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

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It is claimed—and doubtless with much truth—that it is not unusual for the boatmen to take advantage of the time spent in reaching the shore to surreptitiously open many of the oysters and extract the pearls therefrom, throwing the refuse back into the sea. It would appear from some authorities that this is a general practice. One official—and probably the one in the best position to know—reported in 1905 that more than 15,000,000 oysters, or nearly one fifth of the enormous catch during that season, were illicitly opened.^[150] However, this statement is strongly disputed by the superintendent of the fishery, who states:

As a matter of fact the opening of oysters that goes on in the boats is of a much more casual description than this. The divers occasionally pick out some of the best looking oysters that happen to be conspicuous, or some that open, and look inside them. It is quite possible that a valuable pearl might be found in this way, but the chances are against it. It is hardly likely that the divers would throw into the sea an enormous quantity of perfunctorily examined oysters in which they have a share and which contain pearls, while they were aware that immediately on landing they could get good prices for their shares.^[151]