Abalone

“ The abalone shell is found especially at Santa Barbara and other places on the southern Californian coast, and when polished makes a beautiful ornament. The mollusc itself is often eaten, and dried for consumption in China and Japan. ”

“ These, said the guide, were the boats of abalone fishers—for the Niemon family, besides receiving tourists, and selling them trinkets, picture postcards, and flasks of Osaka whiskey, is in the business of canning abalone meat. I have attempted to eat abalone. Considering that it is a mollusc leading an absolutely sedentary life, it has astounding muscular development. A man who can masticate it ought to be able also to masticate the can in which it comes.
Each skiff contained two men ”

“ Brilliant-hued pebbles and fragments of rainbow-colored abalone shells, worn smooth by attrition, are washed back and forth by the deep blue waters as the waves roll in and out, and beautiful feathery mosses, from the great depths of the sea, are left on the beach by every falling tide. The upper end of the canon is sheltered completely from the winds, and, being dry and warm, is a favorite resort for picnickers and the lovers of roast mussels and clams, who find fuel in abundance scattered about, and can gather the bivalves by bushels or even cartloads here all the year round. ”

“ One live abalone will cling to the back of another too tightly to be pulled off easily by hand, and you may in this way pile them on top of one another, and thus erect a column of abalone as many feet in height as you choose to build. ”

“ The sudden and abnormal demand for the abalone shell offered such large returns as to tempt men to take desperate chances in hunting for them among the rocks. Sometime in the seventies, a Chinaman, searching near San Diego, thrust his hand into an open shell and the abalone closed upon his wrist with such an irresistible grip that the unfortunate shell-hunter was held fast until overtaken by the rising tide and drowned.
For many years Los Angeles booklovers were supplied by merchants who sold other things, or who conducted a limited loan library in conjunction with their business. ”

“ Appetites and passions do things and give us all life force, but they have to be held in, like a splendid horse kept under bit and bridle.
Out in California there is a shell called the Abalone. It attaches itself to the rock by a very strong muscle that holds so tight it has to be pried open often with a crowbar. When it is all cleaned up it is wondrously beautiful in varied colours of green and pink and opalescent pearl.
One day a little child was walking on the beach and stepped on an open shell, when quick as a flash it closed and held her there. ”

“ The shadow of a hand passing over the abalone in an aquarium causes the animal to contract the head end of the body. Hence the abalone differentiates various intensities of light and thus possesses a primitive sense of sight. The contractile tentacles running out in every direction from the ruff are end-organs of touch. Each has a nerve connected with either the right or left pedal cord. ”

“ Based upon the fact that each ton of abalone shells represents a certain value of manufactured jewelry and novelties, it is possible to estimate the value of the abalone industry. Shells of the black abalone are sorted into two classes. Each ton of those with fine, pearly centers will make novelties and jewelry worth, at retail, four thousand dollars. The class known as button shells, with plain mother-of-pearl surface, represents a final value of one thousand dollars and the shells of the green abalone, three thousand dollar?. ”

“ The burrow enlarges, as the Pholadidea, growing in size, digs its way in. When near the inner pearly layer of the abalone shell, the host resists the oncoming Pholadidea by secreting more nacreous matter. Thus the defensive wall, eaten by the Pholadidea, grows inwardly as a mound shaped projection, the blister-pearl. In imitation of this natural process, a hole is drilled through the abalone shell and a form is inserted. This form, made of shell, is shaped like a long-shanked collar button and so placed that the expanded curved base lies against the pearl-secreting mantle. ”

“ Then he filled his canoe with these fishes, called the other canoes to him and filled them. After that he stood up in his canoe and said, "The abalone has not been drowned from me yet. I still have it." He distributed these fishes all over the town and began to get rich from the property he received. People gave him all kinds of skins—moose, caribou, fox, etc. He had great stores of riches from having caught the abalone and the nest of fishes. ”

