Mr. Kelaart in his reports to the Government of Ceylon (1857-1859), seems to be the first to allude to the part played by parasites in the production of pearls in tropical seas. The researches of Professors Herdman and Hornel confirmed the deductions of Kelaart that the larva of a Cestoid was the identified pearl parasite. Monsieur Seurat, the French naturalist, who made a long study of the pearl oyster of the Pacific, was also convinced that pearl formation was caused by a parasite. Whatever the cause of the irritability which brings into action the nacreous secretion of the tortured oyster, it is evident that the protective process is a long one. The pearl culture industry of the Chinese and Japanese has shown that it takes twelve months for the irritant to be covered with a coat of a tenth of a millimetre. A new layer is formed over the old one about once a year. Pearlers say that an oyster must be at least four years old before pearls begin to form properly, and that it does not mature for from 7 to 9 years. The beautiful lustre of the pearl Sir Everard Home held to arise from a central cell of bright nacre, the diaphanous substance admitting the light rays. “Upon taking a split pearl,” he writes, “and putting a candle behind the cell, the surface of the pearl became immediately illuminated; and upon mounting one with coloured foil behind the cell, and by putting a candle behind the foil, the outer convex surface became universally of a beautiful pink colour.” The examination of a half pearl will show the concentric formation which is like an onion, and the process called “skinning” is often resorted to in the endeavour to gain a more lustrous jewel by removing the outer layer. The translucency of the perfect pearl has not been correctly reproduced by any artificial production. A curious passage in Jerome Cardan’s “De Rerum Varietate” (16th century), repeats an old saying that the lustre and polish on pearls arises from doves playing with them. To understand this seemingly absurd story it is necessary to carry our minds far back to the famous Greek oracle at Dodona in Epirus. According to Herodotus the Phœnicians carried off the sacred women from Thebes in Egypt to the Libian oracle of Zeus Ammon and to Dodona—the legend at Dodona saying that they came in the form of two doves. The Greek word for “doves” is the same as that for “priestesses,” namely, PELEIAI. The connection can be carried further, if necessary, but it is sufficient to establish the tie between women and the doves. The word PELEIAI was freely used for both and came to be employed as an endearing term for wise women just as we today call a woman of talent “Diva.” It is a proven fact and an extremely ancient one that pearls worn near the skin of a woman—especially, according to ancient philosophy, near one in whose horoscope the moon was powerfully placed at birth—are improved in lustre and tone. So let the “Doves” (peleiai) be wise and play with their pearls.
Tavernier writes of “the most beautiful pearl in the world” which belonged to Imenheit, Prince of Muscat. After a lavish entertainment which the Khan of Ormus gave in honor of the Prince, the latter took off a chain which he wore round his neck and to which was attached a small bag. From the bag he drew forth this wonderful pearl of perfect sphericity, so translucent that the light could almost be seen through it. The weight of this gem was 12 carats and so high a value did Prince Imenheit place on it that he refused 2000 tomans for it from his host, the Khan of Ormus, who coveted it as a present for the King of Persia, and 40,000 crowns with which he was later tempted by an agent of the Grand Mogul. This pearl was discovered off the Persian coast. Another great pearl which, according to Tavernier, was the most perfect ever discovered, was found at Catifa, a famous fishery in Pliny’s time. The great traveller says that the King of Persia obtained it from an Arabian merchant in 1633. It was a pearl of great size and a “pearl of great price,” the King giving 1,400,000 livres (about $550,000) for it. It was pear-shaped, and of perfect colour and symmetry. The weight is not stated, but it was said to be about 1½ inches in length and 63 inches in diameter at its greatest part. The “Hope” pearl of cylindrical form weighs 454 carats. This gem belonged to Mr. Henry Thomas Hope, so well-known in connection with the “Hope” diamond. Another famous pearl of 300 carats once adorned the Imperial crown of Austria. “La Pellegrina,” an Indian white circular pearl of 28 carats, said to be the most perfect specimen in the world today, was in the Zosima Museum, Moscow. Nine large pearls interlinked so as to naturally form a true representation of the Southern Cross were discovered in a pearl oyster off the West Australian Coast by Mr. Kelly, of Roeburn, who was familiarly known as “Shiner” Kelly. The crew of his lugger viewed it with superstitious fear and it was buried for some years. It was afterwards resurrected and exhibited at the Colonial and Indian exhibition, London, in 1886, where it caused some sensation. The pearls which formed the cross were at first thought by many to be joined together by craft, but experts with powerful magnifying glasses speedily dispelled this illusion and proved that nature, not man, was the artist who reproduced the Star Cross of the Heavens—the Cross of Australian Unity—in pearls in a sea oyster.
In the year 1579 a pearl of 250 carats was obtained amongst others by the agents of Philip II, of Spain, from the Island of Margarita in the West Indies. It was said to be worth 150,000 dollars. Marco Polo writes that the King of Maabar wears pearls and gems worth more than a city’s ransom. “Nobody is permitted to take out of his kingdom a pearl weighing more than half a saggio (a Venetian weight, the sixth of an onze), unless he manages to do it secretly. The King every year proclaims through the realm that if anyone possesses a pearl of great worth and will bring it to him, he (the King), will pay three times as much as its value. Everybody is glad to do this and thus the King gets all into his own hands, giving every man his price.” This King wore a necklace on which 104 pearls and rubies of great size were strung on fine silk, and every day, following the custom of his ancestors, he had to say 104 prayers to the gods. The number is disputed but in an occult sense the Tibetan prayer of Victory over the 104 devils seems to confirm it. The pearl necklace which Muhammed forced the Hindu King Jaipal to surrender to him (1001 A. D.), is said to have been made of great pearls. It was valued at 20,000 dinars (more than 500,000 dollars). We read in the Book of Genesis of the terrible famine which affected the peoples of the earth and drove them to seek corn in the land of Egypt where doubtless, owing to the great pull on her stocks, some anxiety was beginning to be felt. The Arabian writer, Ebn Hesham, describes a sepulchre in Yemen which had been discovered after some heavy floods. In this sepulchre lay the embalmed body of an Arabian princess around whose neck were 7 strands of pearls, age-stained and lustreless. There were rings set with precious stones on her fingers and toes, 7 jewelled armlets on each of her arms and 7 jewelled anklets about each ankle. In the tomb treasure was found, and on a tablet at her head she had caused to be written the following inscription, the translation of which by Mr. Forster is reproduced by Mr. William Jones, F.S.A.:
“In thy name, O God, the God of Himyar,
I, Tajah, the daughter of Dzu Shefarr, sent my servant to Joseph,
And he, delaying to return to me, I sent my handmaid,
With a measure of silver, to bring me back a measure of flour:
And not being able to procure it, I sent her with a measure of gold:
And not being able to procure it, I commanded them to the ground:
And finding no profit in them, I am shut up here.