Once only are pearls mentioned in the Old Testament—the instance quoted from the book of Job. It would seem therefore, that although used as jewels, they were not regarded as of great value in the East prior to about 400 years B.C., at which time the last of the sacred Jewish books is supposed to have been written. True, royalty wore them in Egypt and the people of Persia and Arabia used them very generally for personal adornment; but they were abundant in those countries and there had been no demand for them beyond their borders, therefore, though beautiful, they were common and not appreciated fully. Upon the influx of foreign invaders from shores that yielded no such gems their status changed rapidly. The greedy avidity with which Greeks and Romans seized them, and the demand for them from the West which came later, gave these natives of pearl-producing shores a new idea of the value of their pearls and the trinkets became gems. It was a condition similar to that which arose nineteen hundred years later when the Spaniards invaded America. At their first coming the natives gave them freely large quantities of pearls and gleefully traded magnificent gems for broken pieces of gaudily painted and varnished porcelain. As one to-day might take a new acquaintance for a day's fishing to a well-stocked stream, so the Indians took the Spaniards to the pearl banks to show them how they obtained their pearls. With pleasure and probably some amusement, they watched the eagerness with which the strangers sought the pearls, and doubtless wondered at the gratification displayed when they found any. The Egyptians and Asiatics being more highly civilized undoubtedly valued their pearls more than the South American Indians did, but naturally they would not appreciate them so highly as they did after foreign desire had depleted their hoards and established a constant demand for them, greater than the yield of their fisheries. That this condition prevailed in Egypt and Asia prior to the advent of Europeans, is indicated by the apparent ignorance of the writer of the book of Job concerning pearls. The word used in Chapter XXVIII. 18 is simply the translator's sign for an unknown quantity, and as the pearl is an apt symbol and illustration of many ideas connected with or embodied in the cult of the Jewish Church, the fact that the Jewish writers did not so use it, though the precious metals and other precious stones were so used, and though their books were written in various countries, suggests that the pearl in those days was not reckoned of equal importance with gold and silver and stones like those set in the Jewish High Priest's breastplate for instance.