probably some type of “moonstone,”[676] which grew brighter as the moon
waxed, exhibiting the soft, silvery brilliance of our satellite, and
then gradually lost its brightness as the moon waned, growing paler and
dimmer and becoming quite obscure as the moon’s disk ceased to be
illumined by the sun. As a mate to this, Pope Clement VII (1475–1534)
was reputed to have in his possession a stone with a golden spot which
moved across the surface in exact accord with the apparent motion of the
sun across the heavens from sunrise to sunset.[677] These are
undoubtedly fables that were circulated intentionally, or more probably
through pure love of exaggeration, in order to enhance the merit of two
exceptionally fine specimens of moonstone and sunstone in the papal
treasury.
In the eighteenth century the collection of the Duke of Brunswick
contained a magnificent ancient drinking-cup, of the kind used in
sacrificial ceremonies, cut from a single piece of onyx; this cup was
said to have formed part of the rich spoils taken from Mithridates by
the Romans under Pompey. It was valued in the duke’s inventory at
150,000 thalers, and Catherine II of Russia is stated to have offered
four times that sum, or 600,000 thalers ($400,000) for this unique
cup.[678]
In the symbolism of the Manichean sect, an early Christian heresy owing
its origin to a direct and predominant influence of Persian ideas,
pearls occupy a prominent place. A legendary or poetic pearl called “the
bright moon” was the symbol of compassion, and one of the treatises ends
with the words: “Our heart has received the majestic splendor of the
pearl granting every wish.” We are also told of “a diamond pillar” which
sustains humanity, and the Messenger of Light is likened to a perfumed
mountain entirely composed of a mass of jewels.[679]
The recital of two Arab travelers, Hasan ibn Vazid and Sulaiman, who
visited India in the ninth century, contains a curious theory of the
formation of pearls or rather of the pearl-oyster. The primal matter is
assumed to be a gelatinous moss, analogous to that of a species of algæ.
This floats upon the water and attaches itself to the keels of ships,
where it hardens, develops a shell, and finally drops off to sink into
the depths of the sea. The formation of the pearl itself is then
discussed and the theory noted in Pliny’s Natural History and so often
repeated after his time, namely, that pearls are formed from the “dew of
heaven,” is cited; but the writer adds: “Others say that they [the
pearls] are produced in the oysters themselves. This appears more
probable and is confirmed by experience; for the greater part of those
observed in the oysters are firmly attached there and are immovable.
Those which are mobile are called by the merchants seed-pearls.” As a
true Mohammedan the writer concludes with the pious ejaculation: “God
knows how the matter really stands!”[680]
The same travellers relate the story of the discovery of a pearl under
very singular conditions. An Arab came to Bassora with a very fine
pearl. He took it to a druggist whom he knew and asked the latter how
much it was worth. The merchant estimated it at a hundred pieces of
silver, to the great surprise of the Arab, who demanded whether anyone
could be found willing to pay so much. Without hesitation the merchant
declared that he was ready to give the price himself, and immediately
paid over the money. He then took his purchase to Bagdad, where he
secured a large profit on his investment. On concluding his sale the
Arab told the Bassora druggist how he had secured his pearl. One day,
while walking along the Bahrein coast, he saw on the sands a dead fox,
whose mouth was tightly compressed by a strange object. On closer
observation this proved to be an enormous pearl-oyster shell. Evidently
the fox had thrust his snout into the shell while the valves were open
so that he might devour the soft contents, but the valves suddenly
closed upon him and he had died of suffocation. On prying open the shell
the Arab found therein the pearl which was destined to bring him what he
regarded as a fabulous sum.[681]
The women of the Arab town occupying a site close to that on which stood
the Babylon of ancient times, wore, as a favorite adornment, nose-rings
of gold set with a pearl and a turquoise. The English traveller, John
Eldred, who traversed Mesopotamia in 1583, found this custom so general
that he writes: “This they doe be they never so poore.”[682]
For years a statement has been going through the press that pearls are
liable to become diseased and die, and that the famous necklace of
pearls presented by President Thiers of France to his wife, and
bequeathed by Mme. Thiers to the French Government, had lost their
lustre and died, perhaps owing to the death of the owner. For there is
an old belief that pearls, as well as opals and turquoises, lose some of
their lustre when the owner or wearer becomes ill, and change to a dull
and lifeless hue when the owner dies. An examination of the necklace by
the writer showed that the pearls were in good condition, and to confirm
his statement to this effect he had the director of the Louvre Museum
write him a letter. In this official communication the director not only
states that the pearls had not sickened and died, but that they were in
as “healthy” a condition as they had ever been.
