940 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



Pearls have formed valued articles of decoration and 

 ornament from the very earliest times. Pliny tells us of 

 the enormous extent in which they were used by the ladies 

 of classic Rome. Seneca reproached a patrician for the 

 extravagance of his spouse, by saying that the lady wore 

 all the wealth of his house in her ears. Julius Caesar pre- 

 sented Servilia, the mother of Marcus Brutus, with a pearl 

 valued in modern computation at ^48,000. Clodius, the 

 son of the tragedian, was said to have swallowed one gem 

 valued at ^"8000 ; whilst Cleopatra's similar escapade dis- 

 posed of a pearl said to be worth ^"60,000 or ^"80,000 of 

 our coin. This queen is also said to have possessed a 

 second pearl of equal value. A Panama pearl, said to be 

 of the size of a pigeon's egg, and presented in 1579 to 

 Philip II. of Spain, was valued at ^4000 ; a prince of 

 Muscat possessing another so clear and transparent that, 

 though only weighing 12 carats, it was estimated to be 

 worth a similar amount. A Spanish lady of Madrid, in 

 1605, was the happy possessor of one gem valued at 

 31,000 ducats. Pope Leo X. obtained one in Venice 

 worth ;i 4,000 ; and from Venice a pearl was presented to 

 Sultan Soliman the Great, the value of which was estimated 

 at ji6,ooo. A pearl purchased by the traveller Tavernier, 

 at Califa, is alleged to have been sold by him to the Shah 

 of Persia for ^"180,000. Philip the Second's celebrated 

 pearl, which weighed 250 carats, and was valued at 150,000 

 dollars, came from St. Margarita. Yet the pearls of the 

 West are not to be compared with those of the East in 

 shape, beauty, colour, or texture. 



I am not aware that any established fishery is now 

 conducted at St. Margarita, or on the coast of Columbia, 

 on an extensive scale, after the failure of the Columbia 

 and Panama speculation in 1826. On the contrary, the 



