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11,33-34 CAt's-EYES. - PEAKLS. 229
country of Nan-p'i. In this country there is a river, called the Tan-shui-kiang
{'/^ tK I^X)>
where several streams unite into one. There, in the depths of
the hills, pebbles are washed down by the heavy rains and collect there. The
officials go there in small boats and dredge them out of the water. Round
5 and brilliant specimens are called «cat's-eyes». Some people say that they are
the reflection of stars shining on the surface of the earth and hardened there
by magic influence.
Note.
((The cat's-eye is one of the jewels of which the Singhalese are especially proud, from a
10 belief that it is only found in their island; but in this I apprehend they are misinformed, as
specimens of equal merit have been brought from Quilon and Cochin on the southern coast of
Hindustana. Tennent, Ceylon, I, 37.
In the first part of his work (supra, p. 73) our author says that cat's eyes were also found
in Ceylon. The present article is substantially a repetition of what he has said in his chapter on
15 Nan-p'i (Malabar), supra, pp. 88, 90, n. 7. It would appear from the passage of the P'ing-chou-
k'o-t'an there quoted that in the eleventh century the use of this jewel in China was confined
to the Moslim traders of Canton.
Linschoten, Voyage to the East Indies (Hakl. Soc. edit.) II, 141 says that cat's-eyes
come from Cambaia, obut the best out of Seylon and Pegu the Indians esteeme much of
20 them, specially the Chinos, and thether they are caryed, better esteemed, and sold there then
any other stones.
»
34.
PEARLS (M #).
The cMn-chu, or «real pearls», which come from certain islands in the
25 land of the Ta-shi are the best. They also come from the two countries of Si-nan
(ffi 1^)
and Kien-pi. Pearls are even found in Kuang-si and Hu-pei, but less
brilliant than those of the Ta-shi and of Kien-pi \
Whenever pearls are fished for they make use ofthirty or forty boats, with
crews of several dozens ofmen (to each). Pearl-fishers, with ropes fastened around
30 their bodies, their ears and noses stopped with yellow wax, are let down into
the water about 200 or 300 feet or more, the ropes being fastened on board.
When a man makes a sign by shaking the rope, he is pulled up. Before this
is done, however, a soft quilt is made as hot as possible in boiling water, in
order to throw over the diver the moment he comes out, lest he should be
35 seized with a fit of ague and die. They may fall in with huge fishes,
dragons, and other sea monsters and have their stomachs ripped open or a
limb broken by collision with their dorsal fins". When the people on board
notice even as much as a drop of blood on the surface of the water, this is a