Travels in India (Tavernier) 100.6

100.6

After the diver has been drawn into the boat the nets containing the oysters are hauled up, and it requires about seven or eight minutes to lift the oysters and to give the diver time to regain breath, after which he returns to the bottom as before; this he does many times during ten or twelve hours, and then returns to land. Those who are in want of money sell what they have taken, at once, but those who have what they require to live on, keep the oysters until the whole fishing is finished. The oysters are left unopened, and as they decay open of themselves. There are some of these shells which are four times as large as those of our Rouen oysters, but as the flesh of this kind of oyster, of which we speak, is poor and of bad flavour, it is not eaten but is thrown away. To conclude the discourse on pearls, it should be remarked that throughout Europe they are sold by carat weight, which is equal to 4 grains, the same as the diamond weight, but in Asia the weight is different. In Persia the pearls are weighed by the abás, and an abás is an eighth less than our carat. In India, and in all the territories of the Great Mogul and the Kings of Golconda and Bijapur, they are weighed by ratis, and the rati is also an eighth less than the carat.