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THE PEARL
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There
is also a white which is not dark and is yet dead. To some extent it is
characteristic of all fresh-water pearls. It is a chalky, milky white
that even when lustrous, carries a reminder of chalk in the texture
and lacks the essential life of the ideal pearl. Color in the highest
perfection is found in the pearls of the Ceylon and Australian waters,
the former being also very lustrous, and such are sometimes termed by
the trade "Madras," after the city where the Indian pearls have been
marketed for ages. It must not be inferred however that pearls equally
good are not found in other localities, but that the color averages
better, and the number of gems of ideal color and luster is greater
from the Ceylon fisheries than elsewhere. The color and texture, and
therefore luster, of fine Indian pearls is seldom equalled, never
surpassed.
To
those who are without experience, and see for the first time a large
quantity of pearls apparently alike in color, it would seem an easy
matter to match any required number; but in attempting to gather
sufficient for a single strand necklace, one would learn that a parcel
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