60 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



who died of hunger during a grievous famine, which de- 

 populated part of Guzerat. A large mausoleum or Ma- 

 hometan tomb was erected to his memory in the suburbs 

 of Cambay, with an inscription, telling us that during 

 this terrible scarcity the deceased had offered a measure 

 of pearls for an equal quantity of grain, but not being 

 able to procure it, he died of hunger.* 



A pearl is described by Madame de Barrera, as nearly 

 the size of a pigeon's egg, and pear-shaped ; it weighed 

 250 carats, and was known as " La Peregrina," and be- 

 longed to the crown of Spain. It was brought from 

 Panama in 1560 by Don Diego de Temes, who presented 

 it to Philip II. " It was then valued at fourteen thou- 

 sand ducats, but Freco, the king's jeweller, having seen 

 it, said it might be worth £14,000, £30,000, £50,000, 

 £100,000, as such a pearl was priceless." In 1779 a 

 pearl, which from its shape was called the Sleeping Lion, 

 was offered for sale at St. Petersburg, by a Dutchman; 

 it weighed 578 carats, and was bought in India for 

 £4500. 



The largest pearl known, I believe, is the one which 

 was exhibited at the South Kensington Museum, in the 

 loan collection, in the possession of A. J. B. Beresford 

 Hope, Esq. It weighs 3 oz., is 2 inches long, 4^ inches in 

 circumference, and is set as a pendant. 



The most productive pearl-fishery banks lie on the 

 west coast of Ceylon, between the eighth and ninth de- 

 grees of north latitude, near the level dreary beach of 

 Condatchy, Aripo, and Manaar.j- The other principal 

 fisheries are those of the Bahrein Islands in the Persian 

 Gulf, Coromandel, Catifa in Arabia (which produced 



* Forbes's ' Oriental Memoirs,' toI. ii. p. 18. 



t ' Voyage of the Novara,' vol. i. pp. 379, 380, 381. 



