it 
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 fz¢éa) 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. 
(~) Foon. 
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 within 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 stuffs. On one occasion 
I essayed to try this much esteemed food, but my taste 
was not sufficiently cultivated; the fried slices tasted or 
rather smelled like frizzled shoe-leather and were alto- 
gether too tough for my teeth. 
(7g) 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 