The invariable experience of the writer has been that whenever pearls
have been said to have suffered in this way, the true explanation has
been that they were old and poor at the time of their purchase, and that
this romance was started on its travels as an excuse to cover up the
defect of such pearls and to arouse the belief that they had been
remarkably beautiful and valuable when they were originally acquired.
As though to make amends to the Queen Gem for such disadvantageous
rumors, considerable publicity has recently been given to a report that,
in the Musée de Monaco, there was a luminous pearl whose beauties were
revealed by an inner light, so that darkness had no power to dim its
lustre. In a thoroughly impartial spirit, the writer went to the
fountain-head for information in this matter, and received as answer
from the director of the museum that there was no such pearl in the
collection and that he had absolutely no faith in the luminosity of
pearls.
As has been seen, both of these legends must be set aside as false, and
we fear there is just as little truth in a report that a genuine
“pearl-powder” is now used by the fair ladies of Paris and by their
numerous imitators. The story goes that the Arab workmen engaged in
pearl-piercing in India are noted for the clearness—we can hardly say,
the lightness—of their complexions, and that this is supposed to be
attributable to the fact that, when resting from their difficult task,
they are in the habit of taking up some of the pearl-dust that has
fallen on the floor and rubbing their faces with it. As the conditions
under which these men work are eminently unsanitary, those who noted the
clearness and smoothness of their complexions came to the conclusion
that there must be something especially beneficial in pearl-dust, and
brought the matter to the notice of a French chemist. The latter
proceeded to utilize the suggestion and compounded a new cosmetic. He
did not, however, pin his faith to the pearl-dust alone, but wisely
added a number of other ingredients.
Still another mythical tale in reference to pearls has to be refuted.
For some time past numerous specimens of a so-called “cocoanut-pearl”
have been brought from the East. These are very white pearls, resembling
in hue the hard meat of the cocoanut, and said to have been produced in
the cocoanut, just as other pearls are produced in certain species of
mollusks. However, the writer has always found them to be pearls
secreted by the gigantic mollusk _Ostrea Singapora_.
A strange poetic fancy regarding the transmutation of parts of the human
form into gems of the sea appears in Ariel’s song in Shakespeare’s
“Tempest”:
Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rare and strange.
_Tempest_, Act I, Sc. ii.
Some natives of the Sulu Archipelago believe that the nautilus pearl is
a most unlucky object to possess, for should a man engage in a fight
while wearing such a pearl he would inevitably be killed. Hence, when a
native by chance comes across one of them, he very quickly throws it
away, as a probable bringer of ill-luck. Occasionally, however, such
pearls fall into the hands of those who are less influenced by
superstition, and one weighing 72 grains was given, in 1884, to an
Australian gentleman, by Mohammed Beddreddin, brother-in-law of the
Sultan of Sulu. This was a perfect, pear-shaped pearl of a creamy-white
hue and somewhat translucent; it is composed of the porcelanous, not of
the nacreous constituent of the shell.[683]
[Illustration:
East Indian Baroque pearl. Weight over 1700 grains, Holland, 1775.
]
It has been stated that this Sulu superstition is not shared by the
natives of Celebes Island, near Borneo, for here such pearls are kept as
charms and talismans. One of an irregular pear-shape, weighing 27½
grains, has been found on the northern coast of the island.[684] The
finding of a nautilus pearl by a Chinese woman in Borneo is noted by
Rumphius, who describes it as being as large as a bean and white as a
piece of alabaster, hard and bright, but of very irregular shape. The
finder put it in a closed box, and was not a little surprised to
discover when she opened the box after a time that the original pearl
had engendered another one the size of a lentil; later it had two other,
smaller offspring. The woman carefully treasured her find as a lucky
stone which would bring her good fortune in her search for mussels.
