The History of Tahiti Black Pearl

Around the time that Westerners discovered Tahiti (1767), the natural black pearl had already earned
a reputation in Europe and elsewhere as the "pearl of queens" and the "queen of pearls".

Catherine the Great of Russia (1729-1796) had a necklace of 30 black pearls, the largest weighing 3.9 grams (0.14 ounces). The Austrian crown of the same epoch was set with 30 black pearls. The French Empress Eugénie (1826-1920), the consort of Napoleon III from 1853-1870, had a necklace of black pearls. And the Russian Crown jewels included a necklace with a black pearl centerpiece that was called Azra.

CORTEZ SUITE

The writings of the earliest of the 18th Century European navigators confirm that pearl oysters grew
throughout Polynesia, invalidating generalized reports that there were no pearl shells in the Marquesas and Austral Islands.

Unknown writer noted that "among the countless shells found on the beaches in the Marquesas Islands ... (is) the Pintadine or pearl shell, which doesn't appear to have been exploited as in Ceylan."

Another writer, L. Rollin, confirmed the existence of a Marquesan pearl oyster, "relatively rare, particularly found on the north coast of Tahuata."

Jim Morrisson, one of these early European visitors, noted the presence of pearl oysters in Tubuai in the Austral Islands archipelago. But although abundant, the pearl oysters do not have any pearls inside.
By contrast, much was written in the 18th Century about the existence of pearl shells in the Tuamotus.

No Pearl Information from Pre-European Epoch

While few writings exist about the discovery of pearl shells by the earliest European visitors to these islands, there is virtually no information available about the pre-European epoch. And the European writings that do exist from that period are more tantalizing than informative.

We do know, however, that the ancient Polynesians appreciated the natural beauty and qualities of the pearl shells. Some were used for decorative purposes, such as ornaments. Others had such practical use as making household utensils and fish hooks. And, Pearl oysters were used as a food supply during long periods of famine.

But the organized collecting of pearl shells did not develop until the early 19th Century, mainly as a result of the impetus given by visiting European navigators and traders. The pearl shells of these islands, the most beautiful in the world, represented big potential profits for these traders. This was particularly true since other previous sources in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Caribbean and off the coast of Venezuela had already been exhausted and those of Australia and Indonesia had not yet been discovered.

Pearl Shell Collecting Went Big Time Starting In 1820

It wasn't until 1820 that pearl shells collecting became a real big business operation. That was the same period that copra growing became a business.

The biggest efforts were made in the Tuamotu archipelago, which became the rendez-vous place for English, American and even Belgian traders. Diving for pearl shells was done either by residents or by divers from Pitcairn Island, the Cook Islands, the source depending on who was doing the writing.

Most important was the aspect that pearl diving became a specialty among foreigners, having created a new source of employment in the Pacific. The result was an increasing number of professional divers to keep up with an ever-increasing demand.

Alcohol Was Most Common Means of Payme nt

Divers were paid with muskets, powder, clothing material, knives and other European good. But the most
frequent payment was with alcohol.

There were times when inter-island schooners loaded down with pearl shells were attacked and plundered by Tuamotuan islanders. Two reasons have been given for such actions.

First, the European discoverers of the 17th and 18th centuries were too well-armed and stayed such little time that the local Polynesians had no time to mount an attack. That left the ships specializing in pearl shell trading.

These were not armed and their stays lasted several months.

Second, the trading schooners were loaded up with goods destined for bartering. And it is easy to understand that these indigenous people were tempted to capture such goods.

Tax Levied On Pearl Shells in 1825

The initiative behind such attacks was local, even royal. One member of the royal family who looked at the collecting of pearl shells as a source of revenue going into the hands of foreign traders was "Pomare Vahine", who was Tahiti's regent while Pomare III was under age.

She, therefore, decreed in 1825 that a tax be levied on pearl shells, which could not be collected without royal permission. This resulted in the seizing of all ship violating that decree, particularly in the Tuamotu Archipelago.

Meanwhile, the collecting of pearl shells became a very productive business, the first accounts dating back to 1802. The lagoon reefs were so rich with pearl shells that men had only to wade into the water up to their waist in order to collect hundreds of kilos a day, according to one written account.

900-1,000 Tons of Pearl Shells Collected Yearly

During some years, like 1839, for example, 900 tons of oysters were collected. In 1862, a total of 1,000 tons was collected.

The most common collection method used involved three dinghies that were filled up by 30 divers spread out over the lagoon. That produced around a ton of pearl oysters a day from a depth of 13 strokes from the bottom of the lagoon, although they were usually found only five strokes from the bottom.

Each diver remained underwater for three-to-four seconds, bringing up three or four oysters each time. In those days, the price paid in London for a ton of pearl oysters was as high as 13 gold louis.

