38 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 



The chank is frequently employed upon native-owned 

 plantations in South India and Ceylon to summon the 

 workpeople to their duties. 



In the Laccadive Islands it is used to call the people 

 together in cases of emergency and public requirements:' 6 



In addition to the use of the chank, Turbinella pyrinn, 

 as a trumpet in India, T. Wilson, in his " Prehistoric 

 Art," :5T mentions other trumpets made from Cassis, or 

 helmet shell (called Gomukha) and from Pterocera (called 

 Barataka). 



Speaking of the use of shell-trumpets in Ceylon, 

 Lovell 38 states, " According to the most ancient annals 

 of the Cingalese, the chank-shell is sounded in one of the 

 superior heavens of the demigods (similar to the conch- 

 blowing tritons of Grecian mythology) in honour of 

 Buddha, as often as the latter wanders abroad on the 

 earth."' HornelP 1 also says, " In the purer Buddhism of 

 Ceylon the chank cult also finds place, and figures promi- 

 nently among the musical instruments employed to lend 

 eclat to the periodic procession (pcraJierd] of the tooth- 

 relic at Kandy." 



In Thibet, according to the writings of travellers in 

 that country, the call of the chank is amongst the most 

 familiar sounds to be heard in the monasteries and 

 temples of the Lamaistic faith. It is also the custom to 

 sound the chank as the body of a deceased monk or nun 

 is being conveyed from the place where death occurred. 40 



Chank-shells, especially sinistral specimens, are held 

 in special veneration by the Chinese, and are kept in the 

 Pagodas by the priests for use on special occasions. 



'" Ibid. p. 172. 



' Rept. U.S. Nat. A/MS, for 1896 (1898), p. 555. 



s Lovell, op. cit., p. 195. 

 " 9 HernelJ, op. cit., p. 137. 

 411 Ibid. pp. 137 and 149. 



