"You are right, my love," replied Mr. Durnford, "there are too seasons for pearl fishing. The first is in March and April, and the last in August and September, and the more rain there falls in the year, the more plentiful are the fisheries. The method of procuring the pearls is rather singular. The diver binds a stone six inches thick, and a foot long under his body; which serves him as ballast, prevents his being driven away by the motion of the water, and enables him to walk steadily under the waves. They also tie a very heavy stone to one foot, by which they are speedily sent to the bottom of the sea; and as the oysters are firmly fastened to the rocks, they arm their hands with leather mittens, to prevent their being bruised in pulling the oysters violently off. Each diver carries down with him a large net, tied to his neck by a long cord, the other end of which is fastened to the side of his bark. The net is to hold the oysters, and the cord to pull up the diver when his bag is full. Thus equipped, he sometimes flings himself sixty feet under water, and when he arrives at the bottom, he runs from side to side, tearing up all the oysters he can meet with, and puts them into his net as expeditiously as possible." "Oh, papa! how frightened I should be of the enormous great fishes," said Caroline. "They are certainly to be dreaded, my love, but the diver no sooner perceives one of them approaching, than he pulls his cord, and the signal is attended to immediately by those above. Look, Emily, at this diamond, can you tell me from whence they come?" "I believe from the East Indies, papa, and South America." "Yes, my dear. This object of human vanity was formerly called Adamant, being the hardest body in nature. In the East Indies, there are also two rivers, in the sands of which are diamonds. The miners frequently dig through rocks, till they come to a sort of mineral earth, in which the diamonds are enclosed, and to prevent their concealing any of them they are obliged to go naked. The largest diamond ever known to have been found, was that in the possession of the Great Mogul, which weighed two hundred and seventy-nine carats, each carat being four grains." "Diamonds are beautiful, and so are all the precious stones, but they are too dear for me at present," said Theodore; "but with your leave, papa, I should like to buy each of my sisters a little gold heart to wear with their gold chains." The hearts and some other trifling ornaments were accordingly selected; and they next stopped to look at the contents of a LINEN DRAPER'S [Illustration: _Linen Draper_]