We cannot wonder at the estimation in which these beautiful productions of nature have always been held. Our Lord speaks of “a merchantman seeking goodly pearls,” and once of a “pearl of great price.” The ancients held them in great esteem. Ahasuerus had a chamber with tapestry covered with valuable pearls. Julius Cæsar offered to Servilia, the mother of Brutus, an “Orient pearl,” valued at money representing a million sesterces;[27] Cleopatra’s expensive draught is estimated by Pliny at the equivalent of £80,729; Lollia Paulina, wife of Caligula, used to put on about £200,000 sterling’s worth of them on high days and holidays.
In our own country Sir Thomas Gresham powdered up a pearl worth £65,000, in Queen Elizabeth’s time, and drank it up à la Cleopatra, excepting only that he took it in wine instead of in vinegar. It was done in vain-glory to outshine the Spanish ambassador, with whom he had wagered to give a more expensive entertainment than he could.
Scottish pearls, which are slightly bluish in tint, were much celebrated in the Middle Ages, and were sent to London from the rivers Tay and Isla; the trade carried on in the present century, the Rev. Mr. Bertram tells us, has become of considerable importance.
The pearl, according to the same authority, is found in a variety of the mussel which is characterised by the valves being united by a broad hinge. “The pearl fisheries of Scotland,” he adds, “may become a source of wealth to the people living on the large rivers, if prudently conducted.” Mr. Unger, a dealer in gems in Edinburgh, having discerned the capabilities of the Scotch pearl as a gem of value, has established a scale of prices which he gives for them, according to their size and quality; and the beautiful pearls of our Scottish streams are now admired beyond the Orient pearl. Empresses and queens, and royal and noble ladies, have made large purchases of these gems. Mr. Unger estimates the sum paid to pearl-finders in the summer of 1864 at £10,000. The localities successfully fished have been the classic Doon, the Forth, the Tay, the Don, the Spey, the Isla, and most of the Highland rivers of note.
Passing on to another of ocean’s beautiful treasures, coral, it must be understood that the valuable coral of commerce used for purposes of ornament has little in common with that of the coral islands, while in a scientific point of view it does not come under the same classification at all. The coral used in jewellery, carvings, and ornaments belongs to the group Corallinæ, of the order Gorgonidæ, while that of the reefs or islands belongs to the large group of Madrepores.
CORAL.
CORAL ISLAND.
The coral was long considered a sea-plant, but what was once taken for a flower is, in fact, a kind of polyp, which lives in colonies. A branch of living coral is an aggregation of animals united among themselves by a common tissue, yet seemingly enjoying a separate existence. The branch undoubtedly owes its origin to an egg, and consists of two distinct parts—the one hard, brittle, and stony; the other external, and soft and fleshy. The latter is a united family of polyps, animals having feelers or tentacles, and very sensitive, and further, possessing generative or budding powers. The subject is, however, of a nature too scientific to be fully treated here. The Greeks called it a “daughter of the sea,” and as in so many other things, they were right. The fisheries are principally confined to the Mediterranean, and the fishing is conducted mainly by sailors from Genoa, Leghorn, and Naples. It is so fatiguing that it is a common saying in Italy that a sailor obliged to go to the coral fishery must either be a thief or an assassin. The saying conveys a good idea enough of the occupation. The best men can only earn four to six hundred francs (£16 to £24) in the season of six months. They work eighteen hours per diem, and are allowed very little more rations than unlimited biscuit and water. “The barques sent to the fishing range from six to fifteen tons; they are strong, and well adapted for the labour; their rig is a great lateen sail and a jib or staysail. The stern is reserved for the capstan, the fishers, and the crew; the fore part of the vessel is reserved for the requirements of the padrone or master.