About forty or fifty years ago several English companies conducted profitable fisheries in the lower Gulf of Maracaibo and on the coasts of the Goajira territory and Paraguana. They employed Indians as divers. Revolutionary troubles during the last twenty-five years so demoralized the Indians, that the industry was finally broken up. Reports from authoritative sources indicate, that not only could paying fisheries be established here, but that the interior is rich in minerals and precious stones. Until lately there have been few restrictions upon fishing along the Venezuelan coast beyond a tax of fifty dollars imposed by local authorities upon the buyers and the payment of fifteen bolivars ($2.90) by each boat for a fishing permit at Margarita. The oysters of this coast mature rapidly and like those of Ceylon live but six or seven years. They are small and the shells are so thin that they can be crushed between the fingers. They are of the Lingah type and are named by some avicula squamulosa. The nacreous lining is also very thin, but lustrous and beautifully iridescent. The pearls run small and very many of them are quite yellow. Many fine white pearls are found however, though they incline frequently to a waxy luster and are often marred by chalky spots. Great quantities of baroques, notably beautiful for color and orient, are found. Round pearls with a china-like skin in many colors are also quite common. The average size and quality is not equal to those of the Indian waters, though it is much better than is generally credited, as the traders in this country for some inexplicable reason have an idea that Venezuelan pearls are necessarily poorer than others. This notion has probably been fostered among American buyers by the Parisian dealers who at present well nigh control the output of these fisheries and naturally fear the diversion to a neighboring market which now pays a heavy toll to Paris on pearls taken from this continent. It is true an unusually large percentage of cracked pearls is found among Venezuelans, and they lose perceptibly in weight after being brought from the fisheries the loss averaging fully one-eighth of one per cent., nevertheless many pearls of the finest quality are taken from these fisheries. All pearls are subject to slight variations in weight. It was from the fisheries of Colombia that Philip II. of Spain received the large pearl of 250 carats, about the size and shape of a pigeon's egg, so often mentioned in the chronicles of precious stones.