One of the European writers of the epoch wrote about a diver who could stay underwater for nearly two
minutes, allowing him to gather up six-to-eight oysters.

Many Lagoons Emptied By 1880

The divers wore nothing to protect their hands. It was hard work, involving health risks, such as deafness, partial paralysis and particularly the first signs of insanity.

Pearl shells collecting grew strongly between 1845 and 1879. But by 1880 the lagoons were empty with the
exception of only the most remote.

As a result, divers had to go deeper and deeper. Ironically, the cyclones that devasted the atolls and island land at the end of the 19th Century contributed to the repopulating of the lagoons. Thanks to those storms, the lagoons were covered with coconut tree trunks and pieces of wood and stone, all of which served as eventual support for the oysters.

No Pearl Collecting in Ancient Times

As for the pearls themselves, there wasn't any real pearl collecting done in these islands in ancient times. Instead, the pearl from that epoch were mostly found accidentally.

Pearls in Tuamotus Used for Trade with Tahiti

That, however, was not true in the Tuamotu Archipelago, where people knew their commercial as well as
decorative value because pearls were used in trade with the people from Tahiti in order to obtain such useful objects as basalt adzes, which do not exist on coral atolls.

Pearl Trading Nearly Always Involved Royal Family

Pearl collecting did not develop until the beginning of the 19th Century. In those days, pearl shells were never opened except in the presence of people from these islands. But 20 tons of oysters only produced an average of a pound of pearls. And in those days a pound of pearls was worth 100 gold louis because the pearls were very mixed up and the quality was markedly different, according to one writer.

During the Pomare reign in Tahiti, the trading of pearls nearly always involved the royal family.

Once or twice a year, big twin-hulled Polynesian sailing canoes were sent from Tahiti to the Tuamotu atolls. The people living on the atolls traded shells, pearls and other local goods for stones and brand new axes made with basalt.

Pearls Traded for Metal Objects

Such exchanges continued after the arrival of the first Europeans. The major difference was that basalt axes were replaced by European-made goods, explaining how metal became distributed throughout the islands.

One example written about in those days involved a big warship that visited Tahiti two or three times a year. Shells and pearls were traded on one island for nails and iron goods. And those European goods were subsequently traded on other islands that were even more remote.

Teuira Henry, author of the famous book "Ancient Tahiti", told of a priest from Raiatea in the Leeward
Islands who brought with him various presents, including pearl for the gods and chiefs of Tahiti.

But the most important discovery was that of a European writer, A.C. Caillot. He tells us that a story
considered by the people from the Tuamotu Archipelago as the most ancient story handed down by their
ancestors deals with pearls.

Pearls Used to Pay "Taxes"

Pearls were even used in ancient time in Tahiti as almost a Polynesian equivalent of the European custom of military service and taxe. In Tahiti, the people belonged to tribes or were part of a district. As such, they were required to meet a certain number of obligations that took the form of either collective services or a donation. And pearl and shells figured in both forms.

American historian Douglas L. Oliver, author of the three-volume "Ancient Tahitian Society", wrote :

"...In connection with some tribal work projects, many members made their contributions in the form of
objects in lieu of services, the objects having been used to support the specialists actually engaged in the work at hand. In addition, there were many other occasions on which objects and not services were the intended objective of the contributions made by people as members of a tribe. Among such occasions were seasonal first-fruit rites, the ceremonious rendering of substantial or token 'tribute' to tribal chiefs, contingent levies by the latter for specifically tribal or administrative purposes, and delivery--on 'standing order'--to tribal chiefs of such luxuries as turtles, pearls, and most other objects considered by the Maohis to be of special interest and value."

Finding Pearls Was 3rd Priority for Visting Europeans

Thus, pearls and shells became objects of barter only with the arrival of the Europeans. The writings of the first European navigators show that pearls and shells were among their three most important priorities when they arrived in Tahiti. The first priority was finding food and water. The second priority was women.

However, those first Europeans discovered a contradiction. While pearls were used as part of Polynesians' finery, in general, such was not the case for those living in the Tuamotu Archipelago, the most favorable place to find pearls and a place where pearls were used in exchange for goods from the Society Islands.

Ironically, the Society Islands became known as the "Islands of Pearls", while the writings of the times made no mention that the pearls came from the Tuamotus.

Problem of Piercing Pearls in Tuamotus

Pearls do not figure in the finery of people from the Tuamotu atolls. The reason appears to be one of
technology rather than taste. Pearls are round, and therefore are destined to be worn. But wearing pearl means finding a way of making a hole in the pearls to create a necklace, for example.

Tuamotuan islanders could use a shell or a shark's tooth to easily pierce a mother-of-pearl shell. But the same method did not work on pearls. What was missing was something metal to make the hole in the pearl.

