Ancient Ideas on their Origin and Virtues, 63 



the ''Shafi Hai Kirig" supposed to have been 

 written B.C. 2255. makes mention of the existence 

 of Pearls. The 4th book of this work, or ** The 

 Classic uf Mountains and Seas," refers to the Li 

 river, one of the affluents of the Tung-Ting lake, 

 which drains the north-west portion of Hunan. " In 

 it are many Chu-pick fish " (or water animals). 

 "These jook like lungs, but have eyes and six 

 feet, and they have Pearls. They taste sour but 

 pleasant, and are not unwholesome." The existence 

 of Chu-pick fish is confirmed in Lushi's edition of 

 the Book of Confucius, and they are probably 

 cuttle-fish with six tentacles. The same book also 

 states that wild animals were found which looked 

 like sucking-pigs, but have Pearls. 



Passing now to the significance which has been 

 assigned by imaginative writers to Pearls, we may 

 remark that from the earliest times they have been 

 considered as emblems of purity, beaut) , and no- 

 bility. Among the Romans they came, besides, to 

 be regarded as emblematical of conjugal bonds, and 

 upon a very fine sardonyx, portra)ing the marriage 

 of Cupid and Psyche, "the high contracting parties ' 

 are represented joined together by a string of Pearls, 

 the ends of which are in the hands of the god 

 Hymen. 



In comparatively modern times, however, they 



