171 



The egg-capsule of the chank is employed by the 

 chank and pearl divers of Tuticorin to relieve headache. 

 They grind up a portion of the egg-capsule (sanku-pu or 

 " chank-flower ") in gingelly-oil, together with pepper 

 and coriander seed, and apply the paste to the forehead 

 and temples. 



Finally, according to Risley (II, page 223) the shell- 

 workers of Dacca are accustomed to extract the dried 

 remnant of the visceral coil (called ////rt') from the shells 

 they receive and to sell this to native physicians as a 

 medicine for spleen enlargement. He also states that 

 the dust produced in sawing the shells is employed to 

 prevent the pitting of small-pox and as an ingredient of 

 a valuable white paint. 



(/) Food. 



During the run home from the chank beds, the 

 divers are accustomed to extract the foot and anterior 

 part of the body of the chank from the shells they have 

 collected. The work is roughly performed by means of 

 a pointed iron rod and all the apical mass, comprising 

 the hepatic and reproductive glands, remains vvithin the 

 shell. What is extracted consists almost entirely of 

 tough muscular tissue carrying the adherent horny 

 operculum at one end. These fragments are collected 

 in the little palmyra-leaf baskets used for bailing water 

 out of the canoe. The flesh, called chanku-chathai, is 

 carried home and there prepared for family use. The 

 preparation consists of separating the operculum, boiling 

 the flesh for a short time and then cutting the foot and 

 head region transversely into thin slices. These are 

 dried in the sun ; when required for use they are fried in 

 oil and eaten with rice and curry stufts. On one occasion 

 I essayed to try this much esteemed food, but my taste 

 was not sujfficiently cultivated ; the fried slices tasted or 

 rather smelled like frizzled shoe-leather and were alto- 

 gether too tough for my teeth. 



{(j) Incense sticks. 



The horny operculum is also put to use. It is dried, 

 reduced to powder, and then employed after soaking in 

 water as an adhesive matrix to bind together the pow- 

 dered sandal-wood and other sweet smelling incense 



