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overboard, bo great was the temptation to the men to judge this or that 

 piece of coral worthless and throw it away. After taking a lunch, I 

 took out my instruments which I had provided for the occasion, and 

 made a careful examination of the stones, to see what life might be upon 

 them, scrutinizing every cavity and crevice closely with the lens. At 

 last I found the particular object of which I was in search. It was a 

 little shell about the size and thickness of a lentil, which had grown 

 fast to the stone by a piece of its edge. It was of a dingy, brownish 

 color, with a dim red spot in the middle, and was so covered with slime 

 and mud that it could hardly be distinguished from a stone-splinter. 

 I loosened it with a knife and exhibited it to the boatmen on the palm 

 of my hand. " Look at it sharply," I said, " so that you will be able 

 to recognize it anywhere, and then help me to look for more." In the 

 course of half an hour every stone had been examined, and three or 

 four shells had been obtained, among them a larger one, yellowish- 

 green and three-cornered, which was attached by the tip. " Your Ex- 

 cellency," said one of the sailors, " are there no such shells in the 

 country you came from ? " " In Switzerland ? " I replied. " No. 

 These shells grow only in the sea, and there is no sea in Switzerland." 

 " That is a good way from here, and the journey must have cost a 

 great deal of money. We are very simple people, your Excellency, 

 and must believe you ; but we can not understand why you should 

 have come so far and spent so much money just to get two or three 

 poor little shells that are not worth any money." " But I tell you it is 

 worth a great deal to me to see these shells living." " But you can't 

 sell the shells and get your money back again ? " " Certainly not, but 

 I have another kind of interest in them." " We believe, indeed, that 

 something else must be hidden behind this, and that is what we should 

 like to know ; but it does not concern us any further. We give you 

 the shells because you have paid us for them, and wash our hands in 

 innocence. You are responsible for what else is done with them ; but 

 a prudent man does not act as you do. Don't consider it wrong in us, 

 your Excellency. We should like to earn enough in this business to 

 devote a candle to the Madonna of Valverde, with which we may 

 atone for our sins, and the Madonna will pardon us if we have helped 

 on a little foolery or witchcraft to earn a little money by it." 



It had come to this, then, that I was a fool or a wizard. I should 

 clearly have to give some explanation of my business to these men ; 

 but it would be impossible to make their simple heads take the con- 

 ception of science or of scientific interest. So I was obliged to make 

 up a little fiction or allegory with w T hich to put them off, and I told 

 them that I wanted the shells to settle a wager. I had been present 

 at a discussion, I said, a long time ago, in the company of Prince 

 Humbert (now king), as to which were the oldest noble families on the 

 earth. Some were of the opinion that they were to be found in this 

 nation and some in that, when I interfered and said that I knew of a 



