»iMt IT I miM ^tiss^s^-^i- V M v*" .St. tfl^ 4: !"^**- >^^ ^fi ^:%:^ .^*. s.^ >:- M- .' ^?f I :f %U''^1 :r1^-^ /H J. - 5+^^-e f er P^ Jeanne S. Schwengel Fro^ I-.A^.i et-ry /o-#x-'«#o 1 i VrM.lNcls<»n KnbinMon Icrry PEARLS AND PEARLING LIFE. HOWLETT AND SON, PRINTERS, FRITH STREET, LONDON, W. /WILLIAM H. DALL ^W '^SECTIONAL LIBRARY y^, DIVISION OF MOLLUSKS Uo\U PEARLS AND PEARLING LIFE BY EDWIN W. STREETER, F.R.G.S, M.A.l Cold Medallist of the Royal Order of Frederic, Holder of a Gold Medal from H.M, the King of the Belgians, Author of ''PRECIOUS STONES AND GEMS,'' 4th Edition, ''GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD," "GOLD: Its Legal Regulations and Standards," &'C., &'C., '^J^^y^iS^i SlUistiatrt. LONDON: GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, 1886. (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.) ^NTLRED AT 3TAT:Q>\EK^- HALL. ' For me the balm shall bleed and Amber flow, The Coral redden, and the Ruby glow, The Pearly shell its lucid globe infold^ And Phoebus warm the ripening ore to Gold." Pope's " Windsor Forest. —— — CONTENTS. PAGES. PREFACE IX—xvi. CHAPTER I. Introductory 17 — 22 CHAPTER II.— Historical 23—47 India. — China. — Persia. — Palestine. — Eg}'pt. — Greece, — Italy. — Europe in the Middle Ages and later. CHAPTER III.—Ancient Ideas on the Origin and Virtues of Pearls 48— 70 Their Medicinal Qualities. —Breeding Pearls. CHAPTER IV. — Pearl-Bearers — Marine AND Fresh-Water 71 — 81 CHAPTER v.—Mothkr-of-Pearl Shell... 82—106 CHAPTER VI.—The Origin and Formation OF Pearls 107 — 126 CHAPTER VII.—The Sooloo Archipelago 127—143 CHAPTER VIII.— The North-West Australian Fishery 144— 163 CHAPTER IX—The Torres Straits Fishery 164—167 CHAPTER X. — Pearling -Life at the Present Day 168-185 CHAPTER XI. Ceylon Pearl Fisheries... 186 — 209 The Experience of Mr. Streeter's Agent at the Ceylon Pearl Fisheries. The Pearl Fishery of Southern India 209 212 — — CHAPTER XII. — The Persian Gulf pages. Fisheries 213— 219 The Red Sea Fisheries 219— 221 CHAPTER XIII.—The American Pearl ' Fisheries ... 222 — 232 CHAPTER XIV.—River-Pearls:— British and Foreign ... ... 233— 259 English Pearls. —Scotch Pearls. — Irish Pearls. — European Pearls. — American Pearls. — Chinese Pearls. CHAPTER XV.—Coloured Pearls ... 260—278 Black Pearls.—Pink Pearls. --Pearls of various other colours. CHAPTER XVI.— Famous Pearls 279—299 The Servilia Pearl. — The Cleopatra Pearl. The Lollia Paulina Pearls. —The Pliny Pearl. —The Sassanian Pearl.—The Gresham Pearl. —La Peregrina. —The Rudolf Pearl. The Youssoupoff Pearl. —The Shah Pearls. The Aurungzeb Pearl. —The Conway Pearl. The Arabian Pearl. —La Pellegrina. —The Russian Pe^rl. —The Paris Pearls. —Other Famous Pearls. CHAPTER XVII.—The Southern Cross 300—308 CHAPTER XVIII.—On the Value of Pearls 309—316 APPENDIX The Bibliography of Pearls 317 —322 INDEX 323—329 . 7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Opening Oyster-Shells collected by the Pearling Fleet, and Searching for THE Pearls on Board Mr. Streeter's Schooner the '* Sree Pas-Sair." ... Frontispiece Auction of Pearl Oysters in Ceylon Facing page 1 Black Pearl on the Hammer-Oyster {Malleus) „ 77 Mr. Streeter's Houses in Lamenusa Harbour, Island of Siassi, Sooloo Archipelago, destroyed by the Spaniards in 1884 ... ... ... ... ,, 142 Valve of Pearl-Oyster {Meleagrina, or Avicula, Margaritiferd) with a Pearl adherent ,, 168 River-Mussel {Unto, or Alasmodon, viar- garitifer) with Pearl ... ... ... „ 233 Black Pearl on Pinna ... ... ... „ 260 Pink Pearl on Conch-shell {Slrombus) . ,, 272 Pink Pearl on Turbinella „ 276 Chart of the Principal Pearling Regions „ 316 ——— —— LIST OF FIGURES IN TEXT. Fig. I. Lithodomiis^ a boring bivalved mollusc, which attacks the shell of the Pearl-oyster. page 85 Figs. 2, 3 & 4. Sections of shell of Pearl- oyster, shewing how a Pearl, or other object, may become buried in the substance of the shell, and ultimately disappear ... ... „ 96 Figs. 5, 6 and 7. Sections of shell of Pearl- oyster, shewing the thickening of the internal surface, by deposition of nacre, opposite to the point of attack of a boring mollusc, such as the Ltt/iodomus^ which is piercing the shell from without „ 97 Fig. 8. — Split-shell of Pearl-oyster, disclosing Pearls embedded in the substance of the shell ... ... ... ... ... „ 118 Fig. 9. Dredge, or Bajak, used in Pearling in the Sooloo Archipelago » 140 Fig. 10. Parti-Coloured Pearl, half black and half white, from Koepang ,,266 Fig. II.