206 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



[Ceylon. 



The pearls are then drilled. The large ones are generally drilled first, 

 in order to bring in the hand to work with more ease on the smaller size, and 

 an expert workman in the course of a day will perforate 300 small, or 600 

 large pearls. They are then washed in salt and water, to prevent the stains 

 which would otherwise be occasioned by the perforating instrument. 



The next branch of the business is the arranging tl»e pearls on strings ; 

 this is considered the most difficult operation in the profession of the pearl 

 merchant, and is one in which very few excel 



The pearls of the largest size, being most costly, and esteemed as em- 

 blems of greatness, find a ready sale among the rich natives of the Nizam s 

 dominions, Guzerat, and the other parts of India, 



The finest annee pearls, from the size of the sieve No. 30, to that of 

 No. 80, which make most beautiful necklaces, are sent to Europe. 



A handsome necklace of pearls smaller than a large pea, costs from 

 i?170 to i?300; but one about the size of a pepper-corn, may be procured 

 for £15: the former pearls sell at a guinea each, and the latter at eighteen 

 pence. When the pearls dwindle to the size of small shot, they are sold at a 

 very trifling price. 



The smaller sorts are sent to the markets of Hydrabad, Poona, and 

 Guzerat; in which last-mentioned place, pearls of a yellow tinge are prefer- 

 red to those of a pure white, being considered as having arrived at greater 

 maturity, less liable to fade, and retaining their lustre to a longer period. 

 The refuse and lower orders of all the pearls turn to good account in the 

 China market, where those of superior value cannot be so readily sold. 



Pearls are sometimes met with of various colours, of an exquisite silver- 

 like brightness, transparent, semi-transparent, opaque, brown, and black. 



Pearls from the fishery of Ceylon are more esteemed in England than 

 from any other part of the world, being of a more regular form, and of a 

 finer silvery white than the Persian pearl. They should be chosen round, of 

 a bright lustre, free from stains, foulness, and roughness. They are some- 

 times brought to Europe undrilled, but are not of so much value as when 

 drilled and strung ; and the pearls should be as near as possible of an equal 

 quality throughout each string. 



The finest, and what is called the true shape of the pearl, is a perfect 

 round ; but if pearls of a considerable size are of the shape of a pear, as is 

 not unfrequently the case, they are not less valued, as they serve for ear- 

 rings and other ornaments ; their colour should be a pure white, and that 

 not a dead and lifeless, but a clear and brilliant one ; they must be perfectly 

 free from foulness, and their surface must be naturally smooth and glossy. 

 Pearls that are rough on the surface, spotted, or dull in colour, irregular in 



