Page:Tom Beauling (1901).pdf/121

 —and what book of science was ever known to even hint at a fact! Truly, your pearl-oyster is like a strong man with a clean soul—rough without, full fair within. All his days he passeth content in the deep seas, fashioning the beautiful to the glory of nature. And what is his most beautiful work we shall never know, for the most desirable pearl remaineth forever in the sea, and is the missing link that proveth the immortality of the soul.

A junk of Chinamen came out of the east to the beaches while I was there, and these are great enslavers of Sir Oyster, for they do catch him and put him in a tank and within his house a thin metal image of Buddha. This Sir Oyster, in his anguish, fasteneth to his shell and spreadeth over with a soft iridescence of pearl, so that he maketh within himself, as it were, a shrine, and great is the promulgation of the faith. These Chinamen are a mysterious and gallant lot—you should see their compass, horrific. with dragons and unsportsmanlike de-