Rumphius shrewdly conjectures that the smaller concretions had broken
off the larger one while it was enclosed in the box.[685]
The well-known lines in Shakespeare’s “Othello”:
Of one whose hand, like the base Judean’s,
Cast away a pearl richer than all his tribe.
have been explained in many different ways by the commentators, one of
whom (Steevens) saw in them a reference to the following story current
in Venice in the sixteenth century. A Jew, after long and perilous
wanderings in the East, succeeded in bringing with him to Venice a great
number of fine pearls. These he disposed of there at satisfactory
prices, with the exception of one pearl of immense size and
extraordinary beauty, upon which he set a price so high that no one was
willing to pay it. Finally, the Jew invited all the leading gem-dealers
to meet him on the Rialto, and when as many of them as answered his call
had assembled, he once more, and for the last time, offered his peerless
pearl for sale, detailing all its perfections in eloquent terms.
However, he made no concession in the price, and the dealers unanimously
refused to purchase it, probably expecting that the Jew would at last be
forced to make a reduction, but to their amazement, instead of doing
this, he threw his pearl before their very eyes into the waters of the
canal, preferring rather to lose it than to cheapen it.[686]
The belief that the growth of pearls in the pearl-oyster was due to
rain-drops is perpetuated in the Arab proverb: “The rain of the month of
Nisan brings forth pearls in the sea and wheat on the land.”[687] This
spring month was, and is still, the period when pearl-fishing begins in
the Orient. Another pearl proverb repeats the evangelical saying in this
form: “Do not throw pearls under the feet of swine.”
A Tonquinise legend of the origin of pearls represents them as springing
from the blood of a young princess who was slain by the king, her
father, because she had betrayed to her husband the secret of a magic
bow, whose death-dealing arrows always flew to their mark. In his anger
at his daughter’s act, the father drew his scimitar and beheaded her,
but with her last breath she prayed that her blood might be turned to
pearls. Her prayer was heard and now the finest pearls of this land are
found in the waters about the place where she died.[688]
From blue sapphires the color may be extracted so that they become
white, in such sort that they excellently imitate the diamond, so well,
indeed, that the fraud can only be detected by an expert jeweller. This
art was known at an early period, and no doubt induced many writers to
ascribe certain of the qualities of the diamond to the sapphire. As
illustrating this, a Rabbinical author states that a certain man went to
Rome to sell a sapphire. The purchaser said to him: “I will buy it
provided I may first test it.” He placed it on an anvil and struck it
with a hammer; the anvil was split and the hammer was broken to pieces
but the stone remained in its place uninjured.[689]
[Illustration:
CLEOPATRA DISSOLVING HER PRICELESS PEARL AT THE BANQUET TO MARK ANTONY
Tapestry. Eighteenth century.
]
The virtues of the sapphire are enumerated at length by Bartolomæus
Anglicus, the old scholastic philosopher, who flourished in the first
half of the thirteenth century and taught theology in the famous
University of Paris.[690] After noting the old dictum according to which
the sapphire was the “gem of gems” and one worthy to adorn the fingers
of kings, Bartolomæus proceeds to instruct his readers in regard to the
wonderful curative powers of this beautiful gem. These appear always to
be connected with its supposed calming and cooling influence. Thus it
reduced the temperature in fevers and checked the flow of blood; for
instance, if attached to the temples it stopped nose-bleed; if the heart
were unduly excited, this agitation could be controlled by the power of
the sapphire. Too profuse perspiration was also checked if a sapphire
were worn. It shared with the diamond the virtue of reconciling discord.
Its power as an antidote to poison was believed to be proved by an
experiment in which a spider was placed in a box with a sapphire. After
a short time the poor spider expired, done to death by the supreme
virtue of the celestial stone. A like story was told by ancient writers
in regard to the emerald. Of course, the chastening virtues of the
sapphire are not forgotten, virtues which have caused it to be selected
as especially appropriate for the rings of cardinals and high church
dignitaries; this belief arose from the association of purity with the
color of the heavens, the pure, unadulterated blue of the cloudless sky.
