The decrease noted by Chauveton was probably not very serious, for the Spanish historian, Jose de Acosta, reports that in 1581 he saw “the note of what came from the Indies for the king; there were 18 marcs of pearles, besides 3 caskets; and for private persons there were 1265 marcs, and besides them, 7 caskets not pierced, which heretofore we would have esteemed and helde for a lie.”[277] Also the records show that in 1597 Spain received from the Venezuelan fisheries “350 pounds’ weight of pearls.” It is to be regretted that the Spaniards so frequently reported the yield of pearls by pounds’ weight, for—owing to the great variation in quality—this is about as unsatisfactory as to report the wealth of an individual by the pounds’ weight of his title-deeds or of his stock certificates. The value of “350 pounds of pearls” might have been anywhere from twenty thousand dollars to as many millions. Assuming that all were two grains each in weight and of good quality, the total value would approximate $600,000 according to the valuation of that period; and on a basis of eight grains each, it would be $9,600,000, or sixteen times as much. But as original parcels of pearls from the fisheries, these figures should be divided by three. Following 1597, the productiveness of the Cubagua beds rapidly decreased. By acts of cruelty and oppression the Spaniards had converted the surviving Indians into deadly foes, ready to take advantage of any opportunity to avenge themselves on their oppressors, and thus terrifying the settlers into abandoning the enterprise. Early in the seventeenth century the development of mining resources in Mexico, Peru, etc., attracted the adventurous Spaniards. A considerable decrease in the value of pearls, brought about by the skilful manufacture of imitations at Venice, and elsewhere in southern Europe, also affected the prosperity of the fisheries. As a result of these combined influences, the output in Venezuela was greatly reduced, and it ceased long before the close of the following century. Thus ended an enterprise which, for a number of years, represented the greatest single industry of the European people on the American continent. According to General Manuel Laudecta Rosales, the Venezuela archives contain no reference to any renewal of the fishery until early in the nineteenth century. At the time of Humboldt’s visit in 1799, the fishery was entirely neglected around the islands of Margarita, Cubagua, and Coche, and the only evidence of pearls was a few very insignificant ones picked up about Cumana and sold among the natives at a piaster per dozen.[278]