Page 73 - Records of Bahrain (3) (ii)_Neat

The pre-war economy: pearl fishing, 1899-1915 489

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of an impure colour, and they generally crack after a year or more. Parti-
.coloured pearls aro not uncommon ; they are mostly black or brownish,
with white or bluish variegations. Besides pearls of spherical or pear-
shaped form, symmetrical probably because they have developed in
a soft medium, malformed pearls of various types occur in the Persian
Gulf as they do elsewhere; of these the commonest are the hemispherical
ubutton pearl/’ flattened on one side, perhaps by contact with the shell,
and the hollow irregularly shaped " blister pearl ” which is formed by the
oyster as an internal defence after a boring parasite has succeeded in
penetrating its shell. Small pearls generally, whether round or deformed,
are denominated “ seed pearls but this is an .English term, and, as will
be seen from Annexurc No. 5, lias no single Arabic equivalent.
Pearl8 exceeding 30 grains Troy in weight are seldom obtained in
the Porsian Gulf, and the smaller sizes arc numerous in proportion to
their smallness. One of the finest Persian Gulf pearls on record was
found in 1867 in 16 fathoms of water near the island of Shaikh Shu’aib;
• it was purchased by a merchant for 15,000 Qrans, was sold in Paris for
about £^,000, and was eventually purchased by a Baniyah and brought
to India to make an eye for an idol. Another fins pearl, was that
referred to in the paragraph on the political history of the Arabian pearl
banks.
Native The experts of the Persian Gulf assert that the largest, whitest
opinions.
heaviest, and most perfect pearls are obtained in deep water, while the
shallow bedi, though prolific, yield pearls of less specific gravity and
tinged invariably with a shade of some colour ; this stain of colour they
attribute to the influence of the light of the sun, and the}r hold that
there is a tendency to distortion in pearls grown between islands and
the mainland, and that deep water is favourable to perfect sphericity as
well as to lustre and to the other qualities conferring value. The pearl
fishers of the Persian Gulf are possessed by a patriotic belief in the
superiority of the produce of their own seas; and, estimating the fineness
of pearls as they do by an imaginary number of “ coats,” * they assign
one only to the Karachi pearl, three to the Ceylon pearl, five to the Hed
Sea and Soqotrah pearl, and no less than seven to the ordinary pearl of
the Persian Gulf, while fine pearls from 1\ harag have sometimes been
described as having eight(< coats.”

Persian Gulf mother-of-pearl.

As ha6 already been mentioned, mother-of-pearl is obtained from
all the three kinds of pearl oyster that are found in the Persian Gulf ;
but the most important producer of this substance, as well of the pearl
itself, is the Mahharah variety of oyster. Mahhnrah shells weigh from
-The pearl is formedin concentric layers, and a dull pea«l oan (it is said) seme-
time bo impvovod by stripping off cue or moro of the outer skins, but the several
a.
mi.. .« :::AJ6
l»r«r.
layers boar no rolnlion to the “ coals" of tho Arabs. Tho "coat Thob
(plural, A thy ftb wjUj! ); and, the greater tho number of "coats", tho greater :s
pupposed to be tbc power of tbo poavl to resist tho effects of woather and climate..