
5.00 392,177.20
7.50 588,265.80
Still another necklace is composed altogether of black pearls, of which
there are thirty, the largest weighing forty-eight grains and the
smallest ten. The total weight of this necklace is 1040 grains, an
average of 34.66 grains for each pearl. On a base of $5 this necklace is
worth $180,150.
The diamond crown of the empress bears pearls to the total weight of
2000 grains; among them are four weighing 100 grains each. These pearls
alone, on a $5 base, would be worth $200,000.
[Illustration:
THE GREAT SÉVIGNÉ OF THE FRENCH CROWN JEWELS
Containing “The Regent Pearl,” weighing 337 grains, and four
pear-shaped pearls of 100 grains each; also 100 carats of diamonds
]
The total weight of the pearls in all these ornaments is 35,816 grains,
equal to four and a half pounds, avoirdupois, and they are worth from
$2,000,000 to $4,000,000.
The so-called crown of Charlemagne bears the inscription: “Chuonradus
Rex Dei gratia Romanorum Imperator Aug.” It is believed to be a work of
the twelfth century and originally the royal crown of Conrad III, king
of the Germans (1093–1152), the first Hohenstaufen.[524] The arch is
said to have been added to adapt this royal crown for use in the
expected coronation of Conrad as emperor. He died, however, while making
preparations for his journey to Rome.
The imperial vestments used in the coronation ceremonies of the Holy
Roman Empire, were produced in the celebrated Hôtel de Tirâz, at
Palermo. Roger II, King of Sicily (1096–1154), after a victorious
campaign in Greece, brought back with him to Sicily a number of skilled
silk-weavers and embroiderers, whom he established at Palermo. The
imperial mantle is of a brilliant purple and bears an inscription,
embroidered in gold and pearls, stating that the garment was made in the
royal manufactory in the year 1133. Two pearl-embroidered
representations of a lion, who has stricken down a camel and is about to
tear it to pieces, also appear on this mantle. This symbol of royal
power was used frequently by the Saracens, and it is said that Richard
Cœur de Lion had this design embroidered on his saddlecloths.[525]
A fine collection of large baroque pearls is preserved in the Grüne
Gewölbe (Green Vaults) in the palace at Dresden, which contains the
treasures of the royal family of Saxony. Most of these were mounted
during the eighteenth century by J. M. Dinglinger (1665–1731), the
famous goldsmith to the Saxon Elector, King Augustus II of Poland, and
who is sometimes called the German Cellini. A splendid specimen of his
work is a vase of Egyptian jasper in the shape of a shell, bearing a
representation of Hercules fighting with the Nemæan lion; this bears
reference to the immense personal strength and power of Augustus II,
whose portrait is painted in enamel on a mirror at the back. The
pedestal is adorned with a great many precious stones, pearls, and
enamel paintings in the shape of cameos representing the twelve labors
of Hercules. A dragon is studded with emeralds and its back is formed of
pearls, with a large sardonyx in the middle. Hercules and the lion are
in enamel.
In the same collection may be seen the figure of a dwarf made by
Ferbecq, who was one of the goldsmiths of King Augustus. The body of the
dwarf is formed of a baroque pearl, which is studded with small
diamonds. His sleeves and trousers are in black and green enamel; his
hat is also of green enamel and on it is a string of diamonds. In his
right hand the dwarf holds a spit and in his left a roast. On his left
shoulder he bears a goose, the upper part of whose body is formed of a
pearl; at his right side hangs a bottle also formed of a pearl. The
gilded pedestal is ornamented with white enamel work on a pink ground.
Above and below, it is set with white and yellow diamonds. Another
figure, similarly formed of a large baroque pearl ornamented with gold
and diamonds, shows a drunken vintager and his dog; and an exceedingly
grotesque, ornamented baroque is said to bear a striking resemblance to
Señor Pepe, the court dwarf of Charles II of Spain.
Exhibited at the Palace of Rosenberg at Copenhagen, are similar designs
in which large baroques form the principal part of fish, birds, dragons,
mermaids, etc. Prominent among them is the figure of a skater, executed
by the jeweler, Diederichsen; it is said that this was made for
Frederick VII, who died before it was accepted, and in 1895 it was
presented to the museum.
A beautiful and costly figure of this nature was completed a year or two
ago by the court jeweler, Alfred Dragsen, of Copenhagen. This is nearly
four inches in height, and represents a female snake-charmer. A very
long baroque pearl forms the body from the shoulders to the knees, and
the head, arms, and the legs below the knees are of gold. The figure is
ornamented with a diamond-studded garland, ruby necklace and earrings,
and garters set with similar gems, a red enameled girdle ornamented with
pearls, and golden anklets with black pearls. With a flute she charms a
serpent twined about her body and grasped with the other hand.
What is said to be the finest collection of black pearls in all Europe
is that belonging to the Duchess of Anhalt Dessau, Germany. It consists
of three large caskets of black pearls that have taken a century to
collect. It is traditional in the family that these pearls are never to
be sold except as their last possession, since they know they will
always find a purchaser.
A collection of pearls had been kept for many years in the Monte de
Piedad of Mexico City, which it was claimed had been pawned by a friend
of the Empress Carlotta, in order to provide her with money at the time
of the assassination of Emperor Maximilian. These pearls were contained
in a necklace and a pearl and diamond tiara, which were sewn upon
cardboard covered with black velvet, and had the appearance of not
having been disturbed for many years. The necklace consisted of old
pearls, both of the so-called Madras and Panama varieties; in the center
was a large diamond medallion from which pear-shaped pearls were
suspended. It is believed that these pearls were part of Empress
Carlotta’s marriage portion, and that they came from the Austrian crown
jewel collection. None of them possessed much quality with the exception
of one, a large pear-shaped pearl which was set at the base of the
necklace and weighed eighty-four grains. The drilling of this pearl was
of a very old style, being of that type in which a tube is inserted in
the drill hole, through which a gold wire passes to hold the pearl; a
diamond is then set at the base of the tube to disguise the drill mark.
It is, however, possible that the pearl came from the East Indies, where
large drill holes are usual.
[Illustration:
MADAM NORDICA
]
The pearls were sent in bond to the United States as a collection, and
then to Europe, where they were sold separately, the pear-shaped pearl
appearing again in the New York market in 1906. There has been some
doubt as to these really being Carlotta’s pearls, but the Mexican
account is fairly consistent, and it satisfactorily disposes of the
newspaper romance in which it was claimed that Carlotta had taken these
pearls with her to Europe and that they had been buried in a casket in
the Adriatic Sea.
RECENT AUCTION SALES. In England and in France, more than in the United
States, great auction sales of jewels are common. They are held in
London, principally at Christie’s, originally a coffee house,
established in 1880; and in Paris, at the Hôtel Drouot. Good prices are
generally realized, as the buyers of the entire continent attend these
great sales. The purchases are usually made by dealers who frequently do
not neglect each other’s interests if private buyers are present. No
matter how great may be the amount involved, no matter whether the
collections consist of paintings, furniture, or jewels, there are always
buyers, to a much greater extent than in the United States. The price
for fine jewels may naturally vary a trifle in the different markets,
according to the conditions of payment. It must evidently make an
appreciable difference whether almost the entire amount is paid in cash
or whether a credit of thirty days is extended, or one for a much longer
period, in some countries for as long as one, two, or even three years.
While in the United States such sales of valuable jewels are very
unusual, it has been a custom in England and in France for many years,
in the settlement of estates, to sell not only the furniture,
bric-à-brac, etc., but also the jewels. Sales of this kind are naturally
calculated to attract not only the dealers, but also many rich
collectors and connoisseurs, and as they are frequently widely
advertised, and London and Paris are, at the most, but one to two days’
journey from all parts of Europe, many people attend, most of the
private buyers being represented by their agents. By means of these
sales many heirlooms, which have been handed down from generation to
generation, often pass into the possession of strangers. In the matter
of jewels, it has been frequently noticed that dealers are in the
majority of cases the ultimate buyers, and it has also been inferred
that when an outsider participates in the bidding, the prices are
advanced to such an extent that it does not often appear profitable for
him to buy in the face of such competition. All manner of people have
had their estates disposed of in this way, and the list of these sales
during the past twenty years is a striking one: royalty, nobility,
merchants, and people in many other conditions of life find a place in
it.
It is not an infrequent custom in London for solicitors to advance money
on jewels, and when the payments are not forthcoming these jewels are
sold. Hence, many sales appear at the larger auction rooms in which no
name is given, the owners frequently being people of high degree.
On July 19, 1892, a necklace containing eighty-five graduated pearls
of unusual size and quality, the property of the late H. W. F.
Bolchow, M.P., was sold in London for the sum of £2500 ($12,500).
Another necklace of 146 fine graduated pearls disposed in two rows,
brought £2400 ($12,000); a single-row necklace of eighty-five pearls
realized £1600 ($8000), and one of 118 pearls in two rows £1660
($8300).
An exceptionally fine pearl necklace which belonged to her Grace the
late Caroline, Duchess of Montrose, mother of the present Duke of
Montrose, was sold at Christie’s on April 30, 1895. The necklace
comprised 362 graduated pearls, arranged in seven rows of
forty-four, forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty-two,
fifty-eight, and sixty-four pearls, respectively. The amount
realized for this ornament was £11,500 ($57,500).
On July 9, 1901, a pearl necklace, advertised as the property of “a
French lady of rank,” and several other valuable pearl ornaments,
were offered at Christie’s. It is supposed by many that these jewels
belonged to Madame Humbert. The necklace was composed of six rows of
graduated pearls consisting of fifty-five, sixty-one, sixty-seven,
seventy-three, seventy-nine, and eighty-nine pearls, respectively, a
total of 424, all of good color and luster. A London dealer
considers that they owed their value mainly to skilful matching and
fineness of color; they are perhaps a century old. As may be
supposed, there were many bidders who competed eagerly for
possession of this fine ornament, and it was at last adjudged for
the sum of £20,000 ($100,000). While this was, up to that date, a
record price in an auction room, it was by no means an exceptional
figure for private sales; indeed, at about the time this necklace
was sold, a London dealer disposed of another for £34,000
($170,000).
A necklace, the property of the late Lady Matheson of the Lews, was
sold at Christie’s, March 5, 1902. Well-matched and graduated round
pearls, to the number of 233, were disposed in four rows, and strung
with seed-pearls between. This necklace, which had been presented to
Lady Matheson at the time of her marriage in 1843 by Sir Jamsetjee
Jejeebhoy, Bart., brought the sum of £6800 ($34,000).
A pearl necklace, containing fifty-three fine and graduated pearls,
was sold in London, June 9, 1902, for the sum of £2250 ($11,250).
Another necklace of sixty-eight fine round pearls, one of which
formed the clasp, brought £1580 ($7900). A beautiful pearl and
brilliant pendant of open scroll design, with a large, round white
pearl in the center, and a large, pear-shaped black pearl as drop,
realized £800 ($4000), and a pearl collar of ten rows of round
pearls brought £820 ($4100). A noteworthy offering at this sale was
a rope of 135 pearls, an heirloom sold under the will of Lady
Marianna Augusta Hamilton. These pearls had been given to Lady
Augusta Anne Cockburn in 1769 on the occasion of her marriage to Sir
James Cockburn, Bart., by her godmother, Augusta, Duchess of
Brunswick, sister to George III. The rope was sold for £900 ($4500).
The pearls of Lady Dudley were sold at Christie’s on July 4, 1902.
Among them was a magnificent necklace of forty-seven slightly
graduated round pearls, of large size and unusually brilliant
orient; their gross weight was 1090 grains. This necklace brought
the sum of £22,200 ($111,000). A single pear-shaped pearl of the
finest orient mounted with a diamond cap, as a pendant, and weighing
209 grains, was sold for £13,500 ($67,500). A rope of 222 graduated
round pearls of the highest quality, weighing 2320 grains was
purchased for £16,700 ($83,500), and a pearl and brilliant tiara
brought £10,300 ($51,500). The entire casket of thirty-one lots
realized £89,526 ($447,630).
At the sale of the jewels of Mlle. Wanda de Boncza, at the Hôtel
Drouot, Paris, December 6, 1902, a fine necklace was disposed of for
the sum of 150,000 francs ($30,000), and a rope of 100 small pearls
realized 38,100 francs ($7620); the proceeds of the entire sale of
these jewels were 1,249,578 francs ($249,915).
Among the Aqualia jewels, sold in London in 1903, was a pearl
necklace that brought £4480 ($22,400).
The jewels of the late Marquis of Anglesey, an enthusiastic jewel
and art collector, were disposed of at Christie’s on May 4 and 5,
1904. At the time of his death, the marquis was supposed to be a
bankrupt, but the value of the gems which he had purchased had
increased so rapidly that the sale realized the sum of £22,988 10s.
($114,942), more than enough to cover all the obligations of the
estate. Of this amount a magnificent drop pearl, mounted as a
scarf-pin, brought £4000 ($20,000); another drop pearl of the finest
orient, weighing 105½ grains, but slightly cracked, was sold for
£3700 ($18,500). Four other drop-shaped pearls, mounted as
scarf-pins, were sold for £5220 ($26,100), one of them bringing
£1720 ($8600). A single bouton pearl, used as a coat fastener,
realized £980 ($4900), and a pearl trefoil was purchased for £580
($2900). One fine large bouton pearl, set as a stud, was disposed of
for £3000 ($15,000), and another somewhat smaller bouton, also set
as a stud, brought £1600 ($8000).
A splendid necklace comprising forty-nine well-matched and graduated
pearls of fine quality, weighing 563½ grains, was sold in London on
June 29, 1905, for the sum of £4700 ($23,500). At the same sale a
necklace of thirty-two graduated pearls, weighing about 890 grains,
brought £2600 ($13,000).
On July 20, 1905, a pearl necklace comprising forty-five graduated
pearls of fine orient, with a cabochon ruby clasp, the gross weight
being 832 grains, was sold in London for £3150 ($15,750).
A fine pearl and brilliant pendant was disposed of at the sale in
London, February 21, 1906, of the stock of Mr. E. M. Marcoso. This
pendant was composed of one large white brilliant, weighing 18–1⁄32
carats, and a drop-shaped pearl weighing 75¾ grains. The ornament
brought the sum of £2050 ($10,250).
A pearl necklace composed of 285 well-matched and graduated pearls
disposed in five rows was sold in London on June 13, 1906, for the
sum of £10,000 ($50,000). At the same sale a three-row necklace,
with 213 graduated and matched pearls of fine orient, brought £3200
($16,000), and a rope of 237 fine pearls realized £2800 ($14,000).
Among the jewels disposed of at a sale in London on July 11, 1906,
may be mentioned a five-row pearl necklace of 445 graduated oriental
pearls which was sold for £2500 ($12,500). Three other necklaces
were offered at the same sale; one of fifty-five matched and
graduated pearls of fine quality bringing £3400 ($17,000); one of
fifty-seven pearls, £2700 ($13,500), and the other of 219
well-matched and graduated pearls realizing £2350 ($11,750). Still
another necklace of 417 matched and graduated pearls arranged in
five rows was sold for £4800 ($24,000). A splendid pearl drop, of
the finest orient, brought £1650 ($8250), and a pearl rope of 191
oriental pearls, arranged so as to form three single-row necklaces,
realized the sum of £3700 ($18,500), three fine black pearls,
mounted as studs, were sold for £1000 ($5000). The most important
necklace was reserved for the end of the sale; this was composed of
forty-seven large oriental pearls, and was purchased for the sum of
£10,000 ($50,000).
At the sale of the Massey-Mainwaring collection at Christie’s on
March 18, 1907, a five-row pearl necklace consisting of 471
graduated pearls, with a bouton pearl in the center, was sold for
£4600 ($23,000).
Another collection, sold at Christie’s, April 15, 1907, was the
property of the late Mrs. Lewis-Hill, and the proceeds of the first
day’s sale reached the heretofore unapproached total of £94,805
($474,025), thus exceeding by $26,395 the amount obtained in one day
by the sale of Lady Dudley’s jewels. Among the valuable pearls in
this collection, we may mention a pair of large bouton pearl
earrings, with small diamond tops, which brought £1180 ($5900). The
enthusiasm and interest of the assembly were aroused by a necklace
of forty-five large, graduated pearls of fine orient, with a bouton
pearl and brilliant cluster snap; after spirited bidding this was
bought for £6100 ($30,500). The greatest event of the day, however,
was the appearance of a splendid rope of 229 pearls of very good
form, well-matched and graduated. The opening bid was £10,000
($50,000) and after a warm contest the pearls were finally acquired
for the sum of £16,700 ($83,500). A necklace consisting of fifteen
graduated drops, each formed of one bouton pearl, one brilliant, and
one pear-shaped pearl drop, depending from a narrow band of small
diamonds, drew forth a bid of £5000 ($25,000) and was finally
awarded for the sum of £12,200 ($61,000). A pearl rope of 183
graduated and well-matched pearls realized £7200 ($36,000), and a
fine pair of pearls set as earrings brought £3400 ($17,000). The
crowded auction room, the keen competition among the bidders, and
the amount obtained for these jewels are good indications of the
firmness of the market at the present time.
[Illustration:
Copyright, 1907, by Theo. C. Marceau, N. Y.
MRS. GEORGE J. GOULD
]
At the sale of the jewels of Lady Henry Gordon-Lennox, held at
Christie’s on May 12, 1907, a splendid necklace was offered. It
comprised 287 graduated pearls of the finest orient, disposed in
five rows, with a large circular pearl. This magnificent ornament
was sold for £25,500 ($127,500).
On July 11, 1907, a splendid necklace of forty-nine graduated
pearls, of fine luster and carefully matched, was sold at auction by
Debenham and Storr of London, for the sum of £5600 ($28,000). At the
same sale a single-row necklace of forty-five pearls brought £5300
($26,500), and a rope of oriental pearls realized £4500 ($22,500).
At the auction sale of the collection of the late Bishop Bubics of
Hungary, among other objects, a very handsome saber pouch was
offered, of the style worn by the Hungarian hussars. It was of green
silk and richly embroidered with hundreds of pearls of varying
sizes. After a spirited competition this pouch was sold to Prince
Esterhazy for 13,500 crowns ($2700). Some time after the sale a
letter from the late bishop was found, containing the statement that
he had borrowed the ornament from the jewel-room of the Princess
Esterhazy. Naturally, Prince Esterhazy was not called upon to pay
the amount of his bid. It is a gratification to know that at least
one of the remarkable Magyar jeweled ornaments has escaped the
cupidity of enterprising jewelers who have broken up so many of
these ornaments for the gems which they contained.
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL GREAT PEARLS OF HISTORY
Weight
Charles the Bold’s Pearls. Three, each about 60 grains
Gomara Pearl, 31 carats 124 grains
Oviedo Pearl, 26 carats
(probably the Morales or Pizarro Pearl) 104 grains
La Peregrina 134 grains
Charles II’s Pearl, (nearly equal to La Peregrina)
Morales and Pizarro Pearl, 26 carats 104 grains
Rudolph II’s Pearl, 30 carats 120 grains
Tavernier’s Pearls:
Shah Sofi’s Pearl (estimated) 500 grains
Imam of Muscat’s Pearl, 12–1⁄16 carats 48¼ grains
Shaista Khan Pearl, 55 carats 220 grains
Great Mogul’s Pearls:
Peacock Throne Pearl 200 grains
Two pear-shaped, one about 70 ratis 186.2 grains
Olive-shaped pearl (estimated) 125 grains
One button-shaped, 55–60 ratis 146.3–159.6 grains
One round pearl, 56 ratis (gift of the Shah
Abbas II) 148.9 grains
Round pearl (estimated)[526] 110 grains
Three yellowish pearls, 25–28 ratis 66.5–74.5 grains
One perfectly round pearl, 35½ ratis 94½ grains
Two perfectly shaped and equal, each 25¼ ratis 67.1 grains
La Reine des Perles 109¼ grains
Pearls of Maria Theresa’s Necklace (three) 92–100 grains
La Régente (now owned by Princess Yousoupoff) 337 grains
La Pellegrina 111½ grains
The Ynaffit, pear-shaped 143⅛ grains
Hope Pearl, drop-shaped baroque 1800 grains
Also in the Hope Collection:
Conical pearl 151 grains
Bouton pearl 124 grains
Oval pearl 94 grains
Roughly spherical pearl 89 grains
Acorn-shaped pearl 85 grains
Oval conch pearl 82¼ grains
Button-shaped conch pearl 77½ grains
Drop-shaped pearl 76½ grains
Pear-shaped Scotch pearl 34¾ grains
Van Buren Pearls:
Two, each about 30 grains
Also necklace 148 pearls 700 grains
Tiffany Queen Pearl, American 93 grains
Black bouton earring-pearl 88 grains
White bouton earring-pearl 93 grains
Bapst Pearls, two 113¼ and 113¾ grains
Round pearl of Paris Exposition of 1889 70 grains
Mme. Nordica’s Pearl (abalone) 175 grains
Great Bahama Conch Pearl 138¼ grains
The Queen Conch Pearl 90 grains
W. H. Moore’s Pearl (Arkansas pearl, brown) 122½ grains
Shark’s Bay Pearl, golden yellow 30½ grains
Rudolph II Crown Pearl, 26 carats 104 grains
Carlotta’s Pearl, pear-shaped 84 grains
Marquis of Anglesey’s Pearl, drop-shaped 105½ grains
Black pear-shaped pearl (Lower California) 49 grains
XVII
THE ABORIGINAL USE OF PEARLS, AND THEIR DISCOVERY IN MOUNDS AND GRAVES
XVII
THE ABORIGINAL USE OF PEARLS, AND THEIR DISCOVERY IN MOUNDS AND GRAVES
The use of pearls by the aborigines of the territory now comprised in
the United States is proven by their appearance in the mounds and
certain graves of pre-Columbian date. This is of great interest in view
of the unique system of burial and the great variety of objects buried
with the pearls. It is evident from the quantities discovered in some of
the mounds that a very great number of pearls, many of large size, must
have been owned by these aborigines, and they were evidently quite
expert in the art of drilling them. Pearls must have been freely used
for ornamental purposes, and it is clear that many rivers in this region
must have produced them in great numbers, when we consider that in all
probability the mussels were taken only as they were required for food
or for bait in fishing, and had probably reached their full growth.
It is not unlikely that pearls were used on this continent for a long
period, and they may have been in use centuries before any employment
was made of them in Europe. In the age of the mound-builders there were
as many pearls in the possession of a single tribe of Indians as existed
in any European court. We have no means of ascertaining the precise date
of any of these burials, and there are no historical records relating to
this region, such as were kept in Mexico as well as in Europe and Asia.
No trace has been found of the employment of pearls, either for
decoration or ornament, by the aborigines of Europe or Asia; either they
did not use them or else the pearls have entirely passed away in the
course of twenty or more centuries. We do know, however, that neither
pearls nor Unio shells were used by any of the lake-dwellers of
Switzerland or the adjacent countries.
Many eminent archæologists have investigated the finding and history of
the pearls of the mound-builders of Ohio and Alabama, especially Squier
and Davis, F. W. Putnam, Warren K. Moorehead, C. C. Jones, W. C. Mills,
and Clarence B. Moore. The discoveries made up to 1890 were fully
treated by one of the writers in several pamphlets (one of them, “Gems
and Precious Stones of North America”).
It is not unlikely that the Indians of the Atlantic coast may have known
of pearls from the common clam as well as from the edible oyster. The
former may have often contained pearls weighing from fifty to one
hundred grains each, as at that period the mollusks were permitted to
attain their full growth, and perhaps were not eaten except when they
were as small as little-neck clams; the larger ones were sought for the
purple spot which held the muscle, and was used for wampum. We have no
record of the finding of pearls in any graves north of Virginia, as the
many graves opened in the past century have failed to reveal them, nor
has the use of pearls been mentioned by any of the early writers. They
may have been worn, but if so they have passed away or may have been
mistaken for ashes if they had decrepitated.
The first English settlers found the Indians of the tidewater region of
what now constitutes the Middle States using pearls quite freely and
esteeming them among their favorite treasures and ornaments. Captain
John Smith, and all the early chroniclers of the Virginia colony, have
given many accounts of this aboriginal use of pearls.
In view of the general interest awakened by the tercentenary of the
founding of Jamestown, and the exposition in commemoration thereof, the
“American Anthropologist” devoted its first number for 1907 principally
to topics relating to the Virginia Indians.[527] Among these articles is
one of much interest by Mr. Charles C. Willoughby, of the Peabody Museum
at Cambridge, Massachusetts, dealing with the tribes occupying tidewater
Virginia at the time of the first colonization, their habits and
customs, their distribution, and their subsequent history of diminution
and almost of extinction. These were a branch of the Algonquian stock,
and extended as far south as the Neuse River in North Carolina. To the
south and west they were hemmed in by tribes of Iroquoian and Siouan
race, and on the north they were separated from other hostile Indians by
the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. The powerful confederacy under
Powhatan comprised some thirty tribes or “provinces,” covering most of
the tidewater region of Virginia proper. To the greater chiefs, John
Smith states that tribute was paid, consisting of “skinnes, beads,
copper, pearle, deere, turkies, wild beasts and corne.”[528] Many other
references in this article confirm and illustrate this general
statement, especially regarding pearls, both as to their use by the
living and their deposit with the remains of the dead.
