C a p. XlX. The Caribby-Iflands, 



pretty bignefs, folid, and of extraordinary luftre 5 and to be 

 current Money, they muft be marked by certain Officers, who 

 afcertain the value thereof by certain little Characters engra- 

 ved on them. 



MZ> SICK-SHELL. 



THere is a very considerable Shell, which Monf duMon- 

 tel thinks may be found in fome of the Caribby-Ijlands^ 

 though he never faw any of that kind but only at Coraffao : It 

 differs not much as to figure from the Venus-fliells : It may be 

 called the Mufical-fiiell, becaufe on the out-fide of it there are 

 blackifh lines, full of notes, which have a kind of key for the 

 finging of them, fo that it might be faid there wants only the 

 letter to that natural pricking : The forementioned Gentle- 

 man relates, that he faw fome that had five Lines, a Key and 

 Notes, wh'ch made good Mufick : Some perfon had added the 

 Letter, which it feems Nature had forgotten, and caus'd it to 

 be fling, and the Mufick was not undelightful. 



This might afford the ingenious many excellent reflections : 

 They might fay among other things, that if according to the 

 opinion of Pythagoras the Heavens have their Harmony, the 

 fweetnefs whereof cannot be heard by reafon of the noi(e 

 made upon Earth 5 if the Air refound with the melody of an in- 

 finite number of Birds who fing their feveral parts there 5 and 

 if Men have invented a kind of Mufick, after their way, which 

 by the Ears recreates the Heart it were but juft that theSea 9 

 which is not always tofs'd and troubled, fhould have within its 

 territories certain Muficians to celebrate, by a Mufick parti- 

 cular to them , the praifes of their Sovereign Maker. The 

 Poets might adde, that thefe natural tablatures are the (ame 

 which the^retf/ had in their hands, when they had their melo- 

 dious Conforts j and that being perceivd by fome eye which 

 came to difturbe their recreations, they let them fall into the 

 water, where they have been carefully kept ever fince : But 

 leaving thefe imaginations to thofe they belong to, letuspur- 

 iiie our defign. 



EYE-STONE. 



THere is a little Stone found in thefe Iflands, moft com- 

 monly neer the Sea-fide, and fometimes at a good di- 

 ftance from the Sea, which from its vertues may be termed the 

 Ejte-Jtone 5 but in regard the more common opinion will have 

 it to be a product ion of the waters, we fhall treat of it in this 

 place. Some of thefe Stones are about the bignefs of the larger 

 fort of Brafs-farthings } but the leaft are moft efteem'd ; A 

 man would think, looking on them in the Sun, that they were 



