THE PEARL. 75 



shores of Havilah. There is, therefore, a great pro- 

 priety in attributing the production of pearls to a country 

 which has not been equalled in this respect by any 

 other yet discovered. Moses had not circumnavi- 

 gated the globe in scientific visitation, to spy out the 

 varieties of each particular sea and strand, nor sent 

 collectors to fetch pearls from all the sounds and friths 

 on the face of the earth, to make a comparison between 

 them ; but God who made them, knew the relative kind 

 and value of each, and communicated a part of that 

 knowledge to his servant. 



The inside of the mussel and oyster which produce 

 the pearls, bears a certain resemblance to the pearls 

 themselves ; and hence it appears that they are but 

 the misappropriation of that matter which is secreted 

 by the animal to form the shell. It is worth remarking, 

 that the deviations of nature are thus instrumental in 

 producing a jewel which has always held a second place 

 to that of the finest gems. The pearl, when cut through, 

 is found to consist of several laminse, or coatings laid 

 one over the other, as if formed by a successive depo- 

 sition of layers of pearly matter. The material of which 

 shells are compounded consists of a stony substance, and 

 a glutinous one, which binds the particles of the former 

 together. If this material, while floating in the body 



