6 Shei/s ns evidence of tlie Migrations. 



Judging from the associated symbols, particularly 

 those of the serpent, palm-tree, " mundane egg," etc, it 

 seems to have a greater affinit)- with serpent and phallic 

 worship. 



At least two species of Mitre.v, and one of Purpura, 

 appear to have been employed b\- the Phoenicians in the 

 manufacture of Tyrian purple. Lortet records that in the 

 vicinity of Sidon, great banks, a hundred 3'ards long and 

 .several yards thick, occur composed entirely of broken 

 shells of Murex trunculiis^ while at T)'re, according to 

 Tristram," large quantities of crushed and broken shells of 

 Murex braiuieris, have been met with. Tyre, which i.s 

 reputed to have produced the best purple in Asia, is 

 referred to b\- Strabo'" as unpleasant, as a place of 

 residence, owinc: to the "reat number of its dyeworks. 



The T)'rian method of dyeing differed slighth' froni 

 that narrated by Pliny, for the dj'ers merely made a bath 

 of the liquid in which the wool to be treated was steeped 

 for a certain time. It was then taken out and thrown 

 into another boiler, which contained an extract from the 

 Ruceiiitini. or Trumpet-fish, only. This process — the 

 so-called "purpurea dibapha" — gave to the stuffs a richer 

 and more vivid hue. Wool submitted to this double 

 process was so highly esteemed that, in the reign of 

 Augustus, each pound sold for one thousand Roman 

 denarii, or about thn-ty-six pounds sterling. We need 

 not wonder at this enormous price, considering the tedious 

 nature of the process and the small amount of dye pro- 

 duced from each shell-fish. For fifty pounds of wool, the 

 ancients used no less than two hundred pounds of the 



^ L. Lorlel, " La Syrie d'aujourd'hui," Paris, 1MS3, p. 102. 



» H. B. Tristram, "The Land of Israel," 1882,11.48. See also Besiiior, 

 op. ciL, p. 770, for other references, and the use of Piiit<iiia h„fnasloiii,u 

 ' " .Sirabm. xvi., c. n. p. 756. 



