The Wjituralland Moral! 



rings. I have fccnc fomc payres valued at thoufands of 

 ducats , although they were not like to Clccpatr^es two 

 pearles, whereof Pliny reportes , either of them being 

 woortha hundred thoulan.d ducats , with the which 

 this foolifli Quecne vvonne a wager fhe hadde made a- 

 gainft-W '^rc Anthony, tofpendin one fupper above an 

 hundred thoufand ducats- fo at the laft courfc fliee di 

 folved one of thefe pearles in ftrong vineger, & dranke 

 itvp. They fay the other pearle was cutt in two, and 

 placed in the Pantheon at Rome, at tli eares of the image 

 of Venus. Efipe reportes of Clevis thefonne of a Come 

 dian, who in a banquet prefented to every one of his 

 ghefts (amongeft other meates) a rich pearle diiTolved 

 in vineger, to make his feaft the more royall and fump- 

 tuous. 



Thefe were the follies of thofe agcs,and thofe at this 

 day arc nothing IclTe, for that we fee , not onely hattes 

 andbandes, but alfo buskins, and womens pantofles, 

 (yea ofbafe condition) imbrodred all over with pearle. 

 They fi(h for pearles in diverfe psrtes of the Indies, the 

 greateft aboundaunce is in the fouth Seas , nccre vnto 

 Panama, where the Ilandes of pearles be , as they call 

 them. But at this day they finde greateft ftore, and the 

 beft, in the north Sea , the which is neare to the rive 

 of Hatch. I did fee them make their fifliing, the which 

 is done with great charge & labor of the poore flaves, 

 which dive fixe,nine, yea twelve fadomcs into the fta, 

 to feeke for oyfters, the which commonly are fattened 

 to the rockcs and gravell in the Sea, they pull them vp, 

 and bring them above the water to their canoes, where 

 they open them, drawing forth the treafurethey have 

 within them. The water of the Sea in this parre is veric 

 colde, but yet die labor and toile is greateft in holding 



of 



