Industrial and Manu/aciuring Uses of Shells. 289 



The shankh or chank is the sacred shell of the Hindus, 

 and the national emblem of the kingdom of Travancore. 

 The god Vishnu is represented as carrying a chank shell in 

 one hand, and a chakra in the other. 



The Hindus believe that unless they worshipped this 

 shell at the commencement of every worship or prayer, 

 their offerings would not be accepted. Vishnu, the Pro- 

 tector, is supposed to hold a chank in his hand. It is 

 called Devadatta. Shankar, the Destroyer, according to 

 mythology, possesses a like shell. The first incarnation of 

 Vishnu, called Machhavatar (which literally means trans- 

 formation into fish), was undertaken for destroying Shan- 

 khasura (the giant chank shell), in order to regain the 

 Vedas, he having stolen them and taken refuge under the 

 ocean. 



The fishery for these shells is principally carried on in 

 the Gulf of Manaar, in the vicinity of Ceylon, and on the 

 coast of Coromandel, at Travancore, Tuticorin, and other 

 places, the shells being brought up by divers in about two 

 or three fathoms of water. Those taken with the animal in, 

 and called green chanks, from having the epidermis on, are 

 most in demand. The white chanks, or dead shells thrown 

 upon the beach by strong tides, having lost their enamel, 

 are scarcely worth the cost of freight to Calcutta. The 

 number obtained varies considerably in different years, 

 according to the weather and the success attending the 

 divers. Frequently 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 of these shells 

 are shipped in a year from the Gulf of Manaar. In some 

 years the value of the rough shells, as imported into Madras 

 and Calcutta, reaches a value of ;^ 10,000 to £15,000. A 

 few hundreds are occasionally imported into Calcutta from 

 the Arabian and Persian Gulfs. The chank fishery of 

 Ceylon at one time employed 600 divers, and yielded a 



