Note 11 — Chapter XXXV

Of these pearls Kämpfer says, in another place, that they are found almost everywhere about Kiūshiū in oysters and several other sea shells. Everybody is at liberty to fish for them. Formerly the natives had little or no value for them till they were sought for by the Chinese. The Japanese pretend, as to one particular kind, that when put into a box full of a peculiar sort of complexion-powder made of another shell, one or two young pearls will grow out at the sides, and when they come to maturity, as they do in two or three years, will drop off; but Kämpfer, having never seen this phenomenon, is not willing to vouch for its reality.