THE RAJAH OF DHOLPUR
Whose pearls were valued at $7,500,000
On almost every tropical sea that washes a shore near the equator, when the time of storm is over, boats ride over the shallows, and men dive from them for the pearl oyster as they have done for ages. Black slaves for Arab masters in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf: Tamil and Singhalese in the Indian waters: Polynesians about the islands of the South Seas: Indians and other natives along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of tropical America, and not a few white men in "dress" off the coasts of Australia. Your pearls have seen the dusky man-fish come silently and swiftly from the world of air to wrench the gaping shells that held them, from their anchorage. It may be your pearl lay twenty fathoms deep in the clear water of some lonely atoll in the great Pacific, among branching coral, and found its way from water's solitudes to the light of the Sun and admiring eyes by the hand of a bright-eyed Polynesian. It may have come from Egypt or the Indies, from Australia or Mexico; but from whatever quarter of the globe it came and by whom, it was born and grew somewhere at the bottom of the sea.
A PEARL OF LEGEND
Long ago, ere the great Nations of Europe came into existence; before Rome was, or Greece had made history: when the power of the Earth dwelt in the lands of the Sun and was for good or evil in the hands of princes, there lived in Travancore a ruler of renown. Of those who came from the north, he with his followers had subjugated the fierce native tribes inhabiting the country for many miles along the seacoast and back to the mountainous interior. Over all, to the utmost bounds of his territory, the land was fertile and very beautiful. Along the shores, but a short distance from the ocean, were numerous shallow stretches of water, formed by the meeting of the inland streams with the swift current of the sea which there sweeps the coast. In them fish abounded, yet were they free from the dangers of the outer waters, so that young and old could there disport themselves without fear. Though the tropic heat was often great there were no parched and barren wastes in the land, for the rains were many and the streams which ran to the sea from the mountains were numerous. Everywhere luxuriant verdure swayed to breezes that played to and fro over the rolling lowlands and about the hillsides, now coming from the water and now from the mountains. Coffee, rice, the palm, cocoanut, the areca-nut, the pepper, tamarind, and other tropical fruits and trees grew in rank abundance, and huge forest timbers sheltered many noble creatures of the wild.
At the first coming of this prince, fighting was constant and bloody. The hill tribes, more war-like than those of many lands, made frequent descents from their fastnesses, seeking by every ruse of barbarous warfare to exterminate the intruder. But this man was wary and alert. Possessing the confidence of his followers, they obeyed him with unquestioning obedience. Quick to move, merciless in his reprisals, he was soon feared by all the surrounding country and as it became known that he was also just and generous, peace presently followed.
Then did he seek to establish his kingdom wisely and well. He encouraged his subjects to cultivate the land, to fish the waters, and to trade with those who came by ship and over-land bringing all manner of things for barter.
Though he and his people were devout believers in the Veda, yet did he tolerate the faith of others, and considered the low-born, for Brahmanism had not yet established the extremes of caste which came later. He himself was a Kshattriya but he ruled the Brahmans and would not permit injustice to the Sudras, therefore was he as a god among his people.