60 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



who died of hunger during a grievous famine, which de- 

 populated part of Guzerat. A large mausoleum or Ma- 

 hometan tomb was erected to his memory in the suburbs 

 of Cambay, with an inscription, telling us that during 

 this terrible scarcity the deceased had offered a measure 

 of pearls for an equal quantity of grain, but not being 

 able to procure it, he died of hunger.* 



A pearl is described by Madame de Barrera, as nearly 

 the size of a pigeon's egg, and pear-shaped ; it weighed 

 250 carats, and was known as " La Peregrina," and be- 

 longed to the crown of Spain. It was brought from 

 Panama in 1560 by Don Diego de Temes, who presented 

 it to Philip II. " It was then valued at fourteen thou- 

 sand ducats, but Freco, the king's jeweller, having seen 

 it, said it might be worth £14,000, £30,000, £50,000, 

 £100,000, as such a pearl was priceless." In 1779 a 

 pearl, which from its shape was called the Sleeping Lion, 

 was offered for sale at St. Petersburg, by a Dutchman; 

 it weighed 5/8 carats, and was bought in India for 

 £4500. 



The largest pearl known, I believe, is the one which 

 was exhibited at the South Kensington Museum, in the 

 loan collection, in the possession of A. J. B. Beresford 

 Hope, Esq. It weighs 3 oz., is 2 inches long, 4J inches in 

 circumference, and is set as a pendant. 



The most productive pearl-fishery banks lie on the 

 west coast of Ceylon, between the eighth and ninth de- 

 grees of north latitude, near the level dreary beach of 

 Condatchy, Aripo, and Manaar.t The other principal 

 fisheries are those of the Bahrein Islands in the Persian 

 Gulf, Coromandel, Catifa in iVrabia (which produced 



* Forbes's c Oriental Memoirs,' vol. ii. p. 18. 



f ' Voyage of the Novara,' vol. i. pp. 379, 380, 381. 



