264 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.
British
Pearls with the Oriental, frequently weighing them against each other
with his own hands. This fact gives us a curious glimpse into the
nature of the Gallic trade with this island, and the unlooked-for
extent into which it had penetrated the remotest North. For Caesar's
only knowledge of the natural products of Britain must have come from
those Gallic traders to whose commerce with our aborigines he in
several places makes allusion.
And
it must be remembered that except in the Ire, Cumberland, and in the
Conway, North Wales, the pearl-mussel, at least the productive sort, is
not met with elsewhere in Britain than in the remoter parts of
Scotland.
The
singular revival of this antique glory of our island demands some brief
notice of its particulars. Pliny's remark implies that the fishing
continued to be prosecuted in his times ; the inordinate love of the
Romans for the jewel would necessarily stimulate them to keep open
every known source of the supply even though its productions were not
of the highest quality. "Whether Marbodus, in the passage just quoted,
is speaking for himself, or in the words of another, is an open
question. Neither has any mention of British Pearls in mediaeval times
occurred in my reading.
The
fishery must, however, have been early re-opened, for it is stated
that, between the years 1761 and 1764, Pearls found in the Tay and Isla
were sent to London to the amount of 10,000l. But afterwards the
production so far declined, that in 1860 all the Pearls that could be
bought in those localities were no more in value than 407., and there
was only one professional pearl-fisher in all Scotland. In that year
Mr. Moritz Unger, a gem-dealer of Edinburgh, stimulated by the
fast-increasing scarcity of the Oriental species, travelled all over
the pearl-producing district, and published his intention of purchasing
all that could be
