Chapter IX: Introduction (8)

There are three shell fish in the Red Sea which regularly are sought after as containing pearls. The first is a mussel, and this is of the rarest kind, whether they are now failed in number, or whether they were at any former time frequent, is now unknown. They are chiefly found in the north end of the Gulf, and on the Egyptian side. The only part I have ever seen them was about Cosseir, and to the northward of it, where I must observe there was an ancient port, called Myos Hormos, which commentators have called the Port of the Mouse, when they should have translated it, the Harbour of the Mussel. This fish contains often pearls of great beauty for lustre and shape, but seldom of a white or clear water. Pliny relates this to be the case in the Italian seas, and also in the Thracian Bosphorus, where he observes they are more frequent.

The second sort of shell which generally contains the pearl is called Pinna. It is broad and semicircular at the top, and decreases till it turns sharp at the lower end, where is the hinge. It is rough and figured on the outside, of a beautiful red colour, exceedingly fragil, and sometimes three feet long. In the inside it is cloathed with a most beautiful lining called Nacre, or mother-of-pearl, white, tinged with an elegant blush of red. Of this most delicate complexion is the pearl found in this fish, so that it seems to confirm the sentiments of M. Reamur on the formation of pearls, that they are formed of that glutinous fluid which is the first origin of the shell, that it forms the pearl of the same colour and water that is communicated to it from that part of the shell with which it is more immediately in contact, and which is generally observed in the pinna to be higher in colour as it approaches the broadest, which is the reddest end.

Upon the maturest consideration, I can have no doubt that the pearl found in this shell is the penim or peninim rather, for it is always spoken of in the plural, to which allusion has been often made in scripture. And this derived from its redness is the true reason of its name. On the contrary, the word pinna has been idly imagined to be derived from penna, a feather, as being broad and round at the top, and ending at a point, or like a quill below. The English translation of the scripture, erroneous and innacurate in many things more material, translates this peninim by rubies[95], without any foundation or authority, but because they are both red, as are bricks and tiles, and many other things of base and vile materials. The Greeks have translated it literally pina, or pinna, and the shell they call Pinnicus; and many places occur in Strabo, Elian, Ptolemy, and Theophrastus, which are mentioned famous for this species of pearl. I should imagine also, that by Solomon saying it is the most precious of all productions, he means, that this species of pearl was the most valued, or the best known in Judea. For though we learn from Pliny that the excellency of pearls was their whiteness, yet we know the pearls of a yellowish cast are those esteemed in India to this day, as the peninim, or reddish pearl was in Judea in the days of Solomon.

The third sort of pearl-bearing shell is what I suppose has been called the Oyster; for the two shells I have already spoken of surely bear no sort of likeness to that shell-fish, nor can this, though most approaching to it, be said any way to resemble it, as the reader will judge by a very accurate drawing given of it, now before him.

Bochart says these are called Darra, or Dora in Arabic, which seems to be the general word for all pearls in scripture, whereas the peninim is one in particular. In the Red Sea, where it holds the first rank among pearls, it is called Lule single, or[96]Lulu el Berber, _i. e._ the pearl of Berber, Barabra, or Beja, the country of the Shepherds, which we have already spoken of at large, extending from the northern tropic, southward, to the country of the Shangalla or Troglodytes. Androsthenes says, the ancient name of these pearls was Berberis, which he believes to be an Indian word, and so it is, understanding, as the ancients did, India to mean the country I have already mentioned between the tropics.

The character of this pearl is extreme whiteness, and even in this whiteness Pliny justly says there are shades or differences. To continue to use his words, the clearest of these are found in the Red Sea, but those in India have the colour of the flakes, or divisions of the lapis specularis. The most excellent are those like a solution of alum, limpid, milky like, and even with a certain almost imperceptible cast of a fiery colour. Theophrastus says, that these pearls are transparent, as indeed the foregoing description of Pliny would lead us to imagine; but it is not so, and if they were, it is apprehended they would lose all their beauty and value, and approach too much to glass.

