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 “I suppose pearls vary in price according to size?” said Conseil.

“Not only according to size, but according to shape and the ‘water,’ or colour, and their ‘orient,’ that is the ‘shot’ coloured hue which is so beautiful. The most beautiful are called virgin pearls, or paragons; they form only in the tissue of the mollusc. They are white, often opaque, but sometimes of an opaline clearness, and more usually oval or rounded. The spherical pearls are made into bracelets, the oval into pendants, and, being the most valuable, they are sold singly. The other pearls adhere to the oyster-shell, and, not being so good, are sold by weight. Finally, in the inferior class come the small pearls, known as ‘seed-pearls,’ which are sold by the measure, and are chiefly used to embroider church furniture.”

“But is it a long or difficult job to separate the pearls according to size?” asked Ned.

“No; this work is performed by means of sieves or screens of various meshes. The pearls that remain in the largest sieves are reckoned of the first class, those that do not pass through the medium screens are counted in the second class, and those are called ‘seed-pearls,’ for which the smallest sieves, pierced with 900 to 1,000 holes, are used.”

“It is ingenious, but I see the classing of pearls is only a mechanical operation,” said Conseil. “But can Monsieur tell us what the cultivation of oyster-beds yields to the owner?”

“According to my information, the annual value of the Ceylon fisheries is three millions of sharks.”

“Of francs, I suppose,” said the Canadian.

“I mean francs—three millions of francs. But I do not think the fisheries yield as much as formerly. It is the