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THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



Into the Utiturned hollows of the Giant Clam the rain has dripped from the trees, and 

 a store of water is thus provided for visitors to a waterless cay in Torres Strait. 



The giant clam (Tridacna gigas) 

 I'ormed excellent water vessels, each 

 \alve holding several pints. I'he people 

 of Torres Strait were found by the ex- 

 plorer, Captain Flinders, in 1802, to 

 store water thus on waterless islands. 

 The fishermen who camped there set 

 rows of clam shells under the trees, and 

 led the rain water by long strips of 

 l)ark from the tree tops to the upturned 

 shells. 



Probably the first musical instru- 

 ments that were ever invented were made 

 of shells. The most important of the 

 trumpet shells is the great conch shell 

 {Charonia tritonis). A mouth piece 



was made either by slicing off the tip of 

 the spire or by piercing a hole in the 

 side; the apex of a trumpet from New 

 Zealand was protected by being bound 

 with twine. At Tahiti a reed was in- 

 serted in the blow hole for a mouth 

 ]>iece. Some practise was required to 

 l)low these trumpets properly, l)ut the 

 deep-toned sound reached to a far dis- 

 tance. In the old times it was used as 

 a warning against attack, to assemble 

 the warriors for battle, or to frighten 

 away evil spirits from the village; in 

 modern days the missionaries employ 

 the shell trumpet to call their congrega- 

 tion together for worship. 



