1 68 



we inspect the walls of the old temples at Korkai, the 

 seat of the Tinnevelly chank fishery, 800 to 2,000 years 

 ago. The mortar still contains many recognizable frag- 

 ments of chank-shells. 



In Dacca and a few other towns in Bengal where the 

 waste from the Sankhari workshops is considerable, chank 

 lime is an article of commerce. The Collector of Bogra 

 notes in a letter which the Reporter to Government on 

 Economic Products has kindly submitted to me, that 

 during the rainy season quantities of chank workshop 

 waste is imported from Dacca into the Bogra district 

 by boat and stored by Mahajansat Bogra and Burigunje. 

 The lime burners take their supplies principally from 

 these two places. He adds : '* the lime produced by 

 burning conch-shells is mostly taken with betel leaves 

 and sometimes is used in whitewashing. One maund of 

 conch-shells {i.e., refuse) is sold at Re. i, and slaked 

 lime produced therefrom is sold at the rate of half anna 

 for one seer." 



{0) In medicine. 



Apart from the uses to which chank rings and brace- 

 lets are put as amulets against certain ailments, the 

 shell itself in several ways is used medicinally. Except 

 in cases which have come under my personal notice, it is 

 somewhat difficult to ascertain the exact nature of the 

 diseases for which native practitioners employ this 

 specific : custom appears to vary with different districts 

 and even with different "doctors" living in the same 

 town. 



Of some there is no doubt. The belief is general 

 throughout Tamil districts and Malabar that water which 

 has been in contact with an article formed from a chank- 

 shell is a charm against and a remedy for blotches, 

 pimples and other skin troubles on the face and 

 body. A chank ring worn on a finger is an easy way 

 of applying the remedy, as water applied to the face or 

 body by the hand must necessarily have been in contact 

 with chank substance and so able to transmit the virtue 

 thereof. This remedy is believed to act still more bene- 

 ficially if the ring be rubbed upon the affected parts. In 

 South Arcot, Tanjore, Coimbatore, Salem and Trichino- 

 poly, certain skin diseases, eruptions, warts and even 



