50 PEAELS. 



of beauty, and form ornaments the most pure and delicate 

 that eau be imagined. For the exclusive right of lishing on 

 the banks of Ceylon, for a single season, as much as £120,000 

 have been paid to the English government by one person, who 

 sublets boats to others. Pearls vary greatly in value accor- 

 ding to their colour and size; those which are perfectly white 

 are the most valuable; next to these are those which have 

 a yellowish tinge; the smallest kind, used for various orna- 

 mental purposes, are called seed pearls, the refuse is made 

 into a kind of confection called chimum, highly relished by 

 Cliinesc epicures. A single Oyster Mill sometimes contain several 

 pearls, which are generally embedded in the body of the ani- 

 mal, but are sometimes fixed to the shell; it is recorded of 

 one rich moUusk, that there were found in his possession no 

 less than one hundred and fifty precious jewels; he must have 

 been a miser, or })erhaps he had taken tliem in pledge from 

 his less provident neighbours. 



From the earliest time, pearls have been considered as 

 valuable ornaments; they are mentioned in the book of Job, 

 (see chap, xxviii, verse 18th.,) and are often alluded to by 

 Greek and Roman Avriters. Various attempts have been 

 nuide to imitate them, and one mode of producing them, prac- 

 tised, it is said, more than a thousand years ago, is still 

 earned on in China. In the shells of Pearl Oysters, holes 

 are bored, into which pieces of iron are introduced; these 

 wounding and irritating the animal, cause it to deposit coat 

 upon coat of pearly matter over the wounded part, and so 

 the pearl is formed. Artificial pearls are made of hollow 

 glass globules or little globes, covered on the inside with a 

 li<|uid called pearl-essence, and filled up with white wax. 

 Historians speak of an ancient traffic in native pearls carried 

 on by this country; and in modern times, British pearls of 

 considerable value have been discovered, one not many years 

 since, by a gentleman who was eating oysters at Winchester, 

 was valued at two hundred guineas. Generally, however, the 

 pearls of this country are inferior in the two requisites of 

 colour and size. 



Interesting accounts of Pearls and Pearl-fishing, will be 

 found in '*the Penny," and "Saturday Magazines," and many 

 other works easy of access. There our young readers may 



