Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery

I observed nothing of the nature of animals in use amongst this people as food, except oysters and other testaceous creatures, which have so little visible animation as to be considered by the Symzonians on an equality with vegetables, and to be provided like them for the nourishment of a higher order of life. They were probably led to this conclusion, by the vast profusion of shell-fish which abound in their waters. They are caught in astonishing quantities. The shells are employed in building, and to promote vegetation. The pearls, which they afford in great abundance, and of large size, are used to glaze the walls of their apartments, being dissolved in a liquid, and laid on like paint. This process gives a smooth and elegant surface, like the inside of the pearl oyster-shell, which is inexpressibly delicate and agreeable in the soft light of this country, and at the same time renders the walls more durable. I visited a maker of this pearl wash. My cupidity, I must confess, was greatly excited by the sight of large heaps of pearls, which would be of incalculable value in the external world. Even in the atmosphere of this pure region, I could not prevent my imagination from figuring the splendid palace, dashing equipage, and choice wines I should enjoy, and the unbounded respect and obsequious attention which would be paid to me by the great men of Gotham, on my return there with the enormous wealth which a cargo of these pearls would produce. I asked the workman for a specimen of the pearls, and he gave me a handful that were as large as peas, which I put in my pocket, intending to show them to the Best Man, as a sample of the article with which I should be glad to load my ship.