That explains why pearls became part of the finery of the Society Islands. Bora bora was where the "secret" of how to pierce a pearl was discovered. In the beginning, however, pearls were damaged by the piercings, although only one European observer much later realized that some sort of metal object had to be used. His only problem was finding out what the metal object was and where it came from because the Tahitians did not produce their own metal.

Trial and Error Pearl Piercing

Eventually, it became apparent that Tuamotuan islanders knew what metal was as result of visits by European navigators. Iron nails were among the most common metal objects collected by these people. The nails came from the Europeans' ships, some of which sunk in this "Dangerous Archipelago", providing a "treasure" of metal objects.

But the piercing of pearls took time to learn. Capt. Samuel Wallis, one of the first European discoverers (1767), noted that the some two dozen pearls he traded for were chipped by piercing attempts. Lt. James Cook made a similar observation when visiting Raiatea. The pearls, he said, had a good color and form, but were ruined by the piercing efforts.

2 Pearls As Big As a Chickpea

Maximo Rodriguez noted on March 30, 1775 that he was being greeted by members of the Tahitian royal
family, one of whom wore two pearls, each as big as a chickpea. One of them had a beautiful orient. But both were crudely pierced.

Meanwhile, Wallis, like all the other first European navigators to visit Tahiti, noted that "feathers, shells and pearls were part of the ornaments and finery" of the Tahitians.

There appeared to be an abundance of pearls in those days. Members of Wallis crew bought pearls regularly, while Wallis himself ended up with a couple dozen.

Pearls Hidden During Bougainville's Stay

But the following year--1768--Bougainville, the French navigator, was disappointed to discover that the Tahitians had considerably reduced this trade. Bougainville commented: "I know of only one rich article of trade here; they are the very beautiful pearls."

The wives and children of the main Tahitians of Bougainville's time decorated their ears with pearls, "but they hid them during our stay". And by the time Rodriguez arrived in 1775, he found it very difficult to obtain pearls.

The pearls found here during that period varied in size as well as quality. Rodriguez thought they could vary in size between a chickpea and an almond. (Imagine a woman in the 20th Century scorning a pearl the size of a chickpea?)

Rodriguez also noted that the pearls of his time could vary between little and lots of orient, be notched, uneven and deformed, or be without flaws.

Pearls Were Owned By Tahitian Chiefs and Their Families

There was a lot of speculation at the time about who owned the pearls that the Europeans found in the 18th Century. Rodriguez appears to have written the most about this subject, quoting only chiefs or members of their family.

A brother of a chief in one district had two pearls. The sister-inlaw of another chief had three pearls. The former wife of one chief had four pearls.

Pearls were mainly used as earrings and decorations for clothing. Both men and women Tahitians, like all Polynesians, frequently had both their ears pierced, but usually wore an earring in only one ear at a time.

Pearl earrings usually were made up of three pearls that were worn at the end of a small cord 5-8 cm long and made of braided hair known as "tipua". The earrings themselves were given the Tahitian name "poe".

Poe tariga
Photo : Marie Hélène Villierme

Pearl Earrings Make Their Way to Europe

Some of these pearl earrings made their way to Europe. For example, in the sale of the Duchess of Portland's personal collection in 1786, two ear ornaments were made up six pearls coming from Tahiti. The Gottingen Museum had two pearl ear ornaments, while the Cambridge Museum had a pendant dating back to Cook's first or second voyage to Tahiti.

The Europeans found that pearls were worn by Tahitian men as well as women, although the women
apparently wore them more often because they did not have the right to wear the prestigious "ura" feathers worn by the men.

Earrings were undoubtedly one of the rare elements of finery that could be simply considered as jewelry in the most trivial sense.

Pearls, along with shark's teeth and flowers were used to decorate the turban of braided hair several hundred meters long that was worn by women during dances.

Pearls Were Royal Possessions Rather than Attributes

But pearls were also used as offerings, according to Henry, the only writer to make such an observation. She recalled that during the reign of Tamatoa I of Raiatea, the Tahitian god Oro, accompanied by members of his family, went to Tahiti to install in a "marae" (outdoor temple) a stone from from Raiatea's famous "Taputapuatea Marae".

These visitors brought with them offerings appropriate for Tahitian gods and chiefs. Those offerings were "poe-mata-uiui", otherwise known as pearls.

Thus, it appears that if pearls were not royal attributes, as they were in France during the epoch of Henry IV, they were at least royal possessions resulting from gifts and exchanges that had no religious connotation.

However, these pearls were worth a lot and it was not always easy to buy them from Tahitians. Joseph Banks, who accompanied Cook, decided he want to buy an ear pendant of three pearls from a Tahitian girl. He offered her anything she wanted. But she refused to sell them.

Cook wrote that the Tahitians gave more or less the same value to their pearls as these gems had for
Europeans, exempting those that did not have holes in them.

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