Chap. II. of the East Indie s. 
mans carried their Reverences fo Far as to ered a Temple to 
it. It was from the fame Notion that Alexander the Great 
appointed a Boy to execute the Office of High-Prieft to 
Neptune, becaufe the prevailing Opinion then was, that the 
Dolphins had a great Tendernefs for Youths. As for the 
Fiffi that is known to us by this Name, they have been 
defcribed in the former Chapter, and will be mentioned in 
fubfequent Voyages ; and therefore without dwelling longer 
on a Topic, upon which fome learned Men have writ- 
ten large Treatifes, we will proceed in our Difcourfe to 
other Inhabitants of the Indian Seas that have exercifed the 
Pens of the Writers of Antiquity k „ 
4. Of the Purpura, or Purple Fiffi, many Authors fpeak 
largely ; and from them we gather, that there were feveral 
different forts, fome fed amongft rotten Mud, others on 
Sea- Weeds, a third fort in the Gravel •, but that which was 
the richeft, and yielded the ftrongeft Dye, was called 
DialuU , or the Wandering Fijh , that fed in all the different 
Soils beforemen tioned. This Fiffi had a long ffiarp Tongue, 
of the Size of ones Finger, fo hard, and ffiarp at the Point, 
as to be able to pierce into other Shell-fiffi, and fuck them ; 
and thus living on their Blood, it became, when digefted 
in the Body of that Fiffi, the noble Dye which was fo much 
efteemed, and carried fo great a Price, that the Tyrians 
gained not only immenfe Wealth, but immortal Reputa- 
tion, by their Skill in managing their Trade therein l . 
The manner in which they carried on this Fiffiery was 
thus : At the proper Seafon, which was in the Beginning 
of the Autumn, or the Beginning of the Spring, they let 
down into the Sea certain fmallNets, in which were Cockles, 
Or fome other fmall Shell-fiffi, which had been for fome 
time out of the Water. Thefe opening their Shells for 
Suftenance, the Purple Fiffi, which, as we obferved before, 
was a Fiffi of Prey, came prefen tly about them, and gree- 
dily thrufting their Tongues into the Shells of the other 
Fiffi, they clofed upon them, and fo they were drawn up 
together. Then, as fome Writers fay, the Vein of the 
Purple Fiffi was opened, and the Colour drawn out. But 
Pliny gives us a much clearer and more copious Account 
of this Matter *, for he tells us, that as foon as the Fiffi was 
caught, they did not take out the Colour, but the Vein 
which contained it ; and having obtained a fufficient Quan- 
tity, they mixed it with Salt, and in this Condition it re- 
mained three Days ; then to eight Gallons of Water they 
put one hundred and fifty Pounds of Colour, and boiling 
it over a gentle Fire, fkimming it from Time to Time, it 
came in about five Hours to look perfectly clear and bright. 
In order, however, to judge the better of this Dye, and to 
know when it was perfectly boiled, they dipped now and 
then a Lock of Wool into it, by confidering of which they 
knew when it required a higher and when a lower Degree 
of Fire ». 
After the Colour was thus prepared, they put into it 
ffich a Quantity of Wool as they intended to dye, which 
foaked in it for five Hours ; then it was taken out, dried 
and carded, and afterward thrown into the Dye-Tub 
again n 5 and after it was dried a fecond time was delivered 
to the Manufacturers to be fpun, and wrought into Cloth. 
This was what was properly called the true Purple, which 
had been ufed in Rome Time out of Mind, when Pliny 
wrote, but not in common ; for Romulus never appeared 
in this Colour, but when he put on his Robe called Trabea 9 
and even in the Days of Auguflus it was at a high Price §, 
but afterwards it grew cheaper, or at leaft it grew more 
common, as Pliny tells us at large °. 
m There feems to be no doubt that this was the fineft and 
richeft Colour known to the Ancients, efpecially the Diba- 
pha, or double-dyed Tyrian Purple ; for whatever Changes 
there might happen in Faffiions, that from the firft to 5ft 
was efteemed the belt. A great Queftion has been raifed 
how this Colour came to be loft, fince all the different kinds 
of Shell-Fiffi, from whence it was taken, were found in 
various Parts of Europe , as well as in the Indies •, and the 
lofing this Colour has been always mentioned as an extraor- 
dinary Misfortune, and as one of the Things in which we 
fall moft ffiort of the Ancients. But, perhaps, when this 
Matter comes to be more ferioufly examined, the Lofs will 
not be found fo great, nay, I doubt, if upon the whole, v/e 
ought to account it any Lofs at all. 
