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

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In a large toddi the oysters are placed in a ballam, or a dug-out tank or trough, fifteen or twenty feet long and two or three feet deep, smooth on the inside so that pearls may not lodge in the crevices. This tank is covered with matting, and the toddi is closed up, sealed, and guarded for a week or ten days, when the fly maggots will have consumed practically all of the flesh tissues, leaving little else than the shells and pearls. The tank is then filled with sea water to float out the myriads of maggots. Several nude coolies squat along the sides to wash and remove the shells. The valves of each shell are separated, the outsides rubbed together to remove all lodgments for pearls, and the interior examined for attached or encysted pearls. The washers are kept under constant supervision by inspectors to prevent concealment of pearls; they are not permitted to remove their hands from the water except to take out the shells, and under no circumstances are they allowed to carry the hands to the mouth or to any other place in which pearls could be concealed.