SHELLS. 421^ 



Shells. — It would he difficult to enumerate the vast diver-^ 

 sity of shells that adorn the banks, or lie in the shallows of 

 the Arabian Seas. Cijprcce are seen in the Gulf of Suez, 

 beautifully spotted, and in a great variety of sizes. Turbin- 

 ated and bivalve shells are also common, remarkable not 

 only for the luxuriance of their colours, but so exceed- 

 ingly capacious that Burcina have been found a foot and a 

 half long, while some of the bivalve specimens are as much 

 in diameter. There are three kinds of shell-tish highly val- 

 ued on account of the pearls which they contain. The first 

 of these is a muscle, which is found ciiiefly on the Egyptian 

 coast of the Gulf; the second is a Pinna, rough, brittle, and 

 of a beautiful red colour ; the third bears a resemblance to 

 our oyster. The pearl of the first is seldom of a clear col- 

 our, but esteemed for its form and lustre ; the second yields 

 a rich mother-of-pearl, of a white colour, tinged with a deli- 

 cate shade of red ; the third, called lulu el berber, is most 

 sought after. Vast quantities of it are carried to Jerusalem, 

 where it is used in veneering, or formed into boxes, beads, 

 and crucifixes. Bruce says that he observed none of these 

 shells on either side of the Gulf southward of the parallel of 

 Mocha. Edrisi mentions a place on the western arm of the 

 sea where pearls were found ; and Burckhardt states that the 

 Bedouins still pick up a considerable quantity there, which 

 they sell to advantage to the ships that anchor at Moilah. 

 Nor is this the only benefit which the Arabs derive from their 

 marine wealth ; much of the furniture and utensils of their 

 liouses, as well as their personal ornaments, are supplied from 

 this watery magazine. The Nautilus serves them instead of 

 a cup ; the Buccinum instead of a jar ; and a bivalve is the 

 dish or platter from which they eat their food. Fossil shells 

 are not very common ; yet at Wady Gharcndel, Ayoun Mousa, 

 Tor, and Suez, Shaw found quantities of ChamcE, Pcclun- 

 culi, Echini, and other species ; most of which corresponded 

 exactly with their respective families still contained in the 

 Red Sea. Most of the echini are remarkably beautiful, — 

 some being flat and unarmed, of the pentaphylloid kind ; 

 others oval or globular, very elegantly studded with little 

 knobs, and covered with prickles, which are sometimes 

 thicker than a swan's quill. The Astcrias or star-fish is an- 

 other of these marine productions. Shaw observed some of 



Vol. II.— N n 



