. Pearls and pearling . utfits may be seen in Fig. 27. The dredge consists oftwo pieces of iron gas pipe to which are attached largenumbers of lines. Several hooks, each having four prongs,are attached to each line. A bridle rope is attached toeach bar near both ends of the pipe. A larger long ropeis fastened to both bridles, thus connecting the twodredges. The boat is usually eighteen or twenty feetlong, with a flat bottom and square ends. It is, there-fore, safe to use, and will carry a good load. Four up-right pieces of wood, two for each side, are fastened tothe gunwales of the boat and se
. Pearls and pearling . utfits may be seen in Fig. 27. The dredge consists oftwo pieces of iron gas pipe to which are attached largenumbers of lines. Several hooks, each having four prongs,are attached to each line. A bridle rope is attached toeach bar near both ends of the pipe. A larger long ropeis fastened to both bridles, thus connecting the twodredges. The boat is usually eighteen or twenty feetlong, with a flat bottom and square ends. It is, there-fore, safe to use, and will carry a good load. Four up-right pieces of wood, two for each side, are fastened tothe gunwales of the boat and serve as standards to holdthe bars when they are not being dragged over the bot-tom of the river. The standards should be notched onthe top end and should lean slightly toward the center ofthe boat so that any mussels that drop off the hookswill fall into the boat, rather than into the water. Atthe bottom of the standards and near the top of the gun-wales short notched pieces of wood are attached, which 108 15 o o 3 n crq. no Pearls and Pearling also serve as rests to hold the bars. These are calledhalf rests, and the bar is first placed on them after be-ing raised out of the water. Then it is raised one endat a time, and placed on the high standards. There isanother part of the outfit known as the mule, whichconsists of a wooden frame with a heavy cloth tackedover it, with small guide ropes tied to it. After the dredge is placed in the water and anchoredto the front end of the boat, the mule is placed in thewater on its edge at the back end of the boat, and at-tached to the boat by the guide ropes. The current ofwater strikes the broad surface of the mule, whichcauses it to pull the boat and dredge. As the dredge isgradually pulled down stream the hooks catch the mus-sels. The usefulness of the appliance depends upon thehabits of the mussels. They rest on the bottom, oftenpartly buried in sand or mud, with the posterior end oftheir shells facing upstream and partly open to admit
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