“ One produced in a green abalone in seven months shows good form and luster. My average time for drilling a hole in the abalone shell, inserting the form and wiring it in place with the numbered metal tag, is eight minutes. This working time might be decreased by an expert laborer doing nothing else, so that the business of raising pearls would be of interest and profit. Mr. C. B. Linton has succeeded in producing similar culture pearls by drilling a hole through the shell center, pushing in a round ball, made from shell, and filling the outside end of the hole with beeswax and cement. ”

“ They occur mostly in the red abalone, with only one blister-pearl in about a thousand shells of the green or black species. A crab, which infests the abalone at certain seasons, may be the cause of such formations, and one exhibited the complete outline of such a crab. Frequently the blister pearls are formed over sea-urchin spines, chiton or razor-clam shells,
Blister-pearl Formed over a Diseased Visceral Hump. ”

“ One or two cases have been reported of the drowning of Chinese fishermen who have had their hands caught by the abalone and thus held until overcome by the rising tide. The diver secures a net full of abalones, gives the signal and the mollusks are hoisted aboard and stowed below. The net, filled with about fifty green and corrugated abalones may be hauled up every six or seven minutes. During his shift below the diver gathers from thirty to forty basketfuls, each containing one hundred pounds of meat and shell, or altogether one and one half to two tons. ”

“ This construction is very distinct in a formation peculiar to the Abalone, consisting of two nacreous shells joined perfectly at the edges, the inside walls of both being covered with rough black conchiolin.
Peculiarities in the quality of the nacre sometimes give an appearance of uneven shape which does not exist in reality. The light falling upon such pearls produces a knobby effect, as though there were protuberances on the surface. The texture of others is such that when looked at squarely from the front they appear pyramidal in form, the rounded apex pointing toward the observer. ”

“ In variety and intensity of coloring, the nacre is superior to that of the pearl-oysters, but it is not so harmonious, and it does not form so thick and flat a layer.
Abalone pearls are especially interesting on account of their brilliant and unusual colors. Green predominates, but blue and yellow also occur. Although commonly very small, some of the well formed ones exceed seventy-five grains in weight, and those of irregular shape may be very much larger. The ear-shells also produce many irregular pearly masses. ”

“ The collection of abalone shells in the State of California means an income of over fifty thousand dollars to the parties interested, while the sale of the polished shells as curiosities gives employment to many persons. From the whelks a dye is obtained; sepia comes from the cuttlefish or squid; while one species provides the cuttlefish bone of commerce. The smallest worm, which Shakespeare tells us, "will turn, being trodden on," has its place in the economy of life. ”

“ Why don't they leave it where it is, to please the eye that looks down through these glass-bottom boats?"
"I pass," answered Ike wearily. "I ain't no philosopher, that-a-way. Kelp's no good and iodine's useful–that's all I know. Diver's goin' over and comin' this way," he added, with sudden animation. "Watch close, now, and maybe you'll see him pick up an abalone shell, and look up and make faces. It's right remarkable how long some o' them divers can stay under the water. Look sharp!"
Clancy and Hill looked sharp, but they couldn't see anything of the diver. ”

“ The most common shellfish are the oyster, the round or hard-shell clam, the long-neck or soft-shell clam, the scallop, and, on the Pacific coast, the abalone, which is valuable both for its mother-of-pearl shell and its meat, which is a great delicacy, the most of which is sent to Japan, either dried or canned. ”

“ At Avalon, in 1870, when the meat sold for five cents a pound, the green shells brought eighty dollars a ton. At the present time the green shells are sold at one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and eighty dollars a ton, the black, at eighty to one hundred dollars a ton, and the red, at forty to seventy-five dollars a ton. The black shells, with especially good pearly centers, bring from three hundred to five hundred dollars a ton. Owing to the increasing scarcity
A Portion of the Red Abalone Shell with Four Blister-pearls and Two Free Pearls. ”

