The belief that the growth of pearls in the pearl-oyster was due to rain-drops is perpetuated in the Arab proverb: “The rain of the month of Nisan brings forth pearls in the sea and wheat on the land.”[[687]] This spring month was, and is still, the period when pearl-fishing begins in the Orient. Another pearl proverb repeats the evangelical saying in this form: “Do not throw pearls under the feet of swine.”
A Tonquinise legend of the origin of pearls represents them as springing from the blood of a young princess who was slain by the king, her father, because she had betrayed to her husband the secret of a magic bow, whose death-dealing arrows always flew to their mark. In his anger at his daughter’s act, the father drew his scimitar and beheaded her, but with her last breath she prayed that her blood might be turned to pearls. Her prayer was heard and now the finest pearls of this land are found in the waters about the place where she died.[[688]]
From blue sapphires the color may be extracted so that they become white, in such sort that they excellently imitate the diamond, so well, indeed, that the fraud can only be detected by an expert jeweller. This art was known at an early period, and no doubt induced many writers to ascribe certain of the qualities of the diamond to the sapphire. As illustrating this, a Rabbinical author states that a certain man went to Rome to sell a sapphire. The purchaser said to him: “I will buy it provided I may first test it.” He placed it on an anvil and struck it with a hammer; the anvil was split and the hammer was broken to pieces but the stone remained in its place uninjured.[[689]]
CLEOPATRA DISSOLVING HER PRICELESS PEARL AT THE BANQUET TO MARK ANTONY
Tapestry. Eighteenth century.
The virtues of the sapphire are enumerated at length by Bartolomæus Anglicus, the old scholastic philosopher, who flourished in the first half of the thirteenth century and taught theology in the famous University of Paris.[[690]] After noting the old dictum according to which the sapphire was the “gem of gems” and one worthy to adorn the fingers of kings, Bartolomæus proceeds to instruct his readers in regard to the wonderful curative powers of this beautiful gem. These appear always to be connected with its supposed calming and cooling influence. Thus it reduced the temperature in fevers and checked the flow of blood; for instance, if attached to the temples it stopped nose-bleed; if the heart were unduly excited, this agitation could be controlled by the power of the sapphire. Too profuse perspiration was also checked if a sapphire were worn. It shared with the diamond the virtue of reconciling discord. Its power as an antidote to poison was believed to be proved by an experiment in which a spider was placed in a box with a sapphire. After a short time the poor spider expired, done to death by the supreme virtue of the celestial stone. A like story was told by ancient writers in regard to the emerald. Of course, the chastening virtues of the sapphire are not forgotten, virtues which have caused it to be selected as especially appropriate for the rings of cardinals and high church dignitaries; this belief arose from the association of purity with the color of the heavens, the pure, unadulterated blue of the cloudless sky.
One of the rarest and most beautiful of the corundum gems of Ceylon is locally known there by the name padparasham. It is of a most rare and delicate orange-pink hue, the various specimens showing many different blendings of the pink and orange. The significance of the Cinghalese name seems to be somewhat obscure, but a probable conjecture explains it to mean “hidden ray of light”; another etymology would see in the first syllable, pad, an abbreviation of padma, lotus, the petals of this flower often having a soft orange tint. In this case the meaning would be “hidden lotus,” as though the very color-essence of the flower were enclosed within and shone through the gem.[[691]]
A Persian treatise on precious stones was composed by Mohammed Ben Mansur[[692]] in the thirteenth century of our era. This work was written for Sultan Abu Naçr Behadirchan, and consists of two divisions, the first treating of precious stones and the second of metals. It is interesting to note in this treatise the recognition of the essential likeness of the Oriental ruby, sapphire, topaz, etc.; these varieties of corundum are all grouped under the single designation “yakut.” Ben Mansur writes:[[693]]
The yakut is six-fold: 1, the red; 2, the yellow; 3, the black; 4, the white; 5, the green or peacock-hued; 6, the blue or smoky-hued. Some divide the yakut into four classes: red, yellow, dark, and white, reckoning the peacock-hued and the blue among the dark. The yakut cuts all stones except carnelian and diamond.
Although the Oriental carnelian is hard and difficult to cut or polish only popular prejudice accounts for this statement, as it falls far short of the diamond in hardness.