—The Great Southern Cross Pearl, from Western Australia, as exhibited in the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886 ... „ 301 PREFACE T is strange that although Pearls have been highly valued in all ages as objects of personal adornment, there should not exist in the English language a single book entirely devoted to their history. There are, it is true, many notices of Pearls—more or less complete— in various works on Precious Stones, and in others on the Mollusca, or on the products of the sea in general. In like manner there are numerous articles on the subject, scattered throughout our periodical literature, or enshrined in the proceedings of our learned societies. But the fact remains that, so far as my knowledge extends, there exists no work in which the subject of Pearls is treated with fulness, much less with any approach to exhaustion, and to which the reader may confidently turn for information on any point connected with these lovely productions of the sea. In the earlier editions of my work on ** Precious Stones and Gems," I introduced a chapter on Pearls. But within the last few years so much information has accumulated, that I felt it impossible to do justice to the Pearl in any other way than in a separate volume. Moreover, the fact that a Pearl, although composed mainly of carbonate of lime, is after all an organic product, renders it desirable to remove it from association with true minerals. Accordingly in the fourth edition of '' Precious Stones and Gems," I was induced to omit the description of Pearls, and to promise that the subject should be separately dealt with in a special work. That promise I have now the satisfaction of fulfilling. When 1 first took the matter in hand, I had no idea of the amount of labour which would be involved in the production of such a work. The study has, however, been a source of much pleasure to myself, and I trust that the perusal of the results set forth in this volume, will be equally a source of gratification to the reader. Although I cannot for a moment hope that the work is anything like complete in all its details, yet I may venture to remark that I have spared no pains in collecting and arranging my materials, and that my information has in many cases been derived from original sources. At the same time, the work is not put forth as a scientific treatise, but rather as a practical guide, XI. either for those engaged in the trade, or for such of the public as may desire to acquire a knowledge of the history, formation and uses of Pearl and Pearl-shell. It may be useful here to give a brief explanation of the general arrangement of the book. After a short introductory chapter, the subject of Pearls is discussed historically, and reference made to the use of Pearls by the principal nations of antiquity. The historical chapter is followed by one in which I have sought to give a fair notion of the views of ancient writers on the origin and virtues of Pearls. The fanciful theories which were current in pre-scientific ages—some of which are not quite exploded at the present day— I hope will be found to furnish many subjects of interest. Not only the occult virtues of the Pearl, but its reputed medical properties claim consideration ; while the curious notion, still current in certain quarters, as to the self-generation of Pearls, is too strange a subject to be passed over, and hence a section is devoted to the so-called " Breeding Pearls." Having thus described most of the fallacies and fancies connected with Pearls, I proceed to treat the subject from a natural-history point of view. The various Pearl-bearing Molluscs, both marine and — Xll. fluviatile, are described ; and attention is then directed to the composition and physical properties, first of Mother-of-Pearl, and afterwards of the Pearl itself. The opinions of modern authorities are freely quoted, and it is hoped that my views may contribute in some measure to the elucidation of the vexed question of the formation of Pearls. The principal localities producing Pearls are next given, the description commencing with the Sooloo Archipelago, and proceeding thence to the fisheries off" the coast of North-Western Australia and in Torres Straits. For several years I have had a fleet engaged in Pearl-fishing in these regions, and I have consequently been able to introduce a considerable amount of information which has never before been published. Few have any idea of the many dangers and difficulties experienced by pearlers, and by those engaged in the trade of collecting Pearls and Pearl- shell. I was horrified to notice in The Times of the 2nd November, the following paragraph : MURDER OF PEARL DIVERS. MELBOURNE, Nov. i Captain Craig, of the ketch Emily, and a party of pearl divers, of whom two were Englishmen and six Malays, have been murdered at Johannes Island, near New Guinea. The troubles of the Pearl-seeker are not confined, Xlll. however, to encounters with semi-savages. For in- stance, the houses which my men had erected in the Sooloo Archipelago—of which a sketch will be found opposite to page 142,—were wantonly pillaged and wrecked in March, 1884, by the Spaniards, when at war with the late Sultan of Sooloo.