i68 A VOYAGE TO Book IV. 



of Guayaquil. The fait is not the fincft, but re- 

 rnarkably compa6l, and anfwers very well the principal 

 intention, that of falting ñeíh. 



On the coaft belonging to this lieutenancy is found 

 that exquifite purple, fo highly eflecmed among the 

 ancients ; but the ñfh from which it was taken, having 

 been either unknown or forgotten, many moderns have 

 imagined the fpecies to be extinct. This colour, how- 

 ever, is found in a fpecies of fhell-fiih growing on 

 rocks wafhed by the fea. They are fomething larger 

 than a nut^ and are replete with a juice, probably the 

 blood, which, when exprcfled, is the true purple ; 

 for if a thread of cotton, or any thing of a fimilarkind, 

 be dipt in this liquor, it becomes of a moft vivid co- 

 lour, which repeated wafhings are fo far from obli- 

 terating, that they rather improve it ; nor does it fade 

 by wearing. Thejurifdiétion of the port of Nicoya, 

 in the province of Guatemala, alio affords this Ipe- 

 cies of turbines, the juice of which is alfo ufed in 

 dying cotton threads, and, in feveral parts, for ri- 

 bands, laces, and other ornaments. Stuffs died with 

 this purple are alfo highly valued. This precious 

 juice is extraéted by different methods. Some take 

 the fifh out of its Ihell, and laying it on the back of 

 their hand, prefs it with a knife from the head to the 

 tail, feparating that part of the body into which the 

 compreiiion has forced the juice, and throw away 

 the reft. In this manner they proceed till they have 

 provided themfelves with a fufncieñt quantity. Then 

 they drav/ thethreacTs through the liquor, which is the 

 whole procefs. But tiie purple tinge does not imme- 

 diately appear, the juice being at firffof a milky co- 

 lour; it then changes to green ; and, laftly, into this 

 celebrated purple. Others purfue a different method 

 in extracting the colour; for they neither kill the 

 filh, nor take it entirely out of its íhéll ; but fqueeze it 

 fo hard as to exprefs a juice, with which they die the 

 thread, and afterwards replace the ñfh on the rock 



whence 



