224 APPENDIX. 



Bochart fays thcfe are called Darra, or Dora in Arabic, 

 which fcems to be the general word for all pearls in 

 fcripture, whereas the peninim is one in particular. In the 

 Red Sea, where it holds the firil rank among pearls, it is 

 called Lule fmgle, or* Lulu el Berber, L e. the pearl of 

 Berber, Barabra, or Beja, the country of the Shepherds^ 

 which we have already fpoken of at large, extending from 

 the northern tropic, fouthward, to the country of the Shan- 

 gall a or Troglodytes. Androilhenes fays, the ancient name 

 of chefe pearls was Berberis, which he believes to be an In- 

 dian word, and fo it is, underftanding, as the ancients did, 

 India to mean the country I have already mentioned be- 

 tween the tropics. 



The character of this pearl is extreme whitenefs, and 

 even in this whitenefs Pliny juftly fays there are (hades 

 or differences. To continue to ufe his words, the cleareft 

 of thefe are found in the Red Sea, but thofe in India have 

 the colour of the flakes, or diviuons of the lapis fpecularis. 

 The moil excellent are thofe like a folution of alum, limpid, 

 milky like, and even with a certain almoft imperceptible 

 call of a fiery colour. Theophraftus fays, that thefe pearls 

 are tranfparent, as indeed the foregoing defcription of Pliny 

 would lead us to imagine; butitis not fo, and if they were, 

 it is apprehended they would lofe all their beauty and va- 

 lue, and approach too much to glafs. 



It has been erronenoufly faid, that pearl lliells grow 

 upon roek^ and again, that they are caught by nets. This 



is 



* Bochart reads this Lala falfely, miflaking the vowel point a for u, but there is no fuch 

 word in Arabic. 



