Cost information for the following is not included. Normally this is because the quantity or ingredient is unknown
In those days pearl hunting had an element of danger, which even today still exists, albeit to a lesser degree. The South China Sea was a popular place for the Chinese to hunt for pearls. Hunting for pearls in the South China Sea started around the Han Dynasty (around 200bc).
Pearl hunting became very popular in areas such as Cubagua and Margarita, which are areas off the Venezuelan coast. The main reason for these areas becoming so popular was due to the simple fact that there were so many readily available pearls. Nowadays Margarita pearls are very rare!
A gem for all ages, for both genders, "pearls have power," writes Ki Hackney and Diana Edkins in their book People and Pearls: The Magic Endures. Pearls evoke drama, pearls evoke innocence, pearls are sexy, pearls make a statement. Pearls come as they are, a special delivery from nature needing no polishing and no cutting and no special circumstances for wearing, choose the right pearls for you to enjoy them most.
Divers used to dive down and manually extract the pearls from the bottom of the seabed and also from rivers.
Making a living from pearl hunting requires a huge amount of time commitment, and also being happy to dive up to 40 meters is a useful prerequisite! However, on these pearl hunting days you will not be diving to such depths. What you will learn on these days are where to look for pearls, and also what's great is if you find a pearl you get to keep it!
When vessels went out to sea they would often be cramped full of divers (over 100 per vessel at times). During these trips there were not just divers, but also men who did a range of jobs including a cook, ropes-men, a captain and even a singer!
The pearl hunters were very fit individuals - swimming lots kept them in shape. This was very important as they would have to dive down very fast, and then not breathe for up to 2 minutes.
Suggestions?