1883.]. ‘Pearls and Pearl Bh A 741 
pounds of pearls were brought to Spain from these fisheries. In 
1574 Philip II obtained a pearl from Margarita which weighed 
259 carats and was considered to be worth $150,000. At present 
the fisheries, though vigorously prosecuted, produce fewer large 
pearls, and the best are considered not quite equal to the best 
oriental pearls, being of darker color. To the ordinary method 
of procuring the shells by diving they add a wooden frame set 
with curved spikes which scratches the shells from rocky bottoms 
and brings them up somewhat like a rake. In 1856 the pearl 
products imported into England from all parts of this region were 
valued at $112,000. 
Enough has been said of the fisheries, and before closing we 
may devote a little attention to the pearl in its literary, historical 
and artistic relations. 
Classical and ancient authors, treating of natural history, make 
humerous references to pearls. Athenzus states that in the In- 
dian seas a shell named derderi is found containing pearls, which 
are sold in Persia for their weight in gold. This would bea 
small price for a good pearl in our days. Pliny and Dioscorides 
asserted that the shell which produces pearls remains during the 
breeding season with the valves open and expanded at night. 
Thus they receive drops of dew from which pearls are conceived 
according to its quality. If the dew is pure the pearls which are 
Produced from it are of lucid whiteness, which correspond in size 
to the amount of dew received. If the dew is impure the pearls 
are dull or muddy. According to these authors the shell fish 
are afraid of thunder, and instantly close when they hear it. To 
this is due the occasional conception of hollow pearls, containing 
no substance. While in the sea, they assert, the pearl is soft and 
tender, and hardens on being taken from it. These myths are of 
Indian origin. 
Pliny thought that pearls came to their complete size and form 
in a month from the time the oyster received the dew at the sur- 
face of the sea. This poetic fancy of the ancients, in regard to 
the origin of pearls, has found expression more than once in 
Modern verse. Perhaps the most elegant rendering is contained 
in the following lines of Archbishop Trench : 
“ A dewdrop, falling on the ocean wave, 
Exclaimed in fear, ‘I perish in this grave!’ 
But, in a shell received, that drop of dew 
Unto a pearl of wondrous beauty grew ; 