One of the rarest and most beautiful of the corundum gems of Ceylon is
locally known there by the name _padparasham_. It is of a most rare and
delicate orange-pink hue, the various specimens showing many different
blendings of the pink and orange. The significance of the Cinghalese
name seems to be somewhat obscure, but a probable conjecture explains it
to mean “hidden ray of light”; another etymology would see in the first
syllable, _pad_, an abbreviation of _padma_, lotus, the petals of this
flower often having a soft orange tint. In this case the meaning would
be “hidden lotus,” as though the very color-essence of the flower were
enclosed within and shone through the gem.[691]
A Persian treatise on precious stones was composed by Mohammed Ben
Mansur[692] in the thirteenth century of our era. This work was written
for Sultan Abu Naçr Behadirchan, and consists of two divisions, the
first treating of precious stones and the second of metals. It is
interesting to note in this treatise the recognition of the essential
likeness of the Oriental ruby, sapphire, topaz, etc.; these varieties of
corundum are all grouped under the single designation “_yakut_.” Ben
Mansur writes:[693]
The yakut is six-fold: 1, the red; 2, the yellow; 3, the black; 4, the
white; 5, the green or peacock-hued; 6, the blue or smoky-hued. Some
divide the yakut into four classes: red, yellow, dark, and white,
reckoning the peacock-hued and the blue among the dark. The yakut cuts
all stones except carnelian and diamond.
Although the Oriental carnelian is hard and difficult to cut or polish
only popular prejudice accounts for this statement, as it falls far
short of the diamond in hardness.
Pseudo-Aristotle, writing some time from the seventh to the ninth
century A.D., was the first to define clearly the three leading
varieties of the corundum gems (yakut) as the same mineral substance,
and differing only in color. These are the ruby, the Oriental topaz
(jacinthus citrinus) and the sapphire. Instead of according different
medicinal or talismanic virtues to these three precious stones, this
writer states that each and all of them, when set in rings or worn
suspended from the neck, protected the wearer from danger in epidemics,
gave him the honor and good will of his fellow-men, and also the
privilege of having his petitions accorded.[694]
The great Athenian comic poet, Aristophanes (c. 448–c. 385), makes
Strepsiades, one of his characters in the “Clouds,” assert to Socrates
that he knows of a stone having the virtue of saving him from the
payment of a claim of five talents, for which suit has been brought
against him. This stone, called ὓαλος in Greek, was to be found in the
stock of those who dealt in medicines; it was transparent and with it
fire could be kindled. The philosopher, although he knows the stone well
enough, fails to see how it could be made to help the defendant in a
suit at law, and asks Streposiades what he proposes to do with it. The
latter is not at a loss for an answer and declares that when the clerk
proceeds to write down the charge on his waxen tablet, he, Streposiades,
will hold the stone in the sun’s rays so that its beam of light will
fall upon the tablet and melt the wax, thus quite literally “wiping out
the charge.”[695]
Rock-crystal was so highly prized in Roman times that one of the
greatest treasures preserved in the Capitol was a mass of this stone,
weighing fifty pounds, that had been dedicated by Livia, wife of
Augustus Cæsar. Vessels of great size were also made from this material,
one of the largest being a bowl owned by Lucius Verus, the colleague of
Marcus Aurelius, the dimensions of which were so great that the stoutest
toper of the time could not empty it at a single draught. If we can
trust a statement of Mohammed Ben Mansur, the Arabs and Persians of a
later age must have far surpassed the Romans in the size of their
crystal vessels, for he says that a Mauritanian merchant owned a basin
of rock-crystal within which four men could seat themselves at the same
time. It is true that this basin was composed of two pieces of the
material.[696]
The Chinese word for crystal, _ching_, was originally represented by the
symbol [Symbol]; that is, three suns, an attempt to figure the
refraction and dispersion of light by the crystal.[697] The _soui che_
stone of the Chinese which is said to quench thirst if it be placed in
the mouth, is almost certainly rock-crystal, for the Chinese, in common
with the ancient Greeks and Romans, believed this substance to be a
transformation of water, a kind of fossil ice. A similar power was
attributed by Pliny to one of the varieties of agate.[698]
Labrets of quartz are used in Central Africa and we have a very
interesting description by M. A. Lacroix regarding these ornaments as
worn by the natives of a part of the French possessions. In the land of
the Bandas the natives highly prize a piece of rock-crystal so shaped
that it can be introduced into the lower lip. This usage is confined to
the basins of the Ombella, the Kemo and the Tomi, affluents of the
Oubanghi.
