No. 4.— 1848.] appendix. 105 



you collect, always separating the light fragile shells from the 

 coarser ones, as the natives have no interest in the matter, and 

 would be sure to break them. When they are cleaning the sand 

 and mud in the sieve, always watch it to see what shells might 

 appear when the first bucket of water is thrown over them, for 

 should there be any heavy with some that are fragile, by the 

 shaking of the sieve the more fragile ones will be broken, and 

 those that are most valuable seldom come on the beacli in a 

 sound state. 



The other mode of dredging I prefer, which is thus. Get a 

 comfortable large boat with an awning, with a good anchor and 

 60 or 80 fathoms of cable, with a fisherman's canoe, and both pro- 

 ceed to where you iut j ud to dredge ; then come to an anchor, put 

 the dredge in the canoe, having fastened the other end of the 

 dredge rope in a secure manner, then order two men in the canoe 

 to pull away, and when they have proceeded as far as the dredge 

 rope will allow them, order them to heave it overboard, and when it 

 has been down five or six minutes, haul it on board as I have stated 

 before, and examine the contents. If the boat has bottom boards 

 or convenient platforms you can empty the contents of the dredge 

 on it carefully ; the men can take off the dredge again whilst 

 you are inspecting the contents of the last dredging. 



Should the sand and gravel contain many small shells after it 

 has been washed, and it would occupy too much time on board 

 the boat to pick them out, put it aside carefully in some vessel, 

 take it home and dry it, and pick them out at your leisure, for 

 the small shells you get by dredging are extremely rare, and 

 therefore more highly esteemed. 



The most fruitful places for shells are in sandbanks in deep 

 water, near to reefs and rocks. I always found them abound with 

 shells, but oftentimes I had the misfortune to get the dredge foul 

 of a piece of rock or coral, which you will soon fiud out by not 

 being able to pull the dredge on board. When you find this, 

 cause the men in the canoe to get hold of the dredge rope and 

 slack it from inboard, and then to overhaul it until they come to 

 where the dredge is fastened, and by a little exertion, being right 



