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Persia. 31
their
trappings and equipages, and to this day Pearls play a prominent part
in all great festivals in Persia. At the enthronement of a new king, it
is said to be the custom to shower Pearls upon him.
The
unrivalled Pearl which king Perozes tore from his right ear at the
moment of falling into the horrible pit-fall prepared for him and his
army by the Ephthalite Huns, and which he cast into the abyss before
him, was lost for ever. The story is told by the old Greek historian,
Procopiusj who adds that, although the Emperor Anastasius promised the
finder of the Pearl five hundredÂweight of gold pieces, the search was
in vain.
Babylonian
dignitaries and priests wore strings of beautiful Pearls. Most of these
Pearls were, no doubt, derived from the fisheries in the Gulf of
Persia, but possibly some may have come from more distant sources.
Huren,
in his " Historical Researches," vol. ii. tells us that there can be no
doubt that Pearls were obtained from Ceylon, and exchanged with the
Babylonians for other merchandise, for we read of Indian Pearl
fisheries as well as those of the Persian Gulf. Nearchus, in mentioning
the latter of these adds, " Pearls are fished up here as well as in the
Indian Sea." The best ancient account
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