=*OTfc- 



Of PEARLS. 



*npHE uiips which navigated the Red Sea brought gold 

 7- and filver from Ophir and Tarfhifh ; they brought 

 myrrh, frankincenfe, and ivory, from Saba, and various 

 kinds of fpices from the continent of Afia, acrofs the Indian 

 ocean. If .we judge by the little notice taken of them in very 

 ancient times, the treafures which lay nearer home, in their 

 own feas, and upon their own mores, were very little fought 

 after, or fpoken of, in the days when the navigation of the 

 Arabian gulf was at its height. We are not, however, to be- 

 lieve that the pearl flfhery, even in thofe days, was totally 

 neglected; but foreign trade was grown to fuch a magnitude, 

 and its value fo immenfe, that we are not to be furprifed, that 

 articles, that were only a matter of ornament and luxury, 

 or of domeftic ufe, and did not enter into the medium of 

 Vol. V. Gg commerce, 



