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270 Pearls.
francs (£4000), has been refused for this pair of, matchless black Pearls.
Mexico,
Tahiti and Fiji supply the principal markets of the world with black
Pearls. A few come, from Japan and other islands, and very few indeed
from Panama, the Pacific, and. Western Australia. Black .Pearls of
inferior quality are occasionally found in the Pinna, a genus of wedge-shaped shells, with a thin dark nacreous lining. Very fine
ones are also occasionally yielded by the curious shells which are
known from their shape as " Hammer " oysters, belonging to the genus Malleus. This constituted a genus of the Blainville family of Marga-ritacea, and is placed by later writers amongst the Aviculidœ, or
the principal Pearl-producing group of molluscs ; whilst it has also
been made the typical shell of a family to which it gives its name. It
consists of about six species, inhabitating the East and West Indies.
Various
attempts, more or less successful, have been made to imitate the black
Pearl. The material commonly used is a compact variety of hematite or
native peroxide of iron, which is sometimes used under the name of "
iron-stone jewellery."
At Sherm-el Dahab, or " Creek of Gold," in the Gulf of Akabah (Red Sea), a beautiful kind of
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