Stray pearls have been found in many other odd places, as in the viscera of chickens and ducks, in the stomachs of fish, and even within a pig’s mouth. It is not an uncommon scene in the pearling region to see men raking over the muck in hog-pens along the river banks, hoping there to find a stray pearl lost from the mussels with which the animals had been fed by persons who had indeed “cast pearls before swine.” It is related that a Negro near Marley, Illinois, in this way secured a pearl weighing 118 grains, for which he received $2000 from a St. Louis buyer, and which was ultimately sold to a New York dealer for $5000. [Illustration: Pearling scene on White River, Arkansas The fishermen are using scissor tongs from flat-bottom skiffs ] [Illustration: Pearling camp on upper Mississippi River Crowfoot drags are shown on the flat-bottom skiffs at the river bank ] During the height of the Arkansas pearling excitement in 1897, the speculative spirit was so rife that many persons—unwilling to engage in the labor of fishing—purchased unopened mussels from the fishermen in the venture for aleatory profits. The price for these ranged from twenty-five cents to $2 per hundred, and fluctuated rapidly, according to the immediate results, increasing several hundred per cent. in a few minutes under the influence of a valuable find. One fisherman sold mussels to the value of $28 in one day, and thought he had made an excellent bargain until over $1000 worth of pearls were revealed when the shells were opened. While some pearlers work in southern streams throughout the year, generally the season is coincident with warm weather, when the water is low and the work may be conducted with comfort. In the vicinity of Muscatine and Rock Island about twelve years ago, large quantities of Unios were taken during the winter when the river was frozen over, the men working with long rakes from the surface of the ice. When only a few mollusks are taken, they are readily opened with a knife to permit a search for the pearls. But where there are many, as in the Mississippi River, the opening is facilitated by heating. After a sufficient catch has been obtained, they are subjected to the action of steam in a box, or they are heated in an ordinary kettle; a few minutes of steaming or cooking are sufficient to cause the shells to spring open. The fleshy parts are removed and thoroughly searched, the interior surfaces of the shells are likewise examined for attached pearls, and the liquid at the bottom of the vessel is strained so that nothing of value may escape.