LIVING CREATURES. 



Drilling Pearls. 



Pearl Oyster Fishing 1 . 



baskets having different sized 

 holes. Some of them are drilled 

 with holes for beads. The most 

 common size of fine oriental 

 pearls is from one and a half to 

 three times that of a pea. 



The pearl which is nearest 

 perfect is round or pear-shaped. 

 It is free from speck or flaw, of delicate texture and 

 clear, almost transparent white color, with a soft gloss 

 and irridescence. The Shah or King of Persia, in 1633, 

 paid for a single pearl sixty-five thousand dollars. This 

 jewel had belonged to a Sultan who purchased it with 

 three hundred pure-blood Arab horses. 



The most beautiful pearl now known is kept in a 

 museum at Moscow. It was taken more than fifty 

 years ago and weighs ninety grains. The largest pearl 

 in existence belongs to Mr. Beresford Hope, of Lon- 

 don. This magnificent gem weighs three ounces, is 

 four and a half inches in circumference, and is valued 

 at sixty thousand dollars. 



