ORDER CHELONIA. 91 



whereby they are completely united. These are the modes 

 by which gold and silver ornaments, &c. are affixed to tor- 

 toise-shell. This substance is not capable of being united, 

 as has been erroneously imagined. 



The ancients appear to have been exceedingly fond of the 

 use of this beautiful substance, in the decoration of their 

 houses, apartments, &c. : their doors, pillars, tables, and 

 beds were embellished with it. This luxury was carried to 

 an excessive degree amongst the Romans in the time of 

 Augustus. Mr. Bruce has remarked on this subject, that — 



" The Egyptians dealt very largely with the Romans in 

 this elegant article of commerce. Pliny tells us the cutting 

 them for fineering, or inlaying, was first practised by Car- 

 vilius PoUio from which we should presume that the 

 Romans were ignorant of the art of separating the lamina by 

 fire placed in the inside of the shell, when the meat is taken 

 out ; for these scales, though they appear perfectly distinct 

 and separate, do yet adhere, and oftener break than split, 

 where the mark of separation may be seen distinctly. Mar- 

 tial says that beds were inlaid with it. Jvivenal and Apu- 

 leius, in his tenth book, mentions that the Indian bed Avas all 

 over shining with tortoise-shell on the outside, and swelling 

 with stuffing of down within. The immense use made of it 

 in Rome may be guessed by what we learn from Velleius 

 Paterculus, who says that when Alexandria was taken by 

 Julius Caesar, the magazines or warehouses were so full of 

 this article, that he proposed to have made it the principal 

 article of his triumph, as he did ivory afterwards, when 

 triumphing for having happily finished the African war. This, 

 too, in more modern times, was a great article in the trade to 

 China ; and I have been always exceedingly surprised, since 

 the whole of the Arabian Gulf is comprehended in the charter 

 of the East India Company, that they do not make an expe- 

 riment of fishing both pearls and tortoises — the former of 



