extract from tervernier’s voyages.

2 57

what they have immediately, whilft thofe that have wherewith to live, keep them tillthe fifiling feafon is over. They leave the oyfters to open of themfelves, which theydo as foon as they begin to fpoil. Some ,of the {hells are four times as large as thofeWe have at Rouen , but as the oyfters are of an infipid, unpleafant tafte, they alwaysthrow them away.

As a conclufion to this difcourfe on pearls, it muft be obferved, that throughout allEurope , they fell them by the carat, which is four grains, the fame as in diamonds,whereas in Afia, they have various weights. In Perfia they weigh their pearls by theAbas, which is one eighth lefs than our carat, while in the Indies, and throughout allthe Great Mogul’s territories, as alfo in the kingdoms of Golconda and Vifapour, theyWeigh them by the ratis, which is likewife one eighth lefs than the carat.

Goa was formerly the greateft mart in Afia for diamonds, rubies, fapphires, topazes,and other ftones. Here all the miners and merchants reforted to fell the fineft pro-ductions of the mines, becaufe they were at free liberty to difpofe of them as theypleafed, whereas in their own country, upon {hewing any thing particular to any ofthe kings or princes they were obliged to accept juft what he chofe to give them.Goa was alfo famous for the great trade there carried on in pearls, as well thofebrought from the ifland of Bahren in the Perfian Gulf, as from Manar on the coaft ofCeylon, and alfo thofe from America. It muft be obferved, that at Goa and all otherPortugueze poffefiions in the Indies, they weigh their pearls with a particular weight,not ul'ed at any other place either in Europe, Afia, or America . I make no mentionof Africa , becaufe this trade is not known there, the women in that part of the worldcontenting themfelves, in the place of jewels, with fome grains of falfe coral or yellowamber, of which they make collars and bracelets to ornament their legs and arms.

Notwithftanding the Portugueze, in all their Indian pofleffions, fell the pearls by aWeight called chegos; they neverthelefs buy them of the merchants according to thecuftom of their various countries, either by the carat, abas, or ratis.

A L

^OL. VIII.

A NEW