have an upper and lower shell closing by a hinge in a manner little
differing from the oyster. It is commonly said by the fishermen, that
all bivalves in the Red Sea have pearls of some kind in them. This is
a very rude and large view of the matter, for though it is true that
some excrescences, or secretions, of the nature of pearls, may be found
in the bisser, and the large bivalves with which this sea abounds,
yet it is well known to all conversant in these matters, that many of
the pearl shell itself (I shall not call it an oyster, for it is not
one) are found without any pearl or likeness of pearl in them; being,
I suppose, not yet arrived to that age when the extravasation of that
juice which forms the pearl happens.
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._
[Illustration:
_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_]
[Illustration:
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_]
[Illustration:
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
C.
Cairo, government, i. 24
Cambyses, his expedition into Africa, i. 450
Camera obscura, description of one used by the author, Introd. 8
Candace, queen, i. 505
Canja, description of, i. 43
Caretta, or sea-tortoise, app. 215
Carnac, and Luxor, ruins there, i. 13, 139
Carthage, ruins of, Introd. 21
Cæsar, his desire to know the source of the Nile, iii. 612
Cerastes, or horned viper, Appen. 158
Chendi, iv. 529
Chiggre, valley, iv. 559
Christopher Father, account of him, Introd. 18
---- procures letters for the author to Abyssinia, i. 35
Christopher de Gama, his gallant behaviour, ii. 186
---- death, ii. 187
Claudius, prosperous beginning of his reign, ii. 179
---- defeats the Moors, ii. 191
---- slain by Nur, ii. 203
Cleopatra encourages trade, i. 467
Constantina, Introd. 26
Cosseir, description of, i. 189
Covillan Peter, his character, ii. 104
---- sent to Abyssinia, ii. 106
---- sends dispatches to Portugal, ii. 108
Cush peoples Abyssinia, i. 376
Cusso, or Bankesia Abyssinica, Appen. 73
Cyrus, his expedition, i. 449
D.
Dahalac, island, i. 348
Damot, province of Abyssinia, iii. 257
---- massacre there, i. 526
Dancali, kingdom, ii. 82
Darius, his expedition, i. 454
David III. defeats the Moors, ii. 137
---- distresses his Portuguese allies, ii. 136
---- attacked and defeated by the Moors, ii. 161
---- distresses of the king, ii. 163
---- fortitude, ii. 166
David IV. assembles the clergy, ii. 577
---- puts to death the Catholic priests, ii. 580
---- calls a second meeting of the clergy, ii. 588
---- insulted by them, ii. 589
---- punishes them, ii. 590
---- poisoned, ii. 591
Desan, cape, i. 443
Dembea, province, iii. 258
Dendera, ruins, i. 103
Denghel Sertza, defeats the Moors, ii. 228
Denghel Sertza defeats the Turks, vol. ii. p. 233
---- his death and character, ii. 235
Diodorus Siculus, his account of Meroe, iv. 542
Dixan, town, iii. 85
Dugga, ruins, Introd. 23
E.
Eagle, Golden, appen. 155
---- Black, appen. 159
Egyptians, customs of, iii. 290
Egypt, not the gift of the Nile, iii. 672
El Adda, app. 193
Elephant, manner of hunting him described, iv. 296
Enoch, book of, i. 497
Ensete, app. 36
Ergett Y’Dimmo, app. 34
Ergett el Krone, app. 35
Erkoom, app. 169
Esther, Ozoro, marries Michael, ii. 699
---- her cruelty to the murderers of Mariam Barea, ii. 700
Ethiopia, that word ill applied, has rendered the scripture obscure,
i. 405 to 410
Eudoxus, his first voyage, i. 465
---- second voyage, i. 466
---- sails round Africa, i. 467
Excision practised by the Abyssinians, iii. 347
F.
