PEARLS. 275 



retain, with few alterations, the arts and customs of their 

 ancestors. Pearl Mussels, at certain seasons of the year, con- 

 gregate in considerable numbers on the surface of the water^ 

 where they open their shells, and enjoy the influence of the 

 sun. At this period the Chinese fishermen throw into each 

 of them a small string of beads, formed of mother-of-pearl, 

 which, becoming coated in the course of a few months, 

 present the appearance of real pearls. No sooner is this 

 curious process supposed to be completed, than the Mussels 

 are drawn up, and robbed of the treasures which they 

 contain. The truth of this extraordinary statement is con- 

 firmed by the evidence of respectable travellers, and the 

 result of various experiments ; to which Professor Pabricius 

 adds the testimony of having seen, in the possession of Sir 

 Joseph Banks, several Chinese ChamcBy in the shells of 

 which were contained bits of iron wire, covered with a sub- 

 stance of a pearly nature. These wires had evidently once 

 been sharp, and it seemed as if the mollusks, anxious to 

 secure themselves against the intrusion of such unwelcome 

 visitors, had encrusted, and thus rendered blunt, the points 

 with which they came in contact. May not, therefore, 

 the process employed in past ages be still practised ? And 

 are we not authorized in conjecturing that these bits of iron, 



