Читать книгу The Book of the Pearl. The history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems онлайн

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Twenty-seven years later, according to Sir Lewis Pelly,^[99] who was in the Indian service from 1851 to 1877, there were 1500 boats at Bahrein, and the annual return from the whole fishery was £400,000, the same as previously reported by Wellsted. In 1879, the value of the output was estimated at £600,000 by the British Resident, Colonel Ross, and at £800,000 by Captain L. E. Durand, of the British Protectorate of the Persian Gulf. Owing to the increased market value, the average output in the last five years has amounted to approximately four million dollars annually. This refers to the local value only, which is greatly increased by the time the pearls leave the markets in Bombay and Bagdad.

The Persian Gulf is nearly 600 miles long, with an average width of somewhat more than 100 miles. The Strait of Ormus—thirty to sixty miles wide—connects it with the Gulf of Oman, which opens directly into the Arabian Sea. The depth of water rarely exceeds thirty fathoms. Oyster reefs are well distributed throughout the gulf, and are in greatest abundance on the Arab side between the 24th and 27th degrees of north latitude and the 50th and 54th degrees of east longitude, at a distance of from a few hundred yards to sixty miles from the shore, and especially in the vicinity of the Bahrein Islands. The oysters are scattered over level areas of coral rock and sand, with depths ranging from two to eighteen fathoms.^[100] The divers rarely descend in deeper water than twelve fathoms, notwithstanding that valuable pearls are apparently obtainable at greater depths.