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in the Isles of Marguerite, Cubagua, St. Marthe : and at Comana, Comanagote, near the Continent : and in the South-Sea, near Panama : which American sort, though they are much inférieur to the Oriental, in Lustre, yet they far excel them in bigness, amounting sometimes (saith this Author) to 42 Carats.1
In this Relation 'tis mentioned, that sometimes 5 or 6 Pearls are found in one Oyster : That Pearl-fishers are
fed with dry and roasted meat, to give them better breathing : That
Pearl-bearing Oysters are not good to eat, being fiat and hard of
digestion, &c.
As to the Price of good Pearls, well fashioned, he marketh it, as follows :
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Of Corals, he taketh notice where they are fished, and in what manner? The Places, he saith, to be Eight : Three upon the Coasts of Corsica and Sardinia, vid. at Argueil (where is the best) Baza, and near the Isle of St. Peter : one upon the Coast of Sicily, near Drepanum : Two upon the coast of Africa, near the Bastion of France, and at Tabarca : One more, upon the Coast of Catalonia, at the Cape of Outers : And the last, about Majorca. Observing, that red Coral is not found, but in the Mediterranean alone, where 'tis fished from the beginning of April till the end of July, employing commonly about 200 Boats. The manner of
fishing them, is with two big beams of wood, laid crosswise, with a
good piece of Lead on the middle, to make it sink, casting about it
coarse Hemp, carelessly twisted, and tying this Wood to
1 See ante, pp. 88-9 of vol. ii. [Seemingly ' 42 ' here should be 55.] ! See ante, pp. 104 ff. of vol. ii. π
Β b
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