It appears from ancient Chinese literature, noted in the first chapter of this book, that pearl fisheries have existed in the rivers of China for several thousand years. The Chinese also derived pearls from the sea, and especially from the coast of the province of Che-kiang. Little is known of the early fisheries, but the fragmentary literature contains so many allusions to pearls as to lead us to believe that they were of considerable extent and importance.

It is related that about 200 B.C., a pearl dealer at Shao-hing, an ancient city between Hang-chau and Ning-po, on the shore of Hang-chau Bay, furnished to the empress a pearl one inch in diameter, for which he received five hundred pieces of silver; and to an envious princess the same dealer sold a “four-inch pearl.” A hundred years later, the reigning emperor sent an agent to the coast to purchase “moon pearls,” the largest of which were two thirds of an inch in diameter.

In the tenth century A.D., Mingti, one of the most extravagant of the early monarchs, used so many pearls—not only in his personal decoration but on his equipage and retinue,—that after a formal procession the way would be rich in the jewels which dropped from the gorgeous cortège. About 1000 A.D., an embassy to the emperor brought as tribute an ornament composed of strings of pearls, and also 105 liang (8¾ lbs.) of the same gems unmounted.

An interesting story is told of “pearl-scattering” by an embassy to the Chinese court from a Malayan state about 1060. Following the customs of their country, the ambassadors knelt at the threshold of the audience chamber, and then advanced toward the throne, bearing a golden goblet filled with choice pearls and water-lilies wrought of gold. These they scattered upon the floor at the feet of the emperor; and the courtiers, hastening to pick them up, secured ten hang (15 oz.) of pearls.^[171]

The Keh Chi King Yuen, a Chinese encyclopedia, describes a pearl fishery in the southern part of Kwang-tung province, in the department of Lien-chau and near the city of Hóhpú. Fishing began in the spring, and was preceded by conciliating the gods through certain sacrifices, in order that the weather might be propitious and that no disaster might be suffered through sharks and other agencies. The five sacrificial animals,—horses, cattle, sheep, swine, and fowls,—were presented; but ordinarily paper images of these were economically substituted, as equally acceptable to the Chinese rulers of destiny. In the details of the diving, the fishery resembled somewhat that prosecuted about the same period in the Gulf of Manaar. The diver was let down by a rope, and after collecting the mollusks and placing them in a basket, he was drawn up at a given signal. Much complaint was made that the divers would open the mollusks, extract the pearls and conceal them in the mouth before returning to the surface.

The business became so perilous and the loss so great, that about the beginning of the sixteenth century, according to the same encyclopedia, dredges were adopted. These at first were simple rakes; later large dredges were trailed along between two boats, by means of which great quantities of shells were gathered. So important was the industry that an officer was designated by the viceroy of Canton to collect a revenue therefrom. It does not appear that pearls have been collected in considerable numbers on this part of the Chinese coast for very many years, probably not since the advent of Europeans.

Pearls are yet found in the river mussels in all parts of eastern Asia, from Siberia to the Indian Ocean, and from the Himalayas to the Pacific. It is represented that they are not from the Unio margaritifera, the common river-mussel of Europe, but from other species, such as Unio mongolicus, U. dahuricus, Dipsas plicatus, etc. It is quite impossible to obtain a reliable estimate of the total number of persons employed, or the output of pearls in China, but these items are certainly very much larger than the average Occidental believes.

In the vicinity of Canton the Dipsas plicatus has been used for centuries by the Chinese in the production of artificial pearls, this industry giving employment to thousands of persons.^[172]

The pearl-mussel fishery is of importance in Manchuria, where it has been carried on for hundreds of years, not only by the citizens, but by the military department on account of the government, and especially in the streams which flow into the Songari, a tributary of the Amur. Jacinth relates that in case of a deficit, the officers and subalterns were punished by a deduction from their pay, and also by corporal chastisement.^[173] Witsen speaks of the pearls from the River Gan, a tributary of the Amur, and also from the islands of the Amur, the boundary river of Manchuria. Pearl fisheries were established at these places by the Russians nearly two centuries ago.^[174]

Pearls become finer and more plentiful the further we penetrate into Manchuria; and they are numerous in the lake of Heikow or Hing-chou-men, “Black Lake” or “Gate of Precious Gems,” where they have long been exploited for the account of the emperor of China.

The occurrence of pearls in many parts of Asiatic Russia was noted by Von Hessling. In northern Siberia, according to Witsen, writing in 1705,^[175] pearls were found in the waters about the town of Mangasea on the Turuchan; and Von Middendorf notes that they were found in the Tunguska River, which flows into the Yenisei. Whether, however, they come from the Unio margaritifera is considered doubtful by Von Middendorf. Witsen referred to their occurrence in the rivers and streams of Irkutsk and Onon, and this is confirmed by several writers of more recent times. Pallas says that the mussels found there are quite large, and speaks of the Ilim, which flows into the Angara, as another river where they occur.

Ancient books relating to Japan repeatedly allude to the occurrence of pearls on the coasts of that country. They are mentioned in the Nihonki, of the eighth century, the oldest Japanese history.

