Pearls and the Pearl Fisheries. 429 



they are generally inferior in lustre and value to the 

 marine pearls. Some worth 3 to 4 each have, however, 

 been frequently obtained, and specimens of great individual 

 value have ranged from 50 up to 100. It has long been 

 known to naturalists and antiquaries that pearls of great 

 beauty and size have been found from time to time in the 

 Scotch streams. 



Tytler, in his " History of Scotland," states that, so 

 early as the twelfth century, there was a demand for Scotch 

 pearls abroad. Those in the possession of Alexander I., 

 he says, were celebrated for their size and beauty. In 

 1355 Scotch pearls are referred to in a statute of the 

 Parisian goldsmiths, by which it was enacted that no 

 worker in gold or silver should set them with oriental 

 pearls, except in large ornaments or jewels for churches. 

 They are noticed again in the reign of Charles I., when the 

 Scotch pearl trade was considered of sufficient importance 

 to be worthy of the attention of Parliament. The following 

 extract from " An Accompt Current betwixt Scotland and 

 England," by John Spruel, Edinburgh, 1705, shows that 

 they were then well known : " If a Scotch pearl be of a 

 fine transparent colour and perfectly round, and of any 

 great bigness, it may be worth 15, 20, 30, 40, to 50 rix- 

 dollars ; yea, I have given 100 rix-dollars (16 9^. 2d.) for 

 one, but that is rarely to get such. ... I have dealt in 

 pearls these 40 years and more, and yet, to this day, I 

 could never sell a necklace of fine Scots pearl in Scotland, 

 nor yet fine pendants, the generality seeking for oriental 

 pearls, because farther fetched. At this very day I can 

 show some of our own Scots pearl as fine, more hard and 

 transparent, than any oriental. It is true that the oriental 

 can be easier matched, because they are all of a yellow 

 water, yet foreigners covet Scots pearl." 