In the account given of the native clothing, the outer mantles are
described, made usually of deerskin with the hair removed, and bordered
with a fringe. These were often “couloured with some pretty work, ...
beasts, fowle, tortayses, or such like imagery,”[529] or adorned with
shells, white beads, copper ornaments, pearls, or the teeth of
animals.[530] Strachey describes a wonderful cloak made of feather-work,
belonging to an Indian princess, the wife of a deposed chief, Pipisco;
with it she wore “pendants of great but imperfect couloured and worse
drilled pearles, which she put into her eares,” besides a long necklace
made of copper links.[531]
With regard to such ornaments, Mr. Willoughby says (p. 71) that “the
ears of both sexes were pierced with great holes, the women commonly
having three in each ear, in which were hung strings of bones, shell,
and copper beads, copper pendants, and other ornaments. Captain Amidas
met the wife of a chief who wore in her ears strings of pearl beads as
large as ‘great pease’ which hung down to her middle.[532] The husband
of this woman wore five or six copper pendants in each ear. It was a
common custom for the men to wear a claw of a hawk, eagle, turkey, or
bear, or even a live snake as an ear ornament.”
“Bracelets and neck ornaments of various kinds of beads were common.
Beads of copper seem to have been most highly valued in the early
colonial period. These were made of ‘shreeds of copper, beaten thinne
and bright, and wound up hollowe,’ and were sometimes strung alternately
with pearls which were occasionally stained to render them more
attractive.[533] Beads of polished bone or shell were strung into
necklaces either alone or with perforated pearls or copper beads. Some
of these chains were long enough to pass several times around the neck.
Necklaces of such construction as to be easily identified were worn by
messengers as a proof of good faith. Powhatan gave Sir Thomas Dale a
pearl necklace, and requested that any messenger sent by Dale to him
should wear it as a guaranty that the message was authentic.”[534]
“Pearls of various shapes and sizes were comparatively common, but
symmetrical pearls of uniform size were more rare. Strachey writes of
having seen ‘manie chaynes and braceletts (of pearls) worne by the
people, and wee have found plentie of them in the sepulchers of their
kings, though discoloured by burning the oysters in the fier, and
deformed by grosse boring.’ One of Hariot’s companions obtained from the
Indians about five thousand pearls, from which a sufficient number of
good quality and of uniform size were obtained to make a ‘fayre chaine,
which for their likenesse and uniformitie in roundnesse, orientness and
pidenesse of many excellent colours, with equalitie in greatnesse, were
verie fayre and rare.’[535]
“Those who have examined the thousands of pearls from the Ohio mounds,
to be mentioned later, can readily understand these conditions. The
pearl beads from the mounds vary in diameter from about an eighth of an
inch to nearly an inch, the great majority being small and irregular,
although there are many among them of good form and value. It is
probable that most of the Virginia pearls were obtained from the
fresh-water mussel (Unio)”; not unlikely from the common marine clam
(_Venus mercenaria_), or the common oyster (_Ostrea virginica_).
As regards the burial of pearls with the dead and their use in religious
rites, curious and quite full accounts are given by Strachey, Smith,
Hariot, and Beverley.[536] There was a “temple,” also occupied as a
residence by one or more priests, in the territory of every chief. This
building was usually some eighteen or twenty feet wide, and varied in
length from thirty to one hundred feet, with an entrance at the eastern
end, and the western portion partitioned off with mats to form a sort of
sanctuary or “chancel.” Within this were kept the dried bodies of
deceased chiefs, and an image of the god, called Okee, made in the shape
of a man, “all black, dressed with chaynes of perle.” Full descriptions
of these idols and their manufacture are given by Hariot and Beverley,
also of the process of preserving the remains of the chiefs.[537] After
the body had been disemboweled, the skin was laid back and the flesh was
cut away from the bones. When this operation was completed, the
skeleton, held together by its ligaments, was again inclosed in the
skin, and stuffed with white sand, or with “pearle, copper, beads, and
such trash sowed in a skynne.”[538] It was then dressed in fine skins
and adorned with all sorts of valuables, including strings of pearls and
beads. The same kinds of treasures were also deposited in a basket at
the feet of the mummy.
Captain Smith describes the temple of Powhatan, at Uttamussack, which
was in charge of seven priests, and was held in great awe by “the
salvages.” At a place called Orapaks, was also his treasure-house, fifty
or sixty yards long, frequented only by priests, where he kept a great
amount of skins, beads, pearls, and copper, stored up against the time
of his death and burial. A vivid account is given of the four grotesque
images that stood guard at the corners of this building, all made “evill
favouredly according to their best workmanship.”[539]
The use of pearls as ornaments, and their deposit with the remains of
chiefs and persons of distinction, have already been described as
familiar among the Indian tribes of tidewater Virginia, in the notes
above cited from early explorers and colonists. It is a curious
circumstance, however, that this habit does not appear to have extended
in that part of the country much beyond the dominions of Powhatan, as no
pearls have been noted in the Indian graves in Maryland. This statement,
in reply to a letter of special inquiry, is made by Dr. P. R. Uhler, of
the Peabody Institute of Baltimore, who has been making very careful
studies of all aboriginal remains in that region, for the Maryland
Academy of Sciences.
It would seem from this and other evidence, that the use and
appreciation of pearls must have been in some way a tribal matter,
familiar to some and not to others, of the Indian peoples. In the
Mississippi Valley, the ancient population known as the mound-builders,
by some regarded as a distinct and earlier race, and by others as of
true Indian stock, although much more advanced in arts and culture, have
left in their mounds most remarkable quantities of pearls. But here
again, the same feature appears, that these treasures are not found
wherever there are mounds, but only in certain regions. Of these, by far
the most celebrated is that of the Scioto and Miami valleys, in Ohio.
Outside of these, no large amounts have been found, and only at a few
localities are they met with at all.
The valleys of the Miami and Scioto rivers and their tributaries contain
many remarkable mounds and “earthworks,” which have attracted much
attention, and have been more or less explored at different times, with
increasing care and thoroughness as archæological science has advanced.
It may be well to give a brief, general account of these investigations
and some leading features of the mounds as a whole, before going into
particulars as to the occurrence of pearls.
The first important and scientific study of these remarkable structures
was that conducted in the early forties by Dr. Edwin H. Davis and Mr. E.
George Squier, and published in their celebrated and standard work
entitled “Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,” issued by the
Smithsonian Institution in 1848. This book and the “Correspondence” in
regard to the mounds by the same writers, published in 1847, were the
first works issued by the Smithsonian Institution.
According to Squier and Davis,[540] two quarts of pearls were originally
deposited in one of these mounds. The writers consider that the pearls
were probably derived from the fisheries in the southern waters, and
they regard their presence in the Ohio mounds as a proof of “an
extensive communication with southern and tropical regions and a
migration from that direction.”
A number of pearls or pearl beads from the Ohio mounds and which
formerly belonged to the Squier and Davis collection, are now in the
Blackmore Museum at Salisbury, England. According to a communication
from Dr. H. P. Blackmore, director of the museum, these pearls, which
originally formed five necklaces, have been much injured by the action
of fire at the time the bodies of those interred in the mounds were
burned. Mr. Blackmore considers that the greater part of the pearl beads
are of mother-of-pearl cut from some large shell, made into a round
shape and perforated, but, after very careful examination, he is of the
opinion that about ten may be classed as natural pearls. Their present
color is a dull, leaden gray, rather lighter than the “black pearl” of
commerce. The size of these pearls or beads varies from four millimeters
to twenty millimeters in diameter. One of the necklaces consists of
thirty-three beads well graduated, but of a dead white color from the
action of the earth.
A quarter of a century later, when the Centennial Exposition was in
preparation, the Smithsonian Institution undertook the formation of a
public exhibit illustrating American archæology, and engaged Prof. F. W.
Putnam, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to open and examine some of the
most remarkable of the mounds described by Squier and Davis. These
explorations were continued for some years, partly for the government
and partly for the Peabody Museum of Archæology at Cambridge, and their
results were exhibited at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The mounds
explored were chiefly in the valley of the Little Miami, and
particularly those known as the Turner group.
A very important series of explorations was also carried on by Mr.
Warren K. Moorehead, covering the years from 1887 to 1893, largely in
preparation for the Columbian Exposition. These investigations were
mainly in the Scioto valley, in the counties of Ross, Franklin, and
Pickaway, Ohio. Among the most important results then obtained were
those from the mounds of the “Porter” and “Hopewell” groups, in Ross
County.
Since that time, much valuable work has been done by Mr. Moorehead and
others, and particularly under the auspices of the Ohio State
Archæological and Historical Society. The latest and most complete
investigation was made for this society in 1903, by its curator, Prof.
William C. Mills, in the Harness mound, seven miles north of
Chillicothe, Ohio, near the Scioto River, in Ross County. This locality
had been previously explored in part, by Professor Putnam in 1885, and
Mr. Moorehead in 1896; it was now systematically examined down to the
original surface at every point.
Squier and Davis divided these ancient monuments into four classes: (1)
Altar mounds, which contain what appear to be altars, and are also
called hearths, of stone or hardened clay; (2) Burial mounds, containing
human bones; (3) Temple mounds, with neither altars nor bones, but
seeming to have had some special religious significance; and (4)
Anomalous mounds, including “mounds of observation” and others of mixed
or uncertain character. The burials are found to be of two kinds, simple
interment and cremation; and these are sometimes met with in the same
mound.
This classification has been generally followed in describing these
ancient structures, although the whole subject is obscure and difficult,
from our ignorance of the purposes and conditions of their formation. In
many of the mounds of the first two classes especially, not only have
pearls been found, but quantities of interesting and remarkable objects,
many of which have been brought from distant points, and prove clearly
the existence of an extensive intertribal commerce at a remote period.
Galena from Illinois and Wisconsin, mica from North Carolina, obsidian
from beyond the Rocky Mountains, and sea-shells from the Gulf coast, are
among these objects, and particularly native copper from Lake Superior,
from which many articles were fashioned by hammering. Pearls are
extremely abundant, and were at first supposed to have been brought from
the coast, and may have been the pearls of the common clam and the
common oyster, the pearls being found in opening the mollusks for food;
but the recent development of pearl hunting in the western rivers, where
the fresh-water mussels (Unios) are so abundant and produce such
beautiful pearls, shows that these treasures were undoubtedly gathered,
partly, if not wholly, in the region where the mounds exist. The
enormous numbers found are, indeed, no source of surprise, as such
quantities of pearls have been obtained, for over twenty years past,
from the same regions. The mollusks are still abundant in all the
streams of the Mississippi Valley, except where they have been reduced
or exterminated by the reckless methods of pearl hunting employed where
the “pearl fever” has prevailed.
It is quite possible that the fresh-water Unios were not sought for
their pearls alone, but were also used as food, and perhaps as bait for
fishing. They were evidently gathered in great quantities, as is shown
by the old heaps of shells found along the banks of streams at many
points; and doubtless there are multitudes of such heaps that have never
been observed. They are known as far north as Idaho, as communicated by
Dr. Robert N. Bell, State mineralogist, and they extend still farther
north, as noted by Dr. Harlan I. Smith, in his “Preliminary Notes on the
Archæology of the Yakima Valley.”[541] He says: “Small heaps of
fresh-water clam-shells were examined, but these being only about five
feet in diameter and as many inches in depth, are hardly to be compared
to the immense shell-heaps of the coast.”
These Unio shell-heaps are frequent in the South, and some of the
Spanish chroniclers of De Soto’s expedition in 1540–1541, describe the
gathering and cooking of the mussels, and the finding of occasional
pearls therein. The same writers also give glowing accounts of the
pearls possessed by the natives. Some of these accounts may be
exaggerated, but they cannot be wholly so. It would seem that some of
the pearls may have come from marine shells, and others from those of
the rivers and streams; but there are few pearl-producing shells on our
own coasts, and it is not very likely that there was any trade or
intercourse with the West Indian Islands, where marine pearls occur
freely.
Albert H. Pickett, in his “History of Alabama,” refers to the accounts
of De Soto’s historian, Garcilasso de la Vega, and holds that the pearls
which he noted were evidently from the Unios of Alabama. “Heaps of
mussel shells,” he says, “are now to be seen on our river banks wherever
Indians used to live. They were much used by the ancient Indians for
some purpose, and old warriors have informed me that their ancestors
once used the shells to temper the clay with which they made their
vessels. But as thousands of the shells lie banked up, some deep in the
ground, we may also suppose that the Indians in De Soto’s time,
everywhere in Alabama, obtained pearls from them. There can be no doubt
about the quantity of pearls found in this State and Georgia in 1540,
but they were of a coarser and more valueless kind than the Spaniards
supposed. The Indians used to perforate them and string them around
their necks and arms like beads.”[542]
The use of fragments of these shells in tempering the clay for pottery,
alluded to in the preceding paragraph, is well known. Prof. Daniel S.
Martin describes an old village site in South Carolina, near the
Congaree River, a few miles south of the city of Columbia, where the
ground had been plowed, and along the furrows the soil was gleaming with
brilliant pearly fragments of Unio shells, intermingled with bits of
pottery.
Mr. Clarence B. Moore discovered pearls pierced for stringing in several
of the mounds at Moundville, Alabama. He also found a sheet-copper
pendant, elongated oval in outline, with an excised repoussé decoration,
embracing a swastika within a circle, and a triangle. This pendant,
which lay near the skull of burial No. 132, bears a perforated pearl
nearly seven millimeters in diameter and weighing about nine grains; it
is fastened to the pendant by a piece of vegetable fiber that passes
through the pearl. With another burial (No. 162), the skeleton of an
adult, was an elliptical gorget of sheet-copper decorated with a
pearl.[543] In a personal communication Mr. Moore states that all the
pearls found by him in the mounds were very much disintegrated by the
lapse of time; he also writes that he has never found any shells
immediately with the pearls, although masses of Unio shells were often
met with in the mounds. He believes the shell-fish had been used for
food.
Unio shell-heaps exist likewise on the shores of the inland lakes of
Florida, and in middle Georgia and Alabama; and several of them on the
banks of the Savannah River, above Augusta, are fully described by
Colonel Charles C. Jones.[544] He says: “In these relic-beds no two
parts of the same shell are, as a general rule, found in juxtaposition.
The hinge is broken, and the valves of the shell, after having been
artificially torn asunder, seem to have been carelessly cast aside and
allowed to accumulate.”
Thus, in addition to the historical evidence, physical proof is abundant
of the pearl fisheries of the aboriginal tribes of the South. In order
to ascertain the precise varieties of shells from which the southern
Indians obtained their pearls, Colonel Jones invited an expression of
opinion from a number of scientists whose studies rendered them familiar
with the conchology of the United States. Their responses throw
considerable light upon this inquiry, though with some curious
variation.
Prof. William S. Jones, of the University of Georgia, says that he has
seen small pearls in many of the Unios found in that State.
Prof. Jeffries Wyman, on the other hand, after a careful and extensive
series of excavations in the shell-heaps of Florida, failed to find a
single pearl. “It is hardly probable,” he remarks, “that the Spaniards
could have been mistaken as to the fact of the ornaments of the Indians
being pearls, but in view of their frequent exaggerations, I am almost
compelled to the belief that there was some mistake; and possibly they
may not have distinguished between the pearls and the shell beads, some
of which would correspond with the size and shape of the pearls
mentioned by the Spaniards.”
Prof. Joseph Jones, whose investigations throw much valuable light upon
the contents of the ancient tumuli of Tennessee, says: “I do not
remember finding a genuine pearl in the many mounds which I have opened
in the valleys of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, the Harpeth, and
elsewhere. Many of the pearls described by the Spaniards were probably
little else than polished beads cut out of large sea-shells and from the
thicker portions of fresh-water mussels, and prepared so as to resemble
pearls. I have examined thousands of these, and they all present a
laminated structure, as if carved out of thick shells and sea conchs.”
This point will be referred to again.
Dr. Charles Rau[545] writes: “I learned from Dr. Samuel G. Bristow, who
was a surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland during the Civil War, that
mussels of the Tennessee River were occasionally eaten ‘as a change’ by
the soldiers of that corps, and pronounced no bad article of diet.
Shells of the Unio are sometimes found in Indian graves, where they had
been deposited with the dead, to serve as food during the journey to the
land of spirits.”
Dr. Brinton saw on the Tennessee River and its tributaries numerous
shell-heaps consisting almost exclusively of the _Unio virginianus_
(Lamarck). In every instance he found shell-heaps close to the
water-courses, on the rich alluvial bottom-land. He says: “The mollusks
had evidently been opened by placing them on a fire. The Tennessee
mussel is margaritiferous, and there is no doubt but that it was from
this species that the early tribes obtained the hoards of pearls which
the historian of De Soto’s exploration estimated by bushels, and which
were so much prized as ornaments.”[546]
A source has recently been pointed out whence small pearls, and perhaps
some fine specimens, could have been obtained by the Indians of Florida,
and in considerable quantities. In the Unios of some of the fresh-water
lakes of that State, there were found not less than 3000 pearls, most of
them small, but many large enough to be perforated and worn as beads.
From one Unio there were taken eighty-four seed-pearls; from another,
fifty; from a third, twenty, and from several, ten or twelve each. The
examinations were chiefly confined to Lake Griffin and its vicinity. It
is said that upon one of the isles in Lake Okeechobee are the remains of
an old pearl fishery, and it is proposed to open the shells of this
lake, which are large, in hopes of finding pearls of superior size and
quality.
The use of the pearl as an ornament by the southern Indians, and the
quantities of shells opened by them in various localities, make it seem
strange that it is not more frequently met with in the relic-beds and
sepulchral tumuli of that region; but, after exploring many shell- and
earth-mounds, Colonel Charles C. Jones failed, except in a few
instances, to find pearls.[547] A few were obtained in an extensive
relic-bed on the Savannah River, above Augusta, the largest being four
tenths of an inch in diameter, but all of them blackened by fire. Many
of the smaller mounds on the coast of Georgia do not contain pearls,
because at the period of their construction the custom of burning the
dead appears to have prevailed very generally; hence, it may be that the
pearls were either immediately consumed or so seriously injured as to
crumble out of sight.
This absence of pearls tends somewhat to confirm the opinion that beads
made from the thicker portions of shells that were carved, perforated,
and brilliant with nacre, were regarded by the imaginative Spaniards as
pearls. More minute investigation, however, will doubtless reveal the
existence of pearls in localities where the pearl-bearing shells were
collected. Perforated pearls have been found in an ancient
burying-ground located near the bank of the Ogeechee River, in Bryan
County, Georgia; and many years ago, after a heavy freshet on the Oconee
River, which laid bare many Indian graves in the neighborhood of the
large mounds on Poullain’s plantation, fully a hundred pearls of
considerable size were gathered.
It seems quite clear that many of the pearls reported by the early
Spanish voyagers were really such, although it is well known also that
shell beads have been found in mounds in connection with pearls; but the
numbers found in Ohio, by Professor Putnam, Mr. Moorehead, and others,
leave no room for doubt in this matter. That the Indians of the South
also had these pearls, both drilled and undrilled, is beyond question.
The same fact comes to view, however, in these various accounts, that
has been alluded to already, _viz._, that the use of pearls among the
aborigines appears to have been local, and probably tribal. All the
fresh waters of North America contain Unios, especially in the
Mississippi basin and in the South, and all the Unios are more or less
pearl-bearing; but it is only at certain points that pearls are found
deposited in ancient graves, sometimes, however, in extraordinary
quantities.
Father Louis Hennepin relates that the Indians along the Mississippi
wore bracelets and earrings of fine pearls, which they spoilt, having
nothing to bore them with but fire. He adds: “They gave us to understand
that they received them in exchange for their calumets from nations
inhabiting the coast of the great lake to the southward, which I take to
be the Gulph of Florida.”[548]
The statement here made, that the Indians perforated their pearls only
“with fire,” evidently refers to the use of a heated copper wire, or
point, as mentioned by Pickett and others of the early explorers. This
point is of importance, as apparently indicating a marked difference
between the Indians met with by the first European visitors, and the
mound-building people of an earlier time, among whom the perforation was
made with small stone drills. On this point, a recent letter from Prof.
Wm. C. Mills, who has conducted the very full exploration of the Harness
mound in Ohio, is of interest. He describes the small and
carefully-wrought flint drills, which he found, and believes to have
been made and used for this purpose. In size and form they answer all
requirements; they are delicate little implements, somewhat T-shaped or
gimlet-shaped, an inch and a quarter long; the narrow boring part is
about an inch in length and tapers from one eighth of an inch to quite a
fine point; the wider upper end is abruptly expanded into the transverse
handle, which is about a quarter of an inch thick, _i.e._, lengthwise of
the instrument, and half an inch in span, _i.e._, across, so as to give
a good hold for the fingers to rotate the drill, just as in an ordinary
gimlet.
Passing now to the actual discoveries of pearls in the mounds of the
Mississippi Valley, these will be reviewed in the order of the
successive explorations in which they were made known. As already
stated, the only region where any large amounts have been encountered,
is that of the Scioto and Miami valleys in Ohio. Even here, pearls are
found only at certain points, and though the numbers are great, the
graves which contain them are few. They were apparently buried only with
the remains of individuals of especial distinction, probably either
chiefs or eminent medicine men. The accounts of recent explorations in
these mounds bring to mind very forcibly the statement before cited from
Captain John Smith, as to Powhatan’s treasure-house, where all his most
valued articles, including pearls, were collected and kept, in
preparation for his death and burial. Pearls appear also to have been
used only by the more cultured tribes, and were kept in the larger and
more prosperous communities exclusively. They are confined to the great
“mound groups,” and are not found in isolated mounds. The tumuli of
northern Ohio, the hill mounds, and the village sites along the smaller
streams, have yielded practically none.
According to the manner of burial, the pearls vary greatly in their
present condition. Where they have been placed with cremated bodies,
they are, of course, much damaged, being blackened and largely
decomposed. Otherwise, although injured in color and luster, the mere
fact of burial in the ground has not entirely ruined them. They are
generally perforated, so as to be strung or attached to garments, and
traces of both these methods of use are sometimes clearly shown.
The term “pearl beads,” often employed by writers, is uncertain in
meaning; as it may refer either to actual pearls, bored so as to be
strung, or to imitations thereof made from pearly shell. With regard to
this point, although such quantities have been obtained, there seems to
have been very little close examination as to their structure, which
would at once indicate the facts, according as the minute layers of the
pearly material are concentric or not. The only distinct testimony is
that we have cited above from Prof. Joseph Jones,[549] who states that
he has examined large numbers, and found them to be apparently cut from
shells. He makes the suggestion that they may have been carved from the
thicker portions of the fresh-water Unios. This is not only probable,
but would go far to solve the mystery of the enormous numbers found, as
compared with anything known of the yield of genuine pearls by these
mollusks, even with all the pearl hunting of recent years. An
interesting fact bearing directly on this question is the discovery in
the Taylor mound, at Oregonia, Warren County, Ohio, of several Unio
shells in which had been made a circular hole, two thirds of an inch in
diameter, either for some ornamental use of the shell or to extract
pieces to be shaped into beads. These may have been made in either of
two ways. Firstly, by breaking pieces of the shell from one of the
valves, as a lapidary “roughs out” a piece of gem material before he
begins to grind it into shape; or, secondly, by cutting out a circular
disk of shell by means of a hollow copper drill or a hollow reed, just
as they perforated hard pieces of quartz or granite for pipes, or as
they trephined circular disks from the skulls. Decorated disks of Unio
shell were also found in the same mound. If the ancient people made
beads in this manner, there is little difficulty in accounting for the
quantities described, especially in connection with the evident
gathering of Unios on a large scale, as shown by the widely distributed
shell-heaps already described. They certainly did make beads from
various marine shells, and these are found with the pearl beads in many
of the mounds, as particularly noted by Professor Jones, cited above,
and by others.
In the recent exploration of the Harness mound, by Professor Mills, a
very curious discovery was made of imitation pearls of a kind never
before met with; these were made of clay, modeled apparently after the
larger natural pearls associated with them, and after being baked hard,
had been “covered with a flexible mica,” so as to resemble pearls.[550]
The mica was a silvery mica that may have been burned and would
pulverize into a gray powder with a pearly luster, as almost all micas
are too resilient to be attached in any other way.
Taking up now the history of pearl discovery in the mounds, the first
definite record goes back to about 1844, when perforated pearls were
found by Dr. Edwin H. Davis[551] on the hearths of five distinct groups
of mounds in Ohio, and sometimes in such abundance that they could be
gathered by the hundred. They were generally of irregular form, mostly
pear-shaped, though perfectly round ones were also found among them. The
smaller specimens measured about one fourth of an inch in diameter, but
the largest had a diameter of three quarters of an inch.
