90 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
it is also a very ancient custom in China, and, more 
interesting still, in the New World, where it appears to 
have been carried by the great wave of megalithic culture 
compounded of so many curious and remarkable elements. 
In no other way can it be accounted for here, as it is in- 
conceivable that such an arbitrary practice could have 
developed independently in Asia and in America. 
India is the home of many strange ideas concerning the 
origin of pearls. From very early times they have been 
considered as consolidated dew-drops, which Buddha in 
certain months showered upon the earth, when they were 
caught up by the gaping oysters whilst floating on the 
waters to breathe.” Streeter™ quotes many other equally 
curious superstitions regarding their origin, from a work 
by a native Indian Prince, the Rajah Sourindro Mohun 
Tagore. In his ‘Mani-Mala or a treatise on Gems,’ *® 
this writer, in addition to the dew-drop theory, refers to 
the general belief that pearls originate in clouds, ele- 
phants, boars, conch-shells, fish, serpents, and bamboos, 
The cloud-begotten idea seems to be a variant of the 
dew-drop origin. “Pearls that originate in the head of 
the Elephants of Khambogia are large as the fruit of the 
emtlic Myrobalan, heavy, and more yellow, but not more 
lustrous than the other kinds,” “ Pearls which originate 
in the head of the Boar are generally white, like the tusks 
of that animal.” “ A pearl derived from the conch-shell 
is of large dimensions, has the same colour as the inner 
surface of that shell-fish, and is productive of good fortune 
to its possessor.” “ Pearls attained from the mouth of sea- 
fish are singularly round, small and light. Those which 
* Lovell, of. cit., p 47. 
** Streeter, of. cé/., pp. 57-62. 
** 2 vols., Calcutta, 1881. 
earls are well-known from Stromfus, Zurbine/la, and other conch- 
shells. 
