The buyer examined the stone and said: "I shall give you two thousand rupees for it."
The Indian thought the other was having a little joke at his expense and said, "Ah, my friend, do not laugh at me."
The buyer thought he had to do with a man who knew a little about pearls and said, "Very well, I'll give you three thousand rupees for it."
"Come, come, be serious!" said the Indian, "and do not waste my time with your jokes."
"Very well," replied the other, "I shall give you four thousand rupees for the stone."
The Indian, at last perceiving the dealer was in earnest, and very excited, wisely stood out for more. He sold for seven thousand rupees. Drawing five hundred rupees on account he raced back to the shop in time to replace the money he had extracted from the safe before its disappearance had been discovered. He considered he had done a very good day's work, and set up a shop of his own. The pearl was re-sold in Bombay for twenty-four thousand rupees!
Nowadays Zeila pearls, or most of them, are supposed to find their way into the hands of the only buyer, an Indian, who finances the divers on a large scale. But when the dhows are working they remain out for days, with the result that the shells open in the sun. The result is that many a stone is extracted and hidden away, the buyer's share thus being not so large. Of course, for every stone so concealed, one third its value is practically stolen from the buyer, but, apart from the ethics of such action it is very bad policy on the part of the diver. Stones so kept back are always sold to rogues who give only about one-third their real local value. Thus, all the thieves gain out of it is a bad conscience and a doubtful reputation.
Juma Bana, the Indian merchant I speak of, has always a little assortment of stones, wrapped up according to quality, in small pieces of red or white cloth. He is by way of being the local expert, and, by aid of his magnifying glass, will pick out the better grade stones from the inferior, telling you what is wrong with the latter as he does so. To please Juma a stone must be perfectly round, of a good colour, and without flaw. An almost microscopic scratch or spot constitutes a flaw. And yet it is Juma's misshapen collection of pearls that I love best to examine, even though he assures me that they are of no value at all. To my mind their very irregularity accentuates the beauty of their delicate indescribable lights. What happens to them I know not, but one can buy dozens of the smaller kinds for a song. Poor stones!
The pearl shells are worthy homes for the stones. They are very beautiful. It is as if they were lined with dissolved pearl to provide tiny baths for the fairies. They are, however, used for less romantic purposes, being made into buttons and ornaments for every day mortals. But no ornament could possibly be more beautiful than a plain mother-o'-pearl shell with its cool, pure lining of ice-white, bordered with delicate and deep greens, as the colour of the tropical sea in certain changing lights.