LARGE PEARLS. 119 



of folly is reported in later times, in the reign of Queen Eliz- 

 abeth, when Sir Thomas Gresham, one of London's merchant 

 princes, reduced a pearl to powder worth seventy-five thou- 

 sand dollars, and drank it in a glass of wine to the health of 

 his sovereign, in consequence of a wager with the Spanish 

 ambassador that he would give a more costly dinner than 

 the other. Quite as absurd was the notion in former times 

 that powdered pearls were unfailing remedies in all stomach 

 complaints. 



Pearls are esteemed according to their size, color, form, 

 and lustre : the largest, usually about the dimensions of a small 

 walnut, are called " paragons" and are very rare ; those the 

 size of a small cherry are next in rarity, and are called "dia- 

 dem" or head pearls. They receive names also according 

 to their form, whether quite round, semicircular, or drum- 

 form, or that of an ear-drop, pear, onion, or as they are 

 otherwise irregularly shaped. The small pearls are termed 

 " ounce pearls," on account of their being sold by weight, 

 and the very smallest " seed pearls." 



The largest pearl on record is one, pear-shaped, brought 

 from India in 1620, by Gongibusde Calais,andsold to Philip 

 IV. of Spain. It weighed four hundred and eighty grains. 

 The merchant, when asked by the monarch how he could 

 venture to risk all his fortune in one little article, replied 

 with great tact, ''because he knew there was a King of 

 Spain to buy it of him." This pearl was said to be in the 

 possession of the princely family of Yousoppoff, in Russia. 



Hunjeet Sing, the former possessor of the famous Koh-i- 

 Noor diamond, had a string of pearls which was considered 

 nearly equal in value to the " Mountain of Light." They 

 were about three hundred in number, and the size of small 

 marbles, all choice pearls, round and perfect both in shape 

 and color. Two hours before he died he sent for all his 

 jewels, and gave the magnificent string of pearls to a Hindoo 

 temple. 



