66 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSTA. 



of the inhabitants of Europe, and the awabi is the 

 emblem, or rather the memorial, of the frugality of 

 their forefathers.* 



There is another purpose for which these shells are 

 used, which would astonish the " Truefitts/' of the 

 present day; for Grey, in his ' Australia/ mentions 

 that amongst the contents of a native woman's bag 

 was a mussel-shell for cutting the hair. 



There is an interesting account in Captain O'Brien's 

 ( Adventures during the late War/ of the method of 

 fishing for mussels in the Bay of Concepcion. A man 

 and woman in a canoe push off from the shore, to a 

 certain depth, when the man with a long pole ascer- 

 tains the depth of the mussel-bed. This pole, which 

 has a sharpened end, is struck into the bed, and 

 serves as the anchor or mooring for the boat; the 

 woman, with her arms round it, makes it her line of 

 descent. With this as a conductor, she slides or slips 

 down, and soon reappears with her arms crossed round 

 the pole, but with both hands as full as they can hold of 

 mussels. Having deposited her handfuls in the canoe, 

 she descends again and again six or eight times, until 

 her cargo is complete. Upon Captain O'Brien's remon- 

 strating with a man for imposing such a dangerous 

 duty upon a woman, instead of undergoing it himself, 

 he explained to him, that this diving was a privilege of 

 the sex, and that no man would dare to be so unmanly 

 as to rob a woman of her birthright. These Chilian, 

 or Bay of Concepcion belles, sell their produce in the 

 market for dresses and finery. 



The usual size of the common mussel is about two 

 inches and a half in length, and about half that in 

 * ' IMigious Ceremonies,' vol. iv. p. 315. 



