For It Is A Property Of The Oyster
Never To Let Go Its Hold, Except Forcibly Opened, By Thrusting In An Iron
Instrument Between The Shells, Carefully Guarding Its Included Pearl, As A
Mother Preserves Her Child.
The kings of the Indies wear ear-rings of gold, set with precious stones,
and they wear collars of
Great value, adorned with gems of various colours,
chiefly green and red; yet pearls are most esteemed, and their value
surpasses that of all other jewels, and these they hoard up in their
treasuries, with their most precious things. The grandees of their courts,
their great officers, and the military commanders, wear similar jewels in
their collars. Their dress is a kind of half vest, and they carry parasols
made of peacocks feathers to shade them from the sun, and are surrounded by
great trains of servants.
Among the Indians, there are certain people who never eat two out of the
same dish or even at the same table, on account of some religious opinion.
When these come to Siraf, and are invited by our considerable merchants,
were there a hundred of them more or less, they must each have a separate
dish, without the least communication with the rest. Their kings and
principal persons have fresh tables made for them every day, with little
dishes and plates wove of the cocoa nut leaf, out of which they eat their
victuals. And when their meal is over, the table dishes and plates are all
thrown into the water, together with the fragments of their food; so that
they must have a fresh service for every meal.
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