944 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



wan," being among the indigenous products of Great 

 Britain. 



In the river Tay some of these shells are found to 

 contain good pearls ; but fine ones are very scarce, and the 

 greater part are of little value. They are of various shapes, 

 round, oval, or elongated, cylindrical, hemispherical, and 

 resembling buttons. Several of the oblong ones have a 

 contraction towards the middle, which gives the appear- 

 ance of two pearls joined together. 



The Scotch pearls were famed even in the middle 

 ages, and pearls to the value of _ 10,000, from the Tay and 

 Isla, were sent to London between the years 1761-84. In 

 1864 the sum of ,10,000 was said to represent the gains of 

 the Scotch pearl-hunters for a single year. The rivers 

 Don, Tay, Doon, Forth, Isla, and Spey, were among those 

 most noted for their pearl-mussels ; but the pursuit in the 

 present day (1889) nas dwindled away to very insignificant 

 proportions, as compared with its extent some years since. 



In 1864 Mr. Unger, of Edinburgh, to whose exertions 

 as a dealer in gems the revival of the Scotch pearl-fishery 

 was chiefly due, calculated that ,10,000 represented that 

 year's value of the fishings. Some Scotch pearls have 

 brought as high prices as 60 each. About 1860 may be 

 taken as the date of the revival of the Scotch pearl-fisheries, 

 but, as I have said, at the present date, they have greatly 

 declined, owing to the reckless way in which the rivers 

 have been devastated. 



Pearls are also found in the Elster, a river in the 

 Voigtland, in the kingdom of Saxony, from its origin down 

 to the small town of Elsterberg, as well as in rivulets which 

 fall into the Elster. Since 1621 a pearl-fishery has been 

 established there, of course for the benefit of the sovereign. 

 Also in the river Watawa, in Bohemia, and in the Moldau 



