CHAPTER X. 



INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING USES OF SHELLS. 



Composition of shells — Variety of forms and colours — ^Various economic uses 

 to which they are put — Extensive commerce in shells — Shell cameos— The 

 cowry shells — Their various uses, as currency, for decoration, etc. — Shells 

 worn for personal ornament — Wampum or treaty belts of shells — Shells 

 as studies of design — Britbh commerce in shells. 



Shells, from their variety of structure and colour, and 

 their singular beauty, have always formed a fruitful theme of 

 description for the writer and the poet. The works of most 

 of our best authors teem with lovely passages, many of 

 which must occur to the memory of any general reader. 



" Their exquisite, fragile, and beautiful forms 

 Are nursed by the ocean and rocked by the storms." 



By young and old, savage and civilized, shells are alike 

 admired and coveted, either for personal decoration, for the 

 cabinet of the collector and the naturalist, or as simple 

 ornaments in a room. 



The uses to which shells are applied are more extensive 

 than is generally supposed. The trade is growing year by 

 year into greater importance ; and there is ample scope yet 

 for its extension with profit and advantage, alike to the 

 merchant and importer, to the manufacturer and vendor, 

 and to the general public who are the purchasers. 



