178

PORCELAIN AND COWRY-SHELLS.

The mention of cockles reminds me of a statement in Drake's "Voyage round the World," the quaint style of which is amusing:

"Our stay being longer than we purposed (in Patagonia), our diet began to wax short, and small mussels were good meat, yea, the sea-weeds were dainty dishes. By reason whereof we were driven to seek corners very narrowly for some refreshing, but the best we could find was shells instead of meat. We found the nests, but the birds were gone—that is, the shells of the cockles on the sea-shore, where the giants had banqueted, but could never chance with the cockles themselves in the sea. The shells were so extraordinary that it would be incredible to the most part, for a pair of shells did weigh four pounds, and what the meat of two such shells might be may be easily conjectured."

The shells called Porcelain-shells by the French and Germans are almost entirely composed of lime, are richly enamelled, and are often very beautiful. They are most abundant and attain their largest size in the seas of warm climates. Only a few small species are found on the British coasts. The Cowry-shell, to which I have alluded as a substitute for money, is not of great beauty, being yellow or white, often with a yellow ring about an inch long, and nearly as broad as long. In Bengal three thousand two hundred cowries are reckoned equal to a rupee, so that a cowry is equal in value to one-thirty-sixth of a farthing. Yet cowries to the value of two hundred thousand rupees are said to have been imported annually into Bengal. Many tons of cowries are annually imported into England to be used in trade with Western Africa. Of the cowries a very remarkable fact has been stated, that when the animals find their shells too small for the increased dimensions of their body, they quit them, and proceed to the formation of new ones of larger size, and, consequently, more adapted to their wants. As soon as the cowry has abandoned its covering, the hinder part of its body begins to furnish anew the shelly matter which is afterwards condensed on its surface. This secretion is continued until at length the shell appears of the consistence of paper; and the mouth or opening of the shell, which at this period is very wide, soon afterwards contracts to its

THE "VOICE" OF A SHELL.

179

proper form and dimensions. The edges are thickened, and form into those beautiful folds or teeth which are so remarkable on each side of the opening of these shells. The porcelain and cowryshells belong to a family which includes also the shells called Poached Eggs, and the Weaver's Shuttle, remarkable for its prolongation at both ends.

A well-known shell, distributed over the whole world, is the Fusus (from the Latin, "a spindle "), so named from its shape. In Scotland it is called the "roaring buckie," from the continuous sound, as of waves breaking on the shore, heard when the empty shell is applied to the ear. Wordsworth alludes to this "voice"

of a shell in some sweet lines:

"I have seen

A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract
Of inland ground, applying to his ear
The convolutions of a smooth-tipp'd shell,
To which, in silence hush'd, his very soul
Listen'd intensely, and his countenance soon
Brighten'd with joy; for murmurings from within
Were heard-sonorous cadence, whereby,
To his belief, the monitor express'd
Mysterious union with his native sea."

In the cottages of Zetland, this shell, generally about six inches long, is used for a lamp, being suspended horizontally by a cord, its cavity containing the oil, and the wick passing through the canal.

66

The shell of the Haliotis (from the Greek als, "the sea," and ous, "the ear") is very ornamental, and valued, on account of its pearly lining, for adorning papier maché articles. These shells, which are very numerous, and some of splendid appearance, come from the tropical seas, and are commonly called, from their shape, "earshells," or 'sea-ears." One species, however, is found on the southern European coasts, and on those of the Channel Islands. From the warm regions we also obtain the beautiful Harp-shells, the delicate and brilliant colours of which render them highly prized; also the Fountain-shells to which I have already alluded as used for cameos, and are much esteemed as garden ornaments for

180

VALUE OF RARE SHELLS.

their solid and delicately-tinted substance. One of these shells sometimes weighs four or five pounds.

A shell called the Razor, a common species of which you may have often picked up on our sea-coasts—some straight, about an inch long and eight inches broad; and another, curved like a sword-attain a large size in the tropical seas, and are of great beauty. They are found in the sands of all seas, except in the cold regions, the solen, the name of the inhabitant of this shell, burrowing in the sands, and ascending from its holes by means of the foot, which can be lengthened or contracted at will.

