270 Pearls, 



francs (^4000), has been refused for this pair of 

 matchless black Pearls. 



Mexico, Tahiti and Fiji supply the principal 

 markets of the world with black Pearls. A few come 

 from Japan and other islands, and very few indeed 

 from Panama, the Pacific, and Western Australia. 

 Black Pearls of inferior quality are occasionally 

 found in the Pinna, a genus of wedge-shaped shells, 

 with a thin dark nacreous lining. Very fine ones 

 are also occasionally yielded by the curious shells 

 which are known from their shape as '' Hammer " 

 oysters, belonging to the genus Malleus. This con- 

 stituted a genus of the Blainville family of Marga- 

 ritacea, and is placed by later writers amongst the 

 Avictdidce, or the principal Pearl-producing group of 

 molluscs ; whilst it has also been made the typical 

 shell of a family to which it gives its name. It 

 consists of about six species, inhabitating the East 

 and West Indies. 



Various attempts, more or less successful, have 

 been made to imitate the black Pearl. The material 

 commonly used is a compact variety of hematite 

 or native peroxide of iron, which is sometimes used 

 under the name of "iron-stone jewellery." 



At Sherm-el Dahab, or " Creek of Gold," in the 

 Gulf of Akabah (Red Sea), a beautiful kind of 



