Page 173
An. 1685
Pearl-Oysters.
Island that it rains on every day in the year more or less; but that I can disprove: however it is a very wet Coast, and it rains abundantly here all the year long: There are but few fair days; for there is little difference in the seasons of the year between the wet and dry; only in that season which should be the dry time, the rains are less frequent and more moderate than in the wet season, for then it pours as out of a Sieve. It is deep water, and no anchoring any where about this Island, only at that West side: The Tyde riseth and falleth 7 or 8 foot up and down. Here are a great many Perewincles and Muscles to be had at low water. Then the Monkeys come down by the Sea side and catch them; digging them out of their Shells with their Claws.
Here are Pearl-Oysters in great plenty: They grow to the loose Rocks, in 4, 5, or 6 fathom wa- ter, by beards, or little small roots, as a Muscle: These Oysters are commonly flatter and thinner than other Oysters; otherwise much alike in shape. The fish is not sweet nor very wholesome; it is as flimy as a Shell-Snail: they taste very copperish, if eaten raw, and are best boyl'd. The Indians who gather them for the Spaniards, hang the meat of them on strings like Jews-ears, and dry them before they eat them. The Pearl is found at the head of the Oyster, lying between the meat and the shell. Some will have 20 or 30 small Seed-Pearl, fome none at all, and some will have 1 or 2 pretty large ones. The inside of the shell is more glorious than the Pearl itself. I did never see any in the South Seas but here. It is reported there are some at the South end of Callifornia. In the West Indies, the Ran- cho Rejs, or Rancheria, spoken of in Chap. 3. is the place where they are found most plentifully. 'Tis said there are some at the Island Margarita, near St. Augustin, a Town in the Gulf of Florida, &c. In the