History and mystery of common things
C. W. Allen
Paperback
(RareBooksClub.com, Oct. 12, 2012)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 edition. Excerpt: ...pearls are generally considered jewels; they belong tc the animal, and not to the mineral kingdom. These are round bodies, white and shining, with a peculiar and beautiful lustre, for which we have no other adjective than pearly. They are supposed to be the effect of disease in the fish inside whose shells they are found, as they are not by any means found in all the shells. Various shell-fish yield pearls, but the finest, and by far the most frequent, are those produced by a peculiai kind of oyster, called from this circumstance, the pearl-oyster. The most abundant fisheries are near Ormuz in the Persian Gulf, and on the coasts of Ceylon, though they are obtained in many other parts of the east, and indeed of the world. How are they fished up? Expert divers go out in pairs or threes in boats or rafts tt the fishing ground, and then they cast anchor, and ore of Qu party, having fastened to his body a heavy stone to servr ballast, a net to contain his oysters, and a rope by whic i ta be hauled up again, goes overboard, and sometimes divei to the depth of sixty feet. He immediately commences gathering the oysters, which often adhere firmly to the rocks; when his net is full, or he can no longer hold his breath, he pulls the rope, and his comrades above haul him up again; sometimes, alas, this is not done in sufficient time to save him from the sharks and other voracious creatures which haunt these pearl beds, and he loses life or limb in his perilous undertaking! When the oysters are taken on shore they are heaped into shallow pits, and covered with sand; they soon open and die, the fish rots away, and the pearls fall out. They are then cleansed and sifted, and are valued according to their size; large round or perfectly pear-shaped pearls...