The next great discovery of these Unio pearls was in the Porter group of
mounds, in the Little Miami Valley, explored by Prof. Frederick W.
Putnam, and Dr. Charles L. Metz, who procured over 60,000 pearls, nearly
two bushels, drilled and undrilled, undoubtedly of Unio origin; all of
them, however, decayed or much altered, and of no commercial value. In
1884 these scientists examined the Marriott mound, where they found
nearly one hundred Unio shells, and among other objects of special
interest six canine teeth of bears, that were perforated by a lateral
hole near the edge at the point of greatest curvature of the root, so
that by passing a cord through this, the tooth could be fastened to any
object or worn as an ornament. Two of these teeth had a hole bored
through near the end of the root on the side opposite the lateral
perforation, and the hole countersunk in order to receive a large
spherical pearl, about three eighths of an inch in diameter. When the
teeth were found, the pearls were in place, although chalky from decay.
Upward of 250 pearl beads were found here, concerning which they say:
“The pearl beads found in the several positions mentioned are natural
pearls, probably obtained from the several species of Unios in the Ohio
rivers. In size they vary from one tenth of an inch to over half an inch
in diameter, and many are spherical. They are neatly drilled, and the
larger from opposite sides. These pearls are now chalky, and crumble on
handling, but when fresh they would have formed brilliant necklaces and
pendants.”[552]
[Illustration:
Necklace of fresh-water pearls and cut shell beads, from Mound No. 25
]
[Illustration:
Bear-tooth inlaid with fresh-water pearl from the neck of skeleton No.
209, Mound 23
]
[Illustration:
Perforation in charred, cut fresh-water pearl; weight, 5569 grams
]
[Illustration:
Perforated fresh-water pearl; weight, 22,955 grams
]
FRESH-WATER PEARLS FROM HOPEWELL GROUP OF MOUNDS, ROSS COUNTY, OHIO
It is easy to see, even at a glance, that most of those in this great
deposit of 60,000 are true pearls. Many are very irregular in form, and
quite a number are the elongated, somewhat feather-shaped, “hinge
pearls,” that are found in the region of the hinge teeth of Unios. A
large and interesting exhibit of these is shown in the Field Museum of
Natural History, Chicago. But thousands of spherical pearls were also
obtained, from the “altars” or “hearths” of mounds belonging to the
first division of Squier and Davis’s classification, above noted. From
the Turner group, in Clermont County, in the Little Miami Valley,
Professor Putnam obtained for the Peabody Museum as much as half a
bushel of pearls of this character. As these had been exposed to fire,
nearly all were blackened, some cracked, and all greatly impaired.[553]
The next great series of explorations were those conducted by Mr. W. K.
Moorehead in the Scioto Valley, in the counties of Ross, Franklin and
Pickaway, Ohio. He opened and examined a number of mounds, and found
pearls or pearl beads in ten or twelve of them, but the larger deposits
were confined to certain limited districts, which seem to have been
occupied by tribes more advanced in culture and in traffic than the
rest. In these, the pearls and also objects of other kinds brought from
a distance, are principally found. The scattered mounds, not associated
with any village or community sites, have few of these valuable objects.
But even where they are found freely, pearls were apparently used or
possessed by only a few individuals. Mr. Moorehead investigated in all
117 burial mounds, containing about 1400 skeletons. Pearls were met with
in only seven of these mounds, and in connection with but twenty-two
skeletons. These, however, yielded a total of 2600 pearls, apparently
from Unios, the numbers found with single skeletons varying from 18 to
602, an average of 118. It thus appears that in Mr. Moorehead’s
researches, pearls were found in about one mound out of seventeen, and
in these, with about one skeleton out of eight.
From “altar mounds,” pearls have been in some cases taken in vast
numbers. Professor Putnam’s discoveries are mentioned above; and Mr.
Moorehead obtained tens of thousands from two altars or hearths in the
Hopewell group, which will be described hereafter.
When found in the burial mounds with skeletons, pearls are generally
seen to have been placed at the wrists or ankles, or about the neck, or
in the mouth. Sometimes they are found on copper plates, and
occasionally they show evidence of having been sewn or attached to a
garment. Particulars on these points will be given further on. Mr.
Moorehead has also found bears’ teeth, set with pearls, as Putnam and
Metz did in the Marriott mound, lying with or near skeletons.
In the case of the altar mounds, there seems to have been a different
procedure, not a burial, but a great funeral sacrifice in honor of some
very distinguished person, in which treasures of every kind, including
great stores of pearls, were consumed, or meant to be. Of this, Mr.
Moorehead says, in a letter to the author: “In the case of all altar
offerings, a fire had been kindled ... and all these things were heaped
upon it. They were utterly ruined, save a few; ... those at the top were
not so much affected as those at the bottom.”
Mr. Moorehead’s investigations already mentioned were in the years 1888
to 1891 inclusive; he next took up especially the remarkable Hopewell
groups of mounds, in 1891–1892, and explored these extensively for the
archæological exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, at
Chicago.[554] This was his most important and elaborate investigation,
and will be described in some detail. In 1896, he made a partial
exploration of the Harness mound near Chillicothe, which has been fully
completed more recently by Prof. William C. Mills, and will also be
described further on.
The investigations made in the Hopewell group of mounds were recorded by
Mr. Moorehead in a series of articles in the “Antiquarian.”[555] He
gives a general account of the remarkable region of ancient remains in
Ross County, Ohio. The State archæological map shows the “mound belt,”
as a strip of country some fifteen miles wide and one hundred miles
long, extending through the Scioto Valley, from about Columbus to
Portsmouth. The ancient works noted on this map, though not all that
exist there, yet number over 900 mounds, 24 village sites, 36 circles of
earth and stone, 87 other inclosures and works of similar character, and
31 sites of gravel or kame burials. Five groups of mounds in particular
exist in Ross County, all of them showing a “high culture” state. “All
of the lower Scioto Valley,” says Mr. Moorehead, “was occupied by a
mound-building tribe ranking higher in intelligence and numerically
stronger than that of any other section of the whole Ohio region.” Among
the many remarkable ancient works in that part of the country, the five
groups in Ross County are the most important, and among these, the
Hopewell group is preëminent. The first published notice of them, which
appeared in 1820, was by Mr. Caleb Atwater.[556] Squier and Davis
examined and described them in the years 1844–1846, and obtained large
and notable collections from them which are now in England, in the
Blackmore Museum at Salisbury, as not enough interest in such matters
then existed in America to induce the purchase and retention of these
valuable treasures. From that time until 1891, when Mr. Moorehead began
his explorations there, no one had paid much attention to these mounds,
all published accounts being derived from those of Squier and Davis.
They described them under the name of Clark’s works, from the owner of
the farm within which they lie; but the property has since passed into
the possession of Mr. M. C. Hopewell. From this fact, yet more from his
kind and intelligent interest in the work of exploration, his name has
been given to the group.
The Hopewell works are situated on the north fork of Paint Creek, about
one third of a mile from the stream. The intervening space is low
bottom-land, and the works stand upon a terrace about twenty feet high,
from which again there is a rather steep rise of thirty or forty feet
more, to the general level of the country. They consist of a nearly
quadrangular inclosure, about half a mile in length (strictly 2800
feet), and half as much in width, occupying the entire breadth of the
terrace. At its eastern end, this large inclosure opens into a second
and smaller one, an exact square of 850 feet. Within the main inclosure
are one or more village sites, a number of separate mounds, and
especially a group of several connected elevations, together known as
the Effigy mound, these being much the highest and most conspicuous, and
themselves surrounded by a semicircular inclosure. The whole suggests a
defensive work, or “walled town”; but the wall, although strongly and
carefully built, partly of stones and partly of hard clay, is so
low—only from four to six feet in height—that it could not have been a
very formidable obstacle to a vigorous assault; and, moreover, the whole
is overlooked and “commanded” from the bluff above it. The mounds, as
Squier and Davis examined them, were pronounced to be mainly of the
sacrificial or “altar” type. Since their very full and accurate account
was published, time and the hand of man have reduced and almost
obliterated portions of the wall and some of the smaller mounds, while
the creek has slightly shifted its course. When they wrote their
description, it was a little nearer than it is now; and they then
expressed the belief that it had formerly washed the base of the terrace
where the works are located.
Mr. Moorehead’s exploring party, aided by Dr. H. T. Cresson, began
operations at this notable group of mounds in August, 1891, and
continued them through about seven months, without interruption, much of
the time in severe winter weather. The work was carried on under
authority of the Anthropological Department of the Columbian Exposition
of 1893, at Chicago. All the most interesting and important of the very
extensive body of relics obtained was displayed there; and the whole
remains as a permanent exhibit in the Field (Columbian) Museum of
Natural History.
The Hopewell group comprises in all some twenty larger and smaller
mounds within the general inclosure, besides a few unimportant ones
outside of it, and the main connected group in the special inclosure
near the center. These latter form together what is known as the Effigy
mound, a name based upon its general resemblance to a reclining human
figure; but it is not constructed on a human or animal design, as are
the effigy mounds properly so called. After working for a time upon some
of the others, and finding much interesting material, Mr. Moorehead set
his men to work upon the Effigy mound, and spent most of his time and
effort upon that remarkable structure, of which he made a very thorough
and systematic exploration.
The Effigy mound is about 500 feet long and 220 feet wide, and rises 23
feet above the general surface at its highest point. It proves to belong
to the fourth class of Squier and Davis, those of mixed character, with
both altars and burials, as it contained three large altars and as many
as 175 skeletons, nearly all of adults.
Reviewing now the entire exploration of the Hopewell group, the first
mound opened, known as No. 17, was of considerable size, nearly ninety
feet in diameter, and was notable for a layer of mica—some 3000
sheets—that extended almost entirely through it. It contained a rude
altar, with ashes and bones, some copper implements, bone needles,
sharks’ teeth, and nearly 200 pounds of bright galena. The next
examined, No. 18, contained several decayed skeletons, and a good
example of an “altar,” together with ornaments cut from human skulls.
The next, No. 19, had an altar of earth, partially hardened by heat,
which was taken out entire and boxed. It was roughly cubical, about
three feet each way. In the “bowl,” or concavity, on the top of it, were
various minor implements, with some galena and mica, etc. The next
attacked was a large mound, No. 2, which had been partly opened by
Squier and Davis, nearly fifty years before. It is remarkable for its
immense store of roughly chipped flint disks, over 8000 in number, of
which 600 were taken out by Squier and Davis, and most of the remainder
by Mr. Moorehead. It would seem to have been a place of storage for
partly worked material of this kind, to preserve it from the hardening
effect of long exposure to the air.
Several other mounds yielded little of importance, save that from the
soil on the site of No. 1, which had been obliterated, were taken a
number of fragments of bone, curiously ornamented with finely carved
patterns. Two others, Nos. 4 and 5, had peculiarly constructed altars,
of which an extended account is given.
The first discovery of pearls by Squier and Davis was made in their
mound No. 9, now obliterated by a railroad. With the pearls, they report
as found on the top of a small altar, broken instruments of obsidian,
cut patterns of mica, vestiges of cloth, etc.
Mr. Moorehead’s first discovery of pearls was in a small but interesting
mound, No. 20, about forty feet in diameter. It had been reduced by
plowing to only some two feet in height; and its contents would ere long
have been broken into and scattered by the same process. This was
strictly a burial mound, and soon yielded five skeletons, one of them
being that of a child, nine or ten years of age. With these bones were
numerous objects: two large shells made into cups for drinking, several
copper articles and ornaments, among them a broad copper bracelet
encircling the right wrist, and several hundred pearl and shell beads
and small shells. The same mound yielded later some other children’s
remains, but with no important objects. A finely polished pipe and two
bear’s teeth coated with copper were also found.
Mr. Moorehead points out the evidences of a long occupation of this site
by a cultured tribe, who had commerce with the South and West more than
with the North or East.
Work was then begun, in the latter part of September, on a large and
important mound known as the Oblong (No. 23), 155 feet long by 100 feet
wide, with an elevation at present of 14 feet, and originally of perhaps
20 feet. This mound yielded thirty-nine skeletons, lying at depths
varying from eight and three fourths to eleven feet below the present
surface, nearly on the base-line of the mound. Some of these were
surrounded by boulders, others were much charred, and a good deal of
variety exists in their condition, all of which Mr. Moorehead describes
particularly. All manner of relics and objects were obtained, including
pearl beads and a splendid copper ax of seventeen pounds’ weight, of
course entirely too large for any practical use, and hence plainly a
ceremonial object or badge of some high distinction. Among the most
remarkable of the many interesting objects discovered here were the
large canine teeth of bears,[557] which had not only been drilled
through near the base of the root for suspension, like many others, but
had also been partly drilled at the middle of one side, and a large
pearl inserted into the cavity. These singular ornaments were found at
the neck of a skeleton, and had evidently been worn as pendants. It will
be remembered that almost identical specimens were found by Professor
Putnam in the Marriott mound in the Miami Valley.[558] The one here
figured is now in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, with
most of the other Hopewell material.
Another somewhat similar example of the taste and art of the same
people, also preserved in the Field Museum, came from the mound known as
No. 25. This consisted of a large figure of a bird, in hammered copper,
fifteen and seven eighths inches long, with a pearl inserted to form the
eye. The head is quite expressive, and the tail-feathers well
represented, although the wings and the general proportions are rude.
This is shown about one third of the actual length.
The Effigy mound was next examined. The first trial shafts proved it to
be evidently of human construction, and not of glacial origin, as some
had supposed. One or two open cuts were then begun, using teams with a
large shovel until indications of burials were found, when the further
work would be carried on by hand, with extreme care.
After about two weeks, in which time several skeletons were unearthed,
with some shells, beads, and copper ornaments, a burial of extraordinary
character was reached on November 14. Here was lying a skeleton which
the newspapers soon reported as “The King of the Mound-Builders.” It was
much decayed, but was covered and surrounded with a wealth of relics.
The skull was surmounted by a tall cap or helmet of copper, from which
extended a wonderful pair of antlers, exactly imitating those of a deer,
but made of wood and covered with copper. The whole skeleton, to quote
the words of Mr. Moorehead, “glittered with mica, pearl, shell, and
copper.” Plates of the latter were above, beneath, and around it, with
bears’ and panthers’ teeth, etc., and over 1000 beads, many of them of
pearl. The succeeding month, during which the last cut was finished down
to the base-line, and a third one much advanced, revealed numerous
skeletons, with abundant objects of the same general kind, including a
remarkable separate deposit of copper articles of curious workmanship,
ornaments of cut mica, and one of cannel coal, fragments of meteoric
iron and celts made therefrom, and “many thousand pearl and shell
beads.” The latest trophy here unearthed was another enormous ax of
copper, nearly two feet in length, unparalleled in the world.
The first altar was next reached; it was about four by five feet, and
some six inches deep, and had an immense variety of objects upon it and
around it, nearly all entirely ruined by the fire. Among them were pearl
beads.
The largest altar had been not only heaped with all sorts of valuables,
but they had been piled around it so as to form a sloping mass of twelve
feet or more in diameter at the base. Among these was a layer of mica
plates of extraordinary size, eighteen or twenty inches in diameter. It
is not easy even now to obtain sheets of mica of such dimensions, in any
quantity. Carvings and effigies in bone and slate, rock crystal
arrow-heads, obsidian knives, etc., etc., damaged and broken by heat,
were cemented together by half-melted copper. The pearl and shell beads
taken out amid the ashes are estimated at not less than 100,000.
The Effigy mound, “a place for ceremony, for sacrifice, for burial,” as
Mr. Moorehead calls it, thus combining the character of the first three
classes distinguished by Squier and Davis, is seen not to have been
constructed at one time, but to have developed gradually through perhaps
a long period. The several altars, the more important burials, the store
of copper objects, each was surmounted by a small and separate mound.
“These may have been built on the level dance or ceremonial floors, from
time to time. When the entire floor was covered, the people brought
large quantities of earth and gravel, heaped it on top of the irregular
contour of the small mounds, and this formed the present Effigy.”
The population that occupied the main inclosure was apparently not very
large, as compared with some other of the important earthworks, such as
Fort Ancient, or Madisonville. From the distribution of village-site
debris, Mr. Moorehead estimates that there could have been only from two
hundred to three hundred lodges, even if these were all occupied at the
same time. But the indications of traffic and of art show that it must
have been a community advanced in culture beyond most of its neighbors.
Mr. Moorehead believes it to have been a sort of capital among a body of
allied or affiliated tribes who made and occupied the similar earthwork
towns of the “mound belt,”—a center of production and distribution of
art objects, and a place for the holding of great religious ceremonials.
It may be noted, however, that the art was developed in certain
directions and not in others wherein it might be expected. In hammered
copper-work and in drilling, it was most remarkable, in the latter
extending even to the perforation of quartz crystals, but of pottery
there is little, and that not very choice—a striking contrast to the
abundant and elaborately ornamental potter’s art of the tribes in the
Southwest.
Tonti, the historian of La Salle’s expedition, in the eighteenth
century, states that La Salle actually saw mound-dwellers among southern
tribes of Indians, living very much as the Ohio mound-builders must have
done, and quite untouched as yet by any contact with the whites. Tonti
describes the dwellings, made of sun-dried mud and with dome-shaped
roofs of cane; two of them were larger and better constructed than the
rest, one the chief’s house and the other a temple, both about forty
feet square. The latter held the bones of deceased chieftains, and was
surmounted by three rude, wooden eagles. In the center was apparently “a
kind of altar,” where was maintained a perpetual fire of logs, watched
by two aged men. A recess, to which strangers were not admitted,
contained the treasures of the tribe, especially pearls from the Gulf,
as he was told. The chief returned the visit of La Salle, coming in
great state, with attendants, one of whom bore a disk of copper,
supposed to represent the sun, the chief’s great ancestor.[559] The
wooden eagles recall the large copper bird taken from mound No. 25 at
Hopewell; and the copper disk carried before the chief suggests a
similar use for some of the large objects of the same metal. The whole
account is extremely interesting in its resemblance to the Ohio remains.
The most complete study of these ancient structures is that of the
Harness mound, not far distant from the Hopewell, conducted under the
direction of the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society, in
1905, by their curator and librarian, Prof. William C. Mills.[560]
The Harness group contains within and about it fourteen mounds; the
works as a whole were described by Squier and Davis, on page 56 of their
great report (“Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,” 1848), and
have been frequently mentioned and pictured for their striking form,—a
large and perfect circle, opening at one side into a smaller circle and
also into an exact square. They are located, like the Hopewell, in Ross
County, and stand on a terrace of the Scioto River, nearly a mile from
its eastern bank, and about eight miles south of Chillicothe.
The square inclosure measures 1080 feet on each side, and the diameters
of the two circles are about 1600 feet for the larger and 650 feet for
the smaller. In general character, this group closely resembles the
Hopewell: there is the same low wall or embankment, some four feet high,
though without any ditch as at Hopewell, and the same problem as to its
object. A number of small mounds are placed here and there, and one
large and important one recalls the Effigy, though it is somewhat less
in size and much more regular in form. In 1846, when Squier and Davis
examined it, unfortunately most of the ground was covered with woods;
but these are gone, and the works have since been much reduced by
tillage and partly obliterated by railroad and other constructions.
The one large mound is named for the recent owner of the property, Mr.
Edwin Harness; the present owner, his son, Mr. John M. Harness, aided
and facilitated the explorations in every way. This fact, as also in the
case of Mr. Hopewell, stands in pleasing and honorable contrast to the
narrow policy of some land-owners, who refuse permission for any such
work, even when the structures are upon unused and valueless ground.
The large mound is an almost perfect oval in form, 160 feet long and
some 80 feet across at its widest point, which is about one third of the
way from the northern end; in height it is nearly 20 feet, or was before
its recent removal. It was partly explored by Squier and Davis in 1846,
and quite extensively by Professor Putnam in 1885, and, unlike the
Effigy mound, had been repeatedly opened and examined in a small way by
both official and unofficial explorers. In 1896, Mr. W. K. Moorehead
took up the work where Professor Putnam had stopped, and carried it
considerably further, under the auspices of the Ohio Archæological and
Historical Society; and the same body, in 1905, commissioned Mr. Mills
to resume and complete the examination, removing the entire structure
down to its base.
The Harness mound, unlike the Effigy, was for burial purposes only.
There must have been nearly two hundred. Squier and Davis found one of
these, and possibly another which they mistook for an “altar”; and they
state their belief that the mound probably contained other burials which
their two pits had not revealed. Professor Putnam encountered 12
burials, Mr. Moorehead 27, and the final exploration 133, making a total
of 174. Besides these, an unknown number have been disturbed and removed
by occasional explorers. Of the 174 recorded, only ten had been buried
without being burned; the rest were all cremated, some where they were
laid, but most of them elsewhere, and the ashes brought and placed in
the grave. This was in all cases carefully prepared, within a small
inclosure of logs, the decayed and charred remains of which are clearly
traceable. The entire mound itself had been outlined with posts set in
the ground. the holes and impressions remaining as evidence of the fact.
Mr. Mills outlines the history of this mound, in a way that recalls Mr.
Moorehead’s views as to the gradual growth of the Effigy. It began as a
place for the holding of funeral rites and the deposit of the dead,
marked out by lines of posts, which show that it was from time to time
enlarged. Finally, when the place was substantially filled, earth and
gravel were deposited over the whole, and slabs of stone (particularly
noted by Squier and Davis) were laid around it, upon the lower part of
the slope.
Much description is given of the separate graves or burial chambers,
which are of several types, and of the various details of the cremated
and uncremated interments. The mound is rich in relics, although none of
the profuse sacrificial accumulations of the “altars” were encountered,
this being a mound of burial only. The relics are of the same kind, in
general, as those found in the Hopewell group, and to specify them in
detail would be only repetition. From the 133 graves opened in Mr.
Mills’s final investigation, no less than 1200 specimens were obtained
for the museum of the Archæological Society at Columbus. Among these
were artefacts of Lake Superior copper (and some pieces of native
silver), large shells from the Gulf, galena, obsidian, and much mica,
both in “blocks” and cut into ornaments, all showing the same range of
aboriginal commerce as already described at Hopewell. In reference to
pearls, the following are the principal observations:
Beads made from Unio pearls were very abundant everywhere in the Harness
mound, as also beads of shell. They are found in such position as to
show that they were strung and worn around the neck or wrists. One
burial (No. 100) had some 2100 pearl beads, all rather small, and some
of them perfectly round. Several hundred were obtained, however, that
ranged from one quarter to one half an inch in diameter. A number of
these are shown of natural size. The larger pearls, instead of being
bored through for beads, are frequently somewhat flattened by grinding,
and then pierced with two holes so as to attach them to a fabric. Very
large ones were sometimes set in copper,—a style of work never observed
before. Mr. Mills says of this: “Large and select pearls were flattened
upon one side by grinding, and then placed upon a circular disk of
copper a little larger than the pearl. The edges were then turned (up)
around the pearl, holding it in place. Not only were pearls set in this
way, but various pieces of shell cut in a circular form.” Fine examples
of this unique style of jewelry, of natural size, and another copper
setting of like character, from which the pearl has been lost, are shown
in plates facing pages 499 and 510.
More curious still is the discovery of imitation pearls, made of clay,
and apparently modeled from real ones as they reproduce all the
irregularities of form of the true pearls. They could easily have been
made more nearly spherical, as the beads cut from shell are so regular
as to look as though made by machinery. These somewhat irregular clay
imitations, found with the genuine pearls, were first coated with a
pulverent mica and then burned so as to preserve a pearly appearance.
Other forms of art work were abundantly represented in the Harness
mound, such as carvings and decorations in stone and bone; a variety of
textile fabrics, of which remnants are preserved when they were in
contact with plates of copper, the salts of the metal having penetrated
the fabric and prevented its entire decay; very skilful work in copper,
and to some extent in native silver and meteoric iron; and numerous
fragments of pottery, more or less ornamental with simple impressed
patterns. The “culture,” as a whole, appears to have been equal, and
very similar, to that of the Hopewell community, and these are regarded
as having been the most advanced among the Ohio mound-builders; while
the term “Fort Ancient culture” is applied to a somewhat lower grade in
the matter of arts, which has its chief illustration among the builders
and occupants of that celebrated work. By such researches, thus minutely
and systematically conducted, there is now beginning to be possible
something like a classification of these ancient unknown tribes, which
will doubtless be developed more fully, as investigation shall be
extended and its results combined and compared.
As to pearls in the mounds of Illinois, we are informed by the veteran
archæologist, Dr. J. F. Snyder, that in 1889 he found the skeletons of
three adult Indians at the base of a small mound on the bluffs of the
Sangomon River in Cass County. These skeletons were in a squatting
posture; artefacts—such as greenstone celts, a bicave stone and a heavy
pipe—had only been deposited with one of them. Around each wrist and
ankle of this skeleton were perforated beads made from _Marginella_
shells, and resting on the sternum was a solitary pearl which had
evidently formed the center of a necklace of the same small marine
shells. Although much decayed, it still retained something of its
original luster. It was spherical, measured approximately seven eighths
of an inch in diameter, and was perforated through the middle. Dr.