It has been erronenously said, that pearl shells grow upon rocks, and again, that they are caught by nets. This is certainly a contradiction, as nobody would employ nets to gather fish from among rocks. On the contrary, all kinds of pearl are found in the deepest, stillest water, and softest bottom. The parts of most of them are too fine to bear the agitation of the sea among rocks. Their manners and œconomy are little known, but, as far as I have observed, they are all stuck in the mud upright by an extremity, the mussel by one end, the pinna by the small sharp point, and the berberi, or lule, by the hinge or square part which projects from the round.

In shallow and clear streams I have seen small furrows or tracts, upon the sandy bottom, by which you could trace the mussel, from its last station, and these not straight, but deviating into traverses and triangles, like the course of a ship in a contrary wind laid down upon a map, the tract of the mussel probably in pursuit of food. The general belief is, that the mussel is constantly stationary in a state of repose, and cannot transfer itself from place to place. This is a vulgar prejudice, and one of those facts that are mistaken for want of sufficient pains, or opportunity, to make more critical observation. Others finding the first opinion a false one, and that they are endowed with power of changing place like other animals, have, upon the same foundation, gone into the contrary extreme, so far as to attribute swiftness to them, a property surely inconsistent with their being fixed to rocks. Pliny and Solinus say, that the mussel have leaders, and go in flocks, and that their leader is endowed with great cunning, to protect himself and his flock from the fishers, and when he is taken, the others fall an easy prey. This however I think we are to look upon as a fable. Some of the most accurate observers having discovered the motion of the mussel, which is indeed wonderful, and that they lie in beds, which is not at all so, have added the rest to make their history complete.

It is observed that pearls are always the most beautiful in those places of the sea where a quantity of fresh water falls. Thus in the Red Sea they were always most esteemed that were fished from Suakem southward, that is in those parts corresponding to the country anciently called Berberia, and Azamia, from reasons before given; on the Arabian coast, near the island Camaran, where there is abundance of fresh water; and the island of Foosht, laid down in my map, where there are springs; there I purchased one I had the pleasure to see taken out of the shell. It has been said that the fish of these shells are good, which is an error; they were the only shell-fish in the Red Sea I found not eatable. I never saw any pearl shells on either side southward of the parallel of Mocha in Arabia Felix. As it is a fish that delights in repose, I imagine it avoids this part of the gulf, as lying open to the Indian Ocean, and agitated by variable winds.

In that part of my narrative where I speak of my return through the Desert of Nubia, and the shells found there, I have likewise mentioned the mussel found in the salt springs that appear in various parts of that desert. These likewise travel far from home, and are sometimes surprised by the ceasing of the rains, at a greater distance from their beds than they have strength and moisture to carry them. In many of these shells I have found those kind of excrescences which we may call Pearls, all of them ill-formed, foul, and of a bad colour, but of the same consistence, and lodged in the same part of the body as those in the sea. The mussel, too, is in every respect similar, I think larger, the outer skin or covering of it is of a vivid green. Upon removing this, which is the epidermis, what next appears is a beautiful pink, without gloss, and seemingly of a calcareous nature. Below this, the mother-of-pearl, which is undermost, is a white without lustre, partaking much of the blue, and very little of the red, and this is all the difference I observed between it and the pearl-bearing mussel in the Red Sea; but even this latter I always found in still water, soft bottom, and far from stony or rocky ground. None of these pearl mussels, either in the Red Sea or the desert, have any appearance of being spinners, as they are generally described to be.

