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THE PEARL
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delicate
and therefore easily fractured or cracked. As the natives usually
obtain the pearls by cooking the fish, for which they have a great
liking, a large proportion of the few which come into the market are
cracked. It is claimed also that the color fades with time. They are
sometimes called "Nassau" pearls.
Pearls
similar in appearance to the Conch, except that the wavy lines are
absent and the skin rarely as brilliant, are taken with true pearls
from the small varieties of the Avicula, especially about the coast of
Venezuela. Some are white as chalk, many are tinted in various shades
of gray, yellow and brownish reds. They have the shining appearance of
china in different degrees, but no nacreous luster. The skins of many
of these are peculiarly constructed, they show modified characteristics
of various parts of the shell. The surface wave lines are present to
some extent, together with curious malformations of prisms and
conchiolin.
The
hexagonal faces look as though they had been doubled up upon themselves
together with a layer of conchiolin, the latter appearing as thick
black V or U shaped marks in the faces
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