Snyder also states that at the base of one of the large mounds he opened
in 1895, in Brown County, on the west side of the Illinois River, he
discovered a number of the large canine teeth of the bear, perforated at
the roots, so as to be used for necklaces. On the convex side of each
tooth were from two to four pits about one third of an inch in diameter,
and the same in depth, in which gems had been inserted. Two small pearls
were still in place. Near by were the remains of another necklace
composed of alternate pearls and bone beads; the latter were oblong and
perforated lengthwise. Eight of the pearls were recovered, ranging in
diameter from one half to one third of an inch, and pierced through the
center, but all were very badly injured by the action of fire.
Mr. David I. Bushnell, who has excavated the McEvers mound in Montezuma,
Pike County, Illinois, for the Missouri Historical Society, found in
this mound a cyst containing a skeleton six feet in height and also a
skull reposing on a bundle of bones near which lay forty-five pearls,
one of them weighing fifty-two grains and still showing a beautiful
luster. Almost all the objects discovered in the mound will be presented
to the Missouri Historical Society. The large pearl would be worth from
$12,000 to $15,000 if it were in perfect condition.
We learn from Mr. Richard Herrmann, founder of the Herrmann Museum of
Natural History, Dubuque, Iowa, that on the top of the high cliff from
Eagle’s Point to its end at McKnight’s Spring, there were formerly a
great many mounds which were long ago examined by government experts.
Many ancient ornaments were found in these mounds, among them a string
of pearls, greatly damaged from having been buried for a long
period.[561] Mr. Herrmann believes that these pearls were taken from the
Mississippi River by the mound-builders.
Enough has been said, in this general sketch, to give some idea of the
extent to which pearls, largely those from the fresh-water Unios, were
gathered and used by the native tribes of North America, from the
ancient mound-builders of the Ohio Valley to the Indians encountered by
the explorers and colonists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The love of pearls shown by the Indians was as noteworthy as was their
devotion to their dead and the superstitious mystery which enshrouds
their funeral rites; for, when the human sacrifice was consummated, the
act was performed in as earnest a spirit of devotion as was shown by
Abraham in his readiness to sacrifice Isaac, and the Indians evidenced
an almost pathetic sentiment either of reverence, duty, or supernatural
dread.
Dr. J. Walter Fewkes writes that in none of his excavations has he ever
noted pearls. Haliotis shells, conch shells, and fragments of the same
have been found in the great ruins at Casa Grande, Arizona.
Dr. Charles Hercules Read, director of the Department of Archæology of
the British Museum, states that the Mexican mosaic masks in the Christy
collection, which are pre-Columbian in origin, and probably date
hundreds of years in advance of the conquest, prove of special interest
from the fact that five of them contain an inlay of mother-of-pearl
shell. The first of these is a plain mask in which the eyes are of
mother-of-pearl; the second is a dagger having the details of
feather-work in mother-of-pearl; the third, a circular shield center
having the eyes, teeth, fingers, and toes of the figures in
mother-of-pearl; the fourth, a helmet with small pieces of pearl-shell
representing collars around the necks of rattlesnakes; and the fifth is
a jaguar in the side of which are similar inlays. These masks are
described by Dr. Read in “Archæologia,” Society of Antiquaries, London,
Vol. LIV, p. 383; in this volume the objects are shown in color. Dr.
Read communicates that the pearl jaguar seems to be of more recent
execution, but he believes the first four to be original. He is not
entirely sure that these objects contain the true mother-of-pearl, the
substance having changed so much as to make a decision doubtful even if
it were extracted. He states, however, that it is a pearly, nacreous
shell, resembling that of the ordinary pearl-oyster. In these masks are
also other shells, among them a red shell, probably a spondylus, almost
as red as coral. The mother-of-pearl is of special interest as it is
quite possible that the shell itself was known, and it may be that
pearls also formed part of a commerce that existed between the coast and
the interior.
[Illustration:
Group of charred, cut fresh-water pearls; more than 100,000 found in
mounds
]
[Illustration:
Finger-shaped piece of lignite inlaid with fresh-water pearl
]
[Illustration:
Copper bird, 15⅞ inches long with eye of fresh-water pearl
]
FRESH-WATER PEARLS FROM HOPEWELL GROUP OF MOUNDS, ROSS COUNTY, OHIO
We are informed by Mr. E. P. Dieseldorf, of Coban, Republic of
Guatemala, that he has never observed pearls in the pre-Columbian graves
in Guatemala; he had, however, frequently found marine shells, whole,
and elaborated in connection with jadeite beads.
In a personal communication, Mr. Thomas Gann, of Yucatan, states that,
in excavating a mound at San Antonio, near the mouth of the Rio Hondo,
in Yucatan, he uncovered a small stone cyst or chamber, containing two
perforated, pear-like ornaments of considerable size, together with
portions of a human skeleton, painted pottery, etc. He also states that
ornaments such as beads, gorgets, and ear-pendants, made from the pearly
shell of both the oyster and the conch, are of common occurrence in many
sepulchral mounds in British Honduras and in Yucatan, and he notes the
fact that pink conch pearls are found in considerable numbers at the
present day along the coast of British Honduras. There is no especial
fishing for pearls, and they are found only incidentally in conchs which
have been gathered for food. These pearls are sold by fishermen in
Balize at prices varying from two or three dollars to twenty or thirty
apiece. In size they range from that of a large pin’s head to that of a
small pea.
Mrs. Marie Robinson Wright informs us that she has never found pearls in
the Bolivian graves, although they are quite plentiful in Bolivia
to-day, and hundreds of them are offered in the markets. The pretty
girls wear them as earrings and in their _topos_.
There is no doubt that pearls existed long before the advent of man,
both in the fresh-water and in the marine form. This is more clearly
evidenced by Sir Charles Lyell, who calls attention to the fact that the
fresh-water mussel (_Unio littoralis Gray_), formerly found in abundance
at Grays Thurrock, Essex, no longer exists in England, but occurs in
France, showing that not only had this mollusk been unseen by any
Englishman, but that the form had become extinct in an entire country.
Thus, both the pearl shell of the ocean and the pearl-mussel of the
river, for many centuries produced pearls, which passed away with the
shell itself.
A great number of fossil Unios were collected by Barnum Brown from the
Laramie clays, 130 miles northwest of Miles City, Montana. The shells
were found in a bed situated about 180 feet above the Fort Pierre shales
and, therefore, well above the recognized cretaceous strata. These
shells were in fairly good condition and retained the nacreous coloring
to a considerable extent. As some of them resemble the modern species,
it seems that the same designations might be applied to them.
Prof. R. P. Whitfield, one of our greatest palæontologists, who has
carefully examined these fossil shells, suggests that they are probably
the progenitors of the species of Unios and fresh-water mussels that now
inhabit the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers and their tributaries, and
he proposes the following names for some of them, indicating at the same
time the living species with which he compares them: _Unio biæsopoides_,
_Unio æsopoides_ and _Unio æsopiformis_, all resembling _U. æsopus_
Green; _Unio letsoni_ = _U. cornutus_ Barnes; _Unio cylindricoides_ =
_U. cylindricus_ Say; _Unio gibbosoides_ = _U. gibbosus_ Barnes; _Unio
pyramidatoides_ = _U. pyramidatus_ Lea; _Unio retusoides_ = _U. retusus_
Lam.; _Unio verucosiformis_ = _U. verrucosus_ Barnes.
Although it is almost certain that these ancient Unios were
pearl-bearing, Professor Whitfield informs us that, in a period of fifty
years of palæontological research, he has never found a fossil pearl.
We are informed by Sophus Müller, Director of the Royal Danish Museum of
Antiquities at Copenhagen, that no Danish ornaments containing pearls
have been found dating from an earlier period than 1000 B.C.; he also
states that no fresh-water pearls have ever been discovered in the
Danish graves.
Dr. H. Ulmann, director of the great Swiss Landesmuseum at Zurich, and
Dr. Otto Leiner, director of the Rosengarten Museum at Constance,
personally communicated to us that no pearls exist in either of the
collections of these great museums, nor to their knowledge have any been
discovered in the lake-dwellings or the prehistoric graves of either
Switzerland or Baden. This may either be due to conditions favorable to
the dissolution of the pearl by the action of the ooze on the lake
bottom, or else to the entire absence of knowledge of them on the part
of a people who were familiar with many materials, since the museum
collections even show jade implements of a number of types.
Dr. Leiner, whose father was curator of the Rosengarten Museum before
him, informs us that at Bodman on Lake Constance there were found a
large number of bored cylinders, from one fourth of an inch to one inch
in length, made out of limestone. They were used for necklaces, somewhat
in the style of our Indian wampum, and were either worn alone or in
connection with bored cylinders made of the tuff-rock and also of
encrinite stems.
Dr. Leiner also asserts that he has never seen _Unio margaritifera_ in
Lake Constance; nor was there any evidence of shells, broken or
otherwise, observed by him in the excavations in the lake-dwellings.
The curator of the Rhodesia Museum, Bulawayo, South Africa, states that
in Rhodesia, in the vicinity of Bulawayo, beads made out of the shell of
the common Unio or fresh-water mussel (_Unio verreauxi_) have been
observed in the graves, although pearls themselves have never been found
with them in any burials.
ADDENDA
One of the authors used every endeavor in 1893 and 1894 to have a
bill passed by Congress for the regulation of pearl-fishing in the
United States. These efforts were frustrated by the influence of the
local pearl fishers. An attempt has now been made to preserve the
industry in Illinois, where the legislature has this spring passed a
bill for its regulation.
The first section of the bill provides:
It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to take or catch, by
any means whatever, in any of the navigable waters within the
jurisdiction of this State, any mussel, fresh-water clam or
shell-fish from the first day of October to the first day of April
(both dates inclusive) of each succeeding year.
The bill imposes upon any one who violates these provisions a fine of
not less than $25, nor more than $100, or imprisonment in the county
jail for a term not exceeding one year, or else both fine and
imprisonment at the discretion of the court.
Another section provides that any one not a resident of Illinois, who
takes clams, shell-fish, or mussels, without procuring a license, shall
be subject to a fine of not less than $50, nor more than $100, or to
imprisonment for one year, or to both penalties. The licenses may be
procured on application and payment of $50 for each vessel to be
employed, and they expire on the first day of October following their
issuance. The amount received for these licenses is to be turned over to
the State Treasurer at the end of each month and placed to the credit of
the State Fish Protective Fund. No boat having more than two bars, each
not exceeding sixteen feet in length, shall be used for this fishery,
and the space separating the hooks on these bars is not to be less than
eight inches.
Miss Carl, the artist who painted the portraits of the Empress and that
of the Dowager Empress of China, states that she wears a diamond ring.
When she shows this she apologizes for wearing it, stating that it had
been given to her by the Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, saying that she,
herself, sees no beauty in the sparkle of the diamond; for her there is
more beauty in the soft, quiet tones of the pearl than in the brilliancy
of the diamond.
During the Boxer War in China, the looting was carried on to so great an
extent, that a French hotel-keeper is said to have obtained a basket of
pearls, which he bought for a trifle, and which are said to have netted
him very nearly $1,000,000.
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INDEX
INDEX
Abalone pearls, 55, 78, 148, 280, 291, 351, 414
Abbas the Great, 455
Abdul-Aziz, 421
Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 164, 166
Aboriginal use of pearls, 485–513
Abortive ova theory, 42
Abraham and Sarah, 7
Accidents to divers, 117, 138, 144, 197, 203, 208, 247, 249
Acid stains, 376
Acosta, José de, 232
Aden, Arabia, 37, 142
Aden, Gulf of, 80, 140
Adirondack, New York, 266
Adour River, France, 171
Adrian, Pope, 313
Africa, 65, 140, 153–156
Age of mollusks, 74, 108, 171
Ago Bay, Japan, 292
Aitken, E. H., 133
Alabama, 492, 493
Alasmodon arcuata, 73
margaritifera, 281
Albertus Magnus, 311
Alexander the Great, 319
Alexander VI, 24
Alexander Severus, 10
Alexandra, Queen, 165, 418
(plate), 438
Alexandria, 320
Alexandria shell, 69
Alfonso X, 311
Alfred the Great, 414
Algonquin Indians, 486
America, 225–282, 294
America, Prehistoric, 23, 485–512
American Museum of Natural History, 266, 467
Amsterdam, Diamond Merchants of, 325
Anania of Shiraz, 329
Ancients, Pearls among the, 3–12
Anglesey, Marquis of, 479
Angoulème, Duchess of, 170
Anhalt Dessau, Duchess of, 476
Anjou, Duke of, 425
Annan River, Scotland, 164
Anne de Bretagne, 436
Anne de France, Duchess, 435
Anodonta cygnea, 42, 168
Antwerp, Chamber of Commerce of, 327
Apparatus of capture, 166, 181, 268–270.
See Dredges, Scaphanders.
Apple River, Wisconsin, 262
Aqualia jewels, 479
Aqua perlata, 311
Archangel, Russia, 181, 184
Areca-nut, 310
Arethusa necklace, 405
Aristotle, 95
Arizona, 510
Arkansas, 259, 263, 264, 270, 276, 361
Arkansas River, 263, 264
Arlington, Tenn., 263
Arnobio, Cleandro, 344
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 41, 85
Arthurian legends, 304
Artificial pearls, 41, 285–293
Aru Islands, 206, 220
Ashburnham missal, 17
Assyria, Pearls in, 6, 404
Atax ypsilophorus, 43
Atharvaveda, 4, 301
Athens National Museum, 405
Atwater, Caleb, 500
Auction of oysters, 120
Auction of pearls, 470–472, 477–481
Augsburg, Germany, 320
Australia, 30, 58, 65, 68, 199–212, 291, 294, 466
Austria, Fisheries of, 178–179
Austrian Schatzkammer, 472–474
Awabi. See Abalone.
Aztecs, Pearls among the, 23
Bacon, Francis, 313
Baden, Germany, 177
Baegert, Jacob, 244
Bagdad, 88, 98, 335, 411
Bagge, J. P., 287
Bahama Islands, 278
Bahrein Islands, 85, 88–90
Balapur, India, 133
Baldknob, Arkansas, 276
Banda, 221
Banks, Edgar J., 5
Bann River, Ireland, 165
Bantam Lake, Conn., 266
Bapst pearls, 465
Barbot, Charles, 337, 390
Baroda, Gaikwar of, 460
Baroque pearls, 30, 31, 59, 265, 272, 353, 359, 464, 475, 476
Baroque pearls, Values of, 337, 340, 343, 355
Barthema, Lodovico, 86
Base value for pearls, 330–333
Basilica of St. Mark, 17, 59
Bassein Coast, India, 139
Bath, Marquis of, 355
Batthyani, Count Louis, 467
—— Countess Louis, 434
Bavaria, 171–173, 294
Bazaruto Islands, 153, 156
Beads, 403, 497, 498, 508
Beckmann, Johann, 287
Bede, 160
Bell, Robert N., 492
Benjamin of Tudela, 37, 86
Benzoni, Girolamo, 231
Berri, Duc de, 426
Beuth-Schinkel Museum, Charlottenburg, 421
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 407, 425, 428, 436
Biedma, Louis Hernandez de, 253, 257
Bird’s-eye pearls, 56, 353
Birdwood, Sir George, 319
Birmingham, Jewelers’ and Goldsmiths’ Association of, 327
Blackmore, H. P., 490
Blackmore Museum, 490, 500
Black pearls, 29, 60, 241, 349, 355, 376, 467, 476
Black River, Arkansas, 264, 273
Black Rock, Arkansas, 264, 276
Bleaching pearls, 377, 396
Blister pearls, 58, 353
Blue-point shell, 72
Boats, 91, 112, 136, 141, 166, 205, 218, 234
Bober River, Germany, 175
Bohemia, Austria, 178
Bohemian pearls, 433, 434
Bolchow, H. W. F., 478
Bolivia, 511
Bologna treatise of, 1791, 331, 338, 342, 343
Bombay, 88, 89, 98, 156, 347, 354, 357
Bombay Presidency, 132
Bombay shell, 69, 143
Boncza, Mlle. Wanda de, 479
Boot, Anselmus de, 40, 311, 331, 338, 343, 382, 455
Bordeaux, Austin de, 459
Borneo, 221, 297
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 11, 12, 307
Bouchon-Brandely, G., 193, 195, 290
Bourbon, Duchess of, 348
Bouton, Louis, 291
Bouton pearls, 56, 57, 352.
See Button pearls
Bracelets, 474
Brazil, 282
Breeding pearls, 296–298
Bremond, Gabriele, 411
Brhatsamhita of Varâhamihira, 334
Bridal presents, Pearls as, 170
Brinton, D. G., 494
Bristow, Samuel G., 494
British Honduras, 511
British Isles, 11, 159–168
British Museum, 11, 20, 67, 405, 414, 510
Brooch, 471
Broome, Australia, 205
Brown, Barnum, 511
Browning, Robert, 303
Bruce, Robert, 418
Brunswick, Duke of, 349, 399
Brydges, Sir Harford Jones, 459
Bubics, Bishop, 481
Buckhorn shell, 73
Buckingham, Duke of, 24
Buckland, F. T., 165
Budapest National Museum, 435
Buddha images, 288–289
Buddhabhaṭṭa, 310, 335, 378
Budé, Guillaume, 348
Bulawayo, South Africa, 513
Bullhead shell, 73
Bunyan, John, 79
Burgundy family, 21, 431
Burkill, F. H., 136
Burma, 135
Bushell, Stephen W., 413
Bushnell, David I., 509
Butterfly shell, 73
Button manufacture, 72, 264, 269, 271
Button pearls, 352, 360, 470
Buttons, Link, 443
Buying pearls, 369
Byron, Lord, 403
Byssus, 66, 76
Byzantine coins, 15
Byzantium, 320
Cæsar, Julius, 10, 11, 159, 329, 449
Cæsarea, Syria, 406
Calcutta, 357
California, 280, 281
California, Gulf of, 69, 241–251, 294
Caligula, 9
Caliph Al-Mamun, 411
Cambridge, Mass., 490
Camden, William, 37, 160
Canada, 281
Candarin, weight, 322
Caniapuscaw, Canada, 281
Carat, 321–329, 331, 333
Carborel, José, 242
Care of pearls, 394–395
Caribbean Sea, 225
Carl, Miss, 513
Carlotta, Empress of Mexico, 397, 476
Caroline Augusta, Empress, 474
Caroline, Queen, 29
Carpets embroidered with pearls, 411
Carthage, Tenn., 263, 276
Carupano, Venezuela, 234
Cassis madagascarensis, 351, 354
Castellani, Alexandro, 185
Castellani, Augusto, 468
Catharine de’ Medici, 24, 435, 453
Catharine of Russia, 184
Cavvadias, M. P., 405
Ceram, 221
Ceylon, 4, 29, 31, 45, 60, 81, 87, 99–128, 293, 343–347, 383
Ceylon Company of Pearl Fishers, 110, 125, 127
Chank, 78
Chardin, Jean, 94
Charente River, France, 171
Charlemagne, 16, 472, 475
Charles I of England, 431, 456
Charles II of Spain, 452
Charles IV, Crown of, 416
Charles V, Buckle of, 24
Charles VI of France, 313
Charles the Bold, 21
Charles the Bold’s jewel, 450
Charlotte, Queen, 29
Chauveton, Urbain, 38, 232
Che-kiang, China, 288
Chesapeake Bay, 267
Chicago, Ill., 275, 499, 500
Chicot, 58, 353
Chillicothe, Ohio, 491, 500, 506
China, 4, 5, 19, 145–146, 285, 288, 302, 413
Chinese pearl ornaments, 413
Christ, 7, 304
Christie’s Auction House, 477–481
Chung-kwan-o, China, 290
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 468
Clam pearl. See Venus, 351, 486
Cleaning pearls, 375, 377, 378, 396
“Cleanness,” the poem, 21
Cleopatra, 10, 55, 314, 315, 407, 449
Clinch River, Tenn., 263
Clinton, Tenn., 263, 276
Clodius, 315
Coche Island, Venezuela, 231, 233
Cockburn, Lady Augusta Anne, 479
Cocoanut pearls, 78, 351
Cofaciqui, 253, 254, 257, 267
Coins, ancient, 404, 450
Collar, Pearl, 444
Colombia, 233, 239, 282
Colombo, 357
Color of pearls, 60, 61, 97, 124, 166, 184, 221, 241, 261, 267, 273,
321, 351, 354, 359, 362, 467
Colorado River, 261
Columbus, Christopher, 23, 225, 226, 228, 321
Columbus, Diego, 229
Columbus, Ohio, 500
Commerce in pearls, 319–321
Commission des Instruments et Travaux, 326
Comparette, F. Louis, 408
Compiègne, France, 431
Composition of pearls, 52, 314
Comyn, Tomas de, 213
Conch pearls, 55, 77, 278, 279, 351, 361, 464
Conchiolin, 44, 51, 61
Cone-shaped pearls, 352
Congaree River, 492
Connecticut, 266
Connemara, Ireland, 165
Constantinople, 15, 320
Conway River, Wales, 37, 160, 161, 168
Copenhagen, 476
Coque de perle, 59, 351
Coral, 412
Cordiner, James, 104, 116, 382
Cordoba, Maria Fernandez de, 433
Coronation orb, English, 418
Cortés, Hernando, 241
Corvinus, Cross of, 423
Cossack, Australia, 205, 466
Costa Rica, 239, 282
Coxe, Daniel, 258, 263
Cracks in pearls, 271, 321, 381
Crawfurd, John, 213
Cresson, H. T., 501
Crosses of pearls, 444
Crowfoot drag, 269
Crowns, 15, 24, 414–420, 455, 472–475
Crown jewels of France, 56, 461, 468–472
Crusades, 19, 320
Crystalline pearls, 54, 55, 351
Cubagua Island, Venezuela, 228, 229, 231, 233
Culin, Stewart, 414
Cultching, 294
Culture pearls, 41, 75, 148, 288–293
Cumana, Venezuela, 228, 233, 234
Cumberland River, 263, 494
Cupid and Psyche, 307
Curtis, William E., 282
Cuzco, Cathedral of, 432
Cylindrical pearls, 56, 353
Czarina of Russia, _Frontispiece_
Czarina of Russia, Daughters of the, 442
Dahlak Islands, 142
Danube River, 18, 171, 177, 179
Dark Ages, 17, 21, 320, 421
Davenport, Charles B., 292
Davis, Edwin H., 485, 489, 498
Death of pearls, 397, 399
Debenham & Storr, 481
Dee River, Scotland, 164
Denmark, 179, 512
Dennis, James T., 6
Dennys, N. B., 297
Denton, Sherman F., 266
Depletion of pearl beds, 31, 106, 132, 148, 164, 169, 175, 180, 206,
233, 261, 277, 294
Dew-drop origin of pearls, 36–39, 60
Diamonds, 21, 28, 29, 30, 79, 259, 321, 330, 334, 369, 371, 392, 403,
412, 439, 442
Diane de Poitiers, 436
Diaz, Carmen Romero Rubio de, 441
Diederichsen, 476
Diemerbroeck, 94
Dieseldorf, E. P., 511
Dieulafait, Louis, 337
Dinglinger, J. M., 475
Dipsas plicatus, 75, 146, 288
Distomum duplicatum, 42
margaritarum, 43
somateriæ, 43
Divers, Characteristics of, 91, 93, 113, 131, 134, 137, 143, 149, 194,
207, 217, 238, 246
Diving-bell, 239, 245, 247
Diving, Limit of, 93, 94–96, 195, 208, 219, 249
Diving, Method of, 92, 114, 128, 132, 138, 142, 146, 194, 201–203, 207,
219, 230, 236, 246, 249
Diving-stones, 92
Dixon washing machine, 123, 125
Dog-tooth pearls, 352, 360
Donnan, James, 93
Don River, Scotland, 163, 164
Doon River, Scotland, 163, 164
Double pearls, 57, 353
Dragon and pearl, 302
Dragsen, Alfred, 476
Dredging for pearl-oysters, 115, 146, 218, 231, 234
Dreher, Julius D., 196
Dresden, Germany, 475
Drilling pearls, 378–385, 477, 492, 496
Drinking dissolved pearls, 314
Drop-shaped pearls, 352
Druggists’ pearls, 75
Dublin Museum, 424, 425
Dubois, Raphael, 43, 44, 55, 71
Dubosq, Augustus, 390
Dubosq, Henry, 390
Dubuque, Iowa, 510
Dudley, Lady, 479
Durand, L. E., 88
Dust-pearls, 56, 352, 445
Durability of pearls, 395–398
Dutch Indies, 202, 220
Dyeing pearls, 377
Earn River, Scotland, 164
Ear-piercing, 407
Earrings, 403, 404, 407–410, 444
East Africa, Fisheries of, 153–156
East African Pearl Company, 154
East Indian pearl jewelry, 412
Ebert, Frank M., 267
Ecclesiastical ornaments, 16, 17, 160, 421–424, 444
Echternacher Codex, 421
Ecuador, 282
Edgcumbe, Sir Robert, 153, 155
Edibility of pearl mollusks, 66, 171, 210, 250, 280, 494
Edward VI of England, 455
Edward VII of England, 438
Edward, the Black Prince, 417
Effigy mound, 502, 504, 505
Egbert, Archbishop of Treves, 421
Egg-shaped pearls, 56, 240, 352, 470
Egypt, Pearls in ancient, 6, 403 403–404
Eldorado explorers, 252
Elgin, Lord, 126
Eligius or St. Eloi, 16
Elizabeth of England, 24, 453, 454
Elizabeth of Russia, 182, 183
El Katif, 457
Elster River, Saxony, 173
Emanuel, Harry, 337, 340
Embedded pearls, 57, 353, 376
Emeralds, 330, 372, 412, 439
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 145
Empress Dowager of China, 431 (plate)
Enriching a drink with pearls, 314
Entrecolles, F. X. de, 285, 286
Eo, Wilhelmus, 348
Espiritŭ Santo Island, Mexico, 248, 293
Esterházy, Count Maurice, 434
Esterházy, Prince Nicholas, 434, 481
Esthonia, Russia, 182, 183
Etowah River, Georgia, 267
Eugénie, Empress, 30, 164, 260, 307, 355, 395, 471
Europe, Fisheries of, 168–185
European pearl-bearing mollusks, 75, 160, 164, 170, 184
Fabricius, Dionysius, 182
Fake pearls, 361
Falco, Alphonse, 468
Farsan Islands, Red Sea, 142
Fashion for pearls, 21, 30, 31, 329, 354, 439, 440
Ferbecq, 475
Ferguson, A. M., 117
Ferranz, Ivens, 153
Fertility of pearl mollusks, 67, 74
Feuchtwanger, Lewis, 336
Fever, Pearl hunting, 276
Fewkes, J. Walter, 510
Field Museum of Natural History, 499, 501, 503
Filippi, Filippo de, 42
Findhorn River, Scotland, 164
Finland, Russia, 182, 183, 290
Finot, Louis, 334
Fishermen, Characteristics of, 91, 268, 275.
