1820.] " The Book of Precious Sioues." 179. 



white. 7. Rossassi, those clouded with a kind of lead colour. 



8. Suichab, those watered with red. 9. Siafiab, those watered 

 with black. 10. Sc/ietuii, the wax-coloured green and yellow, 

 and not transparent. 11. liochami, the marbled, dark, not 

 transparent, and without lustre. 12. C/ntsckkab, those of dull 

 water, in contradistinction to those called c/iosc/tab (mentioned 

 above), i.e. of pure transparent water. With respect to their 

 form they are divided, 1. Into the mudahredsdi, those quite 

 round. 2. Ghabni, those of the egg shaped. 3. Auidd, half 

 flat and half round. 4. SchcldHchami, turilip-shaped. 6. Adsi, 

 lenticular. 6. Seihini, in the form of an olive. 7. Schairi, 

 shaped like a barley corn. 8. ^eili, formed like a tail or train. 



9. hchemi, in the form of a taper. 10. Fokai, in the form of a 

 Can. 11. M/?«/'m/, hemispherical. V2. ISIussaires. With respect 

 to their size, they are divided into 15 classes, according to the 

 number of the sieves through which they are passed, and of 

 which one has always larger holes than another. The pearls of 

 the first sieve, which has t/he smallest holes, are called : 1. The 

 twelve hundred ; because 1200 of them weigh a miskal. 2. Those 

 of the second sieve, the five hundred. 3. The four hundred. 

 4. The three hundred and fifties. 5. The three hundreds. O.The 

 hundred and eighties. 7. The hundred and seventies. 8. The 

 hundred and sixties. 9. The hundred and fifties. 10. The 

 hundred and twenties. 11. The hundreds. 12. The eighties. 

 13. The seventies. 14. Fifties. 15. The forties, 40 of which 

 weigh a miskcil. 



Sect. 2. O/' the Pearl Fisheries. — The best are at Sereudib 

 (Ceylon), and in the gulph of Persia at Bahrein, Kisch, and 

 Scharek, but the Arabian are less valued than the Indian ; their 

 colour and quality depend on the bottom of the sea where they 

 are produced ; they become dark in a black mud, and yellow in 

 a shallow sea. The pearl oysters drawn out of the sea sometimes 

 move very quickly, and sometimes not at all. 



C«AP. II. 



Sect. 1. Of the Properties of the Jaknt.* — It is of six dirFerent 

 kinds: 1. The red. 2. The yellow. '3. The black. 4. The 

 white. 5. The green, or peacock colour. 6. The blue, or smoke- 

 coloured. The first, namely, the red, is again subdivided into 

 six kinds: 1. Wirdi, the rose-coloured. 2. Erghiicaui, the 

 purple-coloured. 3. Behreinani,~\- the yellow-red. 4. Lahmi, 

 the flesh-coloured. 5. Siimaki, the porphyry-coloured. 6'. Rem- 

 ma/ii, the pomegranate-coloured. The second kind, the yellow, 



• Ilr.innot lie doiit)ti-d tliat llie /rt,Vu< is o\\r 'iippirnc (lelesie), and it is aslDiiish- 

 inp lliat llu- iiriciitaliiils had already, al lliat liim-, ;i proprr irii-a of tlii, stone, for 

 Mrhirh we an- indebted to llie latest reseuiclii'S, wliieli pailiciilaily coiiicid;'s vvitli 

 (he diTision into four elasso : tlie i\d (rubis d'oiieni), t/ctlijic (toiiaze d'orii-iit), 

 blur, and icliite. 



+ Helireinaii li an Indian flower, and, as some «ill have it, tlie bhissoms of tli« 

 Cartbuinus. 



M 2 



