The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-04-02
Pearls and Their Origin.

During the earliest periods of which we
have authentic history, the oriental pear
appears to have been known and appreei,
ated. Job, who is supposed to have lived
about B. C. 1920, or according to Others
B. C. 2130, speaks of it as being in his time
of high value, and much esteemed. Solo
mon frequently refers to them, and Jere.
miah, speaking of the Nazarites of Jerusa
lem, makes use of beautiful simile in
describing them as more ruddy than pearls
In tae New Testament we frequently meet
with them, as inferring great riches ano
splendor. In Rome, pearls were extsn
sively used aud of great value. PEny
tells us that in his time the ladies were moi
content with using them as eardrops ano
rings, but had them embroidered on their
dresses and sandals. They were obtained
from the Red sea- or brought to Rome by
the Arabian merchants from the Indian
Ocean Amcug the ancient philosophers
effects were continually attributed tC
causes the most contrary to nature-lu
fact, merely wild guesses. The general
opinion appears to have been that they
were formed by drops of dew falling into
the shell, for which purpose it periodically
rose to the surface; and Pliny gravely in
forms us that if the atmosphere was thick
at the time, they were dark and clouded
if it was clear, they were white and
brilliant. OF the pearls Of ancient times
those belonging to Cleopatra are certainly
the most celebrated; aud though there i;
reason for believing that the account ot
her dissolying one of them in vinegar and
drinking it to Antony's health at supper j:
an historic fiction, yet that pearl or pearl:
of great value were in her possession il
pretty certain. 10 Plinys time the two
halves of magnificent pearl, said to have
been the fellow to the one destroyed, werC
hung in the ears Of the statue of Venus
Geuetrix in the Pantheon. This author
estimates the value of it at a sum equal tC
1875, 600 Julius Caesar gave e48, ,437
for one which he presented to one of biz
mistresses. There was so much difficulty
in obtaining pearls of exactly the SAINT
size and color that the Roman ladies, aboui
the time OF the Jugurthan war, gave then
the name of J'aioHeS, which appears Il
have been the first occasion on which thi
word, now so we'll known, was applied t,
shells. In Rome, if sold, guarantee o
their identity was required very Wis
law, which might now with benefit be re
enacted.
The pearls aud shells used at the pres
cot day are chiefly brought from the Is
land Of Ceylon. In the Atlantic Oeear
they are chiefly fshed for on the coast o
Terra Firma in the Gulf of Mexico nea
the Island of Cubagua, and on the Mar
gari,a or Pearl Islands. In the Paci6
they are plentiful on the Island of Gorgo
IA, along the coast Of the Bay of Panama
aud in the ocean around California, aud il
the adjacent Islands. la 1906, the Span
iards carried on a large pearl fishery il
the West Indies. About the same tim
adyeuturers focked to California from al
parts to enrich themselves with these jew
els, and in the beginning of the eighteenth
century, numbers from all the Wester
parts of Spanish America eOn-regate'
there for the same purpose