174 OF THE USE 



would be unknown ? What man of fenfe is no! 

 ftruck with wonder, when he beholds the innu* 

 merablc objedls, which the Author of nature 

 has buried, as it were, in the great abyfs. Ob- 

 je6LS for color, fliape, and mechanifm fo ad- 

 mirable, that they furpafs the imagination of' 

 man to conceive without feeing them. If we 

 vifit a royal palace, and there behold the walls 

 covered with tapeftry, pictures, fculpture, and 

 other ornaments, are v/e not delighted, and 

 even in rapture ? We ought therefore to feel the 

 fame pleafure, when we behold the beauties of 

 this our globe. To defcribe every fnell on this 

 occafion would far exceed the bounds of my 

 defign. At prefent i will only mention one, viz, 

 the knot ted marginated Cypraa. Rump. t. 39. 

 f. C. Argenvnill- 1. 21. f. K. Pctiv. Faz. 97. t. 

 8. This is a fmall fnell, about the bignefs of 

 a hazel nut, and is gathered in the Maldivee 

 iflands by the v/omen along the fea fhore in 

 fuch quantities, that 30 or 40 (hips are load- 

 ed with them yearly for Africa, Bengal and 

 Siamj fo that in thofe parts there are large 

 palaces filled with them, where they are pre- 

 ferved as treafures of the greatefl value. 



Thefe fhells ferve there as gold, and filver 

 with us, for all kinds of commerce. In other 



coun- 