“ On approaching nearer, the whole mound-like structure appears to be composed of the shells of clams, mussels, and oysters. There is an occasional brightly colored abalone shell. Here and there are scattered pairs of deer antlers, and the wing bones of ducks, geese, and other birds with feathers still attached. Crushed or broken bones of various animals lie everywhere. And there are fish bones. Flies are swarming about; the odor is far from enticing. Closer inspection would reveal the presence of ashes and charcoal, as well as a goodly number of bowlders and pebbles of crackly surface. ”

“ The cross of abalone, the small white bead, and the eagle feather are media through which Tu Ntĕlh (Wide Water) , Yólkai Nalí̆n (White-Shell Girl) , and Itsád Ndé̆yu (Eagle People) are supplicated.
The cap was worn at night by the boy, whose parents each morning at sunrise prayed to the various gods and elements represented on it, invoking them to take back that which they [pg 041] had left with the boy, and adding: "Keep us even in temper and mild and clean in action. We do wrong at times, but that is not our wish. If our minds are kept clean we will do nothing bad. ”

“ Some of the more beautiful species were formerly very abundant on the coasts of China and Japan, but the constant use of the animal for many years as a food stuff has made them less common there and the Chinese and Japanese now obtain a large part of their supply from California, where the haliotis or abalone, as it [247] is called is taken in great quantities. The two most beautiful species found on this coast are, the Haliotis splendens, a magnificent shell of rainbow coloring in which peacock green predominates, and H. rufescens, the lining of which is red. ”

“ These Baboons live a very peculiar life in the neighbourhood of Angola, a Portuguese settlement on the western coast of Africa. Instead of delighting in the dense woods and glades of the tropical country close by, where fruit, nuts, and roots exist in vast abundance, and where water is most plentiful, they prefer to inhabit a hilly district which is much cut up in all directions by deep dry gullies, and grand rocky ravines. The country is badly supplied with vegetation, and water is very scarce. ”

“ Face black; general colour uniform olive-green; the hairs being grey at the base and ringed higher up with bars of black and yellow; arms and legs like the back; the naked hands and feet flesh-colour.
Distribution.—Interior of West Africa. Lagos, in the Bight of Benin, is the port from which this species is generally shipped to Europe.
Habits.—The Anubis Baboon is not a common species in captivity, as the natives are terribly afraid of its strength and ferocity. ”

“ The Baboon, an animal larger than the dog, and whose body is pursed up like that of the hyæna, is exceedingly different from those we have noticed, and has a short tail: it is equally endowed with inclination and powers for mischief, and is only to be met with in the desarts of the southern parts of the old continent.
Besides these without tails, or with very short ones, (which all belong to the old continent) almost all the large ones with long tails, are peculiar to Africa. ”

“ Once the baboons had tasted the sweetness of the young corn, they would come again and again, camping in the kloofs overhead as long as anything remained for them, like a deaf guest. But for all that, he had no notion of leaving them to plunder at their ease. The least one can do with an unwelcome visitor is to make him uncomfortable; and he sent to certain kraals on the farm for two old Kafirs he had remarked who had the appearance of cunning old men. ”

“ Their great strength and fierce disposition make them very much dreaded in the countries they inhabit. Baboons differ from the apes on the one hand, and the monkeys on the other, by having short tails.
The Common Baboon is of a sandy colour, with a reddish shade on the shoulders, head, and back. It is playful and good-tempered when young, but becomes morose and savage with age. ”

“ They roam the sea with sharp eyes ever alert for that thin white line on the horizon, the feeding albacore. Their method of fishing is unique and picturesque. When they sight albacore they run up on the school and slow down.
In the stern of the boat stands a huge tank, usually painted red. I have become used to seeing dots of red all over the ocean. This tank is kept full of fresh sea-water by a pump connected with the engine, and it is used to keep live bait—no other than the little anchovies. One Jap, using a little net, dips up live bait and throws them overboard to the albacore. ”