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),