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MARGARITA.
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research
can offer no better) of the natural history of the pearl-oyster,
extracted from the Periplus of India by Androsthenes : " Of the
Strombi, and the Porcellana, and the other shell-fish there are
numerous varieties, and very different from those with us. There is
also a great abundance of the Murex and other oysters : but there is
one peculiar kind which the natives call Berberi, from out of
which comes the gem Margarites. This latter is highly valued throughout
Asia, and is sold amongst the Persians and the regions inland for its
weight in gold coin (προς χρνσίον).* The appearance of the
shell is similar to the Pecten, it is not however striated, but has the
outside smooth and furry. Neither has it two ears like the Pecten, but
only one. The gem grows within the flesh of the oyster, just as the
measles (tubercles) in pork. One kind is extremely yellow, f so as not
readily to be distinguished when placed by the side of gold ; another
is like silver ; a third perfectly white resembling a fish's eye."
Chares
of Mytilene, in the 8th Book of his History of Alexander, says : " It
is caught in the Indian Sea, and also off the coasts of Armenia,
Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia, and resembles the Oyster; but is both
bulky and long, containing meat both large and white, and of very
agreeable odour. From which they extract the white bones and call them
Margaritae, and make out of them necklaces, and bands for the arms and
ankles ; on which both Persians and Medes and all the Asiatics set a
much higher value than upon those made of gold."
But the fullest details, as to both fish and fishery, are to
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