niath 5, an ushels places reatly Ww of alian; Latin axons e cus- orties, ed ‘or. colTSe y that ractice y LOW. '& 78 6 FH ESed td Ppp DM > & TO 2 We JI Se Sr Sr = < DvC0 ~F wt So SN 5 son's 4 siontas of + and a when the ! ‘ornaments. . which envelopey if good-sized pearl ir 3 the pearl is hidden station of mother of found’ when “the sew: formeT So 111 the general facru | pearl, and it is onl h 1 asked tf 8 her's day br . 3 Lake sid Tepotist. as to the > “season ison. The ort. S358 the Globe- Democ:at, is {nll of fishing and : uilds, which are moving inually ‘aver the placid waters of the Gulf of La Paz, and ers ‘and ‘other landing places are people preparing to embark, or At 0- thirds of the entire popula- Lucas to Bunlege Mexican Govern: years. This measure was ta vent the exhaustion. of the fisheries. The barques which engage in this indus- try are boats of from twh to thres tons burden, manved ordinarily by six men including the “diver, who is, of course, awaiting the return of the fishermen. 18400 a share. ch only allowed one on mes séction to be worked upon every two & nto pre- | such me rep sen ns Luc y Baldwin who had $3,000, ank at one time, aod whe ely respofisibie for the fatlure. ol the Canfornia ng ab «anot time. After getting control of the he ran the stock®up to $333 by. making another’ mine of he forced its shares to $3! consolidated value of 1 He ¢ aetion $3,000, 000, orth “85 is 5’ now.” he sad, § , We got up: ‘pames of poker Ss lost $10, 000 ¢ at a’single sitting, and went out in the Street the next day. te. even up. on $sThers is a great deal that night bs the most important personage on board, | would read stranger than fiction, but the He is usually provided with a water. proof suit; metal hemlet, lead weights for the breast and shoulders, or copper’ “or lead shoes, which weigh altoether some 150 pounds. The boats generally gather in. roups of twenty ‘and leave the port at midnight 30 as to reach the oyster beds at early dawn. When all have arrived, a cannon shot is fired as a‘sighal, and the. diving sommences. ~~ When the diver is below his compagions watch the’ signal and baul up the baskets of oysters as a) wud I as He can sll and finally bring up | 3 i himself, as he ean known to resist the enormous pressure for a longer time. = Before the diver’s suit was introduged’ fn these parts it was the custom of the native fishermen to anoint their bodies with oil and dive to the bottom with nothing about them but a Delt to which the basket was attached in which the’ oysters were thrown. Even now the practice exists among some few divers, but the sword fish, the sharks, ana the devil fish, of different varieties, which abound in the waters of the gulf, render this work extremely dangerous. < The diving goes on from six o ‘clock in the mor g untilmid-day, when anothers signal is fired to announce that the fish- ing is over, and the rest of the day is | employed in ‘opening the oysters. Form: erly: it was customary to pay the pearl divers. one: quarter: of the proceeds, but now the owners of the fishing outfits pay their divers and helpers a fixed salary. The pearls are separated or classified by runninz them through different strain- ing pans, commencing with the largest ‘and running/down to the smallest, after "which operation they are appraised and sold invariably by the weight, A flotilla of pearl fishing boats is supposed fo gather some three tons daily of oysters, and it 18 estimated that one iba thousand bivalves contains a pearl, During the season of 1881 there was a larger amount of pearls extracted than at any former ‘period; and sone of the Specimens were remarkable for their size and beauty. A black pearl taken out that season by the divers of Juan Hidalgo weighed twenty- eight earats, and was sold in Paris for $10,000, This year there have been sent over 3150,000 in pearls to Paris and New York, and the season 18 not Je ~ . through, The pearls of this section were held in . great esteem in’ Mexico and Peru three hundred years ago. Daring the first quarter of the seventeenth century An- tonio de Castillo, a Spanish colonist, who was living south of Mazatlan, made an enormous fortune in the pearl fisheries, About this time, also, Captain Iturbe Ortega engaged in the same business and took some very valuable pearls to Mexico, oue of which he sold for $4500, This gave great impetus, to the industry. | The most precious pearls to be found to-day among the crown jewels of Spain were taken from the fisherics near La Paz before the French war of .inter- vention, and they have always been in great demand since the time of Cortez. in 1867 an American ‘embassador to: the | Court of Spain said that he had seen ‘pearls of the size of a plover’s egg among the crown jewels of that: country, and that they were - esteemed a3 among the most valuable of the Bpanish jewels. The value of the mother of pearl shells 1s from $10 to $12 per one hundred pounds. The proceeds of these are suffi- cient tu pay all the expenses of the fish- ing, and the pearl is a net gain when found. Several years aco. it was quite a problem to tind some use for the pearl oyster ‘shells, and they accumulated rapidly on the hands of their owners. But now they are sent to Europe, whence they are returned to America in the form of buttons, kuife handles and several other articles. The price of pearls fluctuates less than that of diamonds