154 MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL WOULD 



Conch or Triton shells are used in the East and 

 West Indies as trumpets or horns, and Mr. Ellis, in 

 Polynesian Researches, states that the noise produced 

 by * a species of murex (Triton) used by the priests 

 in the temple, and also by the herald and others on 

 board their fleets, was more horrific than that of 

 the drum. The largest shells were usually selected 

 for that purpose, and were sometimes about a 

 foot in length and seven or eight inches in diameter 

 at the mouth. In order to facilitate the blowing of 

 this trumpet they made a perforation, about an inch 

 in diameter, near the apex of the shell ; into this 

 they inserted a bamboo cane, about three feet in 

 length, which was secured by binding it to the shell 

 with finely-braided cinet . The aperture was rendered 

 air-tight by cementing the outsides of it with a 

 resinous gum from the bread-fruit tree. These 

 shells were blown when any procession marched to 

 the temple, at the inauguration of the King, during 

 worship at the temple, or when a tabu or restriction 

 was imposed in the name of the gods.' 



In Roman Catholic countries it is frequently 

 the custom to utilise the enormous shells of the 

 clam as receptacles wherein to place holy water ; 

 and the cottagers of Zetland use spindle shells (a 

 kind of whelk) as lamps by placing a wick and oil 

 inside. The objets d'art known as cameos are 

 carved upon various shells that are characterised 

 by possessing an exterior surface of a different tint 

 to that which lies underneath ; those of the Cassis 

 cornuta being white on the outer surface and orange 

 beneath ; those of C. rufa, pale salmon outside 