What are called Top-shells, from their spiral and very generally top-shape, are frequently found on our coasts, and many of them are very ornamental, but not equal in this respect to the tropical specimens.

From Australia we obtain a large number of the richly decorated Pheasant-shells, formerly of great rarity, and expensive, but now comparatively cheap.

The Wentletrap-shells, the common kinds of which are found on our own coasts and those of continental Europe, are very pretty : they are spiral, with many whorls or wreaths, deeply divided, and crossed by remarkably elevated ribs. The true shells of this species come from the warm seas, and are generally very beautiful. One kind, called the Precious Wentletrap, is of such rarity and richness, that it is said to have been sold to shell-collectors at the price of two hundred guineas, but it may now be had for a few shillings. It is nearly two inches in length, snow-white or pale flesh-coloured, with eight separated wreaths. Trough-shells, several small species of which are very abundant on our sea-shores, are triangular, broader than long, and the valves equal. Some of them have a very attractive appearance.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SUBMARINE SCENERY.

"The water is calm and still below,

For the winds and waves are absent there,
And the sands are bright as the stars that glow
In the motionless fields of upper air.

There, with its waving blades of green,

The sea-flag streams through the silent water,
And the crimson leaf of the dulse is seen

To blush like a banner bath'd in slaughter!"

PERCIVAL.

T is in the warm sea regions that the glory of submarine scenery is developed, the great transparency of the water in various places affording an ample view of the magnificent objects which gem the ocean depths. The poet Moore, writing of the Bahamas (the earliest discovery of Columbus), a chain of islands in the Atlantic, remarks on the singular clearness of the water, so that the rocks are seen to a very great depth. "As we entered the harbour," he observes, "they appeared so near to us that it seemed impossible to avoid striking on them." Addressing the Marchioness of Donegal, he says:

"Believe me, lady, when the zephyrs bland
Floated our bark to this enchanted land-
These leafy isles, upon the ocean thrown
Like studs of emerald o'er a silver zone-
Never did weary bark more sweetly glide,
Or rest its anchor in a lovelier tide."

182 BEAUTY OF TROPICAL SUBMARINE SCENERY.

Dr. Collingwood, in his "Rambles of a Naturalist," describes a scene of marvellous submarine beauty in the China seas. He speaks of Fiery Cross Reef on a day when the sea was so calm that the ship's anchor could be distinctly seen sixty or seventy feet from the surface. Rowing over a two-fathom patch, he allowed the boat to drift slowly, and gazed on the sea treasures beneath him.

"Glorious masses of living coral strewed the bottom; immense globular madrepores (zoophytes); vast overhanging mushroomshaped expansions; complicated ramifications of interweaving branches, mingled with smaller and more delicate species, round, finger-shaped, horn-like, and umbrella forms, lay in a wondrous confusion; and these were painted in every shade of delicate and brilliant colouring-grass-green, deep blue, bright yellow, pure white, rich buff, and more sober brown; altogether forming a kaleidoscope effect of form and colour unequalled by anything I ever beheld. Here and there was a large clam-shell, wedged in between masses of coral, the gaping zigzag mouth covered with a projecting mantle of the deepest Prussian blue; beds of dark purpled, long spined echini (sea-urchins), and the thick black bodies of sea-cucumbers varied the aspect of the sea bottom. In and out of these coral groves, like gorgeous birds in forest trees, swam the most beautifully coloured and grotesque fishes-some of an intense blue, others. bright red, yellow, black, salmon coloured, and every hue of the rainbow, curiously barred, and bound, and bearded."

All the deepest colours we are acquainted with are those of hot climates, and all the lightest those of cold ones. The brilliant colour of fishes, shells, and sea-weeds of the tropics, and especially of the Indian and Caribbean Seas, are spoken of with admiration. by every navigator.

"To give some idea," remarks Mr. Adams ("Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang"), "of the splendid colour of tropical fishes, I copy from my journal the colour of a species of Balistes (cross-bow-fish) taken by us at Sooloo: upper part of the body pale brown, with two broad stripes of deeper brown extending backwards towards the dorsal (back) fin, four well-defined and narrow streaks descend