PEARLS. 85 
It is customary among the Turks to send letters 
to their distant friends entirely composed of various 
little articles, to which some appropriate meaning is 
attached; in these the Margion always holds a con- 
spicuous station, and signifies “‘ fairest of the young ;”’ 
as a rose, “‘may you be pleased, and your sorrows 
mine.” ‘There is, indeed, no kind of colour, flower, 
weed, or fruit, herb, gem, or feather, which has not 
some meaning assigned to it by the natives of the 
East. 
The Persian poet Meskin Aldaramy, in allusion to 
these fanciful associations, has thus elegantly com- 
pared his friends to a string of pearls ; himself to the 
cord on which they are suspended. 
“* With conscious pride I view the band 
Of faithful friends that round me stand, 
With joy exult that I alone 
Can join these faithful friends in one : 
For they ’re a string of pearls, and I, 
The silken cord on which they lie. 
<« With joy their inmost souls I see 
Unlock’d in every heart to me ; 
To me they cling, on me they rest, 
And I’ve a place in every breast: 
For they ’re a string of pearls, and J, 
The silken cord on which they he.” 
