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River Pearls; British and Foreign. 257
preventing the secretion of good nacre, or killing them, according as the quantity may be great or small.
In
November the shells are carefully collected by the hand, the muscular
portion removed, and the Pearls detached by a sharp knife. If the basis
of the Pearl be of nacre it is not removed, but the earthen and
metallic matrices are cut away, melted yellow resin poured into the
cavity, and the orifice artfully covered by a piece of Mother-of-Pearl.
In this state these more than semi-orbicular pearly pellicles have much
of the lustre and beauty of the solid gem, and are furnished at a rate
so cheap as to be procurable by all who care to possess them : they are
generally purchased by jewellers and others, who set them in tiaras,
circlets, and various ornaments of female attire. Those formed on the
image of Buddha, are finished in the same manner, and are used as
ornaments and amulets on the caps of young children. A few shells are
retained with their adhering Pearls, for sale to the curious or
superstitious, specimens of which have by this time found their way
into the principal public and private cabinets of Europe and America.
They are generally about 7 inches long and 5 broad ; containing a
double or triple row of Pearls or images ;
as many as 25 of the former and 16 of the latter
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