Pisli ibulioii of re, iris ami l\;irl-s/ic!/. jj 



north-east coast of i'oitiiijiiesc Va\s\. Africa, was inhabited 

 by a Semitic colon}-, which located there to fish for pearls, 

 and these were carried throui^h the Red Sea to Kincj 

 Solomon. He adds that there is little donbt that, after 

 the great emigration which startctl from the Persian Gulf 

 in 9S2 and fonndcd Zanzibar, Kilwa, and Sofala on the 

 coast, some Arabs en;4"at;ed in fisliiiiL;' for pearls about the 

 islands near Sofala." 



The evidence of carl)- pearl fishing on the coast of 

 East Africa is significant in view of the implied association 

 between megalithic cnlture and ])earls. in the map which 

 illustrates Air. Terry's ])aper (<'/>. r//., [). 10 , the presence of 

 the pearl-shell is not indicatetl on the coasts of Zanzibar 

 and Madagascar " two localities which are snggestive when 

 the [)resence of megalithic monuments in Rhodesia and 

 Madagascar is recalled" (p. i ij. Another important link 

 is afforded b\- the discover)- of beads made from the shell 

 of the common Unio or fresh-water mnssel ( Uiiio vcneatixi ) 

 in graves in the vicinity of Bulawayo, Rhodesia '" 



The Persian (lulf has been f.unons as a source of 

 pearls from ancient times. A vei)- eurh- origin of pearl 

 tishing here seems to be indicated b)- a cuneiform in- 

 scription on a broken obelisk, erected presumabl)- b)- a 

 king of Nineveh, which has been translated b)- Jules 

 Oi)i>ert, the eminent As.s)-riologist." The fisheries weie 

 well known in the time of Alexander, and are referred to 

 by Plin)-'" as )-ielding the most valuable pearl>. Psidorus 

 of Charace, a Greek historian, circa 300 !!.<., mentions 

 the pearl fishing in this neighbourhood in his account of 

 the Parthian Empire, and gives a fanciful stor)- of the 

 influence of thunderstorms on the breeding of pearls.-' 



'" Kiui/ ami Stevenson, op. cit., \t. 513. 



'^ Hid., p. 85. 



•* Pliny, *'N. II.," l)k. ix., ch. 54. 



''•• .MheniLiis, " I)eipno>,'' lik. iii., cIj. 46. 