The following description of the labrets was communicated to M. Lacroix
by M. Lucien Fourneau, Administrator of the Colonies:
These objects, called _baguérés_, consist of hyaline quartz, perfectly
transparent; they are very regularly cut, and measure from four to
seven cm. (two to three inches) in length. Some have the form of a
very elongated and pointed cone, without any protuberances, the
greatest diameter being about one cm. (about half an inch); the
others, thinner and sharper, have at the base a rim destined to hold
them in place; in all cases a pad of thread constituting a kind of
permanent plug, assures and completes their stability. Some women wear
as many as three of these singular ornaments, thrust, point downwards,
into the same lip.
The most regular quartz crystals are selected, and these are chipped off
and roughly shaped by blows struck with a hard substance; the quartz is
then set in a wooden handle, and the final shaping and polishing are
accomplished by friction upon a round slab of quartzite or sandstone.
These slabs show grooves along which the crystals have been rubbed. On
an average the time required is four or five days of five hours. The
completed ornament is valued at nine pounds of red wood worth about
$1.20; sometimes one can be secured for three chickens, worth sixty
cents.[699] Those who cannot afford quartz labrets substitute wood,
glass, or pewter. M. Lacroix draws our attention to the fact that a
study of the processes employed in shaping and polishing these pieces of
quartz is of great importance for the elucidation of the methods in use
during the Stone Age.[700]
A nose-jewel from the New Hebrides consists of a crystal of hyaline
quartz reduced to a cylindrical form, one extremity having been pointed,
while the other retains the natural faces of the crystal. This was
passed through the septum of the nose, and was most likely worn as an
amulet.[701]
Rock-crystal has been used extensively in the past year with ornaments
of ribbon-like or plaque-like effects. Sometimes all the parts are made
into the exact shape of a bowknot, with a bordering of platinum and
diamonds, or of platinum and diamonds with a calibre-cut onyx; that is,
the rock-crystal material is cut into minute square or oblong stones,
which are run into double triangular edges that hold them. The crystals
are dulled, and frequently have the appearance of moonstones. At times,
indeed, moonstones are used in their place. Sometimes these panels, or
bits and pieces of rock-crystal, are drilled, diamonds set in platinum
are inserted into the drill-holes, and the ornament is engraved in
classic designs of Watteau-like effects.
The origin of Burmese rubies is thus explained in a Burmese legend
current in the region of the Ruby Mines. According to this legend, in
the first century of our era three eggs were laid by a female _naga_, or
serpent; out of the first was born Pyusawti, a king of Pagan; out of the
second came an Emperor of China, and out of the third were emitted the
rubies of the Ruby Mines.[702]
Dealing in precious stones was by no means an unusual occupation in
Europe more than four hundred years ago, as is shown by the fact that a
certain Peter, one of the secret agents of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender
to the throne of England in Henry VIII’s reign, was called in the secret
correspondence of the conspirators, “The Merchant of the Ruby.” Such
dealers frequently travelled from place to place, and usually offered
their wares to princes and nobles; hence the statement in a letter that
the Merchant of the Ruby “was not able to sell his wares in Flaunders”
might not seem suspicious if the letter were intercepted and read,
although the meaning was that the emissary had been unable to obtain
succor in Flanders for the cause of the pretender.[703] Probably this
designation also contained a covert allusion to the Red Rose of York,
for Perkin Warbeck gave himself out to be Richard, Duke of York.