PEARL FISHERIES.

Along the Pacific coast, a few miles west of Salina Cruz, there are extensive beds of pearl-oysters, from which the natives have taken, from time to time, many valuable pearls. Within a few years past an attempt was made by a foreign company to fish these beds with the modern apparatus used in this sort of work, but the undertaking was singularly unfortunate. The first diver was accidentally drowned a day or two after commencing work, and his successor failed to meet the expectations of the company, and the whole thing was abandoned. Some seasons the Indians inhabiting the coast collect a considerable number of pearls by dividing into the sea unaided by any apparatus, and this work is said to be more remunerative than any other employment within the reach of these people; but, notwithstanding this, there are other seasons when, for some unknown reason, they cannot be induced to engage in this work. An intelligent American citizen, who was at one time interested in these fisheries, informed us that the mother-of-pearl they collected was solid for enough to pay for all the expenses of working the fisheries, and the value of the pearls was all clear profit.