356 THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
aggerated,
and to some extent they may be ; yet any one who has witnessed an
important social function or state occasion where East Indian rajahs
and nabobs are present, knows that the profusion of jewels which they
wear is simply astounding to our Western eyes. These objects represent,
moreover, the gatherings of generations and centuries; they are
heirlooms and ancestral treasures, priceless to their owners as the
pride of their houses ; handed down from fathers to sons in long
succession; and they have also the investment feature already noted, in
that whenever necessity arises they can be turned into available funds.
The
manner of keeping and of selling such objects is also different from
ours. If it be a question of buying gems from an Eastern owner, the
best are never shown first, but on the contrary, the most inferior. The
purchaser must either be content with these, or else must prove clearly
that he is a substantial buyer or evince a knowledge and appreciation
that mark him as a judge of such objects. The order in which they are
produced is, first the poorest, then successively, poor, medium, fair,
good, fine, and at last the rare and wonderful prizes.
In
visiting an Oriental dignitary, his jewel-treasures are not all shown
at once, as at an American reception or an Indian durbar, or even as a
collector or connoisseur among us exhibits his cabinet, arranged for
choice display. The method is far different. The visitor may be shown a
few objects in the first day or hour; perhaps a few more later in the
day; some on the next day or the one following, and so on ; and he may
remain a guest for weeks, and never see all, or the finest of the
jewels belonging to his host. When they are produced, moreover, they
are not in iron caskets or in gold or silver jewel-cases, covered or
lined with fine leather or with silk or satin. On the contrary, they
are often in old ginger jars, shabby boxes, tin cans, and all sorts of
unsightly or unpromising receptacles, which, when placed between the
owner and his guest, may well cause the latter to wonder. Nor is his
surprise lessened as the wrappings are unfolded, one after another,
perhaps a dozen old cloths, until the piece of jewelry or the splendid
pearl is at last brought to view, after having been hidden from sight
in its manifold wrappings for months or perhaps for years.
But
this method of keeping such treasures is not in reality so strange as
if appears. There are none of the provisions that we have for the
responsible safe-guarding of investments or valuable objects, —no
fire-proof safes, no banks, no deposit-vaults. Security is best
attained by concealment in unattractive and improbable receptacles,
and by dividing and distributing the treasured objects. The owner, too,
must learn to know his visitor quite well before he exhibits to him
all, or the best, that he possesses. Hence the oriental method, though
so
