282 BRITISH PEARLS. 



ecclesiastical decoration ; in the East, they are used in 

 embroidering garments. 



In the Roman period, our British pearls, found in the 

 fresh- water mussel (Unio maryaritifera) , attained a con- 

 siderable celebrity, and were much esteemed by the patri- 

 cian ladies of Rome. These pearls, however, are usually 

 small and discoloured, and specimens equal to those of 

 the pearl-oyster are not always forthcoming. Of late 

 years the British pearl-fishery has been revived in the 

 Scotch rivers, under the direction of Mr. Moritz linger 

 of Edinburgh, and with much success. Large quantities 

 of the elegant pink-hued jewels have been purchased by 

 the Queen and the ex- Empress of the French, and " Scotch 

 pearls " are popular among the wealthier classes for pur- 

 poses of personal adornment. They are found chiefly in 

 the rivers Tay, Doon, Don, Teith, Forth, Ythan, Spey, 

 Ugie, and Earn. In the smaller of these rivers the 

 mussel-beds have been exhausted by over-fishing ; but in 

 the Tay and the Doon the labour of the fisher is still 

 fairly rewarded. 



It has been truly said that the mode of fishing is " pri- 

 mitive in its simplicity." No apprenticeship is required to 

 it ; there is no outlay for fishing apparatus ; there is no 

 need of skill ; and men, women, and children engage in 

 it on equal terms. The most tedious part of the work is 

 preliminary ; namely, to search the river-bed until a collec- 

 tion of the unionidse is discovered. The numbers at any 

 single point are never considerable ; but once discovered, 

 the fisher wades in among them, armed with a large stick, 

 one end of which has a simple slit in it made by a knife. 

 This stick he thrusts down among the shells, and brings 