I have said that the Baherein has been esteemed the place whence the greatest quantity of pearls are brought. I would be understood to mean, that this has been the reputed greatest regular market from antiquity to the present time. But Americus, in his second navigation, says, that he found an unknown people of that continent, who sold him above 54 pound weight for 40 ducats[97]. And Peter the Martyr says, that Tunacca, one of the kings of that country, seeing the great desire the Spaniards had for pearls, and the value they set upon them, sent some of his own people in search of them, who returning the fourth day, brought with them 12 pounds of pearls, each pound 8 ounces. If this is the case, America surely excells both Africa and Asia in the quantity of this article.

The value of pearls depends upon size, regularity of form, (for roundness is not always requisite) weight, smoothness, colour, and the different shades of that colour. Suetonius says, that Cæsar gave to Servilia, Marcus Brutus’s mother, a pearl worth about L. 50,000 of our money. And Cleopatra, after vaunting to her lover, Mark Antony, that she would give him a supper which should cost two hundred and fifty-thousand pounds, for this purpose dissolved one of the pearls which she carried in her ears, which amounted to that price, and drank it. The other, it is said, was carried afterwards to Rome by Augustus Cæsar, sawn in two, and put in the ears of Venus Genetrix.

The price of pearls has been always variable. Pliny seems to have over-rated them much, when he says they are the most valuable and excellent of all precious stones. He must probably have had those just mentioned in his view, for otherwise they cannot bear comparison with diamonds, amethysts, rubies, or sapphires.

It has been observed to me by the pearl fishers in the east, that when the shell is smooth and perfect, there they have no expectation of a pearl, but are sure to find them when the shell has begun to be distorted and deformed. From this it would seem, as the fish turned older, the vessels containing the juice for forming the shell, and keeping it in its vigour, grew weak and ruptured; and thence, from this juice accumulating in the fish, the pearl was formed, and the shell brought to decay, perfectly in the manner, as I have before said, supposed by M. Reamur.

In Scotland, especially to the northward, in all rivers running from lakes, there are found mussels that have pearls of more than ordinary merit, though seldom of large size. I have purchased many hundreds, till lately the wearing of real pearls coming into fashion, those of Scotland have increased in price greatly beyond their value, and superior often to the price of oriental ones when bought in the east. The reason of this is a demand from London, where they are actually employed in work, and sold as oriental. But the excellency of all glass or paste manufactory, it is likely, will keep the price of this article, and the demand for it within bounds, when every lady has it in her power to wear in her ears, for the price of sixpence, a pearl as beautiful in colour, more elegant in form, lighter and easier to carry, and as much bigger as she pleases, than those famous ones of Cleopatra and Servilia. I shall only further observe, that the same remark on the shell holds in Scotland as in the east. The smooth and perfect mussel shell rarely produces a pearl, the crooked and distorted shell seldom wants one.

I shall here mention a very elegant sort of manufactory, with which I cannot positively say the ancients were acquainted, which is fineering, or inlaying with the inside of the shell called mother-of-pearl, known to the dealers in trinkets all over Europe, and in particular brought to great perfection at Jerusalem. That of Peninim, though the most beautiful, is too fragil and thin to be employed in large pieces. It is the nacre, or mother-of-pearl taken from the Lulu el Berberi, or what is called Abyssinian oyster, principally used in those fine works. Great quantities of this shell are brought daily from the Red Sea to Jerusalem. Of these all the fine works, the crucifixes, the wafer-boxes, and the beads, are made, which are sent to the Spanish dominions in the new world, and produce a return incomparably greater than the staple of the greatest manufactory in the old.

