I 



PLATE L 



tittder no efror as to the application of the text to the pearls fouiici 

 ill shells, he further adds, that he had before spoken of these pearls 

 in his book that treats upon the productions of the sea The 

 diamonds in those times were so scarce, and esteemed so highly, as 

 to be little known, except among princes, the smaller and most inferior 

 kinds alone excepted. The pearls were the most costly jewels em- 

 ployed in the ornaments for the ears, the neck, and fingers of the 

 fair sex, and the shells themselves were converted into various 

 articles of finery for their wardrobe and furniture. 



But it is not, as before observed, within our province in this 

 place, to enter into any such latitude of explanation as an ample 

 illustration of these remarks may be conceived to merit. It is our 

 object only to express ourselves in general terms : it may be sufficient 

 therefore to observe, that among the luxuries of the great in the times 

 of Pliny, Oppian, and Juvenal, it is certain they indulged their 

 peculiar taste in the study of these productions of the deep. They 

 not only amassed together the more curious among those shells 

 whose beauty attracted their regard, they entered also to some ex- 

 tent into their history and manners, and were sufficiently informed 

 as to their natural properties to render them subservient to the 

 general purposes of luxury and life. They knew the distinctions 

 between the land, the fresh-water, and the marine tribes of shells, 

 and they proceeded with minuteness and sometimes fully into their 



* (Adamas.) Proximum apud nos Indicis Arabicisque margaritis pre- 

 tittm est, de quibus in none diximus volumine inter res marinas/' P/t>t^ 

 &Ut, Nat, libi 37* cap,A» . : . „4S 