because their production is lesser and more regular, At present. the black pearls are held in greater esteem than the white ones, although they are much inferior in point of beauty, The Indians on the coast appreciated fully the beauty of the pearls, and used them with great profusion in their It was ‘their custom to givé their children a dower of pearls and the ceremony was a very soleman ane, and partook of a religious nature. . There are many theories regarding the {ormation of the pearls. The most com: mon is that of some foreign substance. like a grain of sand, finds its way i the shell, and by the irritation which it seasitive b of Watet ower eighty OF | that he wanted $300,000 margin by 3 best of it cannot be made public; until the fen who figured in it are dead. We d stand on the street and take men’s Jiput down the figures on our shirk sleeves’ to keep track ot it. Bank broke 1t owed from twelve o four: ‘teen millions. It had plent real estate, but no ready money. I took $1,100,000 of its stock to start 1t up again, and the stock is now worth $2000 ! Tae festosation of this bank, with 1 how a oy d me, Rallsto notified my broker o'clock. At that hour an express wagon backed up tc his office with $300,000 in $20 pieces.” Mr. Baldwin, Besides owning the 600- | room hotel, which bears his name, in San. Francisco, and which cost $2,400, 000, owns 50,000. acres in Los Angeles Qounty. Ho has expended half a mil: ‘Lion building irrigating ditches to reclaim his orange groves will remember how they would drive all day in the beautiful shaded avenues without getting off Bald win’s land. He also has 5000 acres in San Bernardino and 15,000 acres in ether parts of California. The Berzars of Malta. Begzars swarm so in Malta that ac: of Maltese life, the oniy WAY to avoid being pestered by them is to put out tha ‘hollow of your hand and aaticipate thew with their own winning *‘Give. me somer thing,” ¢‘Me plenty poor mam,” <‘Me very “large family.” Some of these beg- gars are supposed fo * have acquired a ood deal of money, and it 13 said that the priests order people'to live on beg: ging for awhile as penance. On the the other hand with those who will work reluctance to name a price for t their ser- vices. The answer is **What you like" which tempts the stranger«y reply, that he *twould like to give nothing at all.” The poorer Maltese have, it seems, a ready wit. - An Euaglish officer,’ failing to make a Maltese understand what he meant, called the poor man #a fosl.” Understanding this much, the man, who had traveled about a good deal, thouzh he did not understand English, replied by asking. “Do you speak Maltese?” “No.” +*Do you speak Arabic?’ ¢No.” Do you speak Greek?" ¢No.” Do you speak Italian?” “No.” Then, if I be oue fool, you be four fools!’ Inillus: tration of a curious sort of discrimin- ating roziery which appears to be char: acteristic of the Maltese dealers, Mr, Hardy tells a story of a naval friend who stopped one Christmas time in the great market in Valetta before the stall of a Joe” with whom he bad had many deal: lines. The color of one of his turkeys, all trussed and ready for the spit, at: tracted him. The breast of the ‘victim was of a bluish purple, the legs were scraggy and also discolored, but. other- wise the bird seemed to be well fed. Pointing to it, be asked, ‘‘How much.” Joe fell “back, and, beckoning to him, explained matters ‘thus: “Dat not for you, signor, dat for de hotel:’’ Thenin a mysterious but impressive whisper, he added, ‘*He die.”—London News. renee erm Tha First Map of Amoriea. cA mong the relics appertaining to the discovery of America brought ont in con- nection avith the Columbian celebration,” said the Spanish Consul at this port re- cently, ‘is the first geographical chart of America, which is preserved in Spain. The chart is 1n the possession, of the. Naval Museum of Madrid, and is said to be the original autograph of the navi- gator, Jian dela Cosa, a pilot of re- nowned reputation in his ‘time, and of whom Columbus ad a very high opinion, The ‘chart or map i8 signed tn the Puerto de Santa Maria, in the year 1500, but Juan de la Cosa, who actompanied Columbus as pilot or sailing master on hig. first and second voyages, was at work on it during the voyage with Alfonso de Ojeda in 1499. Tks said to be the best of all ancient it map, discovered territories, and has tation of being the first ma tant, showing, as known whole of Europe and Africa, a portion of Asia and the : then discovered. It was executed with | great précision, Tepu. tha faint trace of the old en- ‘written of the mien: of ‘those ‘times that word he continued, ‘for $300,000 and | Whe the California | ying 1 to | it, and those persons who have visited |: cordinz to ‘the Rev. J. BE. Hardy's sketch it is hard to do business owing to ‘their | liged to stand in. a iclose, | in its correctness and extent of 1ts newly mandi ex 1500, the and is luxuriant in gold | and coloring, Baltimore ia.) Ameri | x WoRDS or WISDOX. : The breskig of 9 heart lexvesjn0 traces, * Bad mén excuse their feults; good men leave them. : Love, that. needs forgiveness, has, for its fitst duty, to forgive. He who waits to doa good deat at once will never do anything, You cannot dream yourself into a char. acter; you must hammer and forge you:- “self one. Repentance i is npt so much remorse for what we have doug as the fear of conse- qaences.