_THE END._

_To_
THE KING.
This Map, Containing a
_CHART
of the_
Arabian Gulf
With its Egyptian, Ethiopian and Arabian Coasts,
_from SUEZ to_
BAB EL MANDEB,
A Journey _through ABYSSINIA to GONDAR, its_ Capital,
_From thence to the Source of the_
Nile
The whole of that RIVER, from its Source to the
_MEDITERRANEAN_.
_Now first laid down from Astronomical Observations_
OF
All those points necessary to Ascertain the form of its Course,
_The Return by SENNAAR and the GREAT DESERT of_
Nubia _and_ Beja
_All laid down by ACTUAL SURVEY with the largest_
and most perfect Instruments now in use.
_By His_ MAJESTYs _most
dutiful and faithful Subject & Servant
James Bruce_]

To
THE RIGHT REV^D.
JOHN
Lord Bishop
of
CARLISLE
This Map Shewing the Tract
_of_
SOLOMONS FLEET
_in their three Years Voyage from
THE_
ELANITIC GULF to OPHIR and TARSHISH
_the Necessity of Employing in that
space of time
is Dedicated by his
Most Obedient Servant
James Bruce_]

To
_My Worthy
and
Learned Friend_
The Honorable
DAINES BARRINGTON
_This Plan of two Attempts
to Arrive at the Source of the_

_NILE_

_is dedicated by his most Obliged
and faithful Humble Servant_

_James Bruce_

J. Walker, Sculp^t. 81, Margaret Street, Cavendish Square.]

INDEX.

Abyssinia divided into provinces, vol. iii. p. 248

Abyssinians, list of their kings, i. 480

---- customs, iii. 262

---- manner of marrying, iii. 306

---- manner of baptism, iii. 324

---- mode of administering the sacrament of the supper, iii. 334

---- religion, iii. 313

---- military force, iii. 308

---- practise circumcision, iii. 341

---- books, i. 493

---- when converted to Christianity, i. 504

Abreha makes war with the Arabians, i. 512

Abuna, law to bring him from Cairo, i. 534

Adelan, character, iv. 439

---- cavalry, beauty of, iv. 437

---- promises the author protection, iv. 441

Adowa, town, iii. 119

Agageers, account of them, iv. 298

Agows, i. 401

Alexander attempts to discover the source of the Nile, iii. 607

Alexandria, i. 10

Algiers, the author made consul there, Introd. 6.

Ali Bey, account of him, i. 28

Alphonso Mendes, patriarch, enters Abyssinia, ii. 349

---- violent conduct, ii. 355

---- banished from Abyssinia, ii. 402

Alvarez, account of his journal, ii. 150

---- his account of Abyssinian baptism, iii. 227

Amda Sion, his licentious conduct, ii. 6

---- attacks Adel, ii. 15

---- defeats the Moors, ii. 16

---- kings of Hadea, and Fatigar, ii. 22

---- the king of Adel, ii. 30

---- silences the murmurs of his army, ii. 41

---- defeats the rebels, ii. 43

Amhara, account of, i. 401, and iii. 254

Amlac, Icon, restored to the kingdom, ii. 2

Arabia, its climate and productions, i. 373

Aroossi, iii. 572

Ashkoko, app. 139

Axum, capital of Tigre, iii. 129

---- when and by whom built, i. 378

---- Chronicle, i. 398

B.

Baalbec, description of, Introd. 58

Babelmandeb, account of, i. 311, 314

Bæda Mariam banishes his brothers to Wechne, ii. 80

---- his character, ii. 90

Bacuffa, character, ii. 595

---- annals of his reign imperfect, ii. 596

---- singular accidents of his life, ii. 597, 598

Baharnagash, i. 483

Balessan, balm, or balsam, vol. i. p. 374

---- description of it, Appen. 16

Banja, battle of, iii. 374

Begemder, province of Abyssinia, iii. 253

Beja, i. 86

Bengazi, Introd. 43

Beni Koreish, i. 521

Bermudes made patriarch of Abyssinia, ii. 169

---- makes submission of Abyssinia to the see of Rome, ii. 170

---- procures assistance for Abyssinia, ii. 178

---- violent conduct, ii. 195

---- leaves Abyssinia, ii. 198

Beyla, Shekh of, sends a moullah to Teawa in favour of the author,
iv. 385

---- author’s friendly reception there, iv. 411

---- description of, iv. 414

Binny, appen. 211

Booted Lynx, appen. 146