Benefits. 253 
than the Bay of Condeatchy. “ This desert and barren spot 
is at that time,” says an eye-witness, ‘‘ converted into a scene 
which exceeds in novelty and variety almost any thing I ever 
witnessed. Several thousands of people, of different colours, 
countries, casts, and occupations, continally passing and repass- 
ing in a busy crowd; the vast numbers of small tents and 
huts erected on the shore, with the bazaar or market-place 
before each; the multitude of boats returning in the after- 
noon from the pearl banks, some of them laden with riches ; 
the anxious expecting countenances of the boat-owners, while 
the boats are approaching the shore, and the eagerness and 
avidity with which they run to them when arrived, in hopes 
of a rich cargo; the vast numbers of jewellers, brokers, mer- 
chants, of all colours and all descriptions, both natives and 
foreigners, who are occupied in some way or other with the 
pearls, some separating and assorting them, others weighing 
and ascertaining their number and value, while others are 
hawking them about, or drilling and boring them for future 
use: all these circumstances tend to impress the mind with 
the value and importance of that object which can of itself 
create this scene.” (Percival.) ‘The inference is just, and yet 
when we remember in what manner and by whose means 
these vain ornaments are and have been procured, the impres- 
sions which such a gay scene conveys come not unalloyed. 
Poor negroes, sold to slavery, were compelled to dive for 
them, nfl we cannot read of the cruel treatment they received 
from the American Spaniards, without feelings of indignation 
and horror. Nor is it methodistical, but it is wholesome, to 
view the desolation which overtook their cities, and the depar- 
ture of the “ pomp of their strength,” as the just punishment 
of their wickedness. The divers, I believe, now employed 
are not slaves, nor, I hope, are they maltreated: but still they 
drive a laborious trade, and one not void of danger; for the 
ground shark prowls among the banks, and is ever on the 
watch to devour them. 
I will not dwell further on the importance of the pearl 
muscle, but shall leave you to form your own opinion on that 
point from the facts above stated. I must not, however, omit 
to remark that Linnzeus in part owed his elevation to nobility 
to a discovery he made of causing the fresh-water muscle 
(Unio margaritifera) of Sweden to produce pearls at his 
pleasure. It is conjectured that he accomplished this by 
drilling small holes through the shells, but his method is not 
cer tainly known, nor is this of any consequence, since it seems 
to have been soon abandoned. The States of Sweden viewed 
it at first in such an important light that they rewarded the 
Sie 