In the firft place, let us confider how it is poffible the 
Art of managing this Dye ffiould have been forgot, which 
was in fo many Hands efteemed at fo great a rate, and in 
genera] Credit throughout Europe ; I fay, let us confider 
this, and we ffiall plainly fee, that it could have been loft 
no other Way than by the coming in of fome other Co- 
lour, or rather of fome other Dye, which afforded as fine a 
Colour, and at a cheaper Rate. We learn from Pliny 
that a Pound of the true Tyrian Purple was worth a thou- 
fand Denarii, or upwards of thirty-two Pounds of our 
Money, which was furely an exorbitant Price ; and there- 
fore, if in fucceeding 1 imes a Method has been found of 
dying Purple at a cheaper rate, there is no Ground for 
faying that we fall ffiort of the Ancients, that a valuable 
Colour has been loft, or that either their Knowledge or 
their Induftry, at leaft in this Refped, was greater than 
ours. " 
But after all, there feems to be fome Reafon to doubt 
whether the Fad be true, I mean, that this Secret is loft, 
fince both our own Royal Society, and the Academy of 
Sciences at Paris , have made considerable Difcoveries on 
this Head, that is to fay, their Members have made feveral 
Experiments on the Purple extracted from Shell-fiffi ; and 
if their Experiments have fucceeded but indifferently, I do 
not think it can be underftood as a Proof, that the Ancients 
excelled us in this Particular. Father Gage , in his Survey 
of the W f -Indies , tells us boldly, that the Spaniards have 
retrieved there the Secret of the ancient Purple, and that 
they dye Cloths, which are fold for twenty Crowns a Yard. 
I muft confefs this is a Fad, that I do not find confirmed 
by later Writers, and therefore I think there is Reafon to 
fufped the Truth of it. 
Father Lab at, a much more careful and accurate Writer, 
has given us a very curious Account of the Attempts made 
in the French Iflands in America to recover this kind of 
Dye, which is very worthy of the Reader’s Notice ; and 
therefore I fliall give him as clear and as fuccind an Ac- 
count or it as I can. They have in thofe Parts a kind of 
Shell-fiffi, about the Bignefs of the Top of one’s Thumb, 
refembling in its firft Appearance the common fort of 
Snails ; but when examined more clofely, and after the 
Fiffi is taken out, it appears one of the moft curious and 
beautiful Shells that can be imagined «. It is, though very 
thin, of a very ftrong Subftance, and of a beautiful Azure 
Colour. The Fleffi of the Fiffi is extreamly white, but its 
Inteftines of fo bright a red, that the Colour is feen through 
its Body ; and it is this Colour which tinges the Slime it 
throws out, when taken of a Violet, or rather of a deep 
Blue. In order to oblige thefo Animals to throw out a 
greater Quantity of this Slime, they are put alive into a 
Diffi, and ftruck one againft another, either with the Hand, 
or with a little Twig, upon which the Diffi is prefently co- 
vered with this kind of Slime, in which, if a Piece of Linnen 
be dipped, it is immediately dyed red, and by degrees be- 
comes, as it grows dry, of a deep Purple. But Father 
Labat obferves very cautioufly, and like a Writer, very 
careful of fpeaking Truth, that if this be the Purple of the 
Ancients, we have not hitherto the Art of fixing it ; for 
how deep foever the Colour may appear when the Linnen is 
dried, it foon decays, and if waffied, is fpeedily taken 
out r . 
This Fiffi, while admired only for its Shell, was called 
limply le Burgau % but fince this Difcovery it is called le 
Bur gaii de Teinture . Gur Author himfelf made feveral 
Experiments toward arriving at a finer Colour from a Plant 
in the fame Country, and not without Succefs, which I 
think plainly proves that he had no great Hopes of obtain- 
ing any fixed and perfed Colour from the Shells. On the 
whole therefore, I think it as plain as any thing can well 
be made, that the Purple of the Ancients gave way to 
fome brighter and cheaper Colour ; and if ever this Secret 
ffiould be recovered, it would prove a Curiofity only, and 
never could be brought again to a Manufadure, becaufe in 
^ k Strabo , lib. i. p, 56. Plin. lib. ix. cap. viii. 
, ® aL Hi fi' lib - cap . 38. » Idem, ibid, 
* Amerique. 
Numb. 33. 
Pbin. lib . ix. cap. 36. & fequm. Man. lib. vii. cap. 34. Men . Deipn, lib. iii. p. 86. 
la. c, 39. P Id, ibid, Hijioire des Antilles , p. Z24. 4 r Voyage de 
€ G all 
