Note 2559 — Chapter XIII · EXPORTS FROM AFRICA AND THE EAST.

Id. ix. 54. Ælian. de Animal. x. 13. See in Nieuhoff an elaborate account of the pearl-fishery in the Persian gulf. This traveller gives, from the traditions of the natives, a fabulous explanation of the origin of the pearls, which is exceedingly fanciful and poetical: “It is generally believed that these pearls are progenerated by the May dews, during which month the oysters rise up to the surface of the waters, and opening themselves receive a small quantity of dew, which, being coagulated, afterwards produces these pearls. Certain it is, that, if these oysters are opened before June, the pearls are soft and pliable like pitch.” Churchill’s Collection of Voyages, vol. ii. p. 196.