The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1904-11-02
MIRACLE PEARLS.
Images of the God Buddbs Are drown
TO order by Mussels.

You may live in China all your life
and find something new on the last
day" said one of the veteran mission
aries to me at Hangchow. "And on
our last trip out into the country on
our village rounds we came upon
these" producing pair of shells on
whose inner nacreous surface lay i'm
bedded rows OF 'bllster pearls" and the
famous miracle penrls"-tiny pearly
images of the Buddha In low relief
These miracle pearls have been
known as products of Chinese skill AMI
ingenuity for centuries. Every mu-
scum possesses one or more shells with
the pearly image embedded, and In the
old days of the East India trade the
New England sen captains used TO
bring them home from their cruises
They got them. of course. mt Canton.
but Canton no longer knows them or
shows them for sale, and persistent
questioning can get no clew MS to the
place where the miracles are made 10
order. They used to be sold Mt the
Buddhist temples IN Canton, and | had
been told that they were also brought
by the pilgrims as souvenirs Of their
visit to the sacred isle of Pootoo. In
the Chusan archipelago, but no one
knew where the pearl yards" were,
where the seat Of Chinese pearl cul-
ture might be.
~ saw these on the ledge Of the wall
I'm one house. and when I asked about
them they told me to come ana see"
and without any effort. prolonged in
tcrest. question or search the good mis-
slonary stumbled upon the whole busl-
ness of the miracle pearls.
Pearl rearing, II seems, was the chief
industry of that remote village in Che
kang province and had been its unique
speciality for ages. Each generation
had passed on the secrets of the art
and knew not when IL began. who first
taught or evolved the processes by
which the fresh water mussel Is in
duced TO retain mud pellets and small
metal, objects which are slipped into
the shells and TO diligently cover them
with nacreous substance.
The foreign visitor who had chanced
upon the miracle making village was
taken to a place where eight or ten men
sat around tables prylng the mussel
shells open to admit of little pellets of
baked clay and bits OF fiat metal inn
pressed evidently from die. In the
shape of seated Buddha.
The mud balls are slipped In, and the
mussel does the rest but the little
scraps Of Buddhas must be placed right
side mp with care, as Chinese aesthetic
culture has never reached the apprecl-
alton or evolution of an intnglio.
The mussels are put in ponds and left
there two or more years and are then
ready for opening and cutting the
"blisters' and Buddhas free from tho
shell surface. Whether the mussels
were fed by the pearl cultlvators the
visitor did not learn, nor just the ar
rnngement of rotation or alteration of
ponds of each seasons harvesting.
While the villagers carried on the
other usual Industries Of rice and silk
culture, the pearlng remained the chief
source of wealth, some families realz-
Ing as much as 800 silver dollars each
year from their pearl crop. The bls-
ter pearls 20 TO jewelers. ana are
worked up into elaborate Chinese hair
ornaments. and the miraculous images
of the Buddha, tiny. carefully modelled.
exquisite little half inch long jewels.
are sold as sacred treasures and tails
mans to pilgrims at the Buddhist
shrines around Hangchow and at Poo
too for the little while each season that
the limited supply lasts.-Chicago Trib-
une.