4 E A S T E R N H I N D O O S T A N. 



of iliarks lurk about the diving places, which often devour the 

 poor adventurers in defiance of the Abrajamins, or magicians, 

 whom Marco Pola, p. 138, fays, the traders take with them to 

 charm thofe dreadful fiflies from every power of doing hurt. 

 Pearls of The high eftimation in which pearls were among the an- 



A-NTj'^uiTY. j^gj^^-g i5 evident from the value of one prefented by Julius Ctefar 

 to Servilia, Brutus'i mother, which, according to Jrbuthnofs 

 computation, was worth ^.48,437. 10s. and that which Cleopatra 

 gallantly fwallowed, diflblved in vinegar, at a feaft flue gave to 

 Marc Antony, was valued at £.^o,'^6:\. 11 J". 8^ *. 

 Arabian. I HAVE, in my defcription oi Arabia (Outlines of the Globcj 



vol. X.) given a long account of the pearl fiflieries of the Red 

 Sea, antient and modern. I fhall not here repeat what I have 

 faid, any farther than to obferve, that the fliell which produces 

 the pearl is the Mytilus Margaritiferus of Gfn. Lin. vi. 3351. 

 UArgen-cilky ConchoJyologie, tab. xx. fig. A. Bonanni^ ii. tab. i, 



P-93- 



Artificial. Linmeus, in a letter dated December 23d, 1755, informed me 



that he had difcovered the art of caufing thefe pretious articles 

 to be generated in the river Muffels, Br. Zool. iv. N* 76, 77. In 

 another letter wrote in the following fpring, he fignified to me 

 his refolution of not difcovering the fecret. " Nollem edere Tr; 

 *' de origine margaritarum quia turn unufquifque famulus pro 



* P'i"}'> lib. Lx. c. 35. Cleopatra made a wager with Antony, that (he would give him ^ 

 ftipper that fhould coft centies H. S. or ;^. 80,729. 3^. itd. After the firft courfe fhe took 

 one of the pearls out of her ears, and fwallowed it, diflblved in vinegar. She was about to pre- 

 pare the other for her lover to pledge her, but was prevented by L. PJancus, who decided that 

 ihe had won the wager, notwithftanding (he had only taken one of the pearlf, or half the value 

 of the wagered fupper. 



« libitii 



