Expeditiously, with celerity or dispatch.
Economically, with economy; with frugality.
You describe Pearls as being ranked among the number of Gems, although they are not Stones; what kind of substance are they?
Pearls are excrescences found in the shells of a large species of oyster, which are supposed to be produced by a disease of the fish. The best pearls are generally taken from the most fleshy part of the oyster, near the hinge of the shell, but inferior kinds are found in all parts of the fish, and adhering to the shells. Pearls, from many allusions made to them in the Old Testament, were not only known to the ancients, but were regarded by them as costly and precious gems.
How do they get the Oysters which contain them?
By diving under water and picking the oysters from the large beds at the bottom of the sea; or the rocks to which they adhere. The divers cast all the oysters they take into their boats, and carry them ashore, where they deposit them in heaps; they are then left till they become putrid, this being necessary in order to remove the pearls easily from the rough matter by which they are surrounded.
What sea produces the best and greatest number of Pearls?
The finest and greatest quantities are obtained off the coast of Ceylon; the pearl oyster is also found in the seas of the East Indies; in those of America, and in some parts of the European seas; but these last are much inferior. The Oriental pearls are the finest on account of their size, color, and beauty, being of a silvery white; while the Occidental pearls are smaller, and frequently tinged with a yellow or blackish hue.
Tinged, slightly colored.