J)ist)il)utioii of Pi(ii/s (ii/(/ rcarl-slicll. 105 



with the ()early nacre, and the nuisscls are taken («iit of 

 the water, and the " [)earl.s " detached by a sharp knife. 

 The matrices w<.(tf\ var\- in fcuin and substance, the most 

 common beiiit;" pellets of mud. Anotlier class consists of 

 small images, especially of HiuUiha, in the usual sittiui^ 

 position, or sometimes of a fish ; the\- are made oi" lead, 

 cast very thin. The invention of the art is attributed to 

 a nati\e of the place, named \'e-)in-yan|4', to whom a 

 temple has been erected, in which divine honoiu's arc paid 

 to his image. lie is said to have lived about A. I). \ 100 — 

 1300. The topograph)' of Chihkiang metiti(jns a pearl 

 sent to Court in 490 a.d., which resembled Buddha, being 

 three inches in size. The resemblance, however, may ha\e 

 been fanciful ; the"i)earls" now made are but half-an-inch 

 long. 



Other writers ha\e given similar accounts < >f this 

 curious industry, but the most remarkable is tliat related 

 by Mary Roberts in her little book on the " Popular 

 ]disU)ry of the Alollusca" ('185 1, pp. 275-6). She tells 

 us that in the possession of Sir |ose[)h Hanks were 

 "several (Chinese Chama_" [? Uiiio\ in the shells of which 

 were contained bits of iron wire, covered with a substance 

 of a pearly nature. These wires had e\'identl\- once been 

 sharp, antl it seemed as if the moUusks, an.xious to secure 

 themselves against the intrusion of such unwelcome 

 visitors, had encrusted, and thus rendered blunt, the 

 points with which they came in contact." She concludes 

 b)- remarking : " ma)- not, therefore, the process employed 

 in past ages be still practised.' .And arc we not authorized 

 in conjecturing that these bits of ircjn, which probabl\- 

 had slipped from the hands of the Chinese workmen, anil 

 remaint'd in the am'mal, resembled the sjjikes noticed b)' 

 Philostratus as being used by the ancient people who 

 inhabiterl the banks of the \K(:i\ Sea, for the purpcjse of 



