PEARLS, AND WHERE THEY ARE FOUND.
Very few people are aware that the pearl oyster is not in any way like the oyster which we eat. It is of an entirely different species, and as a matter of fact the shells of the so-called pearl oyster are of far more value to those engaged in “pearl fishing” than the pearls. There are extensive pearl fisheries in the Gulf of California, and some of the finest pearls have been taken from these waters. In 1881 one pearl, a black one, was sold for $10,000, and every year since that time many pearls have been taken from the beds in the California Gulf, valued at over $7,500 each. But such “finds” are very rare, and, as a rule, the pearls which are brought up are of very little value. The shells, however, are very valuable; most of them are shipped to Europe, where they are manufactured into hundreds of articles for which “mother of pearl” is used. Another fact concerning the pearl oyster and the pearl itself is very little understood. I have seen in books of instruction, both in this country and in England, the statement that “the formation of the pearl in the oyster shell is caused by a disease of the oyster,” and this statement is more or less generally believed, as is also the erroneous inference to be drawn from it, that the oyster referred to is the edible oyster. The mother-of-pearl is nothing more than a series of layers of nacreous matter deposited by the oyster upon the interior of the shell, and the pearl itself is a perfectly accidental formation. It is caused by a similar deposit of nacre around some foreign object. This foreign substance may be a grain of sand, a parasite, or some similar object; but most authorities agree that it is more usually an undeveloped egg of the oyster around which this natural deposit is thrown. The largest pearl ever found measures two inches and weighs three ounces. This is of Eastern origin. The largest found in the Gulf of California did not exceed an inch and a quarter long—somewhat larger than the egg of a bluebird. Many of the California pearls are black and speckled. The most highly prized pearls of all are pink.—Harper’s Round Table.