286 PEOSE HALIEUTICS. 



plebiscite throughout E,ome, and form, for a season, the 

 food of half the Trasteveri. The pearly matter here is 

 not procured, as in the bleak, from the washing of the 

 scales, but from the swim-bladder itself, which, previous 

 to trituration, looks like some fine orient pearl lying in 

 the body of the fish, an appearance rendered more strik- 

 ing from the strong contrasts it presents to the stomach, 

 which is quite black. No sooner are these soft silvery 

 bladders extracted, than they are instantly plunged into 

 a bottle of spirits-of-wine, which preserves their beauty 

 unimpaired tiU the artificer has occasion to use them; 

 he then macerates the requisite number in a solution of 

 isinglass till aU the pearly particles' are detached; and 

 having already prepared a supply of filmy glass beads of 

 difierent shapes, he introduces, by means of a blowpipe, 

 a layer of the pearl liquid into the interior of each 

 through a small hole left for the purpose at both ends of 

 the bead. The better to distribute it equally through- 

 out the cavity he gently shakes them on a sieve, and 

 after repeating the operation once or twice till aU look 

 solid, fills up any remaining vacancy with fused wax, 

 clears out the orifices of the holes to remove any ob- 

 struction, and finally strings them upon strong silk 

 thread, ready for sale. Amongst the many false things 

 sold in the city of Rome for genuine valuables, these 

 counterfeits, which are never intended to deceive pur- 

 chasers, are by far the most graceful. Mixed up with 

 much vile modern bronze, flaunting shell cameos, pigmy 

 temples in giallo or Irish ' nero antico,' the trash in the 

 trays of mosaicisti, and all the false coinage and pseudo- 

 antique gems palmed off on foreign public for genuine, 

 argentine pearls always look well, and but for their low 

 price would be universally admfred. But when it is told 

 that the whole gear of necklace, bracelets, brooch, and 

 ear-rings may be bought for a few scudi, no wonder if 

 the tiara'd dames who carry so many thousand pounds 



