What Is Found About The Belly Of The Whale Is Commonly Spoiled
By The Wet, And Has An Unpleasant Scent; But The Ambergris Which Is Not
Contaminated By The Ordure In The Belly Of The Whale, Is Perfectly
Good[20].
It is not unusual to employ the vertebrae of this species of whale as
stools; and it is said, there are many houses in the village of Tain, ten
leagues from Siraff, in which the lintels of the doors are made of whale
ribs.
An eye-witness told me that he went to see a whale which had been
cast ashore, near Siraff, and found the people mounting on its back by
means of ladders; that they dug pits in different parts of his body, and
when the sun had melted the grease into oil, they collected this, and sold
it to the masters of ships, who mixed it up with some other matter, used by
seamen for the purpose of serving the bottoms of their vessels, and
securing the seams of the planks, to prevent or to stop leaks. This
whale-oil sells for a great deal of money; and the bones of the whale are
sold by the druggists of Bagdat and Bassora.
The pearl oyster is at first a small thin tender substance, resembling the
leaves of the plant called Anjedana, and swims on the surface of the sea,
where it sticks to the sides of ships under water. It there hardens, grows
larger, and becomes covered by a shell; after which, it becomes heavy, and
falls to the bottom of the sea, where it subsists, and grows in a way of
which we are ignorant. The included animal resembles a piece of red flesh,
or like the tongue of an animal towards the root, having no bones, veins,
or sinews. One opinion of the production of pearls in this shell-fish is,
that the oyster rises to the surface when it rains, and, by gaping, catches
the drops of rain, which harden into pearls. The more likely opinion is,
that the pearls are generated within the body of the oyster, for most of
them are fixed, and not moveable. Such as are loose are called seed
pearls.
An Arab came once to Bassora with a pearl of great value, which he shewed
to a merchant, and was astonished when he got so large a sum for it as an
hundred drams of silver; with which he purchased corn to carry back to his
own country. But the merchant carried his acquisition to Bagdad, where he
sold it for a large sum of money, by which he was afterwards enabled to
extend his dealings to a great amount. The Arab gave the following account
of the way in which he had found this large pearl: Going one day along the
shore, near Saman, in the district of Bahrein[21], he saw a fox lying dead,
with something hanging at his muzzle, which held him fast, which he
discovered to be a white lucid shell, in which he found this pearl.
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