River Pearls ; Chinese. 255 



a few days' respite in bamboo cages in water, before 

 being tortured for the gratification of human vanity, 

 when they are taken out to receive the matrices. 

 These are various in form and material, the most 

 common being pellets made of mud, taken from 

 the bottom of water-courses, dried, powdered with 

 the juice of camphor-tree seeds, and formed into 

 pills which, when dry, are fit for introduction into 

 the unfortunate subject. Moulds which best exhibit 

 the nacreous deposit are brought from Canton, and 

 appear to be made from the shell of the Pearl- 

 oyster. The irregular fragments thus procured are 

 triturated with sand in an iron mortar, until they 

 become smooth and globular. Another class of moulds 

 consists of small images, generally of Buddha, in the 

 usual sitting posture, or sometimes of a fish ; they are 

 made of lead, cast very thin, by pouring on a board 

 having the impression. Pearls having these forms 

 have excited much surprise, since they first attracted 

 the attention of foreigners a few years back. 



The introduction of the Pearl nuclei is an 

 operation of considerable delicacy. The shell is 

 generally opened with a spatula of Mother-of-Pearl, 

 and the free portion of the mollusc is carefully sepa- 

 rated from one surface of the shell with an iron 

 probe ; the foreign bodies are then successively in- 

 troduced at the point of a bifurcated bamboo stick, 



