38 PEARLS AND PEARLING 



ropeans the road to India and gave them their first 

 glimpse of that great treasure land. 



Caesar's conquests in Britain were also partly for the 

 purpose of obtaining the fresh-water pearls of that coun- 

 try and he returned with many of these precious gems. 



All the early Spanish, French and English discoverers 

 who came to America expected pearls and found them. 

 In many cases there was an understanding that they were 

 to be divided between the adventurerers and the king. 

 So in these instances also the pearl has exerted a geo- 

 graphic and refining influence in our own country and in 

 the other lands near us. 



The "Pearl of Great Price" has occupied such an im- 

 portant place in the lives of men and their achieve- 

 ments, that if we had no historical records, except the 

 ones that registered the events of the lives of those who 

 prized the pearl we should still have a very elaborate 

 history of the world. 



