186 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



which are worn by the " gins" on Sandy Island, Mary- 

 borough, and strung as necklaces in the same manner. 

 They prize them very highly, and it required much per- 

 suasion to induce them to part with those we have. 

 The Miranha Indians wear on holidays a large button 

 made of the pearly river-shell, in a slit cut in the 

 middle of each nostril ;* and Sir Samuel Baker states 

 that the women of the Shir tribe, living on the White 

 Nile, make girdles and necklaces of small pieces of 

 river mussel-shells, threaded upon the hair of the 

 giraffe's tail, and that the effect is nearly the same as a 

 string of mother-of-pearl buttons, f In an old book 

 of recipes entitled the ' Druggist's Shop opened/ 

 it says, " Mother-of-pearl is of an alkalious substance, 

 and Cordial ; good against Paintings, Swoonings, and 

 Palpitations of the Heart, .... it is good against 

 Melancholy, and Malign, and burning Fevers, Measles, 

 Smallpox, &c." 



A large species of Haliotis is eaten at the Cape of 

 Good Hope and is prepared by pounding. No iron is 

 allowed to touch it in preparation ; it must be loosened 

 from the shell with horn or wood implements, and then 

 pounded with stone or wood, and finally stewed. It is 

 considered that if iron touches the fish it becomes 

 rigidly contracted, and hopelessly tough. J 



Through the kindness of Mr. Morton, of St. Cle- 

 ments, Jersey, I am enabled to give the following 

 recipe for cooking the Sea-ear : 



" To dress Sea-ears to Perfection. Take them out of 

 the shells, and well scrub them ; then let them simmer 



* ' A Naturalist on the Amazon,' by H. Bates, vol. ii. p. 197. 

 f Albert Nyanza,' Baker, vol. i. p. 84. 

 $ ' A Naturalist on the Challenger/ 



