A CROSS OF PEARLS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 29 November 1924, Page 13

A CROSS OF PEARLS.

V hat are perhaps the most remarkable natora! pearls in the world were exhibited in the Australian Pavilion at t o l , Krit ' Is l Em P lre Exhibition c ex jtraorclinary exhibit, known as the Southern Gross, is a cluster of nine pearls forming an almost perfect Latin cross. The shaft is composed of seven pearls measuring an inch and a half m length, while the arms of the cross are formed of one pearl on each side opposite the second pearl from the top downwards.

Examination under a powerful microscope show's that the gems were produced by Nature in their present 'arrangement, probably as a result of mutual compression during growth. The pearls were discovered in i 874 by a pearl fisher at Roeburn, in Western Australia, but so amazed were the finder and the owner of the vessel that, believing it to ibe a heavenwrought miracle, they buried the treasure and left it to be forgotten. It remained hidden until 1879, when an Australian explorer, Alexander Forest, passed through Roeburn and, hearing accidently of the pearl, disclosed its existence to the world.. It is now the property of a. London merchant, and is valued at £IO,OOO.