See Divers.
Fishermen, Total number of, 80
Fishing boats, 112, 113, 136, 141
Flavor of pearls, 313, 315
Flint River, Georgia, 268
Florence, Italy, 24, 407
Florida, 257, 262, 268, 278, 493
Foix, Françoise de, 436
Fontaneda, Hernando, 256, 257
Forms of pearls, 55–60, 351–354
France, 17, 169–171
Francis I of France, 468
Frederick, Cæsar, 101
Frederick III of Germany, 438
French crown jewels, 56, 461, 468–472
Fresh-water pearls, 16, 18, 30, 72–75, 146, 159–185, 252–282, 351, 359
Froehner, 12
Fugger, J. J., 450
Fukura, Japan, 293
Funeral rites, use of pearls, 133
Gabrielle d’Estrées, 436
Gambier Islands, 190, 192
Gann, Thomas, 511
Garde-Meuble, Paris, 461
Garner, Robert, 43
Garrard & Co., 464
Gemelli-Careri, 238
Gemmen Münzen Cabinet, 12
General Pearl and Coral-Fishing Association of London, 245
Genoa, Italy, 24, 320
Gentleman of Elvas, 253
Georgia, 267, 492, 495
German East Africa, 154
German Federation of Jewelers, 326
German ornaments, Antique, 421–422
Germany, 171–178, 294
Giant clam, 53, 76, 144, 296
Giard, Alfred, 43
Gieger, Malachias, 312
Gillman, H. W., 346
Gimma, Giacinto, 213
Gironde River, 171
Glyptothek, Munich, 407
Godron, D. A., 169
Goethe, 305
Gogibus pearl, 350, 461
Gollancz, 20
Gomara, Francisco Lopez de, 226, 235, 451, 455
Gonzalez, President, 247
Goode, John Mason, 94
Gordon-Lennox, Lady Henry, 481
Gould, Mrs. George J., 480 (plate)
Grain, Pearl, 322–327, 330–334
Gran, Cathedral of, 422
Grass River, N. Y., 266
Graves, Aboriginal, 253, 485–512
Great pearls of history, 481, 482
Greece, 8, 11, 307, 405, 409
Greene, Robert, 253
Greenland, 179
Gresham, Sir Thomas, 314, 454
Grimshaw, Beatrice, 197
Grüne Gewölbe, 59, 175, 475
Guadeloupe, Church of, 452
Guatemala, 511
Guidius, Joannes, 28
Guillaume, M., 325
Hafiz, 47
Hale, Edward E., 241
Half-pearl making, 392, 394
Half-pearls, 354, 364, 444
Half-pearls, values, 340–341
Haliotidæ, 78
Haliotis gigantea, 148
Hammer pearls, 353
Hampton Court, 22
Hanover, Germany, 176
Hapsburg family, 23
Hardy, R. W. H., 245
Hariot, Thomas, 257, 488
Harley, Geo., 54, 396
Harness, John M., 506
Harness mound, 491, 496, 500, 506–509
Harpeth River, Tenn., 494
Harris, Israel H., 261
Haupt, Paul, 6
Hawkins, Sir Richard, 38
Haystack pearls, 56, 353, 360
Healing qualities of pearls, 314
Hebrew literature, 6, 7
Hedenberg, Frederick, 290
Heikow, Lake of, Manchuria, 147
Heirlooms, 434, 477, 479
Hennepin, Father Louis, 495
Henry V, 417, 454
Henry VIII, 22, 431, 451
Heraldic significance, 437
Herculaneum, pearls from, 409
Herdman, W. A., 45, 46, 155, 287, 290
Hermitage, St. Petersburg, 11, 410, 415
Herrick, Robert, 285
Herrmann, Richard, 509
Hesse, 177
Hessling, Theodore von, 52, 172, 176, 181
Hiller, Henry W., 462
Hindus, 4, 301, 307, 309, 347, 350, 382
Hinge pearls, 59, 352
Hispano-American Museum, 432
Holbein, Hans, 22
Holberg, 179
Holland, Philemon, 314
Holy Roman Empire, 472, 475
Home, Sir Everard, 42
Homer, 8
Hope pearls, 59, 463–464
Hope, Henry Philip, 463
Hopewell mounds, 490, 500–505
Hopewell, M. C., 501
Hornell, James, 45, 117, 127
Horsehair threads, 391
Hôtel de Tiraz, Palermo, 475
Hôtel Drouot, 477–479
Howe, Sir Everhard, 42
Howell, David, 259, 260
Howie, W. Forbes, 425
Humbert, Mme., 478
Humboldt, Alexander von, 23, 233
Hungary, Pearls in, 179, 422, 423, 434, 481
Hunt & Roskell, 465
Hunyadi, Count Joseph, 434
Hussock, Eugene, 282
Iberville, Pierre, 258
Ibn Batuta, 86, 94
Ibo Archipelago, 153, 155
Iciaha, 255, 259
Idaho, 492
Idar, Germany, 392
Ille River, 170
Illinois, 270, 274, 276, 509
Illinois River, 264
Ilz River, Bavaria, 172
Imam of Muscat, 457, 464
Imitation pearls, 29, 61, 279, 286, 361, 376, 382, 403, 445, 490, 497
India, 3, 18, 128–133, 293, 309, 343–347, 354, 385
Indiana, 276
Indications of pearls, 71, 74, 165
Ingram, David, 256
Inspection of reefs, 108, 130, 155, 174
International Committee of Weights and Measures, 326
Inventories of jewels, 425–431, 469, 470, 472
Investments in pearls, 456
Iowa, 276, 291
Ireland, 17, 162, 165
Irregular pearls, Value of, 342
Isabella, Clara Eugenia, 436
Isabella, Queen, 453
Isar River, Bavaria, 172
Isidorus of Charace, 85
Isla River, 163, 164
Jackson, A. V. Williams, 3, 5
Jackson, Lowis d’A., 323, 347
Jade, 412
Jahn, J. G., 173
Jameson, H. L., 43, 44, 67
Japan, 70, 147, 292, 296, 302, 309
Japanese divers, 137, 207, 208
Jeffries, David, 331, 338
Jesuits, 242, 244, 251, 258
Jiddah, Arabia, 140, 142
Jolo, Philippine Islands, 218
Jones, Charles C., 485, 493, 495
Jones, F. Alfred, 431
Jones, Joseph, 493, 497
Jones, William S., 493
Jordanus, Friar, 100
Joseph, Archduke, 434
Josephine, Empress, 170
Jouchanan ibn Massouiah, 95
Juan, Griego, Venezuela, 234
Julia, daughter of Titus, 407
Juppel River, Prussia, 176
Justinian the Great, 450
Kaempfer, Engelbert, 147, 296
Kalidasa, 4
Karachi, India, 133
Károly, Countess Alois, 434
Kawall, H., 182
Kelaart, E. F., 43, 127
Kelly, James W. S., 466
Kentucky, 262
Khayat, Azeez, 406
Khusrau crown, 411, 414
Kimmerly, 297
King of the Mound-Builders, 504
Knolles, Richard, 455
Kohl, Johann Georg, 184, 463
Koran, 7
Kosseir, Arabia, 142
Kremlin, Moscow, 417, 424
Krishna, 4, 306
Küchenmeister, F., 43
Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin, 421, 422
Kunz, George F., 328, 527, 528
Labrador, 281
La Bruyère, Jean de, 169
La Crosse, Wisconsin, 295
Laminæ of pearls, 53, 54
Lamnitz River, Bavaria, 171
Lampsilis, 73
alatus, 73
La Paz, Mexico, 245, 248, 251
La Pellegrina, 461–463
La Peregrina, 452, 462
Laplanders, 184
La Régente, 56, 461, 471
La Reine des Perles, 461, 469
La Salle, Robert, 505
Lea, Isaac, 290
Lead poisoning, 394
Learning, E. B., 438
Lease of pearl beds, 125–127, 135, 246, 247
Leavenworth, Indiana, 276
Le Bec, Henry, 94, 104
Lefevre and Curtis, 295
Lehigh River, Penn., 259
Leiner, Otto, 512
Levin and Melville, Earl of, 453
Lewis-Hill, Mrs., 480
License to fishermen, 204, 217, 233, 240, 282
Lima, Cathedral of, 432
Lingah shell, 68, 98, 99, 141
Linnæus, 41, 181, 286, 288
Linnean Society of London, 286
Linschoten, J. H. van, 86, 101
Lister and Mandel, Norway, 180
Lister, Martin, 170
Litchfield County, Conn., 266
Little Miami River, Ohio, 261, 262
Livonia, Russia, 182
Lobkowitz, Count Moritz, 433
Loch Dochert, Scotland, 163
Lollia Paulina, 406
London, 358, 477
London Society of Arts, 288
Longevity of pearls, 79, 473, 478
Loreto, Mexico, 245, 251
Lorraine, Dukes of, 428, 429
Lorraine, Germany, 169, 170
Louvre Museum, Paris, 5, 11, 59, 398, 403–405, 408, 430, 437, 454, 465
Love for pearls, 7, 9, 184, 304, 347, 463, 510
Lovell, Robert, 312
Lower California, 241, 247
Lower California Pearl Fishing Company, 247
Lüneburg, Germany, 176
Luster of pearls, 51, 52, 78, 293
Lyell, Sir Charles, 511
Maabar, King of, 412
Macassar, 70, 221
McEvers mound, 509
Macgowan, D. T., 288
MacGregor, David, 165
McGregor, Iowa, 272, 276
Madras, 129–130, 354, 357
Mahavansa, 4
Maine, 265
Malabar fisheries, 132
Malay Archipelago, 30, 67, 70, 201, 212–221, 296
Malcolm, Sir John, 89
Manama, Persian Gulf, 90
Manar, Gulf of, 65, 67, 99–131
Manchuria, 146, 147
Manila, 70, 221
Mani-Málá, 310
Manlius, 9
Mannheim Natural History Society, 177
Manta, Ecuador, 282
Maple-leaf shell, 73
Marbach, Austria, 179
Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, 160
Margaret, 305
Margaret, Pearl of Bohemia, 305
Margaret Tudor, Queen, 308
Margaret, wife of James III, 22
Margarita, wife of Philip III, 432, 452
Margarita Island, Venezuela, 229, 233, 457
Margaritarii, 320
Margaritiferæ, 67, 351
Margaritifera, 296
carcharium, 70, 200
margaritifera, 68, 155, 164, 184, 190, 200, 214, 221, 425
cumingi, 44, 69
erythræensis, 69, 140
mazatlanica, 69, 248
persica, 69
martensi, 70, 148, 292
maxima, 70, 133, 200, 214, 221
panasisæ, 148
radiata, 70, 234
vinesi, 248
vulgaris, 44, 67, 68, 98, 134, 155
Margherita, Queen of Italy, 438, 442
Marguerite of Flanders, 426
Marguerite of France, 381
Maria Loretto, Prague, 423
Maria Louise, Empress of France, 461
Maria de’ Medici, 24, 308
Maria Theresa, 24 (plate), 179, 395, 473
Marichchikadde, Ceylon, 109
Marketing pearls, 349–351, 356–362
Marlborough, Duchess of, 465
Marquesas Islands, 189
Marriott mound, 498
Martial, 10
Martin, Daniel S., 492
Martyr, Peter, 38
Mary Stuart, 24, 453
Maryland, 267, 489
Massachusetts, 265
Massey-Mainwaring collection, 480
Massoudi, 86
Massowah, Egypt, 142
Matched pearls, 349
Matheson, Lady, 478
Maturity of Unios, 74
Maurus, Rabanus, 304
Medici, Lorenzo de, 313
Medicinal use of pearls, 18, 133, 308–314, 351, 360
Mediterranean Sea, 67, 185, 293
Megasthenes, 11, 85
Melbourne, Australia, Chamber of Commerce, 327
Meleagrina margaritifera, 204, 205
Melville Island, 190
Meredith, Owen, 306
Mergui Archipelago, 70, 133–139, 221
Metric carat, 325–327
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 11, 405
Metz, Charles L., 498
Mexico, 23, 29, 30, 60, 69, 241–252, 433, 476
Miami Valley, 489
Middendorf, Alexander von, 184
Mikimoto, Kokichi, 292, 293
Milan, Cathedral of, 17
Miller, Hugh, 167
Mills, William C., 491, 496, 500, 506
Milman, Hugh, 206, 211
Milton, John, 87, 189, 307
Mingti, Emperor of China, 145
Missals, Decoration of, 16, 17
Mississippi clams, 72–74
Mississippi River, 258, 264, 271, 272, 273, 359
Mississippi Valley, 30, 252, 262
Missouri Historical Society, 509
Mitsukuri, K., 292
Möbius, Karl, 43, 176, 178
Mogeaud, Gaston, 398
Mogul, Great, 457
Moldau River, Austria, 178, 179
Mongareva, 192
Monster pearls, 353
Montana, 512
Monte de Piedad, 476
Monterey, Cal., 280
Montpensier, Comte de, 425
Montpensier, Duchesse de, 437
Montrose, Duchess of, 478
Moore, Clarence B., 485, 492
Moore, Thomas, 37, 241
Moore, W. H., Pearl of, 482
Moorehead, Warren K., 485, 490, 499–507
Moosehead Lake, Maine, 265
Morales, Gaspar de, 236
Moravians, 259
More, Sir Thomas, 22
Mörenhout, 192
Morgan, J. de, 403, 405
Morgan, J. Pierpont, 17
Morgan-Tiffany Collection, 266, 467
Moro Province, 215
Moscow, 461, 463
Moscow Pearl, 1840, 463
Mother-of-pearl, 6, 53, 69, 70, 80, 198, 201, 220, 238, 245
Moulins, Cathedral of, 435
Mound pearls, 485–511
Moundville, Ala., 493
Mulege, Mexico, 243, 245, 251
Müller, Sophus, 512
Munshi, Kadir, 51
Murad I, 421
Muscat, Arabia, 156
Muscatine, Iowa, 271, 276
Musée de l’Hôtel de Cluny, 16, 415
Mya margaritifera, 287
Mystic River, Conn., 266
Mystical properties, 301–308
Mytilidæ, 75
Mytilus crasitesta, 148
edulis, 43, 44, 160, 168
smaragdinus, 131
Nacre, 51, 53, 54, 66, 70, 288, 289
Nadenäs, Norway, 180
Naldi, Pio, 331, 338, 342, 343
Nao-ratna, 412
Naples Museum, 409
Napoleon I, 469
Napoleon III, 461, 470
Narahari, 78, 308
Narvaez, Pánfilo, de, 256
Nassau, Bahamas, 279
Nautilus, 59, 351
Nautilus pompilius, 78, 214, 354
Nawanagar, India, 132
Nearchus, 85
Necklace, Accumulating a, 442
Necklaces, Method of valuing, 331–333
Necklace, pearl, 273, 362, 365, 386–388, 404, 439, 443, 471, 473, 478,
480
Neisse River, Russia, 176
Nero, 9
Nesbit, Alexander, 17
New Brunswick, Canada, 281
New Cadiz, Venezuela, 229
New Caledonia, 189, 193, 194
New Guinea, 67
New Jersey, 259, 261, 290
Newport, Arkansas, 276
New York City, 260, 262
New York State, 266
Niggerhead shell, 72
Nigger hunting, 201
Nineveh Obelisk, 6
Nino, Pedro Alonso, 228
Nishikawa, T., 293, 309, 414
Nith River, Scotland, 164
Nitsche, Hinrich, 173, 174 175
Nonesuch Pond, Mass., 265
Nordica, Mme., 468, 476 (plate)
Nordica pearl, 468
North Carolina, 298
Norway, 180
Nose rings, 443
Notch Brook, N. J., 259, 260
Notice of fishery, 108, 110, 111, 130
Nova Scotia, Canada, 281
Nuclei of pearls, 41, 52, 55, 58, 60, 288, 289, 380
Nuggets, 353
Nuremberg, 320, 348
Nuttal, Mme. Zélie, 433
Oberstein, Germany, 393
Ocklocknee River, Fla., 268
Ocmulgee River, Ga., 268
Oconee River, Ga., 268, 495
Oder River, Prussia, 175
Odet River, France, 170
Oelsnitz River, Bavaria, 171
Ogeechee River, Ga., 495
Ohio, 261, 489
Ohio Archæological and Historical Society, 490, 506–508
Ohio River, 264
Okeechobee Lake, Fla., 494
Olonetz, Russia, 182, 183
Oman Coast, Arabia, 142
Omura, Gulf of, 147
Oostanaula River, Ga., 267
Opening pearl mollusks, 122, 139, 198, 209, 250, 255, 271, 273
Oppert, Jules, 85
Order of Christ, 439
Order of Crown of India, 439
Oregonia, Ohio, 497
Oriental collections of pearls, 355–357
Oriental pearls, 351, 359
Orient or luster, cause of, 53, 54
Origen 159
Origin of pearls, 35–48
Ormus, Island of, 86, 87, 457
Ortega, Iturbide, 242
Osio, Manuel, 242
Ostrea, 53, 66, 351, 467
edulis, 77
virginica, 77, 488
Ottoman crown jewels, 421
Ounce-pearls, 360
Ourejenaya Palata, Moscow, 17
Oviedo y Valdes, 229, 237, 451, 455
Oyster, edible, 77
Oyster pearls, 351
Palermo, 475
Palgrave, W. G., 90
Panama, 23, 56, 60, 69, 235–241, 451, 452
Pancake shell, 73
Panciroli, 450
Papeiti, 189, 198
Papers of pearls, 358, 360, 361, 386
Paphos pin, 405
Paragon pearls, 56, 352
Parasitic formation of pearls, 42–46, 295
Parasitic stage of Unios, 73, 295
Paris, 358, 477
Paris, Académie des Sciences, 291
Passau, Bavaria, 172, 179
Peabody Museum of Archæology, 486, 490
Peacock Throne, 458
Pearl blisters, 389, 390
Pearl-caps, 184, 185
Pearl carpet of Baroda, 460
Pearl cloth, 445
Pearl coast, 231
Pearl collar, 388
Pearl-culture, 177, 285–296
Pearl, derivation of word, 19, 20
Pearl drills, 380, 383, 385, 394
Pearl-dust, 380
Pearl forms, 295
Pearl-grading, 343–347
Pearl Islands, Panama, 239
Pearl mesh, 445
Pearl monstrance, 424
Pearl of Great Price, 7
Pearl River, N. Y., 266
“Pearl,” the poem, 20, 51
Pearls, Annual product of, 79, 80
Pearls as investments, 350, 355
Pearls as tears, 307
Pearls as wedding gifts, 306–307
Pearls, Bibliography of, 517–538
Pearls, Qualities of perfection in, 321, 336, 344, 370–372
Pearly nautilus, 78
Pear-shaped pearls, 56, 349, 352, 382, 456, 470
Pecatonica River, Wisconsin, 262
Pecten yezocusis, 148
Pedrarias, 236
Peelers, 353
Peeling pearls, 58, 375–377
Pegging pearls, 388
Pelly, Sir Lewis, 88
Penang, 221
Pendants, 404, 442, 474
Pennant, Thomas, 163
Pennsylvania, 259, 261, 266
Penrhyn, 189, 193
Perazolli, A., 143
Percival, Robert, 94, 104
Periplus of the Erythræan, 100
Perlbach River, Bavaria, 171
Perle dolce, 343
Perna, 155
Peroz Pearl, 450
Persia, 5, 31, 85–99, 404
Persian Gulf, 65, 67, 85–99
Perthshire, Scotland, 165, 166
Peru, 238
Peruvian aristocracy, 433
Petal pearls, 352, 360
Petrie, George, 425
Petrie, William F., 403
Phenicians, 319
Philip II of Spain, 431, 451, 452
Philip IV of Spain, 350
Philippine Commission, 217
Philippine Islands, 213, 217
Philo, 9
Philostratos, 285
Pickett, Albert H., 492
Piebald pearls, 60
Piercing pearls, 350.
See Drilling pearls.
Pigeons, 169
Pigopitta, 213
Pinna nobilis, 155
Pinna pearls, 55, 75, 351
squamosa, 355
Pirate coast, 88, 89, 91
Pirningerbach, Austria, 179
Pisa, 24
Placuna pearls, 296, 310, 311, 351
Placuna placenta, 45, 76, 127, 132, 148, 221, 355
Plagiola securis, 73
Pleurobema œsopus, 73
Pliny, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 38, 55, 85, 159, 314, 315, 406, 409, 449
Poland, 355
Polishing pearls, 377
Polo, Marco, 19, 100, 116, 310, 357, 411, 414
Pomaré, Queen, 192, 198
Pompeiian pearls, 409
Pompey, 9
Pooto, China, 289
Port Darwin, Australia, 205
Port Kennedy, Australia, 205
Porter group of mounds, 490, 498
Porter, Sir Robert Ker, 459
Portuguese East Africa, 156
Portuguese Order of Christ, 439
Pottier, M., 407
Powder pearls, 344, 345
Powhatan, 486, 487
Prague, 416, 423, 434, 455
Prague, Association of Jewelers and Goldsmiths of, 327
Prairie du Chien, Wis., 262, 272, 275, 276
Prince Edward Island, Canada, 281
Procopius, 11, 450
Prussian regalia, 420
Ptolemy, 85
Putnam, F. W., 485, 490, 498
Puton, Ernest, 169
Quackenbush, Jacob, 260
Quadrula ebena, 72
heros, 74
plicata, 72
undulata, 72
wardi, 73
Quahog, 77
Quebec, Canada, 281
Queen Mary Pearl, 275
Queen Pearl, 260, 465
Queensland, Australia, 199, 206
Queiss River, Prussia, 176
Quelpaerd Island, 149
Ramayana, 4
Randell & Bridge, 417
Ratnagiri, India, 132
Rau, Charles, 494
Rau, Sebaldus, 95
Rawlinson, Sir Henry, 6
Read, Charles Hercules, 405, 510
Réaumur, 40
Reccesvinthus, Crown of, 16, 415–416
Redding, Sir Robert, 162
Red Sea, 31, 67, 69, 139–144, 285
Reed River, Florida, 256, 257
Regalia, 418–420, 443, 460, 473
Regen River, Bavaria, 172
Regulation of fishery, 193, 197, 204, 211, 218, 277
Renaudot, 18
Reues, Francis, 169
Rhode Island, 259
Rhodesia Museum, 513
Ribeiro, Joano, 94
Richard II, 22
Rigveda, 4
Ring-a-round pearls, 56, 353
Rings with pearls, 438, 442
Robinson, Edward, 12, 405
Rock Island, Ill., 271
Rock River, 262, 274
Rogkerus. See Rugerus.
