ARGENTINE. 107 



tool called by our carpenters a centre-bit. This tool pierces 

 a hole through the alabaster, and cuts half its thickness into 

 the shape of a hemisphere: the hole in the centre directs 

 where the instrument should be placed on the other side of 

 the slice of alabaster; and by peforming the same opera- 

 tion the sphere is completed; and the bead formed with a hole 

 through it. The beads are then strung, and rubbed with fish 

 skin in order to remove their inequalities: each bead is next 

 placed upon a separate pin and dipped into wax, in order to 

 give it a yellowish hue; and afterwards they are dipped into the 

 silvery liquid which is procured from the air bladder of the 

 Argentine,* a little fish which is common in the Mediterra- 

 nean. These pearls have the advantage of being less fragile 

 than those of glass, indeed, they may be dashed upon the 

 ground without receiving the slightest injury; and their color, 

 also, is less likely to change than those in which the wax 

 remains exposed to the influence of the atmosphere. 



MARY. 



Did you ever see the fish from which they are made, 

 mamma? 



MRS. F. 



Frequently; for we often had them for dinner at Rome; and so 

 charged are their air bladders with this pearly substance, that 

 in rubbing it between our fingers they were perfectly coated 

 with silver. This fish is much in request among the Jews at 

 Rome, who are forbidden, you know, by the Levitical law,f 

 to eat fish that have no scales; and they therefore never touch 

 eels, sepia, or other scaleless fish, which are eaten by the ' 

 Italians. 



ESTHER. 



Are there many Jews living at Rome 1 ? 



MRS. F. 

 Yes a great number; and they have one particular part of 



* Argentina 'sphyrsena. 



t Leviticus, chap. xi. ver. 9 12. With the ancient Romans it was 

 not lawful to use fish without scales at the feasts of the gods. 



