28 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



tious, especially when boiled with milk.* It is astonishing 

 how quickly an expert cockle-gatherer will fill his basket ; 

 and sometimes they make use of a piece of bent iron, or 

 half an old hoop, to scrape the shells out of the sands. 

 At Starcross, they have small " cockle-gardens," where 

 the shellfish are kept ; and the flavour of these cockles 

 is considered superior to those which are found else- 

 where. The costume of the women who gather them is 

 anything but becoming; — large fishermen's boots, their 

 dresses so arranged as to resemble very large knicker- 

 bockers, and an old hat or handkerchief on their heads, 

 with their baskets on their backs. 



I am told that some of the Gower people, on the north 

 side of the seigniory of Gower (a Flemish colony in Gla- 

 morganshire), live nine months in the year on cockles. 

 They also carry large quantities to Swansea market, 

 whence they are sent to London. 



Mr.Baines,in his l Explorations in South- West Africa/ 

 tells us that cockle-shells are greatly prized by the Da- 

 maras, and, if they are rich enough to afford it, one is 

 worn in the hair over the centre of the forehead ; and 

 he adds, that if some friend at home would invest three- 

 halfpence in these favourite mollusks, and send him the 

 shells after his meal, he might make his fortune. In 

 the British Museum a fishing-net is exhibited, from the 

 Friendly Islands, with cockle-shells fastened on it to 

 sink it, instead of leads. Cockle-shells are also used 

 for making garden walks, and good lime is made from 

 them when they are calcined. 



In the heraldry of Prussia the cockle-shell is used. 

 " Barry of four, argent and azure, semee of cockle- 



* ' Visits to the Seacoasts : Shipwrecked Mariners,' vol. xii. p. 32, 

 1865. 



