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PEARLS.
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on, or by boring a hole in, the shell. The Chinese are in the habit of
laying a string with five or six small pearls separated by knots,
inside of the shells, when the fish are exposing themselves to the sun,
and taking them out after some years, whereby they obtain very fine and
large pearls, and but a little open on the side where they were
adherent to the shell. The pearl fishers say that when the shell is
smooth and perfect, they never expect to find any pearls, but always do
so when it has begun to be deformed and distorted. It was therefore
concluded, that as the fish grew old, the vessels containing the juice
for forming the shell and keeping it in vigor, became weak and
ruptured, and from this juice accumulating in the fish, the pearl was
formed, and the shell brought to decay, as supposed by M. Reaumur. It
would be, according to this idea, a sure guide to know from the form of
the shell, whether the pearl is large or small; and thus by the smaller
ones being thrown back into the sea, a constant crop of large pearls
might be obtained. The mother-of-pearl fish is found iu the East and
West Indies, and other seas in warm latitudes, and in the rivers of
north and middle Europe. In some parts of the globe, they are found in
clusters, containing a great number; the places where found are called
pearl-banks. The most famous are near the coast of Ceylon, that of
Japan, and in the Persian Gulf, near the island of Bahreim; also near
the coast of Java, Sumatra, &c. The finest and most costly
pearls are called the Oriental, and ai-e from the above places; they
are all white or yellowish; those from, the Persian Gulf, on account of
their perfect whiteness, are preferred to those from Ceylon. Pearls are
collected in rivers with the hand, but in seas it is the business of
divers, brought up to this most dangerous occupation from early youth.
In the East Indies there are two seasons for pearl fishing; the first
in March and April, the
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