592 APPENDIX 



there is a large pearl weighing 300 carats, but it is of medium quality only. A pearl 

 brought to the Spanish Court from Panama in the sixteenth century is said to have been as 

 large as a pigeon's egg. 



Admittedly the most beautiful of large pearls is one in the museum of Zosima in 

 Moscow, which has received the name " La PeJlegrina." It was found in India, is perfectly 

 spherical, of a pure white colour, and almost transparent, and weighs 28 carats. More 

 remarkable than any hitherto mentioned is the " Great Southern Ci'oss," which consists of 

 nine large pearls of a pure white colour and beautiful lustre, naturally joined together to 

 form a cross over an inch in length. This beautiful natural object was found in 1886 in a 

 pearl-oyster off' the north-west coast of Western Australia. It was shown at the Colonial 

 Exhibition in London in 1902, and is valued at ^£"10,000. 



The pearls of ordinary, evei'y-day occurrence are very much smaller than the 

 exceptionally large specimens described above. Special terms are used for pearls of 

 particular sizes : thus those with the dimensions of a walnut or thereabouts are termed 

 paragon-pearls, and those of the size of a cherry as cherry-pearls. Piece-pearls are smaller, 

 but not too small to be handled and dealt with separately, each exceeding a carat in weight. 

 Seed-, shot- or ounce-pearls are dealt with in the trade only in parcels ; and the same is the 

 case with sand- or dust-pearls, the largest of which are no bigger and sometimes even less 

 than a grain of millet. Fine Indian pearls are usually from one and a half to three times 

 the size of a pea. 



THE APPLICATION OP PEAELS. — This differs in nowise from that of precious 

 stones, which is mainly for purposes of ornament. Pearls have been valued as ornaments 

 from the earliest ages, and the favour in which they were held, especially by the Romans, 

 is evidenced by the writings of ancient authors. 



Although pearls and diamonds are alike in the purpose to which they are devoted, they 

 differ very widely in that while the latter need to be cut and polished to fit them for use as 

 ornaments the former need no preliminary treatment, for they leave the hand of nature 

 with a beauty which cannot be enhanced by artificial means. Polishing adds no lustre to 

 the surface of a dull pearl, nor can the form of an irregular pearl be made more regular by 

 grinding without destroying its lustre. 



Pearls are set in various ways, but never a jour, because of their imperfect transparency. 

 Fine pearls of large size are often mounted with a border of small diamonds or coloured 

 stones, and, on the other hand, a border of small pearls makes an effective setting for a fine 

 diamond or other precious stone. More frequently, however, pearls are bored and worn in 

 strings and ropes. The perforation is easily performed, the substance of pearls being 

 comparatively so soft, but as we have seen already the pearly laminae are very apt to scale 

 off" around the perforation. To attain the most beautiful effect possible in a string of 

 pearls, only such as associate well in form, size, and colour should be strung together. It 

 is by no means necessary that each pearl should be the exact counterpart of all the others, 

 for small differences between individual pearls do not affect the beauty of the tout ensemble 

 of a pearl necklace. For this reason, it is usual when choosing one pearl from a string to 

 cover over the adjacent pearls in order that their proximity may not prejudice or enhance 

 the effect of the pearl to be chosen. 



The fantastic forms often taken by baroque pearls make it possible to convert them 

 with slight additions and alterations into caricatures of men and things. A large 

 collection of objects of this kind, among which are some pearls of unusual size, is preserved 

 in the "Green Vaults'' in Dresden. One represents the figure of a Court dwarf, whose 

 body is formed of a suitabl}-shaped baroque pearl, the size of a hen's egg. A proof that 