Rome, Georgia, 267
Rome, Pearls in ancient, 8, 9, 12, 320, 406–410
Rondelet, Gulielm, 40
Rosales, Manuel Laudecta, 233
Rosaries, 413
Rosenberg Palace, Copenhagen, 59, 476
Rosengarten Museum, Constance, 512
Rosnel, Pierre de, 306, 338
Rotschildt, Don A. de, 437
Round pearls, 352, 470
Royal fifth, 243, 244
Rubies, 79, 330, 371, 392, 412, 417, 439
Rückert, Friedrich, 35
Rudolph II, 24, 455, 473
Rugerus, 381, 423
Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, 233
Rupprecht, Prince, 302
Russia, 463
Russian Jewesses, 184
Russian Treasury at Moscow, 414
Rymsdyck, J. & A. van, 342, 371
Saddle decorations, 360, 444
Sadi, Shaikh, 37
Safe-guarding pearls, 357, 399, 400
Sahayun, Bernadino de, 433
St. Augustine, 304
St. Barbara, 435
St. Denis, Paris, 425, 429, 430
St. Domingo, Lima, 432
St. Edward’s crown, 418
St. Francis River, Ark., 263, 264
St. Francisville, Ill., 276
St. Jerome, 10
St. Ludmilla, 417
St. Margaret Ætheling, 305
St. Margaret of Antioch, 305
St. Petersburg, 462
St. Stephen’s crown, 416
Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, 425, 427
Sales of pearls, 477–481
Salisbury, England, 490
Sand shells, 73
Sandius, Christopher, 39
San José Island, Mexico, 248
San José Island, Panama, 239
San Miguel, Panama, 239
San Vitale, Ravenna, 15
Sanskrit literature, 4, 36
Santa Barbara, Cal., 280, 281
Santo Domingo, Mexico, 434
Santos, João dos, 153
Sapphire, 371, 412, 439
Satsuma, Japan, 147
Saumaise, Claude de, 9
Savannah River, 253, 452, 493, 495
Saville, H. M., 282
Saxony, Fisheries of, 173–175
Scaphander, 137, 171, 196, 203, 234, 240, 247, 282
Scarf-pins, 443
Schärding, Austria, 179
Scharff, R. F., 425
Schleswig-Holstein, 178
Schmerler family, 174, 177, 178
Schulz, Aurel, 154
Schuylkill River, Penn., 266, 267
Schwarzbach River, Russia, 183
Schwarzenberg, Count, 178, 434
Schwarzenberg family, 178
Schwesnitz River, Bavaria, 171
Scioto River, Ohio, 491, 506
Scioto Valley, Ohio, 489
Scotch pearls, 17, 160–164, 167, 319, 343, 427, 464
Scotland, 17, 160–167
Scott, Sir Walter, 35, 305, 419
Scriptural references, 6, 7, 449
Season, Fishery, 89, 109, 114, 141, 206, 240, 246, 250, 271, 277
Seed-pearls, 18, 56, 124, 221, 273, 309, 337, 342, 352, 391
Seed-pearl jewelry, 390–392
Selangs, 134, 139
Selling pearls, 276, 356, 361
Seneca, 10
Sermonata, Duchess of, 439
Servia, 304
Servilia pearl, 10, 449
Setting pearls, 384, 388, 389, 393
Seugne River, France, 171
Seurat, L. G., 44
Seven Sisters of Sleep, 310
Shabl Abdullah, 306
Shah Jehan, 458
Shah’s pearls in 1820, 459
Shah’s tippet, 459
Shakspere, 35, 122, 314, 319
Shark-charmers, 115, 116
Sharks, 117, 138, 144, 208, 249
Shark’s Bay, Australia, 57, 60, 70, 200, 211, 468
Shelley, P. B., 212, 278
Shell-heaps, 492
Shells, Commercial varieties, 69, 70, 72, 73, 124, 141, 143, 221
Shells, Product of, 80, 99
Shells, Sweet-water, 264
Shepaug River, Conn., 266
Shrine of St. Patrick’s Gospels, 424
Shuangtze, 302
Shu King, 5
Siam, Gulf of, 149
Siamese decoration, 439
Sibbald, Robert, 161
Siberia, Fisheries of, 147
Sieves (peddi) for pearls, 344
Silesia, Germany, 175
Silk threads for pearls, 387
Silva-Tierra, Father, 242
Simmonds, Vane, 291
Simpson, James J., 155
Sinaloa, Mexico, 244, 248
Singapore, 135, 149, 220
Size of pearls, 328, 344
Slaney River, Ireland, 162
Slugs, 272, 275, 352, 360
Smith, Captain John, 486
Smith, Charles Roach, 414
Smith, Harlan I., 492
Smith, Sir J. E., 287
Smithsonian Institution, 490
Smithville, Tenn., 263, 276
Snail shell, 139, 148
Snyder, J. F., 509
Sofala, Africa, 106, 153
Sokotra Islands, 142
Solomon, 301
Solubility of pearls, 55
Sonnapore mussels, 132
Sonora, Mexico, 241, 244, 245, 248, 251
Sorting pearls, 385
Soto, Hernando de, 253, 255, 452
Sources of pearls, 65–81
Sourindro Mohun Tagore, 309
South America, 65, 282
South Carolina, 492
Southern Cross, 57, 466, 467
South Kensington Museum, 464
South Sea Islands, 29, 30, 189–198
Spain, 327, 355
Spanish crown jewels, 452
Spanish jewelry, 432
Specific gravity of pearls, 52
Spenser, Edmund, 161
Spey River, Scotland, 164
Spherical pearls, 55, 56
Springs, Fresh-water, 96
Squier, E. George, 485, 489, 490
Stang-Alla River, France, 170
Statistics of fisheries, 80, 88, 91, 98, 100, 103, 105, 126, 136, 143,
246
Stavanger, Norway, 180
Stearns, Frederick E., 279
Steever, E. Z., 468
Steinbach River, Germany, 177
Steir River, France, 170
Stilicho pearls, 12
Stock-book for pearls, 324
Stoddard, C. W., 194
Strachey, William, 487, 488
Strawberry pearls, 56, 353
Streeter, E. W., 214, 349, 390, 465
Stringing pearls, 386–388
Strombus gigas, 77, 278, 351
Strozzi, Philip, 436
Structure of pearls, 51–55
Stupefying mollusks, 292
Suakin, Egypt, 140
Sudbury River, Mass., 265
Suetonius, 10, 159
Sugar River, Wisconsin, 262
Sultan of Sulu, 215, 217, 220, 350, 468
Sulu Archipelago, 70, 213, 214–220, 350, 468
Sumptuary laws, 10, 25–28
Susa necklace, 386, 404, 405
Sweden, 180, 286, 290
Sweetness of pearls, 305
Sydney, Australia, 201
Sydney shell, 70
Symphynota complanata, 73
Syracusan coins, 409
Syria, Pearls in ancient, 386, 406
Syrian pearl merchants, 357
Tabari, 411, 415
Tablegram Lake, Ceylon, 127
Tacitus, 159
Tahiti, 189, 190, 196, 290
Talmud, 7
Talomeco, Temple of, 254, 452
Taoists, 302
Tararequi pearls, 236, 451
Tariff on pearls, 362–369
Tasso, Torquato, 153
Taunton, Henry, 58, 202, 466
Tavernier, J. B., 56, 60, 87, 97, 147, 172, 331, 412, 456
Tavernier pearls, 456–458
Taylor mound, 497
Tay River, Scotland, 163, 164
Tears, Pearls as, 35, 307–308
Teheran, Persia, 458, 459
Teifashi, Ahmad ibn, 335
Teith River, Scotland, 164
Teixeira, Pedro, 40, 103, 242
Temple of Talomeco, 254, 452
Tennessee, 262, 263, 276, 494
Tennessee River, 263, 494
Tennyson, Alfred, 305
Terron, Juan, 255
Texas, 261, 262
Theft of pearls, 118, 123, 210, 232
Theodora, Mosaic of, 15
Theophrastus, 8, 405
Thiers necklace, 398, 465
Three-ridge shells, 72
Thursday Island, 205, 207
Thurston, Edgar, 131
Tiana, Captain, 216
Tiaras, 443
Tiffany & Co., 394
Tiffany, Charles L., 260, 276, 350
Tiffany Queen Pearl, 260, 465
Tomaco, 235
Tonti, 505
Top-shaped pearls, 352
Torres Straits, 199, 201, 210, 211
Transylvania, 432
Treves, Cathedral of, 422
Tridacna gigas, 53, 76, 144, 296
Triptych, 433
Tritigonia verrucosa, 73
Troiza Monastery, Moscow, 424
Tuamotu Islands, 29, 189, 190, 196, 198, 294
Turbinella rapa, 78
Turbo marmoratus, 139
Turner group of mounds, 490, 499
Turtleback pearls, 56, 353, 360
Tuticorin, India, 128, 130
Twynam, Sir William, 117
Tyszkiewicz statuette, 12
Uelzen, Germany, 176
Uffizi, Florence, 12, 407, 436
Uhler, P. R., 489
Ulloa, Antonio de, 238
Ulmann, H., 512
Ungava, Canada, 281
Unio complanata, 73, 265
dahuricus, 75, 146
littoralis, 511
margaritifera, 513
mongolicus, 75, 146
sinuatus, 170
verreauxi, 513
virginianus, 494
Unionidæ, 72, 351
Unios, 59, 72–74, 259, 261, 268, 272, 290, 291, 294
United States, 252–278, 291
United States National Museum, 290, 494
University of Moscow, 59
Unripe pearls, 61
Urim and Thummim, 412
Uzaramo, Africa, 154
Vaca, Cabeza de, 256
Values of pearls, 273, 274, 275, 279, 281, 282, 329–349, 350, 361, 470,
474
method of computing, 331–335, 346–348
Van Buren pearls, 464
Van Dort, K., 149
Vatican, 407
Vaughan, Rice, 338
Vedas, 3, 4, 301
Veerapandianpatanam, 130
Vega, Garcilasso de la, 253, 254, 452
Venezuela, 23, 31, 38, 70, 225–235, 354, 457
Venice, 24, 25–27, 320, 348
Venus, 306, 467
Venus de Medici, 407
Venus de Milo, 408
Venus Genetrix, 159, 407
Venus mercenaria, 77, 488
Venus of the Pantheon, 407, 449
Venus, Statues of, 10, 11
Venus, Temple of, 9
Vermont, 262
Vernatti, Sir Philiberto, 94
Verrazano, Juan, 256
Victor Emanuel II, 468
Victoria, Association of Manufacturing Jewelers of the Colony of, 327
Victoria crown, 417
Victoria, Princess, 438
Victoria, Queen, 163, 167, 425
Vienna, 395, 472
Vilshofen, Finland, 290
Vils River, Bavaria, 171
Vincennes, Indiana, 276
Vinegar, 315
Virgin pearls, 308
Virginia, 486, 488, 489
Vitellius, 10
Vladimir crown, 417
Vogtland, Saxony, 173
Volga River, Russia, 181
Vologne River, France, 169, 170
Von Middendorf, 184
Vosges mountains, 169
Wabash River, 264, 265
Waddesden collection, 59
Wahibis of Pirate Coast, 89
Waistcoat buttons, 443
Waizkirchen, 179
Waldheim, G. Fischer de, 461
Walk, How Unios, 74
Walpole, Horace, 454
Walters, Henry, 394
Washington, George, 438
Washington, State of, 262
Water-telescopes, 141, 194, 268, 278
Waynesville, Ohio, 261
Webster, John, 307
Wedding gifts of pearls, 476
Weighing pearls, 321–329, 346
Weights of pearls, 56, 251, 327, 330, 481, 482
Welker, Landreth, 177
Wellsted, J. R., 88, 93, 142
Wenkheim, Countess, 434
West Indies, 278
Westminster Abbey, 454
White Cart River, Scotland, 161
White Main River, Germany, 176
White River, Arkansas, 263, 264
Whitfield, R. P., 512
Whittier, J. G., 252
Wijayo, King, 4
Willoughby, Charles C., 486, 488
Window-glass shell, 76.
See Placuna.
Wing pearls, 352, 359
Wire threads for pearls, 388
Wisconsin, 262, 276
Wohlberedt, O., 173
Women as fishermen, 149, 155, 189, 264
Wordsworth, Wm., 305
World’s Columbian Exposition, 490, 500, 501
Worms, Parasitical, 43–45
Wottawa River, Austria, 178, 179
Wright, Marie Robinson, 511
Wyman, Jeffries, 493
Wynne, Sir Richard, 161
Xavier, St. Francis, 131
X-ray examination, 71
Yaqui Indians, Mexico, 242, 243, 246
Yellow pearls, 97, 98, 212, 351, 354, 377, 468
Youssoupoff, Princess, 461, 462
Ythan River, Scotland, 164
Yucatan, 511
Yu Shun Yang, 290
Zanzibar, 156
Zonaras, 450
Zozima pearl, 461, 462
Zwemer, S. M., 35
-----
Footnote 1:
See pp. 301, 302.
Footnote 2:
See Jacobi, “Das Ramayana,” Bonn, 1893.
Footnote 3:
Geiger, “Dipavansa und Mahavansa, die beiden Chroniken der Insel
Ceylon,” Erlangen, 1901.
Footnote 4:
Legge, “The Shu King,” Oxford, 1879, pp. 67, 69.
Footnote 5:
See p. 404.
Footnote 6:
Rawlinson, “Cuneiform Inscriptions of Babylonia and Assyria,” London,
1850, p. 38.
Footnote 7:
Gen. R. xl. 6. This story also exists somewhat altered in Arabic
literature; see Weill’s “Biblical Legends of the Mussulmans,” New
York, 1846.
Footnote 8:
Sale, “Preliminary Discourse to the Quran,” London, 1882, Vol. I, pp.
153–159.
Footnote 9:
_Lib._ XXIII, c. 6.
Footnote 10:
“Plinianæ Exercitationes in Solinum,” 1629, pp. 822–4.
Footnote 11:
“Historia naturalis,” _Lib._ IX, c. 59.
Footnote 12:
_Ibid._, _Lib._ XXXVII, c. 2.
Footnote 13:
_Ibid._, _Lib._ IX, c. 53.
Footnote 14:
_Ibid._, _Lib._ XXXIII, c. 3. Also Böttiger, “Sabina oder
Morgenscenen,” Leipzig, 1803, Vol. I, p. 158.
Footnote 15:
Martial, “Epigrammata,” VIII, 81.
Footnote 16:
Seneca, “De beneficiis,” _Lib._ VII, c. 9.
Footnote 17:
Pliny, “Historia naturalis,” _Lib._ IX, c. 35.
Footnote 18:
Equivalent to 1,875,000 ounces of silver, worth about $1,300,000 at
the present time, but of far greater value in Roman days.
Footnote 19:
“Divus Julius Cæsar,” c. 50.
Footnote 20:
“Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines,” Paris, 1904, Vol.
III, pp. 1595–6.
Footnote 21:
See p. 449.
Footnote 22:
Froehner, “La Collection Tyszkiewicz,” Munich, 1892.
Footnote 23:
See p. 415.
Footnote 24:
Renaudot, “Ancient Accounts of India and China by Two Mohammedan
Travelers,” London, 1733, p. 98.
Footnote 25:
“The Book of Ser Marco Polo,” London, 1871, Vol. II, p. 275.
Footnote 26:
Analogous to the uniform European word for this gem, is the extension
of the Sanskrit form, _mukta_, from Persia to the Sulu Islands. In
Tamil, the word for pearl is _mootthoo_; in Hindustani, it is
_mootie_; in Cingalese, _mootoo_; and in Malay, _mutya_ or _mootara_.
(Ainslie, “Materia Indica,” London, 1826, Vol. I, pp. 292–297.)
Footnote 27:
Gollancz, “Pearl, an English Poem of the Fourteenth Century,” London,
1891.
Footnote 28:
Sachs, “Kaiserchronik,” Vol. IV, p. 261.
Footnote 29:
Staudenraus, “Chronik der Stadt Landshut,” 1832, Vol. I, p. 172.
Footnote 30:
Jones, “History and Mystery of Precious Stones,” London, 1880, p. 135.
Footnote 31:
Humboldt, “Personal Narrative of Travels to the New Continent,”
London, 1822, Vol. II, p. 273.
Footnote 32:
See p. 473.
Footnote 33:
Yriarte, “Autour des Borgia,” Paris, 1891, pp. 136, 137.
Footnote 34:
See Yriarte, “Venice,” Paris, 1878, p. 236.
Footnote 35:
_Ibid._, pp. 252, 253.
Footnote 36:
Guidius, “De Mineralibus,” Frankfort, 1627, p. 74.
Footnote 37:
_Ibid._, p. 73.
Footnote 38:
_Ibid._, pp. 75–77.
Footnote 39:
Croker, “Lord Hervey’s Memoirs,” London, 1848, Vol. I, pp. 88, 89.
Footnote 40:
“The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus,” London, 1601, Book IX,
ch. 35.
Footnote 41:
“Travels of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela,” Gerrans’s edition, London,
1783, p. 23.
Footnote 42:
“Camden Britannia,” 2d edition, London, 1722, Vol. II, p. 801.
Footnote 43:
_Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 1003.
Footnote 44:
Richard Eden edition, London, 1577, 10th ch. of 3rd Decade, fol.
148_a_.
Footnote 45:
Hawkins, “Voyage to the South Sea in 1593,” London, 1847, p. 133.
Footnote 46:
Benzoni, “Novæ Novi Orbis Historiæ,” Geneva, 1578, pp. 161–163.
Footnote 47:
“Philosophical Transactions,” 1674, No. 101, p. 11.
Footnote 48:
Goldsmith, “History of the Earth and Animated Nature,” 1774, Vol. VI,
p. 54.
Footnote 49:
Rondelet, “Universæ Aquitilium Historiæ Pars Altera,” Lugduni, 1554.
Footnote 50:
“Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia,” Hanoviæ, 1609.
Footnote 51:
“The Travels of Pedro Teixeira,” Hakluyt Society, p. 180.
Footnote 52:
“Memoires de l’Académie des Sciences,” 1717, pp. 177–194.
Footnote 53:
Grill, in “Abhandlungen der Königlichen Schwed. Akademie der
Wissenschaften,” Vol. XXXIV, p. 88, 1772.
Footnote 54:
“Philosophical Transactions,” 1826, Pt. III, pp. 338–341.
Footnote 55:
“Sull’origine delle Perle. II Cimento, revista di Scienze,” Torino,
1852, Vol. I, pp. 429–439.
Footnote 56:
“Memorie della Reale Academia delle Scienze di Torino,” 1855, Vol. XV,
pp. 331–358; 1857, Vol. XVI, pp. 419–442, and 1859, Vol. XVIII, pp.
201–232.
Footnote 57:
Müller’s “Archiv für Anatomie,” 1856, pp. 269–281.
Footnote 58:
“Die echten Perlen,” Hamburg, 1858. Dr. Möbius died in Berlin, on
April 26, 1908. He was born at Eilenburg, in Saxony, in 1825.
Footnote 59:
“Report on the Natural History of the Pearl Oyster of Ceylon,”
Trincomali, 1859.
Footnote 60:
“Journal of the Linnean Society,” Vol. XI, pp. 426–428.
Footnote 61:
“Société de Biologie, Séance du 29 décembre, 1903.”
Footnote 62:
“Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences,” Vol. 133, pp. 603–605,
Oct. 14, 1901.
Footnote 63:
“Proceedings of the Zoölogical Society of London,” Vol. I, pp.
140–166.
Footnote 64:
“Proceedings of the Zoölogical Society of London,” 1902, pp. 148–150.
Footnote 65:
“Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences,” Paris, 1903, Vol.
CXXXVII, pp. 611–613.
Footnote 66:
Seurat, “Observation sur l’évolution de l’Huitre perlière des Tuamotu
et des Gambier,” 1904.
Footnote 67:
“Pearl Oyster Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar,” London, 1903, Vol. I,
p. 11.
Footnote 68:
Hornell, “Report on the _Placuna placenta_ Pearl Fishery of Lake
Tampalakamam,” Colombo, 1906.
Footnote 69:
“Pearl Oyster Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar,” London, 1903, Vol. I,
p. 10.
Footnote 70:
Harley, “Proceedings of the Royal Society,” Vol. XLIII, p. 461.
Footnote 71:
“Die Perlenmuscheln,” Leipzig, 1859, pp. 294, 295.
Footnote 72:
Harley, “Proceedings of the Royal Society of London,” Vol. XLV, p.
612.
Footnote 73:
“Historia Naturalis,” _Lib._ IX, c. 35. This is also referred to by
Macrobius in Saturnaliorum conviviorum _Lib._ II, c. 13.
Footnote 74:
Now in the French crown brooch in the possession of the Princess
Youssoupoff of Russia.
Footnote 75:
See p. 465.
Footnote 76:
Taunton, “Australind,” London, 1903, p. 224.
Footnote 77:
“Tavernier’s Travels,” London, 1889, Vol. II, p. 115. See p. 97.
Footnote 78:
See “Report of the Royal Society,” Oct. 13, 1688.
Footnote 79:
Neither is there any special significance in the popular terms
“clams,” “mussels,” etc., as applied to the pearl-bearing species of
the rivers. The “clams,” or Unios of the Mississippi Valley, resemble
neither the long clams (_Mya_) nor the round clams (_Venus_) of the
Atlantic coast; the mussels of the fresh-water lakes are quite
distinct from the edible ones of brackish waters, and the Pinna oyster
and the giant clam (_Tridacna_) have little resemblance to the
mollusks with which these terminal names are commonly associated.
Footnote 80:
Jameson, “On the identity and distribution of the mother-of-pearl
oysters; with a revision of the subgenus _Margaritifera_.” Proceedings
of the Zoölogical Society of London, Vol. L, 1901, pp. 372–394.
Footnote 81:
Vassel, “Sur la Pintadine du Golfe de Gabes, Comptes Rendus Assoc.
Franç.,” 1896, pp. 458–466.
Footnote 82:
See “Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences,” Paris, 1904, Vol.
CXXXVIII, pp. 301, 302.
Footnote 83:
See p. 288.
Footnote 84:
Garbe, “Die Indischen Mineralien,” Leipzig, 1882.
Footnote 85:
Gray’s Elegy.
Footnote 86:
In 1905, the Ceylon pearl yield approximated $2,000,000 in value.
Footnote 87:
Including African coast.
Footnote 88:
Including Sharks Bay.
Footnote 89:
Oppert, “L’Ambre jaune chez les Assyriens.”
Footnote 90:
Holland’s edition of 1601, p. 254.
Footnote 91:
Reinaud, “Mémoire sur l’Inde,” Paris. 1849
Footnote 92:
“Travels of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela,” London, 1783.
Footnote 93:
Lee, “Ibn Batuta,” 1829, p. 65.
Footnote 94:
“The Travels of Lodovico di Barthema, 1503 to 1508,” London, 1863, p.
95.
Footnote 95:
“Discours of Voyages into ye Easte and West Indies,” London, 1598,
folio, ch. 84.
Footnote 96:
See p. 457, for Tavernier’s description of this gem.
Footnote 97:
Tavernier, “Travels in India,” London, 1889, Vol. II, p. 108.
Footnote 98:
Wellsted, “Travels in Arabia,” London, 1838, Vol. I, ch. 17, pp. 264,
265.
Footnote 99:
In report to the Government of Bombay, dated December 15, 1865.
Footnote 100:
Schlagintweit, “Nachrichtsblatt der deutschen Gesellschaft,”
Frankfurt-am-Main, 1883, pp. 153–156.
Footnote 101:
Malcolm, “Sketches of Persia,” London, 1827, p. 27.
Footnote 102:
“Personal Narrative of Journey through Arabia,” London, 1865, p. 100.
Footnote 103:
Lord Curzon reports 4500 boats, and some other authorities state 5000,
but this probably includes a number of tenders.
Footnote 104:
For this and some other data on the pearling fleet of Bahrein we are
indebted to the kindness of Dr. S. M. Zwemer, who has spent many years
at the Bahrein Islands as a missionary.
Footnote 105:
“Reports by the Superintendent of the Fishery and the Inspector of the
Pearl Banks,” Colombo, 1887.
Footnote 106:
Wellsted, “Travels in Arabia,” London, 1838, Vol. I, p. 266.
Footnote 107:
“Histoire de l’Isle de Ceylon,” Amsterdam, 1701, ch. 22, p. 169.
Footnote 108:
“An Account of the Island of Ceylon,” London, 1803, ch. 3, p. 91.
Footnote 109:
“Asiatic Researches,” London, 1798, Vol. V, p. 402.
Footnote 110:
Chardin, “Voyages en Perse,” Paris, 1811, Vol. III, p. 363.
Footnote 111:
Sprat, “History of the Royal Society,” London, 1667, p. 169.
Footnote 112:
Philosophical Transactions for 1669, No. 43, p. 863.
Footnote 113:
Diemerbroeck, “Anatome Corporis Humani,” Ultrajecti, 1672.
Footnote 114:
Sixth American Edition, New York, 1835, Vol. I, p. 239.
