[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Les six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier) › [Travels in India (Ball)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball) › 98 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 98: Concerning Pearls and the places where they are fished for. Travels in India (Ball) 98 - **Language:** English ### Concerning Pearls and the places where they are fished for. ### [98.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98.1) Pearls are found in the eastern and western seas, and both for the satisfaction of the reader and for the purpose of not omitting anything upon this matter, although I have not been in America, I shall mention nevertheless all the places where there are pearl-fisheries, commencing with those in the East. In the first place, there is a pearl-fishery round the island of Bahren, in the Persian Gulf. It belongs to the King of Persia, and there is a good fortress there, where a garrison of 300 men is kept. The water which is drunk in this island and that used on the coast of Persia is salt, and has an unpleasant taste, and it is only the people of the country who can drink it. As for strangers, it costs them not a little to obtain good water, for they have to get it out at sea from half a league distance from the island up to nearly two leagues. Those who go in boats for it should number five or six, one or two of whom dive to the bottom of the sea, having suspended from their waistbands a bottle or two, which they fill with water and then cork them well. For at the bottom of the sea there, for about two or three feet in depth, the water is fresh, and the best that can be drunk. When those who have dived to the bottom of the sea to get this water, pull a small cord which is attached to one of those who remain in the boat, it is the signal to their comrades to haul them up. ### [98.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98.2) While the Portuguese held Hormuz and Muscat, each terate or boat which went to fish was obliged to take out a licence from them, which cost 15 abassis, and many brigantines were maintained there, to sink those who were unwilling to take out licences. But since the Arabs have retaken Muscat, and the Portuguese are no longer supreme in the Gulf, every man who fishes pays to the King of Persia only 5 abassis, whether his fishing is successful or not. The merchant also pays the King something small for every 1000 oysters. The second pearl-fishery is opposite Bahren, on the coast of Arabia-Felix, close to the town of El Katif, which, with all the neighbouring country, belongs to an Arab Prince. The pearls fished in these places are for the most part sold in India, because the Indians are not so particular as we are. All pass easily, the baroques as well as the round; each has its price, all being saleable. Some of them are taken also to Bassora. Those which go to Persia and Russia are sold at Bandar-Congo, two days’ distance from Hormuz. In all the places which I have named, and in other parts of Asia, the water tending slightly to yellow is preferred to the white, because it is said that pearls the water of which is slightly golden retain their vivacity and never change, but that when they are white they do not last for thirty years without losing their vivacity, and, both on account of the heat of the country and the perspiration of the body, they assume a vile yellow colour. ### [98.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98.3) Before leaving the Gulf of Hormuz I shall speak a little more fully than I have done in my account of Persia of that splendid pearl which is possessed by the Arab Prince who took Muscat from the Portuguese. He then assumed the name of Imenhect, Prince of Muscat, having been previously called Asaf Bin Ali, Prince of Norenuae. This is but a petty Province, but the best in Arabia-Felix. All that is necessary for the life of man grows there, and more especially splendid fruits, and in particular excellent grapes, from which very good wine can be made. This is the Prince who possesses the most beautiful pearl in the world, not by reason of its size, for it only weighs 12 carats, nor on account of its perfect roundness; but because it is so clear and so transparent that you can almost see the light through it. As the Gulf opposite Hormuz is scarcely 12 leagues wide from Arabia-Felix to the coast of Persia, and the Arabs were at peace with the Persians, the Prince of Muscat came to visit the Khán of Hormuz, who entertained him with magnificence, and invited the English, Dutch, and some other Franks, in which number I was included, to the festival. At the close of the feast the Prince took this pearl out of a small purse which he carried suspended from his neck and showed it to the Khán and the rest of the company. The Khán wished to buy it, to present to the King of Persia, and offered up to 2000 tomans, but the Prince was unwilling to part with it. ### [98.