A1»RIL 1, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



677 



COCONUT PEARLS. 



A trade journal appearing in Java, gives the 

 following particulars regarding a peculiar kind of 

 pearl found in this part of the world :— It is well 

 known that pearls have been met with within 

 oysters and mussels. Sometimes even trees yield 

 pearls. In the Proceedings of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History, there is a paper by Mr. J. Bacon 

 regarding a kind of pearls often found within coco- 

 nuts. The specimens shown have been bought at 

 Singapore. They are said to be so rare in the East 

 Indies as to be highly prized by the native rajahs, 

 and worn by them as precious stones. Mr. liacon 

 himself possessed a small pearl of this sort. It is 

 said that, when albwed to grow, they will reach 

 the size of cherries. This pearl resembles the com- 

 mon variety in smoothness, whiteness, and scant 

 lustre of surface. It is harder than it, and almost 

 as hard as feldspar or opal. The common pearl 

 varies in hardness, but is never harder than feldspar. 

 The coconut pearl consists of carbonate of lime, 

 with very few organic substances remaining after 

 treatment with acid solutions. This organic matter 

 is insoluble, shows no trace of vegetable substances 

 after microscopical examination, and seems to be 

 akin to albumen in structure. In the common 

 pearl there is also found an albuminous substance, 

 but the latter remains unchanged in appearance 

 and lustre even after the calcareous constituent 

 parts have been dissolved away. In other respects, 

 microscopical research has brought out the fact 

 that the coconut pearl is formed of concentric 

 layers without any nucleus. The whole mass is 

 made up of layers of tine crystalline fibres. Pro- 

 fessor Bleekrode, in commenting on the former in 

 a Dutch scientific periodical says that Eumphius, 

 the famous botanist, had in his Ilcrhariiiin Auiho- 

 nense given full particulars of this petrifaction in 

 the coconut. Rumphius has even illustrated his 

 account of it by accompanying drawings of the two 

 forms in which this kind of pearl is met with — 

 pear-shaped and round, either of uniform appear- 

 ance or with red edges. Hardly one in a thousand 

 coconuts on the average displays this strange 

 peculiarity. The formation of the latter is always 

 a remarkable phenomenon hard to account for from 

 the water in the nuts generally lacking the chemical 

 substances favouring abnormal growth of the 

 kind. Rumphius states for a fact that coconuts 

 from JNIacassar yield more pearls than those from 

 other places. This scientist, in 1082, sent, as present 

 to the (irand Duke of Tuscany, a ring in which a 

 coconut pearl had been set. Similar pearl-like 

 formations are met with in other East Indian fruits, 

 such as the waringin, the pomegranate, and the 

 kechubong.— .SfrrtZ/.s Times. 



!During our fifty years' residence in Cey- 

 lon we have never heard of any such con- 

 cretion in the coconut. If any of our 

 readers have been more fortunate, we shall be glad 

 to hear from them. There is the story of the Sin- 

 halese King who, to try a sage, asked him if there 

 was any water which did not contain fish. The sage 

 replied " none." The King triumphantly ordered 

 a coconut to be split, when lo ! cut jumped a fish ! 

 The pearl story seems as probable. But if, as is 

 stated, Rumphius described, figured, and sent as a 

 present a coconut pearl, scepticism must give 

 way. Who will refer to Rumphius for us ?— Ed.] 

 ^ 



PEARLS AND PEARLING LIFE. 



Pearls and PKARLiNfi Liee. By Edwix W. 



Streeteb, f. k. g. s. (London : George Bell 



AND Sons, 1886.) 

 The book before us, according to the preface, 

 and as far as we are aware, is the only work ja 



the English language which is entirely devoted to 

 the history of pearls. The introductory chapter is 

 immediately followed by one which gives a brief 

 historical account of pearls in connection with India, 

 China, Persia, Palestine, Egypt, Ancient Greece and 

 Italy, and Europe in the Middle Ages. This is 

 succeeded by a rexume of the ancient ideas respect- 

 ing the origin and supposed medicinal qualities of 

 pearls, and by a few words on " breeding " pearls. 

 The next chapter treats of the different kinds of 

 pearl-forming moUusks, both marine and fluviatile. 

 The writer then gives an account of the true mother- 

 of-pearl shell, describing its geographical distri- 

 bution, the different varieties, its structure, the 

 parasites found within the shells, and their exter- 

 nal enemies, their method of getting rid of ex- 

 traneous substances (stones, small shells, &c.) 

 accidentally introduced within the valves of the 

 shell, and the uses to which the mother-of-pearl 

 is put. The sixth chapter, although headed " The 

 Origin and Formation of Pearls," also refers to 

 the different kinds, such as boiiton pearls, baroque 

 pearls, and cog de perle, the mode of life of the oyster, 

 the positions in which pearls are found, Ac. It 

 also treats of the qualities which regulate the value 

 of pearls. The next chapter gives a short account 

 of the Sooloo Archipelago, the natives as pearl 

 divers, and their method of dredging. Then follows 

 a good description of the fisheries of North-West- 

 Australia and Torres Strait, and this is succeeded 

 by ian interesting chapter entitled " Pearling Life 

 at the Present Day," which is practically descrip- 

 tive of pearling expeditions made by ;\Ir. Streeter's 

 vessel, the Sree Pas Sair, from Singapore to the North- 

 West Australian coast and the Sooloo Archipelago. 

 Chapter XI. is devoted to a condensed account of 

 the pearl-fisheries of Ceylon and Southern fndia, 

 and this is followed by a re--<itme of what is known 

 respecting the. fisheries in the Persian Gulf, the 

 Red Sea, on the west coast of North America, 

 and at the West Indies. Pearls produced by shells 

 which inhabit the rivers and lakes of Great Britain 

 and foreign countries are described in Chapter XIV., 

 and the artificial production of pearls by the Chinese 

 is also here referi-ed to. The different kinds of 

 coloured pearls, and the mollusks which pioduce 

 them, are then treated of. In the succeeding chapter 

 the most famous pearls of botli ancient and modern 

 times are recounted, and the immense sums at 

 which some of them were valued are stated. 

 Chapter XVII. gives the history of the remarkable 

 cluster of pearls known as '• the great Southern 

 Cross pearl," which was exhibited in the West 

 Australian Court of the Colonial and Indian Ex- 

 hibition, and valued by the owners at 10,000/. The 

 next and concluding chapter is devoted to the value 

 of pearls, and shows how their worth has varied 

 in this country at different periods from 1071 to 

 the present time. 



A map is then introduced showing the principal 

 pearling regions. In an appendix, the works bear- 

 ing on the subject which have been consulted by 

 the author are enumerated, and a full index com- 

 pletes the volume. 



Mr. Streeter has brought together a large amount 

 of information which will be of interest to the 

 general reader, for whom especially, and not for the 

 scientific, the work has been written. The most 

 sriginal material is comprised in the part extend- 

 ing from the seventh to the tenth chapter. The 

 chapter devoted to the Sooloo Archipelago contains 

 some details which, although interesting in tticm- 

 selves, are rather foreign to the subject of the work. 



The same observation applies to the account of 

 the constellation Crux Avstralis, or Southern Cross, 

 introduced in the seventeenth chapter. 



