608 A DESCRIPTION OF 
machine is suspended by a rope, and dragged along those 
rocks where the Coral is most abundant ; and such as is 
broken off either becomes entangled in the hemp, or falls 
into the nets. 
Coral is bought by weight, and its value increases in a 
certain ratio according to its size. Beads of large size 
are worth about forty shillings an ounce, whilst small 
ones do not sell for more than four shillings. Large 
pieces of Coral are sometimes cut into balls, and exported 
to China, to be worn in the caps of certain persons, as an 
insignia of office. These, if perfectly sound and of good 
colour, and upwards of an inch in diameter, have been 
known to produce, in that market, as much as three hun- 
dred to four hundred pounds sterling each. There are 
extant many beautiful pieces of sculpture in coral; as 
this substance has in all ages been considered an admir- 
able material on which to exhibit the artist's taste and 
skill. Probably the finest specimens of sculptured Coral 
that are known, are a chess-board and men, in the 
palace of the Tuilleries. 
The Chinese have, within the last few years, succeeded 
in cutting Coral beads of much smaller dimension than 
has hitherto been effected by any European artist. 
These, which are not larger than small pins' heads, are 
called Seed Coral, and are now imported from China into 
this country in very considerable quantity for necklace?. 
Nearly the whole of the Coral that is used is of red colour, 
white Coral being considered of little value either as an 
article of commerce or decoration. There are modes of 
imitating Coral so exactly, that, without a close inspec- 
tion, it is sometimes impossible to discover the difference 
betwixt the real article and the counterfeit. 
The Corallines are submarine productions, resembling 
plants, consisting of.stalks and branches, often beautifully 
ramified, and composed of joints of an oblong figure, in- 
serted into one another. They are now called Lithophytes, 
