Pearls are produced from mussels in the deep sea.
Among the many sea areas in China, only a place called "Jiulongyang" in Xin'an County, Guangdong Province produces the most pearls.
A merchant once asked the locals "Why is this place so prolific in pearls?"
The locals said that there are the most conchs in the Kowloon Ocean, and pearls are all cut from the caught conchs.
Conch species can be divided into pearl snails, horse snails, green mouth snails, etc.
In fact, they all belong to the mussel family.
During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, a merchant named Yu came out of Kowloon.
He built a large ship for collecting pearls on the beach.
On the eve of going to sea, Boss Yu recruited a group of local "egg people" who made a living by fishing for pearls and asked them how to collect pearls.
The pearl diver replied: "Pearls are produced in the deepest part of the ocean water.
Many iron trees grow in the sea, some are one or two feet high, and some are seven or eight feet high.
The leaves of each iron tree are as pointed as melon seeds.
The branches of the tree are long and slender, and the branches of the tree are rough and dense.
The iron tree dies immediately when it leaves the sea water.
As long as it is dragged out of the water, the leaves will fall off on its own within a few days around the iron tree on the seabed.
There are usually many strange-shaped stones around, and many iron trees are grown on those stones.
Basically, we pearl fishers go into the water, or dig out the whole iron tree, or grow from it.
Old clams are picked up from the iron tree and the shells are cut open to take out the pearls.
However, it is impossible to predict whether there are pearls in the clams or the quality of the pearls. " Boss Yu couldn't help but nodded and asked about the process of pearl fishing.
The pearl diver told him that although the collecting process seemed simple, it was also dangerous.
In the waters with pearls, there are often some big fish lurking around.
If you don't kill them, anyone who enters the water will be swallowed by them.
Boss Yu was very surprised and hurriedly asked for advice on how to kill the fish.
The pearl diver said: "Before we enter the water, we must first prepare a large watermelon, steam it thoroughly with a stove, then cut off a piece of the top of the melon, take out the pulp, then put in large pieces of quicklime while it is hot, and put it in After filling the inside of the watermelon with quicklime, you need to cut off the rind again.
Keep it in place and fasten it with bamboo nails.
When you swim to the sea area where pearls are produced, throw the watermelon into the water.
When the giant fish see the watermelon, they will rush to swallow it.
After a while, the big fish will eat it.
It will be killed and surface, because although the melon rind is soaked in water and becomes cold, it will be killed.
The temperature inside the melon is extremely high, and the lime will heat and expand when it meets water, so the fish will die immediately after swallowing it.
This method of killing fish is very efficient, and the sea surface will soon be filled with dead fish.
When you throw melons into the sea, but no more fish come out of the water, you throw iron into the sea.
After killing all the big fish near the tree, you can go into the water to fish for pearls.
But before you actually go into the sea, you have to soak your whole body in cold water to prevent the body from dissipating heat, otherwise it will be trapped in other places after entering the water.
If the giant fish smells the scent of a living person, they will also swim after it.”
After hearing this, Boss Yu sighed repeatedly: "It's so dangerous":