Footnote 115:
Reinaud, “Fragments Arabes,” Paris, 1845, p. 126. Lee, “Ibn Batuta,”
London, 1829, p. 65.
Footnote 116:
A Christian physician who lived in the time of the Khalif Wathek
Billa, about 842 A.D.
Footnote 117:
“Specimen Arabicum,” Traiecti ad Rhenum, 1784, p. 64.
Footnote 118:
_Ibid._, p. 65.
Footnote 119:
Writers describing the early pearl fisheries on the American coast,
and especially at Cubagua on the present coast of Venezuela, also
reported very lengthy stays. In 1526, Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y
Valdés wrote: “The thing that causeth men most to marvel is to
consider how many of them can remain at the bottom for the space of
one whole hour, and some more or less, according to expertness.”
(“Natural Historia de las Indias,” Toledo, 1526.) About 1588, the
Jesuit priest José de Acosta wrote: “I did see them make their
fishing, the which is done with great charge and labor of the poor
slaves, which dive 6, 7, yea 12 fathoms into the sea...; but yet the
labor and toil is greatest in holding their breath, sometimes a
quarter, yea, half an hour together under water.” (Acosta, “Natural
and Moral History of the Indies,” Hakluyt Society, 1880, p. 227.)
Footnote 120:
Tavernier, “Travels in India,” Ball edition, Vol. II, pp. 114, 115.
Footnote 121:
London, 1812, p. 55.
Footnote 122:
See _infra._, p. 125.
Footnote 123:
“The Book of Ser Marco Polo,” London, 1871, Vol. II, pp. 267, 268.
Footnote 124:
Jordanus, “Mirabilia Descripta,” Hakluyt Society, 1863, p. 28.
Footnote 125:
“The Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies,”
Hakluyt Society, 1884, Vol. II, pp. 133–135.
Footnote 126:
“Hakluyt’s Voyages,” Vol. V, Glasgow, 1904, pp. 395–397. Benjamin
Franklin states that the Mediterranean divers, finding the light below
obscured by the surface waves, used to let a little oil out of their
mouths at intervals, which, rising to the surface, smoothed the
waters. This might be a suggestion to modern marine and fresh-water
pearl fishers.
Footnote 127:
“The Travels of Pedro Teixeira,” Hakluyt Society, 1902, pp. 174–181.
Footnote 128:
“Asiatic Researches,” London, 1798, pp. 393, _et seq._
Footnote 129:
“The Island of Ceylon,” 1803, ch. 3.
Footnote 130:
“Description of Ceylon,” 1807, Vol. II, pp. 36–78.
Footnote 131:
In 1881, the number of days was the same—47, the season extending from
March 4 to April 27. In 1891 there were 40 working days, in 1904 there
were 33, in 1903 there were 36, and in 1906 there were 36 days of
actual fishing.
Footnote 132:
See Reinaud’s “Fragments Arabes,” Paris, 1845, p. 125.
Footnote 133:
“Pearl Oyster Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar,” 5 vols., London,
1903–1906.
Footnote 134:
Tavernier, “Travels in India,” Vol. II, ch. 21.
Footnote 135:
See pp. 110, 111.
Footnote 136:
The report of the Chief of Police at the 1905 fishery states: “In the
camp there were 40,000 to 50,000 persons, of whom it may be said that
not less than a tenth were gamblers, vagrants, and rogues, who,
without occupation in their own country, made their way to
Marichchukkadi with the hope of making money to gamble in oysters.”
(“Reports on the Pearl Fisheries for 1905,” Colombo, p. 17.)
Footnote 137:
In 1906 there were 473 boats employed; in 1905, 318; in 1857, 1858,
1859, and 1863, over 400 boats reported for employment.
Footnote 138:
Some years ago, notably in the early sixties, each and every boat was
required to have ten divers, thus making a total of 23 persons in each
boat. (See Vane’s “Report on Ceylon Pearl Fisheries,” 1863.)
Footnote 139:
_Supra._, p. 100.
Footnote 140:
Hornell, “Reports on the Pearl Fisheries of 1904,” Colombo, p. 31.
Footnote 141:
“Reports on the Pearl Fishery for 1904,” p. 7.
Footnote 142:
“Reports on the Pearl Fishery for 1905,” p. 23.
Footnote 143:
_Ibid._, p. 22.
Footnote 144:
“The Book of Ser Marco Polo,” London, 1871, Vol. II, p. 267.
Footnote 145:
Cordiner, “Description of Ceylon,” Vol. II, p. 52.
Footnote 146:
“Reports on the Pearl Fisheries of 1904,” p. 17.
Footnote 147:
_Ibid._, p. 17.
Footnote 148:
_Ibid._, p. 34.
Footnote 149:
“Royal Asiatic Society Proceedings,” 1887–1888, p. 100.
Footnote 150:
“Reports on the Pearl Fisheries of 1905,” p. 40.
Footnote 151:
_Ibid._, p. 24.
Footnote 152:
“Reports on the Pearl Fishery for 1904,” Colombo, p. 6.
Footnote 153:
“Colonial Sessional Papers,” 1904, Colombo, p. 653.
Footnote 154:
“Colonial Sessional Papers,” 1906, Colombo, p. 330.
Footnote 155:
“Reports on the Pearl Fisheries for 1905,” Colombo, p. 25.
Footnote 156:
Ordinance No. 8 of 1906.
Footnote 157:
“Ceylon Sessional Papers,” 1906, p. 328.
Footnote 158:
_Ibid._, pp. 333, 335.
Footnote 159:
“Ceylon Sessional Papers,” 1906, p. 650.
Footnote 160:
The Government Commission has interdicted the fishing for this year
(1908), as experts have reported the pearl-oysters were not plentiful
enough and were also immature, being only five years old. The next
fishery will be in 1909.
Footnote 161:
Kelaart, “Report on the Tablegram Pearl-Oysters,” Trincomali, 1857, 6
pp.
Footnote 162:
Hornell, “Report on the _Placuna placenta_ Pearl Fishery of Lake
Tampalakamam,” Colombo, 1906.
Footnote 163:
Jardine, “Report Relating to the Mergui Pearl Fisheries,” Rangoon,
1894, p. 6.
Footnote 164:
Nisbet, “Burma Under British Rule and Before,” Westminster, 1901, Vol.
I, p. 362.
Footnote 165:
Nisbet, “Burma Under British Rule and Before,” Vol. I, p. 363.
Footnote 166:
See Proverbs xxxi, 1.
Footnote 167:
Hesse, “Der Zoologische Garten,” Dec. 1, 1898.
Footnote 168:
Wellsted, “Travels in Arabia,” London, 1838, Vol. II, p. 238.
Footnote 169:
_Ibid._, Vol. I, pp. 268, 269.
Footnote 170:
“Bolletino della Società d’esplorazione commerciale in Africa,” Milan,
June, 1898.
Footnote 171:
Von Hessling, “Die Perlenmuscheln,” Leipzig, 1859, p. 6.
Footnote 172:
See p. 288 for an account of the methods.
Footnote 173:
Statist. “Beschreibung des chines. Reiches,” 1842, Vol. II, p. 11.
Footnote 174:
Ranft, “Vollständige Beschreibung des russischen Reiches,” Leipzig,
1767, p. 415.
Footnote 175:
Witsen, “Nord en Oost Tartarye,” 1705. p. 762.
Footnote 176:
Tavernier, “Travels in India,” Ball edition, London, 1889, Vol. II,
pp. 113, 114.
Footnote 177:
One candareen equals 5.72 grains.
Footnote 178:
One koban equals 66 cents.
Footnote 179:
$4200.
Footnote 180:
Kaempfer, “History of Japan,” 1728, Vol. I, pp. 110, 111.
Footnote 181:
_Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 139.
Footnote 182:
Joao dos Santos, “Ethopia Oriental,” Lisbon, 1609, Vol. i, c. 27.
Footnote 183:
Lisbon Geographical Society Report, January, 1903.
Footnote 184:
“Britanniam petiisse spe margaritarum, quarum amplitudinem
conferentem, interdum sua manu exegisse pondus.” “Divus Julius
Caesar,” c. 47.
Footnote 185:
“Naturall Historie,” Holland edition, London, 1601, _Lib._ IX, c. 35.
Footnote 186:
“Vita Agricolæ,” c. 12.
Footnote 187:
Giles’s edition, London, 1840, p. 6.
Footnote 188:
Joyce. “Social History of Ancient Ireland.” New York. 1903. Vol. II,
p. 227.
Footnote 189:
Nicolai, “Anglia Sacra,” Vol. II, p. 236. Also “Alberti Magni Opera
Omnia,” ed. Augusti Borgnet, Paris. 1890, Vol. V., p. 41.
Footnote 190:
“Histoire de l’Orfèvrerie-Joaillerie.” Paris, 1850, p. 46. De Laborde,
“Emaux,” Paris, 1852, Vol. II, p. 437.
Footnote 191:
Camden. “Britannia.” 2nd edition, London, 1722, Vol. II, p. 802.
Footnote 192:
Macpherson, “Annals of Commerce,” Vol. II, p. 131.
Footnote 193:
Sibbald, “Hist. Nat. Scotiae,” 1684, Vol. III, p. 27.
Footnote 194:
Camden, “Britannia,” London, 1695, p. 924.
Footnote 195:
London, 1777, Vol. II., p. 24.
Footnote 196:
“History of Cumberland,” London, 1794, Vol. I, p. 573.
Footnote 197:
Joyce. “Social History of Ancient Ireland,” New York, 1903, Vol. II,
p. 227.
Footnote 198:
“Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for 1693,” Vol. XVIII,
No. 198, pp. 659–663.
Footnote 199:
Pennant, “Tour in Scotland,” Chester, 1771.
Footnote 200:
London “Times,” December 24, 1863.
Footnote 201:
Hugh Miller, “My Schools and Schoolmasters,” 1852, p. 201.
Footnote 202:
Puton, “Mollusques terrestres et fluviales des Vosges: Le Département
des Vosges, statistique, historique, et administrative, par Henri
Lepaye et Ch. Charton,” Nancy, 1845, 8vo, 2 vols., Vol. I.
Footnote 203:
Godron, “Les perles de la Vologne, et le Château-sur-Perle.” “Mémoires
de l’Académie de Stanislas, 1869,” Nancy, 1870, pp. 10–30.
Footnote 204:
Volcyr, “Cronicque abrégée par petits vers huytains des Empereurs,
Roys, et Ducz d’Austraisie,” etc., Paris, 1530.
Footnote 205:
Reues, “De Gemmis aliquot,” etc., Tiguri, 1566, p. 47.
Footnote 206:
Claude de la Ruelle, “Les pourtraicts des ceremonies, ... et pompe
funèbres faitez au corps de feu Charles III, Duc de Lorraine,” etc.
Nancy, 1609.
Footnote 207:
Lister, “Journey to Paris in the year 1698,” London, p. 143.
Footnote 208:
Durival, “Description de la Lorraine et du Barrois,” Nancy, 1779, Vol.
I, p. 280.
Footnote 209:
Bonnemere, “Les perles fines de l’Ouest de la France,” “Revue des
sciences naturelles de l’Ouest,” 1899, Vol. III, p. 97–99.
Footnote 210:
“La Nature,” 1899, pp. 347, 348.
Footnote 211:
Von Hessling, “Ueber die Erzeugung künstlicher Perlen,” “Gelehrte
Anzeigen der Münchener Akademie,” 1856, Vol. II, p. 159.
Footnote 212:
Weinmann, “Bresslauer Naturgeschichten,” 1725.
Footnote 213:
Tavernier, “Travels in India,” 1889, Vol. II, p. 113.
Footnote 214:
Von Hessling, “Die Perlenmuscheln,” Leipzig, 1859, p. 179.
Footnote 215:
“Beiträge zur Naturkunde des Herzogthums Celle,” Halle, 1766, Pt. I,
p. 70.
Footnote 216:
Von Hessling, “Die Perlenmuscheln,” p. 180.
Footnote 217:
Möbius, “Die echten Perlen,” Hamburg, 1858., p. 47.
Footnote 218:
Jahn, “Voigtländische Perlenfischerei,” p. 165; Von Hessling, “Die
Perlenmuscheln,” p. 182.
Footnote 219:
Von Hessling, “Die Perlenmuscheln,” p. 182.
Footnote 220:
“Die echten Perlen,” p. 48.
Footnote 221:
Gesner, “De aquatilibus,” Tiguri, 1560.
Footnote 222:
Bohuslai Balbini, “Miscellanea historica regni Bohemiæ,” Prague, 1679,
Vol. I, p. 73.
Footnote 223:
“Allg. Zeitung,” Nov. 1, 1858, No. 305.
Footnote 224:
Von Hessling, “Die Perlenmuscheln,” Leipzig, p. 178.
Footnote 225:
Holberg, “Danmarks Riges Historie,” Reicharot edition, 1743, Vol. II,
p. 632.
Footnote 226:
Thaaruys, “Versuch einer Statistik der dänischen Monarchie,”
Copenhagen, 1795, Pt. I, p. 416.
Footnote 227:
Jahn, “Voigtländische Perlenfischerei,” p. 175; and Von Hessling, “Die
Perlenmuscheln,” p. 189.
Footnote 228:
Pontoppidan, “Versuch einer natürlichen Historie von Norwegen,”
Copenhagen, 1754, Vol. II, p. 309.
Footnote 229:
Olaus Magnus, “Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus,” Antwerp, 1562,
c. 6, p. 192.
Footnote 230:
Linnæus, “Lach. Lapponica,” Vol. II, pp. 104–107.
Footnote 231:
See “Abhandlungen der Schwedischen Akademie,” 1742, Vol. IV, p. 240;
1759, Vol. XXI, p. 136, and 1762, Vol. XXIV, p. 64.
Footnote 232:
“Die Perlenmuscheln,” Leipzig, 1859, p. 194.
Footnote 233:
Kawall, “La pêche des perles en Livonie,” “Annales de la Société
Malacologique de Belgique,” 1872, Vol. VII, pp. 38–46.
Footnote 234:
Dionysius Fabricius, “Scriptor rerum Livonicarum,” 1612, Vol. II, p.
440.
Footnote 235:
G. F. Mylius, “Memorabilium Saxoniae subterraneae,” Leipzig,
1709–1718, Vol. II, p. 20.
Footnote 236:
Charles Zeze, “Considerations sur les lièvres blancs en Livonie,”
1749, p. 52.
Footnote 237:
A. H. Hupel, “Nouvelles topographiques de Livonie et d’Esthionie,”
1774, Vol. I, p. 134.
Footnote 238:
“Die Perlenmuscheln,” Leipzig, p. 196.
Footnote 239:
Baer and Helmersen, “Beiträge zur Kenntniss des russischen Reiches,”
St. Petersburg, 1845, Vol. XI, pp. 143, 144.
Footnote 240:
Kohl, “Reisen in Südrussland,” 2nd edition, Leipzig, 1846, Vol. I, p.
15.
Footnote 241:
“Voyage aux Iles du Grand Océan,” Paris, 1838; also “Le
Correspondant,” March 10, 1906.
Footnote 242:
“La Peche et la Culture des Huitres Perlières à Tahiti; Pêcheries de
l’Archipel Tuamotu,” Paris, 1885.
Footnote 243:
Seurat, “L’huitre perlière,” Paris, 1900, p. 133.
Footnote 244:
Lucatt, “Rovings in the Pacific from 1837 to 1849,” London, 1851, Vol.
I, p. 245.
Footnote 245:
“Bulletin United States Fish Commission,” Vol. V, p. 293.
Footnote 246:
Alexander, “Report United States Fish Commission,” Vol. XXVII, p. 764.
Footnote 247:
“Tahiti et les Colonies Françaises de la Polynésie,” Paris, 1887, p.
173.
Footnote 248:
“Report on Pearl Fisheries of North Queensland,” Brisbane, 1890.
Footnote 249:
Garran, “Australasia Illustrated,” Sydney, 1892, Vol. II, p. 886.
Footnote 250:
Gill, “Life in the Southern Isles,” London, 1876, p. 294.
Footnote 251:
“Australind,” London, 1900, pp. 233–239.
Footnote 252:
45 Victoriæ, No. 2.
Footnote 253:
50 Victoriæ, No. 2.
Footnote 254:
55 Victoriæ, No. 29.
Footnote 255:
50 Victoriæ, No. 7.
Footnote 256:
55 Victoriæ, No. 29.
Footnote 257:
“Departmental Commission on Pearl Shell and Bêche-de-Mer Fisheries,”
Brisbane, 1897.
Footnote 258:
“Report on the Fishing Industry for the Year 1905,” Perth, 1906, pp.
4–7.
Footnote 259:
During the month of June, 1908, a severe storm destroyed a pearling
fleet, with a loss of 40 vessels and 270 lives.
Footnote 260:
“Report of Departmental Commission on Pearl Shell and Bêche-de-Mer
Fisheries,” Brisbane, 1897.
Footnote 261:
55 Victoriæ, No. 29.
Footnote 262:
To this should be added the output of Sharks Bay, amounting to £2000
in 1906, making a total of $450,000.
Footnote 263:
See pp. 70 and 200.
Footnote 264:
Comyn, “State of the Philippine Islands,” London, 1820, pp. 38, 39.
Footnote 265:
“Storia Naturale delle Gemme,” Naples, 1730. Vol. I, p. 461.
Footnote 266:
Crawfurd, “History of the Indian Archipelago,” Edinburgh, 1820, Vol.
III, p. 445.
Footnote 267:
Act No. 51, June 7, 1904.
Footnote 268:
A letter from the Bureau of Insular Affairs, dated November 20, 1906,
states: “It is proposed by the officials of the Moro province to amend
the regulations so that, under certain restrictions, vessels of
foreign build may engage in pearl fisheries.”
Footnote 269:
Act No. 43, amended June 7, 1904.
Footnote 270:
“Historia general de las Indias,” by Francisco Lopez de Gomara, 12mo,
1554, pp. 104–106 b.
Footnote 271:
Herrera, “Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las
islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano,” Dec. iii, Book VII, ch. 3.
Footnote 272:
Herrera, “Descripcion de las Indias Occidentales,” Dec. iv, Book VI,
ch. 12.
Footnote 273:
Humboldt’s “Personal Narrative,” Vol. II, p. 273.
Footnote 274:
Translated from “Historia del Mondo Nuovo,” Geneva, 1578.
Footnote 275:
Translation of Chauveton’s Notes to Benzoni’s “Historia del Mondo
Nuovo,” Geneva, 1578, fol. 170.
Footnote 276:
_Ibid._, fol. 168.
Footnote 277:
“Natural and Moral History of the Indies,” Hakluyt Society, London,
1880, p. 228.
Footnote 278:
Humboldt, “Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of
the New Continent, 1799–1804.”
Footnote 279:
Findlay, “Directory for the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean,” London,
1851, Vol. I, p. 217.
Footnote 280:
Rosales, “Gran Recopilación de Venezuela,” Caracas, 1889.
Footnote 281:
Gomara, “Historia general de las Indias,” 1554, pp. 268, 269 b.
Footnote 282:
111½ ounces of gold; present value about $2300.
Footnote 283:
Gemelli-Careri, “Giro del Mondo,” Venezia, 1719, p. 240.
Footnote 284:
Ulloa, “Relación historica del viage á la América meridional,” Madrid,
1748.
Footnote 285:
“Ulloa’s Voyage to South America,” translated by J. Adams, London,
1758.
Footnote 286:
Hakluyt’s “Voyages,” Glasgow, 1904, Vol. IX, pp. 318, 319.
Footnote 287:
Clavigero, “Storia della California,” Venezia, 1789, Vol. I, p. 161.
Footnote 288:
Venegas, “Noticia de las Californias,” Madrid, 1757, p. 454.
Footnote 289:
Clavigero, “Historia de la Baja antigua California.” Esteva, “Boletin
de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geographia y Estadistica,” Vol. X, pp.
673–697.
Footnote 290:
Pedro Alvarado, “Historia California,” Vol. I, p. 10.
Footnote 291:
Baegert, “Nachrichten von der Amerikanischen Halbinsel Californien,”
Mannheim, 1772.
Footnote 292:
Arch. Cal. Prov. St. Pap. xvi. Ben. Mil. xvi, xvii, xviii.
Footnote 293:
Hardy, “Travels in Mexico,” London, 1829, pp. 231–238.
Footnote 294:
Diguet, “Bulletin de la Société Centrale d’Aquiculture,” Paris, 1895,
Vol. VII, pp. 1–18.
Footnote 295:
Esteva, “Memoria sobre la Pesca de la Perla,” “Boletin de la Sociedad
Mexicana de Geographía,” Vol. X, pp. 681–688.
Footnote 296:
Lassepas, “Historia de la Baja California,” Mexico, 1859, p. 65.
Footnote 297:
Pujol, “Estudio Biológico sobre la ostra Avicula margaritiferus,”
“Boletin de la Sociedad de Geographía,” Epoc. 2, Vol. III, p. 139 _et
seq._
Footnote 298:
Diguet, “Bulletin de la Société Centrale d’Aquiculture,” 1895, Vol.
VII.
Footnote 299:
Lassepas, “Historia de la Colonizaciónde la Baja California,” Mexico,
1859.
Footnote 300:
“Recueil des pièces sur la Floride,” Paris, 1841.
Footnote 301:
“Relaçam verdadeira dos Trabalhos q ho gouernador dō Fernādo de Souto
e certos fidalgos portugueses passarom no descobrimēto da provincia da
Frolida. Agora nouamente feita per hū fidalgo Deluas.”
Footnote 302:
“La Florida del Ynca,” Lisbon, 1605.
Footnote 303:
One arroba = twenty-five pounds’ weight.
Footnote 304:
“Discovery of Florida,” Hakluyt Society, 1851, Vol. IX, p. 181.
Footnote 305:
_Ibid._, p. 50.
Footnote 306:
“Discovery of Florida,” Hakluyt Society, 1851, Vol. IX, p. 60.
Footnote 307:
Bernard Shipp, “The History of Hernando de Soto and Florida from 1512
to 1568,” Philadelphia, 1881, 8vo, p. 364.
Footnote 308:
Bernard Shipp, “The History of Hernando de Soto and Florida from 1512
to 1568,” Philadelphia, 1881, 8vo, p. 369.
Footnote 309:
_Ibid._, p. 372.
Footnote 310:
“Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeça de Vaca,” translated by Buckingham
Smith, New York, 1871.
Footnote 311:
Bernard Shipp, “History of Hernando de Soto and Florida,”
Philadelphia, 1881, p. 586.
Footnote 312:
Hakluyt, “The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the
English Nation,” London, 1589.
Footnote 313:
“Purchas’s Pilgrims,” London, 1625, Vol. IV, p. 179.
Footnote 314:
Hakluyt’s “Voyages,” Glasgow, Vol. VIII, p. 357.
Footnote 315:
P. F. X. de Charlevoix, “History of New France,” New York, 1900, p.
129.
Footnote 316:
“Voyage of Father Gravier in 1700 From the Country of Illinois to the
Mouth of the Mississippi,” Cleveland, 1900, p. 141.
Footnote 317:
Coxe, “A Description of the English Province of Carolana, by the
Spaniards call’d Florida, and by the French La Louisiane, as also of
the Great and Famous River Meschacebe or Missisipi,” London, 1722, pp.
82, 83.
Footnote 318:
“Allgemeine Handelszeitung,” Leipzig, April, 1789, p. 218.
Footnote 319:
“Frank Leslie’s Magazine,” New York, May 23, 1857, Vol. III, pp.
384–386.
Footnote 320:
“Gems and Precious Stones of North America,” by George F. Kunz, New
York, 1889–1892, pp. 211–257. “The Fresh-Water Pearls of the United
States,” Washington, 1898, 50 pages and plates.
Footnote 321:
“Neue Zeit,” in Ausland, 1858, No. 8, p. 192.
Footnote 322:
See p. 258.
Footnote 323:
Illinois State has passed a bill to regulate pearl fishing. See
Addendum on p. 513.
Footnote 324:
Philostratus, “Vita Apollonii,” _Lib._ III, c. 57, edit. Olearii, p.
139. Also see Konrad von Gessner, “Historiæ natura,” _Lib._ IV, p.
634.
Footnote 325:
Vol. XXII, pp. 425–437.
Footnote 326:
Pulteney, “General View of the Writings of Linnæus,” London, 1805.
Footnote 327:
“Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London,” October, 1905. p. 26.
Footnote 328:
Pearl: an excrescence on the inside of a shell when the outside has
been perforated.
Footnote 329:
Beckmann, “History of Inventions,” London, 1846, Vol. I, p. 263.
Footnote 330:
London, 1821, p. 48.
Footnote 331:
“Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London,” October, 1905, p. 29.
Footnote 332:
See Grill, “Abhandlungen der königlichen Schwedischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften auf das Jahr 1772,” Leipzig, Vol. XXXIV, pp. 88–90.
Footnote 333:
“Journal of the Society of Arts,” Vol. II, pp. 72–75.
Footnote 334:
“Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London,” October, 1905, p. 28.
