Pearls and the Pearl Fisheries. 435 



the most solemn comparisons, and to denote the highest 

 degree of perfection. In the Old Testament wisdom is 

 praised as above pearls ; and in the New Testament the 

 kingdom of heaven is compared to a pearl of great price, 

 which, when a merchant had found it, he went and sold all 

 that he had, and bought it. Even the New Jerusalem was 

 revealed to St. John under the figure of an edifice with 

 twelve doors, each of which was a single pearl." * 



* " Putnam's Magazine." 



