88 Beautiful Shells. 
habitation, to make the best of an unavoidable evil 
by enclosing it in a soft smooth covering. Let us 
imitate the Oyster; and when annoyed or afflicted, 
by meekness and patience, and Christian charity, 
strive to turn our vexations and troubles into 
‘pearls of great price,’ and ‘ goodly pearls,” like 
those mentioned in Scripture. 
It is on the north-west coast of the Island of 
Ceylon, in the Indian Ocean, that the Pearl Oyster 
most abounds, and there it is that the Pearl fishery 
is conducted in the most extensive, systematic, and 
successful manner; this fishing commences at the 
beginning of March, and upwards of two hundred 
boats are usually employed in it; in each of these 
boats are ten divers, who go down to the Oyster- 
beds, five at a time, and so relieve each other; 
there are besides thirteen other men who manage 
the boat and attend to the divers. Altogether, it 
is computed that from fifty to sixty thousand 
persons, in some way engaged in the fishery, or 
preparation, or sale of the pearls, assemble at and 
near the scene of operations, which must be indeed 
a busy one. The number of Oysters taken during 
the period of the fishing, which is about a month, 
must be prodigious. One boat has been known to 
bring on shore, in the day, as many as thirty-three 