Facilidas, his prudent conduct, ii. 374
---- defeats the rebel Serca Christos, ii. 386
---- banishes the Catholics, ii. 402
---- his death and character, ii. 418
Falasha or Jews, their language, i. 404
---- account of them, i. 484
Farek, or Bauhinia Acuminata, Appen. 57
Fasil Waragna, made governor of Damot, ii. 673
---- quarrels with Ras Michael, ii. 697
---- defeated by him, ii. 705
---- defeated at Fagitta, ii. 714
---- defeated at Limjour, iii. 460
---- makes peace with the king, iii. 466
---- author’s interview with him in his camp, iii. 510
---- gives the author leave to visit the sources of the Nile, iii. 530
---- his artful conduct with Socinios, iv. 35
---- declares for Tecla Haimanout, iv. 43
Fatima, queen, surrenders to the Abyssinians, ii. 303
---- prudent conduct with Socinios, ii. 305
Fennec, Appen. 128
Ferriana, account of, Introd. 33
Fidele, the Shekh of Teawa his character, iv. 352
---- the author’s first interview with him, iv. 357
---- his deceitful conduct, iv. 362
Fit-Auraris, account of that officer, iii. 400
Fly, tsaltsalya, zimb, or cynomyia, i. 388
---- its wonderful effect, i. 388, 389
---- mention made of it by Isaiah, app. 390
Foosht, island, i. 329
Funge, iv. 458
---- slavish character, iv. 459
Frumentius converts Abyssinia to Christianity, i. 509
Furshout, i. 114
G.
Gafats, account of them, i. 402
Gaguedi, Appen. 52
Galla, account of that nation, i. 402. ii. 216
Gawa, ruins, vol. i. p. 96
Geesh, province conferred on the author, iii. 472
Geeza, Pyramids, i. 41
---- not the ancient Memphis, i. 59
Geez language of the shepherds, i. 424, 5
Gerri, iii. 667 iv. 517
Gibbertis, account of them, ii. 9
Gingiro, kingdom, i. 320
Gir Gir, or Geshe el Aube, appen. 47
Gojam, province of Abyssinia, iii. 256
Gondar account of it, iii. 380
Goog, village, iv. 20
Guangoul, description of him, iv. 99
Gurague, their mode of stealing, iv. 148
Gusho, his character, ii. 700
---- conspires against Michael, iii. 375
---- deceives Fasil, iii. 465
---- marches to Gondar, iii. 481
---- author’s interview with him, iii. 482
---- defeated at Serbraxos, iv. 144
---- offers the king terms of peace, iv. 146
---- refused, iv. 151
---- the author’s second interview with him, iv. 204
---- his army invests Gondar, iv. 229
---- forces Michael’s army to surrender, iv. 231
---- created Ras, iv. 240
---- his bad conduct, iv. 244
---- flies from Gondar, iv. 246
---- taken and put in irons, iv. 247
---- released, iv. 260
H.
Habesh, meaning of that word, i. 397
Halouan, island of the Nile, i. 71
Hanno’s periplus explained, ii. 552
---- vindicated, ii. 564
Henry king of Portugal, his ardour for promoting science, ii. 95
---- attempts a passage round Africa, ii. 96
---- sends an embassy to Abyssinia, ii. 103
Herodotus, passage of his explained, ii. 562
---- account of the Nile’s rise, iii. 685
Hieroglyphics founded on observation of the dog star, i. 412
---- absurd opinion concerning them, i. 415
Hor-Cacamoot, account of that place, iv. 324
Hyæna, description of, appen. 107
Hybeer, iv. 536
I.
India, account of its climate and productions, i. 371
Indian trade origin of it, i. 373
---- fluctuating state, i. 447
---- hurt by the expedition of the Persians, i. 448
---- lost in the time of the Romans, i. 470
Iscander makes war with Adel, ii. 116
---- slain by Za Saluce, ii. 118
Israelites, probable course of their journey from Egypt, i. 230
Iteghe, her power, i. 507
J.
Jahaleen Arabs, iv. 456
Janni, his kind reception of die author, iii. 120
Jemma river, beauty of, iv. 12
Jerboa, description of, appen. 121
Jidda description of, i. 265
Joas confers his favour on the Galla, ii. 670
---- disgusts Mariam Barea, ii. 675
---- his army defeated, ii. 679