“Sir,” said Conseil, “would you give us some details of the pearl fishery?”
“As to the fishing itself,” I asked, “or the incidents, which?”
“On the fishing,” replied the Canadian; “before entering upon the ground, it is as well to know something about it.”
“Very well; sit down, my friends, and I will teach you.”
Ned and Conseil seated themselves on an ottoman, and the first thing the Canadian asked was:
“Sir, what is a pearl?”
“My worthy Ned,” I answered, “to the poet, a pearl is a tear of the sea; to the Orientals, it is a drop of dew solidified; to the ladies, it is a jewel of an oblong shape, of a brilliancy of mother-of-pearl substance, which they wear on their fingers, their necks, or their ears; for the chemist it is a mixture of phosphate and carbonate of lime, with a little gelatine; and lastly, for naturalists, it is simply a morbid secretion of the organ that produces the mother-of-pearl amongst certain bivalves.”
“Branch of molluscs,” said Conseil.
“Precisely so, my learned Conseil; and, amongst these testacea the earshell, the tridacnae, the turbots, in a word, all those which secrete mother-of-pearl, that is, the blue, bluish, violet, or white substance which lines the interior of their shells, are capable of producing pearls.”
“Mussels too?” asked the Canadian.