138

FISH AND GAME.

When the last boat is in, the Government share is counted
and the number reported to the Government Agent, who puts
the oysters up to auction in the evening, the unit of sale
being one thousand. £2 per 1,000 is about the average price,
but as low as 15s. 8d. is recorded, and in 1860 the phenomenal
price of £12 17s. 10d. per 1,000 was obtained.
The processes of pearl extraction as hitherto practised are
most tedious and offensive, as well as being primitive in
the extreme. The universally accepted method is to allow
the contents of the shells to putrefy and decay. The cooperation
 of flies is also sought, as itisfound that the process

GOVERNMENT DIVERS PICKING OUT PEARLS FROM OYSTER WASHINGS.

of disintegration is greatly facilitated by the presence of
multitudes of maggots. The lapse of a week or ten days
suffices to render the contents putrid, which are then washed
out, the water being decanted repeatedly till the maggots
and floating filth be got rid of. The residue, consisting
mainly of solid particles, is strained and dried, and eventnally
 picked over time after time for the pearls that are
mixed with it. The intensity of the noisome odour that
pervades the camp when the fishery is in full swing may