PEAKL-FISHING IN CEYLON. 313 



nre assembled on the coast, busily employed in protecting the 

 divers by their incantations against the voracity of the sharks. 

 These are the great terror of the divers, but they have such 

 confidence in the skill or power of their conjurors that they 

 neglect every other means of defence. The divers are paid in 

 money, or receive a part of the oyster-shells in payment. Often, 

 indeed, they try to add to their gains by swallowing here or there 

 a pearl, but the sly merchant knows how to find the stolen 

 property. The oysters, when safely landed, are piled up on mats, 

 in places fenced round for the purpose. As soon as the animals 

 are dead, the pearls can easily be sought for and extracted from 

 the gaping shells. After the harvest has been gathered, the 

 largest, thickest, and finest shells, which furnish mother-of-pearl, 

 are sorted, and the remaining heap is left to pollute the air. 

 Some poor Indians, however, often remain for weeks on the spot, 

 stirring the putrid mass in the hopes of gleaning some forgotten 

 pearls from the heap of rottenness. The pearls are drilled and 

 stringed in Ceylon, a work which is performed with admirable 

 dexterity and quickness. For cleaning, rounding, and polishing 

 them, a powder of ground pearls is made use of. 



The Pacific also furnishes these costly ornaments to wealth 

 and beauty, but the pearls of California and Tahiti are less 

 prized than those of the Indian Ocean. 



Pearl-like excrescences likewise form on the inner surface of 

 our oysters and mussels, and originate in the same manner as 

 the true pearls. The formation of the pearl, however, is not 

 yet quite satisfactorily accounted for. Some naturalists believe 

 that the animal accumulates the pearl-like substance to give 

 the shell a greater thickness and solidity in the places where it 

 bas been perforated by some annelide or gasteropod ; and ac- 

 cording to Mr. Philippi, an intestinal worm stimulates the exu- 

 dation of the pearl-like mass, which, on hardening, encloses and 

 renders it harmless. 



Brilliancy, size, and perfect regularity of form are the 

 essential qualities of a beautiful pearl. Their union in a single 

 specimen is rare, but it is of course still more difficult to find a 

 number of pearls of equal size and beauty for a costly necklace 

 or a princely tiara. 



Nature has given the bivalves the same beauty of colouring 



