table fixed star near that
Pole, similar to the one in our hemisphere, vulgarly believed to be
the Pole, and which is called in Italy _tramontane_, in Spain the
North Star. From the world's axis in the centre of the sign of the
Scales, the sun, when it sets for us rises for them, and when it is
springtime there, it is autumn with us, and summer there when we have
winter. But enough of this digression, and let us resume our subject.

BOOK II

Influenced by the advice of the caciques Chiapes and Tumaco, Vasco
Nunez decided to postpone his visit to the island until spring or
summer, at which time Chiapes offered to accompany him. Meanwhile he
understood the caciques had nets near the coasts where they fished for
pearl oysters. The caciques have skilful divers trained from infancy
to this profession, and who dive for these oysters as though in
fish-ponds, but they only do so when the sea is calm and the water
low, which renders diving easier. The larger the shells the more
deeply are they embedded. The oysters of ordinary size, like daughters
of the others, lie nearer the surface, while the little ones, like
grandchildren, are still nearer. It is necessary to dive three and
sometimes even four times a man's height to find the more deeply
embedded shells; but to get the daughters and grandchildren it is
not required to go deeper than the waist and sometimes even less. It
sometimes happens, after heavy storms when the sea calms down, that
a multitude of these shells, torn by the waves from their beds, are
deposited on the shore, but this sort only contains very small pearls.
The meat of these bivalves, like that of our oysters, is good to eat,
and it is even claimed their flavour is more delicate. I suspect that
hunger, which is the best sauce for every dish, has induced this
opinion among our compatriots.

Are pearls, as Aristotle states, the heart of the shells, or are they
rather, as Pliny says, the product of the intestines and really the
excrement of these animals? Do oysters pass their whole life attached
to the same rock, or do they move through the sea in numbers, under
the leadership of older ones? Does one shell produce one or many
pearls? Is there but one growth, or is such growth ever repeated? Must
one have a rake to detach them, or are they gathered without trouble?
Are pearls in a soft or hard state when they enter the shell? These
are problems which we have not yet solved, but I hope that I may some