168 
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 ina 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 Mahajans at 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 (7.e., refuse) is sold at Re. 1, and slaked 
lime produced therefrom is sold at the rate of half anna 
for one séef. 
(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 