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98.4) Since then I crossed the sea with a Banian merchant whom the Great Mogul was sending to this Prince to offer him 40,000 écus for his pearl; but he refused to accept that sum. This account makes it apparent, with reference to jewels, that fine jewels ought not always to be taken to Europe, but rather from Europe to Asia, as I have done, because both precious stones and pearls are esteemed there very highly when they have unusual beauty; but China and Japan must be excepted, where they are not valued. The other locality in the East where there is a pearl-fishery is in the sea near a large town called Manar, in the island of Ceylon. The pearls found there are the most beautiful, both as regards water and roundness, of all the fisheries; but one is rarely found there which exceeds 3 or 4 carats in weight. There are, moreover, on the coast of Japan pearls of very beautiful water and good size, but they are very imperfect; nevertheless they are not fished for, because, as I have said, the Japanese do not esteem jewels. Although the pearls which are found at Bahrein and at El Katif tend somewhat to yellow, they are esteemed as highly as those of Manar, as I have remarked, and throughout the East it is said that they are mature or ripe, and that they never change colour. I come now to the fisheries of the West, which are all situated on the great Gulf of Mexico, along the coast of New Spain, and there are five of them which succeed one another from east to west. ### [98.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98.5) The first is near the island of Cubagua, which is only 3 leagues in circuit, and is distant about 5 from the mainland. It is in 10° 30' of N. Lat., and 160 leagues from S. Dominique in the Isle of Spain. It is a very infertile land, wanting in all things, and especially water, which the inhabitants are obliged to obtain from the mainland. This island is renowned throughout the west, because it is where the most considerable pearl-fishery is situated, although the largest pearls do not exceed 5 carats. The second fishery is in the island of Marguerite, that is to say, the island of pearls, at 1 league from Cubagua, which it surpasses much in size. It produces all that is necessary to life except that, like Cubagua, it lacks water, which has to be sent for to the river Cumana, near New Cadiz. This fishery is not the most abundant of all the five in America; but it is considered the principal, because the pearls which are found there surpass the others in perfection, both as regards water and size. One of the latter which I possessed, of well-formed pear shape, and of fine water, weighed 55 carats, and I sold it to Shaista Khan, uncle of the Great Mogul. ### [98.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98.6) Many are astonished to learn that pearls are taken from Europe to the East, from whence they come in abundance, but it should be remarked that in the Oriental fisheries they are not found of as great weights as in those of the West, added to which all the kings and great nobles of Asia pay much better than do people in Europe, not only for pearls, but for all kinds of jewels — when they are out of the common run — excepting only the diamond. The third fishery is at Comogote, near the mainland. The fourth is at Rio de la Hacha, along the same coast. The fifth, and last, is at Sainte Marthe, 60 leagues from Rio de la Hacha. All these three fisheries produce pearls of good weight : but generally they are ill-formed and are of a leaden-coloured water. Finally, as for the pearls of Scotland, and those which are found in the rivers of Bavaria, although necklaces are made of them which are worth up to 1000 écus and beyond, they cannot enter into comparison with those of the East and West Indies. ### [98.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98.7) It is possible that of those who have written before me concerning pearls none have recorded that some years back a fishery was discovered in a certain part of the coasts of Japan, and I have seen some of the pearls which the Dutch brought from thence. They were of very beautiful water, and some of them of large size, but all baroques. The Japanese, as I have above said, do not esteem pearls. If they cared about them it is possible that by their means some banks might be discovered where finer ones would be obtained. Before concluding this chapter I shall make a very important remark in reference to pearls and the differences in their waters, some being very white, others tending to yellow, and others to black, and some which are, so to speak, lead-coloured. As for the last, they are only found in America, and this colour is caused by the nature of the bottom, which is muddier than in the East. In a return cargo which the late M. du Jardin, the well-known jeweller, had in the Spanish gallions, there were included six perfectly round pearls, but black as jet, which weighed altogether 12 carats. He gave them to me with some other things to take to the East, to see if they could be disposed of, but I brought them back again, as I found no one who would look at them. ### [98.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98.8) As for the pearls tending to yellow, the colour is due to the fact that the fishermen sell the oysters in heaps, and the merchants awaiting sometimes up to fourteen or fifteen days till the shells open of themselves, in order to extract the pearls, some of these oysters lose their water during this time, decay, and become putrid, and the pearls become yellow by contact. This is so true that in all oysters which have retained their water the pearls are always white. They are allowed to open of themselves, because if they are opened by force, as we open our oysters in the shell, the pearl may be damaged and broken. The oysters of the Manar Strait open of themselves, spontaneously, five or six days sooner than those of the Gulf of Persia, because the heat is much greater at Manar, which is at the 10th degree of North Latitude, while the island of Bahren is at about the 27th. And consequently among the pearls which come from Manar there are few yellow ones found. Finally, all the Orientals are very much of our taste in matters of whiteness, and I have always remarked that they prefer the whitest pearls, the whitest diamonds, the whitest bread, and the whitest women. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.98) · Pramāṇa