Footnote 335:
“La Pèche et la Culture des Huitres Perlières à Tahiti,” Paris, 1885.
Footnote 336:
“Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences,” Vol. CXXVII, pp. 828–830.
Footnote 337:
See p. 73.
Footnote 338:
Kæmpfer, “History of Japan,” London, 1728, Vol. I, pp. 110–112.
Footnote 339:
“Notes and Queries,” 3rd Series, Vol. II, p. 228.
Footnote 340:
“Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,”
Singapore, 1878, Vol. I., pp. 31–37.
Footnote 341:
“Jewelers’ Review,” May 10, 1892.
Footnote 342:
Bloomfield, “Hymns of the Atharvaveda,” Oxford, 1897, p. 62.
Footnote 343:
Macgowan, “Journal of the Society of Arts,” Vol. II, p. 73.
Footnote 344:
Pfirzmaier, “Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften,” Wien, 1868,
Vol. LVII, p. 623.
Footnote 345:
Translated from Klenn, “Culturgeschichte,” Leipzig, 1852, Vol. X, p.
318.
Footnote 346:
Tennyson, “Idylls of the King.”
Footnote 347:
“Opera omnia,” Paris, 1864, Vol. V, p. 473.
Footnote 348:
W. & G. Audsley, “Handbook of Christian Symbolism,” London, 1865, p.
140.
Footnote 349:
“Lucile,” Pt. II, c. 6, st. 16.
Footnote 350:
“Le Mercure Indien, ou le Trésor des Indes,” Paris, 1672, p. 160.
Footnote 351:
Many Greek scholars maintain that this is a knotted cord or fillet;
but this view is contested by others.
Footnote 352:
Edited by Jibananda Vidyasagara, Calcutta, 1877.
Footnote 353:
Edited by Vidyasagara, 1873.
Footnote 354:
Garbe, “Die Indischen Mineralien.” Narahari’s “Raganighantu,” Varga
XIII, Leipzig, 1882, p. 74.
Footnote 355:
Ainslie, “Materia Indica,” London, 1826, Vol. I, p. 292.
Footnote 356:
“Maṉi-málá,” Calcutta, 1881, p. 871.
Footnote 357:
“Maṉi-málá,” Calcutta, 1879, p. 315.
Footnote 358:
Finot, “Les Lapidaires Indiens,” Paris, 1896, p. 15.
Footnote 359:
“Materia medica of India and their Therapeutics,” Bombay, 1903, p. 98.
Footnote 360:
“Alberti Magni Opera omnia,” ed. Augusti Borgnet, Paris, 1890, Vol. V,
p. 41.
Footnote 361:
“Lapidario del Rey D. Alfonso X,” Codice original, Madrid, 1881, p. 4.
Footnote 362:
De Boot, “Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia,” Hanover, 1609, _Lib._ II, c.
38, p. 87.
Footnote 363:
Margaritologia, Monachii, 1637.
Footnote 364:
Lovell, “Panmineralogicon,” Oxford, 1661, pp. 77, 78.
Footnote 365:
Jones, “Credulities Past and Present,” London, 1880, p. 166.
Footnote 366:
“Speculum lapidum,” Venice, 1502, p. 37.
Footnote 367:
Yriarte, “Florence,” Paris, 1881, p. 39.
Footnote 368:
Bacon, “Historia Vitæ et Mortis,” Londini, 1623, p. 100.
Footnote 369:
Grew, Nehemiah, “Musæum Regalis Societatis,” London, 1681, p. 145.
Footnote 370:
“A Queen’s Delight,” London, 1671, pp. 75, 76.
Footnote 371:
“Hamlet,” Act V, sc. 2.
Footnote 372:
W. J. Lawson, “History of Banking,” London, 1850, pp. 24, 25.
Footnote 373:
“The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus,” _Lib._ IX, c. 35. This
anecdote is mentioned also by Macrobius (_Circa_ 400 A.D.) in
“Saturnaliorum conviviorum libri septem,” _Lib._ II, c. 13.
Footnote 374:
See p. 55.
Footnote 375:
“The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus,” _Lib._ IX, c. 35.
Footnote 376:
See the epitaph of Tutichylus “qui fuit margaritarius,” Orelli, 4076.
Footnote 377:
Lowis d’A. Jackson, “Modern Metrology,” London, 1881, p. 370.
Footnote 378:
Grimm, “Deutsches Wörterbuch,” Leipzig, 1873, Vol. V, p. 205.
Footnote 379:
Guillaume, “Les récents progrès du système métrique,” Paris, 1907, pp.
62–66, “La réforme du carat.”
Footnote 380:
William Hallock and Herbert T. Wade. “Outlines of the Evolution of
Weights and Measures and the Metric System,” New York, 1906, p. 25.
Footnote 381:
“A New English Dictionary,” Oxford and New York, 1893, Vol. II, Pt. I,
p. 105.
Footnote 382:
Buteonis, “Opera Geometrica,” Lugduni, 1554, pp. 88–96.
Footnote 383:
See “Edelsteinkunde,” Wilhelm Rau, Leipzig, 1907, p. 137.
Footnote 384:
“Les Lapidaires Indiens,” Paris, 1896.
Footnote 385:
The guñja was one fifth of a mâsaka and equaled about 2¼ grains.
Footnote 386:
Finot, “Les Lapidaires Indiens,” Paris, 1896, p. 22.
Footnote 387:
“Fior di Pensieri sulle Pietre Preziose di Ahmed al Teifascite,” text
and translation by Antonio Raineri, Florence, 1818, pp. 8, 9.
Footnote 388:
Charles Barbot, “Traite Complète des Pierres Précieuses,” Paris, 1858,
p. 467.
Footnote 389:
Emanuel, “Diamonds and Precious Stones,” 2nd edition, London, 1867, p.
6.
Footnote 390:
Anselmi de Boot, “Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia,” Hanoviae, 1609, pp.
88–90.
Footnote 391:
De Rosnel, “Le Mercure Indien,” Paris, 1672, Pt. III, pp. 17, 18.
Footnote 392:
Rice Vaughan, “A Discourse of Coin and Coinage,” London, 1675, p. 241.
Footnote 393:
David Jeffries, “A Treatise on Diamonds and Pearls,” London, 1751, pp.
128–141.
Footnote 394:
“Encyclopédie de Diderot et d’Alembert,” Neuchâtel and Paris, 1774,
Vol. XII, p. 385.
Footnote 395:
Pio Naldi, “Delle Gemme e delle Regole per Valutarle,” Bologna, 1791,
p. 207.
Footnote 396:
Emanuel, “Diamonds and Precious Stones,” London, 1867, p. 197.
Footnote 397:
“L’Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences,” Neuchâtel and
Paris, 1774, Vol. XII, p. 385.
Footnote 398:
“Delle Gemme,” etc., 1791.
Footnote 399:
See “Report to the Government of Ceylon on the Pearl Oyster Fisheries
of the Gulf of Manaar,” by W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., Pt. V, London, 1906,
pp. 34–36.
Footnote 400:
See pp. 124–127.
Footnote 401:
See “Modern Metrology,” Lowis d’A. Jackson, London, 1882, p. 369.
Footnote 402:
From “Navaratnapariska,” in Finot, “Les Lapidaires Indiens,” p. 158.
Footnote 403:
Guillielmi Budaei, “De Asse,” Venice, 1522, _Lib._ V, pp. 67, 68.
Footnote 404:
Caire and Dufie, “La Science des Pierres Précieuses appliquée aux
Arts,” Paris, 1833.
Footnote 405:
Charles Barbot, “Traité Complète des Pierres Précieuses,” Paris, 1858,
pp. 464, 465.
Footnote 406:
“The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian.” Trans. and ed. by Col.
Henry Yule, London, 1871, Vol. II, p. 275.
Footnote 407:
General Appraisers 5146 (Treasury Department 23748).
Footnote 408:
December 6, 1901; 112 Fed. Rep. 672.
Footnote 409:
Suit No. 3328.
Footnote 410:
Dec. 29, 1903.
Footnote 411:
Suit No. 4974.
Footnote 412:
General Appraisers 4166.
Footnote 413:
General Appraisers 5148.
Footnote 414:
Suits Nos. 2781 and 3324.
Footnote 415:
John and Andrew van Rymsdyk, “Museum Brittanicum,” London, 1778, p. 8,
note.
Footnote 416:
Finot, “Les Lapidaires Indiens,” Paris, 1896, p. 24.
Footnote 417:
“An Essay upon Various Arts, in Three Books by Theophilus, called also
Rugerus, Priest and Monk, Forming an Encyclopedia of Christian Art of
the Eleventh Century.” Translated, with notes, by Robert Hendrie.
London, 1847.
Footnote 418:
“Indian Art,” by Sir George C. M. Birdwood (South Kensington Museum
Art Books), Pt. II, pp. 188, 248.
Footnote 419:
Anselmi de Boodt, “Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia,” Hanover, 1609.
_Lib._ II, c. 40, “Quomodo margaritae perforuntur,” p. 91.
Footnote 420:
See portrait facing page 442.
Footnote 421:
Charles Barbot, “Traité Complète des Pierres Précieuses,” Paris, 1858,
pp. 464, 465.
Footnote 422:
“Délégation en Perse,” Paris, 1905, Vol. VIII, p. 52.
Footnote 423:
De Morgan, “Délégation en Perse,” Paris, 1905, Vol. VIII, p. 52.
Footnote 424:
Imhoof-Blumer, “Porträtköpfe auf antiken Münzen,” pl. 7, figs. 12 sqq.
Footnote 425:
See “Délégation en Perse,” Vol. VIII. “Recherches Archéologiques.”
Paris, 1905, third series, pp. 51–2, pl. 5.
Footnote 426:
Equivalent to about 1,250,000 ounces of silver; Hardouin says
7,600,000 francs.
Footnote 427:
“Naturall Historie,” London, 1601, _Lib._ IX, c. 35.
Footnote 428:
MS. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 2089, XLVII, No. 12.
Footnote 429:
“Dictionnaire des Antiquites Grecques et Romaines,” ed. by Deremberg
and Saglio: Art. “Inaures” by Pottier, Paris, 1899, Vol. III, pp.
440–447.
Footnote 430:
Babelon, “Cab. des Antiq.,” pl. 33, fig. 3.
Footnote 431:
Duruy, “Hist. des Romains,” Vol. I, p. 511.
Footnote 432:
Custodian of the coin collection of the Philadelphia Mint.
Footnote 433:
Imperial Museum of Archæology, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Footnote 434:
“Della Storia Naturale delle Gemme delle Pietre e di tutti i
Minerali,” Giacinto Gimma, Naples, 1730.
Footnote 435:
Tabari, “Chronique,” translated by Zotenberg, Paris, 1869, Vol. II, p.
304.
Footnote 436:
_Ibid._, Vol. III, p. 417.
Footnote 437:
Alexander, “The History of Women,” London, 1782, Vol. II, p. 136.
Footnote 438:
“The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian,” trans. and ed. by Col.
Henry Yule, London, 1871, Vol. I, p. 343.
Footnote 439:
De Mély, “Les Lapidaires Chinois,” Paris, 1896, p. 178.
Footnote 440:
“The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian,” trans. and ed. by Col.
Henry Yule, London, 1871, Vol. II, p. 275.
Footnote 441:
Alexander, “The History of Women,” London, 1782, Vol. II, p. 172.
Footnote 442:
Max Müller, “Rig-Veda Samhita,” 1862, Vol. IV, p. 64.
Footnote 443:
Alexander, “The History of Women,” London, 1782, Vol. II, p. 171.
Footnote 444:
From a letter of Charles Roach Smith, Esq., F. S. A., to John Gage
Rokewode, F. R. S. “Archæologia,” Vol. XXIX, p. 70.
Footnote 445:
Augustus C. Hamlin, “Leisure Hours Among the Gems,” Boston, 1884, p.
22.
Footnote 446:
Dieulafoy, “L’art antique de la Perse,” Paris, 1884. Pt. V, p. 137.
Footnote 447:
See Maskell, “Russian Art” (South Kensington Museum Handbooks),
London, 1884, pp. 83, 84; also “La Russie Méridionale,” by
Reinach-Kondakoff-Tolstoy, pp. 489, 490.
Footnote 448:
“Die Domkirche bei St. Veit in Prag,” Prague, 1890, pp. 13, 19, 21.
Footnote 449:
Abridged from a description by Professor Tennant.
Footnote 450:
Davenport Debrett, “Dictionary of the Coronation,” London, p. 52.
Footnote 451:
Sir Walter Scott, “Description of the Regalia of Scotland,” Edinburgh,
1869.
Footnote 452:
Communicated by Prof. H. Schumacher of Bonn and Johann Wagner & Sohn,
Jewelers of the German Court.
Footnote 453:
W. Jones, “Crowns and Coronations,” London, 1883, p. 425.
Footnote 454:
Otto von Falke and Heinrich Frauberger, “Deutsche Schmelzarbeiten des
Mittelalters,” Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1904, p. 2.
Footnote 455:
Otto von Falke and Heinrich Frauberger, “Deutsche Schmelzarbeiten des
Mittelalters,” Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1904, pp. 6, 7.
Footnote 456:
_Ibid._, p. 9.
Footnote 457:
_Ibid._, p. 16.
Footnote 458:
Josef Dankó, “Aus dem Graner Domschatz,” Gran, 1880, pp. 64–66.
Footnote 459:
Josef Dankó, “Aus dem Graner Domschatz,” Gran, 1880, pp. 67–70.
Footnote 460:
_Ibid._, pp. 74, 75.
Footnote 461:
“Katalog der Schatzkammer von Maria Loretto am Hradschin zu Prag,”
Prague, 1891, pp. 34, 40.
Footnote 462:
Maskell, “Russian Art” (South Kensington Museum Handbooks), London,
1884, pp. 119, 120.
Footnote 463:
Baedeker, “Russland,” Leipzig, 1888, p. 317.
Footnote 464:
One of the authors has in his possession twenty manuscript volumes of
these inventories. They are careful copies from the originals, most of
which are in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. These copies were
executed for M. E. Molinier, a conservator of the Louvre Museum, and
were disposed of after his death in 1906. The values in the money of
the times are usually given, and we have endeavored where possible to
indicate the equivalent in United States currency, taking account of
the progressive changes in the French monetary standard.
Footnote 465:
“Inventaire des Joyaux de Louis Duc d’Anjou,” In De Laborde’s “Emaux,”
Paris, 1853, Vol. II.
Footnote 466:
Bibliothèque Nationale. MS. fr. 6542 (suppt. 4622) parchemin original,
13 pp. in folio.
Footnote 467:
De Laborde, “Emaux,” Paris, 1853, Vol. II, p. 437.
Footnote 468:
“Inventaire des Biens de Marguerite de Flandre,” Bibliothèque
Nationale coll., Moreau, 1725 (Mouchet 5).
Footnote 469:
Bibl. Nat. MS. Latin. 9941 (suppt. 1656), folio, parchment, 40 leaves.
Footnote 470:
Bibliothèque Nationale MS. fr. 18766 (S. Germain fr. 910) 40 ff. Bound
in green velvet.
Footnote 471:
Bibl. Natl. MS. français, 4611, folio, pp. 433 in parchment.
Footnote 472:
“Inventaires des Ducs de Bourgogne,” De Laborde, “Emaux,” Vol. II, p.
438.
Footnote 473:
See De Laborde. “Emaux,” Paris, 1853, Vol. II, p. 437.
Footnote 474:
“Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten
Kaiserhauses,” Vienna, 1895, Vol. XIV, Pt. II, p. 52. “Inventories of
Philip II” (1598–1607).
Footnote 475:
_Ibid._, Vol. XIX, Pt. II, p. 170.
Footnote 476:
From _eptli_—shell, and _yollott_—heart, _i.e._, life.
Footnote 477:
“Heraldic. Curios.,” Pars III, c. 8, p. 12.
Footnote 478:
Debrett, “Dictionary of the Coronation,” p. 127.
Footnote 479:
“Illustrated London News,” April 13, 1878, p. 347.
Footnote 480:
Pliny, “Naturall Historie,” London, 1601, _Lib._ IX, c. 35.
Footnote 481:
Budé, “De Asse,” Paris, 1514.
Footnote 482:
Pliny, “Historia Naturalis,” _Lib._ IX, c. 35.
Footnote 483:
“Historia,” _Lib._ I, c. 4, ed. Niebuhr, Bonnae, 1833.
Footnote 484:
Panciroli, “Rerum Memorabilium, libri duo,” Frankfort. 1660, Pt. I, p.
44. We have been unable to find this statement in the Annals of
Zonaras; it was possibly derived from some gloss or annotation.
Footnote 485:
Published by Lambeccius in “Bibliotheca Cæsarea,” Vol. II, p. 516.
Footnote 486:
See p. 254 for Garcilasso’s description.
Footnote 487:
Garcilasso, “Historie des Incas, Rois du Pérou,” Amsterdam, 1704, Vol.
II, p. 352.
Footnote 488:
_Ibid._, p. 351.
Footnote 489:
Miscel. Academ. Nat. Curios, Dec. 1, Ann. II, obs. 288.
Footnote 490:
“Hawkins’ Voyages,” Hakluyt Society, 1878, p. 315 note.
Footnote 491:
See Robertson, “Inventaires de la Royne d’Ecosse,” Bannatyne Club,
1863.
Footnote 492:
See Lang, “Portraits and Jewels of Mary Stuart,” Edinburgh, 1906.
Footnote 493:
Teulet, “Relations politiques de la France et de l’Espagne avec
l’Ecosse,” Vol. II, p. 352.
Footnote 494:
Teulet, “Relations,” etc., p. 364.
Footnote 495:
Walpole, “Anecdotes of Painting in England,” London, 1849, Vol. I, p.
151.
Footnote 496:
An interesting account of this collection was given in a little book,
now quite rare, published in London in 1793 by John Roberts, entitled
“A View of the Waxen Figures in Henry VII’s Chapel.”
Footnote 497:
Bolton, “Curious Relics of English Funerals,” Boston, 1894, p. 233.
Footnote 498:
Lawson, “History of Banking,” London, 1750, pp. 24, 25.
Footnote 499:
Burgon, “The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham,” London, 1839, Vol.
I, p. 69.
Footnote 500:
See p. 451.
Footnote 501:
London, 1631, p. 1297.
Footnote 502:
Tavernier, “Travels in India,” London, 1889, Vol. II, p. 130.
Footnote 503:
Tavernier used the Florentine carat, which equaled 3.04 grains troy.
Footnote 504:
Tavernier, “Travels in India,” London, 1889, Vol. II, p. 110.
Footnote 505:
One _rati_ equaled seven eighths of the Florentine carat, or 2.66
grains troy.
Footnote 506:
Tavernier, “Travels in India,” London, 1889, Vol. I, pp. 397–399.
Footnote 507:
Sir Henry Miers Elliot, “The Mohammedan Period as described by Its Own
Historians,” Vol. V. of “The History of India,” ed. by A. V. W.
Jackson, New York, 1907, p. 324.
Footnote 508:
See Fig. 2 of Tavernier’s diagram.
Footnote 509:
Tavernier, “Travels in India,” trans. by V. Ball, London, 1889, Vol.
II, p. 384.
Footnote 510:
Benjamin, “Persia,” p. 73.
Footnote 511:
Brydges, “An Account of the Transactions of His Majesty’s Mission to
the Court of Persia, in the Years 1807–1811,” London, 1834, p. 383.
Footnote 512:
Porter, “Travels in Georgia, Armenia, Ancient Babylon,” etc., London,
1821, Vol. I, p. 325.
Footnote 513:
Robert de Berquen, “Les Merveilles des Indes Orientales et
Occidentales,” Paris, 1661, p. 78 b.
Footnote 514:
Bibl. Nat. MS. “Mélanges de Colbert,” Tome 218, p. 14.
Footnote 515:
De Waldheim, “Essai sur la Pellegrina,” p. 48.
Footnote 516:
See p. 452.
Footnote 517:
Hertz, “Catalogue of the Collection of Pearls and Precious Stones
Formed by Henry Philip Hope, Esq.,” London, 1839.
Footnote 518:
“Gems and Precious Stones of North America,” New York, 1892, Pl. VIII,
p. 229.
Footnote 519:
Streeter, “Pearls and Pearling Life,” London, 1886, pp. 295, 296.
Footnote 520:
Taunton, “Australind,” London, 1900, p. 231.
Footnote 521:
Austrian Court Journal, 1899.
Footnote 522:
See p. 461.
Footnote 523:
The senior author was permitted to handle these treasures in 1899.
Footnote 524:
Winckler, “Die Reichskleinodien,” Berlin, 1872, p. 17.
Footnote 525:
_Ibid._, p. 9.
Footnote 526:
As this pearl was brought from the East later on, it may be the same
as the Reine des Perles, stolen from the French crown jewels in 1791.
It is evidently the same as the La Pellegrina of the Zozima brothers
(1814) and later stolen from them, reappearing as the pearl described
by Kohl, in 1840, first in the possession of a Russian merchant and
then later in the Russian Treasury.
Footnote 527:
“American Anthropologist,” Lancaster, Pa., Vol. IX, No. 1, Jan.–March,
1907, pp. 57–86.
Footnote 528:
“True Travels,” Richmond edition, 1819, p. 144.
Footnote 529:
Strachey, “Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia,” Hakluyt
Society, London, 1849, p. 65.
Footnote 530:
Smith, _op. cit._, p. 130.
Footnote 531:
Strachey, _op. cit._, p. 57.
Footnote 532:
Smith, _op. cit._, p. 83.
Footnote 533:
Strachey, _op. cit._, p. 67. “The ‘blue’ or ‘violet-colored’ pearls
shown in White’s original drawings are probably stained pearls.” These
were most probably the dark purple pearls of the round clam or quohog
of the coast, although it is possible that they were only glass beads.
Footnote 534:
Smith, _op. cit._, Pt. II, p. 19.
Footnote 535:
Thomas Hariot, “A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of
Virginia,” Holbein edition, p. 11.
Footnote 536:
Willoughby, “American Anthropologist,” Lancaster, Pa., Vol. IX, No. 1,
January, 1907, pp. 61, 62.
Footnote 537:
Beverley, “History of Virginia,” 1722, pp. 167, 186.
Footnote 538:
Strachey, _op. cit._, p. 89.
Footnote 539:
Smith, _op. cit._, p. 143.
Footnote 540:
Squier and Davis, Smithsonian “Contributions to Knowledge,” Vol. I,
1848, p. 283.
Footnote 541:
“Science,” April 6, 1906, Vol. XXIII, No. 588.
Footnote 542:
“History of Alabama,” Charlestown, 1851, Vol. I, p. 12.
Footnote 543:
“Moundville Revisited,” Reprint from the Journal of the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 1907, Vol. XIII, pp.
398–403.
Footnote 544:
“Antiquities of the Southern Indians,” New York, 1873, p. 483; also,
“Monumental Remains of Georgia,” Savannah, 1861, p. 14.
Footnote 545:
“Ancient Aboriginal Trade in North America,” Report of the Smithsonian
Institution for 1872, p. 38 of the author’s reprint.
Footnote 546:
See “Artificial Shell Deposits in the United States,” in the Report of
the Smithsonian Institution for 1866, p. 357.
Footnote 547:
“Antiquities of Southern Indians,” p. 490.
Footnote 548:
Transactions of the Philosophic Society for 1693.
Footnote 549:
See p. 494.
Footnote 550:
“Exploration of the Edwin Harness Mound,” Columbus, O., press of F. J.
Heer, 1907, p. 76.
Footnote 551:
“Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,” Squier & Davis,
Washington, 1848, p. 232.
Footnote 552:
“Explorations in Ohio,” from the Eighteenth Report of the Peabody
Museum, Cambridge, 1886, p. 462.
Footnote 553:
Collection of Peabody Museum of Archæology, Cambridge, Mass.
Footnote 554:
Now in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Ill.
Footnote 555:
“American Archæologist,” May, 1897, to May, 1898.
Footnote 556:
“Archæologia Americana,” 1820, p. 182.
Footnote 557:
See p. 499.
Footnote 558:
See p. 498.
Footnote 559:
“La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West,” Parkman, p. 281.
Footnote 560:
William C. Mills, “Explorations of the Edwin Harness Mound, Columbus,
O.”; press of Fred. J. Heer, 1907. “Ohio Archæological and Historical
Quarterly,” Vol. XVI, No. 2.
Footnote 561:
Herrmann, “Mound-builders of the Mississippi Valley,” pp. 92, 93.
Footnote 562:
A large number of these works are in the library of George F. Kunz.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. P. 153, changed “o, Jerusalem Delivered” to “Tasso, Jerusalem
Delivered”.
2. P. 235, changed “a snort distance” to “a short distance”.
3. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
4. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
5. Footnotes were re-indexed using numbers and collected together at
the end of the last chapter.
6. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
7. Superscripts are denoted by a caret before a single superscript
character or a series of superscripted characters enclosed in
curly braces, e.g. M^r. or M^{ister}.
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