Tavernier wrote about 1670: “It is possible that of those who have written before me concerning pearls, none have recorded that some years back a fishery was discovered in a certain part of the coasts of Japan, and I have seen some of the pearls which the Dutch brought from thence. They were of very beautiful water, and some of them of large size, but all baroques. The Japanese do not esteem pearls. If they cared about them it is possible that by their means some banks might be discovered where finer ones would be obtained.”^[176]

In 1727, Kaempfer wrote that pearls, called by the Japanese kainotamma or shell jewels, were found in oysters and other mollusks almost everywhere about Saikokf. Every person was at liberty to fish for them. Formerly the natives had little or no value for them, till they learned of their estimation by the Chinese, who were ready to pay good prices for them, their women being very proud of wearing necklaces and other ornaments of pearls. “The largest and finest pearls are found in the small sort of oysters, called akoja, which is not unlike the Persian pearl-oyster. These are found only in the seas about Satzuma and in the Gulf of Omura (Kiusiu). Some of the pearls weigh from four to five candareens^[177] and these are sold for a hundred kobans each.^[178] The inhabitants of the Loochoo Islands buy most of those about Satzuma, since they trade to that province. Those found on the Gulf of Omura are sold chiefly to the Chinese and Tunquinese, and it is computed that they buy for about 3000 taels^[179] a year. This great profit occasioned the strict orders, which were made not long ago by the princes both of Satzuma and Omura, that for the future there should be no more of these oysters sold in the market with other oysters, as had been done formerly.”^[180]

Kaempfer also noted that the Japanese obtained pearls from the yellow snail shell and from the taira gai (Placuna) in the Gulf of Arima, and especially from the awabi or abalone (Haliotis). This mollusk was much sought after for food, being taken in large quantities by the fishermen’s wives, “they being the best divers of the country.”^[181]

Of the several species of pearl-oysters which occur in the coastal waters of Japan, the only one of importance at present is the Margaritifera martensi. While this occurs in very many localities, it is most numerous among the southern islands, where some fine pearls have been secured. The fishery for this species was quite extensive thirty or forty years ago, and the reefs were largely depleted. For nearly a score of years it has been used in growing culture pearls, an account of which is given on pages 292, 293.

A few pearls are obtained from several other bivalve mollusks in Japan. Among the collections of the present writers are pearls from Margaritifera martensi, collected at Bay Agu; from M. panasisæ, about the Liu-kiu Islands; from Pecten yezocusis, in Sokhaido; from Mytilus crasitesta, in the Inland Sea, and from North Japan, and from a species of Dipsas found in Lake Biwa.

While the pearl fisheries of Japan are not of great importance in any single locality, the distribution of the reefs is so extensive that the aggregate yield is considerable.

The awabi or ear-shell (Haliotis gigantea), found on the coast of Japan, Korea, etc., yields many pearly forms. This species is much smaller than the California abalones. It has a fairly smooth, nacreous surface, but its value is depreciated by the great size of the marginal perforations, which render useless for commercial purposes all of the shell external to the line of perforations. While its opalescent tints make it desirable for manufacturing into certain styles of buttons and buckles, its principal use is for inlaying work or marquetry, for which it is especially adapted, owing to its fineness of texture and beauty of coloring even when reduced to thin sheets.

Probably the most interesting of the abalone fisheries is that on the shores of Quelpaerd Island, about sixty miles south of the Korean coast, which is prosecuted largely by the women. Dressed only in a scanty garment, these women swim out to the fishing grounds, distant several hundred yards in some cases, carrying with them a stout knife and a small sack suspended from a gourd. On reaching the reefs, they dive to the bottom—sometimes to a depth of six or eight fathoms—and by means of the knife, remove the abalones from the bottom and place them in the sack. They may remain out an hour, diving repeatedly until the sack is filled, when they swim back to the shore. Pearls are found only rarely; in one lot of one hundred shells, only five were found bearing pearls; two with three pearls each, two with two pearls each, and one with a single pearl. The flesh of this mollusk after it has been cleaned and dried, is quite popular as an article of diet. Although white when fresh, the color changes to a dark red. The pieces of dried flesh, in the form of flat reddish disks four or five inches in diameter, are fastened on slender sticks—about ten to each stick—and displayed in the grocery shops in Seul and other cities.

In the Gulf of Siam on the Asiatic coast, pearls are obtained from a small oyster with a thin shell, presumably a variety of the Lingah oyster. The beds have not yet been thoroughly exploited, as the Siamese do not especially value pearls, attributing some superstitious sentiments of ill luck to them. However, from time to time Chinese traders have bought them from the Malay divers and sold them at great profit in the Singapore market. The known beds occur chiefly in the northern part of the gulf, on the west coast, and extend in a narrow belt for a distance of about one hundred miles. The fishing is prosecuted by nude divers in shallow water. A recent letter from Dr. K. Van Dort, a mining engineer of Bangkok, Siam, states that in 1906 in six weeks, with the aid of half a dozen divers he was able to collect 720 grains’ weight of pearls, mostly small ones, but including one of 20 grains, one of 14 grains, two of 12 grains each, and seven over 9 grains in weight. He reports that the total value of the large ones in Bangkok was $1500, but the small ones could not be sold to any advantage, as they are little prized by the Siamese. The shells are of no commercial value, as they are too thin for industrial use other than for inlaid work. Some fine old specimens of marquetry in which these shells were used exist in the Buddhist temples at Bangkok. This art of inlaying is almost lost among the Siamese, and there is said to be only one man in the king’s palace who can lay any claims to proficiency in working mother-of-pearl shell.