222 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
pearls, or paragons, are found in the body of the animal; they are 
globular, ovoid, or pyriform, and are sold separately. 
Cleaning and polishing the pearls is effected by rubbing them 
together in a bag with nacre powder, and this process renders 
them round, and gives them a beautiful polish. Then, to separate 
them into different sizes, they are passed through copper plates, 
full of holes; these plates are arranged one above the other, the 
higher ones having the largest holes. The pearls which these 
plates retain are numbered with commercial numbers, by which 
their price is indicated ; the number being that of the holes which 
the plate contains. These range from twenty to one thousand, 
the top plate being pierced with twenty, the bottom one with one 
thousand, and the intermediate ones accordingly. The pearls 
which are retained between Nos. 20 and 80 are said to be mz/l 
pearls. Those which are found on the sieves from 100 to 800 are 
vadivoo pearls; all the smaller ones being Zoo/ or seed pearls. The 
pearls are next drilled, and the small and medium sizes are 
threaded on strings of white or blue silk; and in these rows they 
are exposed for sale, the buyers assorting them according to their 
shape and colour. The seed-pearls are sold by weight, or some- 
times by measure. In America the bivalve is opened with a knife, 
and instead of going through the putrefying and boiling process, 
the fresh mollusk is “felt” by the fingers, and thus the pearls dis- 
covered. ‘This process is long, and not so certain as that pursued 
in the East; but the pearls are considered to be fresher and more 
brilliant when so delivered from their matrix. 
Of course there are giants among the pearls, whose size and 
value render them historical. Julius Cesar, who was a great 
admirer of pearls, gave one to Servilia, which was valued at a 
million sesterces, nearly 448,000 of our money! Cleopatra had 
two famous pearls, one of which the capricious queen dissolved 
in vinegar, and drank the precious draught—a cup of acid wine 
worth £60,000. The other pearl was split in two, and each 
half became an ear-ring in the statue of the Capitoline Venus. If 
it be true, the highest price ever given for a pearl was £180,000, 
with which sum the Shah of Persia is said to have bought one 
