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EUROPEAN PEARL FISHERIES
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pearl],
weighing seventeen grains, and distinguished on the convex side with a
fair round spot of a Cornelian colour, exactly in the center.1
In 1560 "large handsome pearls" were sent from Scotland to Antwerp.2
In 1620 a great pearl was found in the Kellie Burn, in Aberdeenshire.
This was carried to King James by the provost, who was rewarded with
"twelve to fourdeen chalder of victuals about Dunfermline, and the
Customs of Merchants' goods in Aberdeen during his life." No record
appears of the reward paid to the finder ; possibly it was not worth
recording.
In
1621 the Privy Council of Scotland issued a proclamation that pearls
found within the realm belonged to the Crown ; and conservators of the
pearl fisheries were appointed in several of the counties, including
Aberdeen, Ross, and Sutherland. It was the duty of the conservators,
among other things, to nominate experts to fish for pearls during July
and August, "when they are at chief perfection." The conservators and
fishermen were compensated by selling those pearls of ordinary quality,
but "the best for bignesse and colour" were to be remitted to the king.
It was reported to the Privy Council that the conservator in
Aberdeenshire did very well in the first year. "He hath not only taken
divers pearls of good value, but hath found some in waters where none
were expected." The first parliament of Charles I abolished these
privileges.
Robert
Sibbald, physician to Charles II, wrote that he had seen a necklace of
Scotch pearls which was valued at two thousand crowns; they were
"larger than peas, perfectly round, and of a brilliant whiteness."3
It
is said that Sir Richard Wynne of Gwydir presented to Catherine of
Braganza, queen of Charles II of England, a pearl from the Conway in
Wales, which is said to be even yet retained in the royal crown. In his
"Faerie Queene" (1590), Spenser speaks of the
Conway, which out of his streame doth send Plenty of pearles to deck his dames withal.
The
White Cart River in Scotland, on which the city of Paisley is situated,
was distinguished, according to Camden, "for the largeness and the
fineness of the Pearls that are frequently found hereabouts and three
miles above."4 And the pearls from Irton in Cumberland, England, were so noted at that time that "fair as Irton pearls" became
1 Camden. "Britannia," 2nd edition, Lon- s Sibbald, "Hist. Nat. Scotiae," 1684, Vol.
don, 1722, Vol. II, p. 802.
Ill, p. 27.
* Macpherson, "Annals of Commerce," ' Camden, "Britannia," London, 169s,
Vol. II, p. 131.
p. 924.
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