Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ix. (1916), No. 12 21 



it is also a very ancient custom in China, and, more 

 interesting still, in the New World, where it appears to 

 have been carried by the great wave of megalithic culture 

 embodying so many curious and remarkable elements. In 

 no other way can it be accounted for here, as it is in- 

 conceivable that such an arbitrary practice could have 

 developed independently in Asia and in America. 



India is the home of many strange ideas concerning the 

 origin of pearls. From very early times they have been 

 considered as consolidated dew-drops, which Buddha in 

 certain months showered upon the earth, when they were 

 caught up by the gaping oysters whilst floating on the 

 waters to breathe. 53 Streeter 54 quotes many other equally 

 curious superstitions regarding their origin, from a work 

 by a native Indian Prince, the Rajah Sourindro Mohun 

 Tagore. In his ' Mani-Mala or a treatise on Gems,' 55 

 this writer, in addition to the dew-drop theory, refers to 

 the general belief that pearls originate in clouds, ele- 

 phants, boars, conch-shells, fish, serpents, and bamboos. 

 The cloud-begotten idea seems to be a variant of the 

 dew-drop origin. " Pearls that originate in the head of 

 the Elephants of Khambogia are large as the fruit of the 

 emblic Myrobalan, heavy, and more yellow, but not more 

 lustrous than the other kinds." " Pearls which originate 

 in the head of the Boar are generally white, like the tusks 

 of that animal." " A pearl derived from the conch-shell 

 is of large dimensions, has the same colour as the inner 

 surface of that shell-fish, and is productive of good fortune 

 to its possessor/' 56 " Pearls attained from the mouth of sea- 

 fish are singularly round, small and light. Those which 



53 Lovell, op. cit.^ p 47. 



54 Streeter, op. cit. y pp. 57-62. 

 65 2 vols., Calcutta, 1881. 



56 Pearls are well-known from Slrombus, Turbinella,&ndL other conch- 

 shells. 



