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392 THE MAGIO OP JEWELS AND CHARMS
translucent; it is composed of the porcelanous, not of the nacreous constituent of the shell.22
It
has been stated that this Sulu superstition is not shared by the
natives of Celebes Island, near Borneo, for here such pearls are kept
as charms and talismans. One of an irregular pear-shape, weighing
27-1/2 grains, has been found on the northern coast of the island.23
The finding of a nautilus pearl by a Chinese woman in Borneo is noted
by Rumphius, who describes it as being as large as a bean and
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white
as a piece of alabaster, hard and bright, but of very irregular shape.
The finder put it in a closed box, and was not a little surprised to
discover when she opened the box after a time that the original pearl
had engendered another one the size of a lentil ; later it had two
other, smaller offspring. The woman carefully treasured her find as a
lucky stone which would bring her good fortune in her search for
mussels. Eumphius shrewdly conjectures that the smaller concretions had
broken off the larger one while it was enclosed in the box.24
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BH. Lyster Jameson, in "Nature," Oct. 7, 1912.
" See " Nature," Oct. 24, 1912, p. 220.
»Rumphius, " D'Amboinische Rariteitskamer," Amsterdam, 1741, p. 62.
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