37 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



In America the bivalve is opened with a knife, like the common 

 edible oyster, and the pearl is obtained by breaking up the mollusc 

 between the finger and thumb, without waiting for its decomposition ; 

 nor is it boiled. This is a much longer and less certain process than 

 that pursued in the East ; but the pearls are preserved in greater 

 freshness by the process for the nacre of the dead shells is less 

 brilliant than that of those which have been suddenly killed and at 

 once separated from the soft parts. 



Some few pearls have become historical for their size and beauty. 

 A pearl from Panama, in the form of a pear, arid about the size of a 

 pigeon's egg, was presented in 1579 to Philip II., King of Spain, it 

 was valued at ,4,000. A lady of Madrid possessed an American 

 pearl in 1605 valued at 31,000 ducats. 



Pope Leo X. purchased a pearl of a Venetian jeweller for 

 ^14,000. Another was presented to the Sultan Soliman the Great by 

 the Venetian Republic valued at 16,000. Julius Caesar, who was a 

 great admirer of pearls, presented one to Servilia which was valued at 

 a million of sesterces, about 48,000 of our money. 



There is no data for the volume or value of the two famous pearls 

 of Cleopatra: one of these, which the queen is said to have capriciously 

 dissolved in vinegar and drank Heavens preserve us from such a 

 draught ! is said by some authors to have been worth 60,000; the 

 other was divided into two parts, ana suspended one half from each 

 ear of the Capitoline Venus. Another pearl was purchased at Califa by 

 the traveller Tavernier, and is said to have been sold by him to the 

 Shah of Persia for the enormous price of 180,000. 



A prince of Muscat possessed a pearl so valuable not on 

 account of its size, for it was only twelve carats, but because it was 

 so clear and transparent that daylight was seen through it that he 

 refused 4,000 for it. 



In the Zozema Museum at Moscow there is a pearl, called the 

 " Pilgrim," which is quite diaphanous ; it is globular in form, and 

 weighs nearly twenty-four carats. It is said that the pearl in the 

 crown of Rudolph II. weighed thirty carats, and was as large as a 

 pear. This size, besides being indefinite, is more than doubtful. 



The Shahs of Persia actually possess a string of pearls, each indi- 

 vidual of which is nearly the size of a hazel nut : the value of this 

 string of jewels is inestimable. 



At the Paris Exposition of 1855, her Majesty the Queen exhibited 

 some magnificent pearls ; and on the same occasion the Emperor of 

 the French exhibited a collection of 408 pearls* each weighing ovei 



