Pink Pearls. 273 



inner face of the shell presents a lovely pink colour, 

 and occasionally a Pearl is found which possesses 

 a similar rosy hue. The pink conch Pearl displays 

 a wavy appearance and peculiar sheen, something 

 like that of watered silk, To be perfect, it should 

 be quite spherical, but this shape very seldom occurs, 

 and a round and rosy Pearl is a gem of excessive 

 rarity. A writer on conch Pearls in *' The Scientific 

 American" in 1880, says with truth, that "It is a 

 very rare circumstance to find a Pearl which possesses 

 all the requirements that constitute a perfect gem, 

 and when such does happen, it proves an exceedingly 

 valuable prize to its fortunate finder. A good Pearl 

 is very valuable indeed, some having been sold in 

 Nassau for no less a sum than four hundred dollars. 

 Although many of these Pearls are annually obtained 

 by the fishermen in the Bahamas, not more than one 

 in twenty proves to be a really good gem, and hence 

 probably their high price. 



*' Pink is the most common and only desirable 

 colour, although white, yellow and brown Pearls are 

 occasionally found. Even among the pink ones 

 there is usually some defect which mars their beauty 

 and materially injures them ; some are very irregular 

 in shape and covered apparently with knobs or pro- 

 tuberances ; others are too small, while many lack 



