Pearls are excrescences found in the shells of a large species of oyster, which are supposed to be produced by a disease of the fish.  The best pearls are generally taken from the most fleshy part of the oyster, near the hinge of the shell, but inferior kinds are found in all parts of the fish, and adhering to the shells.  Pearls, from many allusions made to them in the Old Testament, were not only known to the ancients, but were regarded by them as costly and precious gems.

How do they get the Oysters which contain them?

By diving under water and picking the oysters from the large beds at the bottom of the sea; or the rocks to which they adhere.  The divers cast all the oysters they take into their boats, and carry them ashore, where they deposit them in heaps; they are then left till they become putrid, this being necessary in order to remove the pearls easily from the rough matter by which they are surrounded.

What sea produces the best and greatest number of Pearls?

The finest and greatest quantities are obtained off the coast of Ceylon; the pearl oyster is also found in the seas of the East Indies; in those of America, and in some parts of the European seas; but these last are much inferior.  The Oriental pearls are the finest on account of their size, color, and beauty, being of a silvery white; while the Occidental pearls are smaller, and frequently tinged with a yellow or blackish hue.

     Tinged, slightly colored.

Does not the Pearl Oyster produce a substance called Mother-of-Pearl?

No; the beautiful substance so much used for inlaying boxes, and for ornamental knife-handles, &c., is produced from the shell, not of the pearl oyster, but of another sea-fish of the oyster kind.

What is Inlaying?

The art of ornamenting a plain surface of wood, or other material, with thin slices or leaves of a finer wood, of a different kind; as mahogany inlaid with ebony, &c., or with ivory, and other substances.  There are two kinds of inlaying; one, of the more ordinary sort, which consists only of compartments of different kinds of wood, inlaid with one another; the other, requiring greater skill, represents flowers, birds, and other figures.  The thin plates of wood or other substance, being sawed into slips, and cut into the required forms, are carefully joined, and afterwards strongly glued down on the block of wood, &c., intended to be thus ornamented.

     Compartment, a division, a separate part.

What is Ebony?

A hard, black-colored wood, growing in the countries of the Levant, &c.; there are, however, several black woods of different kinds which are also called ebony.

What is Ivory?

The tooth or tusk of the Elephant, which grows on each side of his trunk; it is somewhat like a horn in shape.  Ivory is much esteemed for its beautiful white color, polish, and fine grain when wrought.  It has been used from the remotest ages of antiquity; in the Scriptures we read of Solomon’s ivory throne, and also of “vessels of ivory,” and “beds of ivory:”  by which it appears to have been a chief article of luxury, as well as of trade.