PEA 
which time he may gather 150 oysters, if 
they are numerous j but he sometimes gains 
not more than from five to a dozen, accom- 
panied by coral pieces of rock and other 
substances, for he has no time to separate 
and examine what he seizes. When 300 
boats are employed in the fishery, it is sup- 
posed that at least 1500 divers are constant- 
ly descending, the noise of which resembles 
the incessant roaring of a cataract. The 
return of the fleet in regular order, at one 
or two P. M. and their arrival, with the 
crowds waiting to welcome tlieir return, 
presents a very animating and gratifying 
spectacle. 
The method adopted to extract the pearls 
is dreadfully disgusting and unwholesome, 
as they do not undertake this operation till 
the oysters have been deposited in heaps for 
ten days, or till the flesh has become de- 
cidedly putrid ; the reason for so doing is 
obvious, as the particles of decayed matter 
and maggots are readily floated off by re- 
peated washings in inclined receptacles, so 
contrived as to arrest the progress of even 
the smallest pearls, as they descend by their 
weight. Every possible precaution is taken, 
by picking and sifting, to secure the whole 
of the produce, and yet it is said that vast 
numbers are lost. 
After the most valuable are selected, they 
are sent to be drilled ; a most ingenious and 
delicate operation, which is thus performed : 
a piece of wood in the shape of an inverted 
cone is placed upon three legs, raising it 
about one fool from the ground : holes of 
vaiious dimensions are made in the surface 
to receive the pearls : the person who drills 
sits close to. the machine; he then drives 
the pearls steady into their sockets. “ A 
well-tempered needle is fixed in a reed 
five inches long, with an iron point at the 
other end, formed to play in the socket of 
a cocoa niit shell, which presses on the fore- 
head of the driller. A bow is formed of a 
piece of bamboo and a string. The work- 
man brings his right knee in a line with the 
machine, and places on it a small cup, form- 
ed of part of a cocoa nut shell, which is 
filled with water to moderate the heat of 
friction. He bends his head over the ma- 
chine, and applying the point of the needle 
to a pearl «unk in one of the pits, drills with 
great facility, every now and tlien dexter- 
ously dipping the little finger of his right 
hand in the water, and applying it to the 
middle, without impeding ,the operation. 
In this manner he bores a pearl in the space 
of two or three minutes, and in the course 
PEA 
of a day perforates 300 small, or 600 lai ge 
pearls.” 
There are different methods of fishing for 
pearls practised in othei- parts of the world ; 
but as the Ceylon fishery eclipses them all, 
and the simplicity of the invention is so ob- 
vious, it would be well if it were universally 
adopted. 
PE.4.Ri.-spor, is a fossil of the calcareous 
kind, being composed of carbonate of lime, 
with the oxides of iron and manganese : it 
has received different names, and occurs 
massive, disseminated, and crystalized : its 
colours are white, often with shades of grey, 
yellow, or red ; but by mere exposure to 
the air its colour darkens, it becomes brown, 
and at length nearly black. Specific gra- 
vity about 2.8. It does not melt before the 
blow pipe, but blackens : it effervesces with 
acids; it is said by Bergman to consist of 
Carbonate of lime 50 
Oxide of iron 22 
Oxide of manganese 2^ 
100 
PEARLSTEIN, or Pearlstone, in mi- 
neralogy, occurs in tound and longish ve- 
sicles. Its lustre is shining and pearly, and 
its colour varies from tire pearl to the flesh- 
red and greyish black. It is composed of 
thin, concentric, lamellar concretions. It 
is translucent on the edges, easily frangible, 
and soft. It occurs in porphyry, and con- 
tains balls of obsidian, and is tbund in Hun- 
gary. It is composed of 
Silex 75.25 
Alumina 12, 
Oxide of iron 1.6 
Potash 4.5 
Eime 2.5 
Water 2.5 
98.35 
Loss 1.65 
100 
PEAT, or, as it is sometimes called. 
Turf, is a congeries of vegetable matter, in 
which the remains of organization are more 
or less visible ; consisting of the trunks of 
trees; of leaves, fruits, and stringy fibres, 
the remains of aquatic mosses. It occurs 
in extensive beds called peat mosses, occu- 
pying the surface of the soil, or covered to 
the depth of a few feet with sand, gravel, 
and other matters. It is met with in great 
abundance in the northern, and in some of 
the central districts of Europe : in moist. 
