PEARL FISHERIES. The average annual value of the pearl fishery of Northern Australia is $296,000, the industry having been founded at Thursday Island. It appears that the profits of the fishery are made out of the pearl shell only, because so many pearls, and often very valuable ones, are stolen by divers. Saville Kent distin guishes two species of pearl shells; viz. the large white shell (1/eleagrina morgaritifera) and a smaller black-edged form which be names Mcleagrina nigro-inunginuto. Kent has proved that it is possible to transplant living pearl oysters. Under favorable conditions the shell is supposed to attain in three years the marketable size of eight or nine inches in diameter, while in five years a pair of shells may weigh five or six pounds, the extreme weight being ten pounds. The centre for labor and supplies of the Queens land fishery is Singapore, this port being an ex cellent market for the shells, while more pearls probably change bands here than in any other place in the world, large quantities being pur chased for the Chinese market, where there is an extensive demand for second-class pearls.
The pearl oysters live at depths of from eight to twenty or more fathoms. For collecting the oysters small vessels of from 12 to 15 tons are most convenient. Two or more such boats are usually accompanied by a larger vessel as a The best divers are Japanese; Fili pinos are also good, and Malays are employed. The diver takes with him a netted bag made of rope. When the depth is from eight to fifteen fathoms the diver can work at the bottom for two or more hours, but at a greater depth he cannot remain on the bottom more than fifteen minutes. The shells usually live in strong cur
rents and in narrow channels between groups of islands, where they lie on a hard bottom.
The pearl fishery of the Mississippi and its tributaries is of much greater importance than is generally known. During recent years a thou sand persons have been engaged in this industry on the Mississippi River alone. In 1901 a single firm Is stated to have bought from these fisher , men $100,000 worth of pearls, besides the clam or mussel shells from which pearl buttons are made. It is said that the supply of pearls is not being exhausted, but that the demand has increased so rapidly in the last fifteen years as to treble prices. The centre of the industry is Muscatine. Town.
In the United States the fresh-water pearl in dates back to 1557, when the 'Queen Pearl' was found in New Jersey. It was sold to the Empress Eugenie for $2500 and is said to he worth now four times that sum. Tennessee, Kentucky, and Wisconsin are the leading States in the pearl industry, and in the ten years succeed ing_ 1589 it is said that more than A25.000 worth of pearls were collected in Wisconsin alone. So great has been the destruction of the mussels there that in many places they are nearly if not quite exterminated.