seems poised for attack.
Buhtari says:
Yellowness glistens in its colours. People prefer the pearl that has a
yellowish tinge around it.
Amidi states:
The slightly yellowish pearl is better than the one that is completely
white. In a like manner, gold is superior to silver.
The reason for this is that a very white pearl which has been only recently taken out of the sea becomes transformed with age, with the change in
its colour coming to suffuse the whole of it. It gradually becomes dark
shading to brown. But if it has a little of desirable yellowness, it would
be immune from this disease. It can be well believed that such a colour
will not fade out.
Abu al-Qasim defends the classical poets and holds them in a veryhigh degree of reverence. He is not happy with the people who criticise
them, but the authors who preceded Abu al-Qasim expressed their preference for the colour of the coral over that of the white pearl on the analogy of Allah's statement, "(In beauty) like the jacynth and the coral
stone" with the argument that the countenance of the houris of paradise
have the whiteness of the pearl and the translucency of jacynth, since in
human beauty such a compounding of colour is admirable.
From this statement it is clear that whiteness is not restricted to
pearls but is also found in coral stones. The whiteness of the latter also
glitters, although this glitter is more pleasing in the pearl when it has a
yellowish tinge so that it does not present the mortar-like appearance
which we find in the Qata'i pearl. The observer will take the latter to be
artificial. Therefore, yellowness is considered good for the pearl in much
the same way as, according to the previous statement, the absence of the
yellow colour was considered to be good for it.
Moreover, the small pieces of precious stones strung in between
pearls to space them from each other comprise, in general, small black
shells, turquoise, or lapis lazuli, and quite often gold. The glitter of the
gold is reflected upon the pearls and casts a yellowish glow upon them.
Buhtari has, therefore, said that the surrounding area of the pearl should
be yellowish. That is to say, the pearl whose edges would be yellowish
near the perforation would be good. This is because of its sheen for if
there is no shine, there will be no glimmer of the yellow colour.
Dhu al-Rummah, therefore, has said:
Eyes pencilled with collyrium, in her whiteness she has a yellow hue.
as if she is silver with which gold has been admixed.
This mixture of colours creates elegance but this is rare. People do
not buy a very pale slave, if a man is pale in colour without being overcome with the fear of something, he is then either jaundiced or is con-
