494 CURIOUS NOISE TO BE HEARD ON SHORE 
century. Beneath the face, and within an oval, are the arms 
of the Austrian Empire, the date 1658 and the initials 4 L. I.' 
The height is 10 inches and the diameter at the widest part 
7 inches (see sketch). 
There is another of these jars in the possession of a resident 
at Lamu. It is a little smaller, and has a baronial coat of 
arms and coronet in place of the imperial achievement. This 
was also brought from Siyu. 
The 4 L. I.’ evidently represents the initials of Leopold I, 
who ascended the imperial throne in 1657 ; he was very 
harsh in his government, and a rebellion broke out amongst 
the Hungarians, who called in the Turks to their assistance. 
It therefore appears probable that these jars were brought 
from Europe by the Turks, and from them passed into the 
hands of the Arabs, who brought them to the African coast. 
A CURIOUS NOISE TO BE HEARD ON THE SHORE 
By G. D. Hale Carpenter, M.D. 
There is often to be heard on the exposed shore at low 
tide a noise which I have not been able to assign satisfactorily 
to any definite cause. 
As one walks along, a sudden 4 pop ’ or 4 smack ’ is re- 
peatedly heard coming from the ground in the neighbourhood 
of one’s feet ; it reminds one of the somewhat explosive noise 
made by suddenly withdrawing a cork from a bottle with a 
long, narrow neck, or of a loud smacking of lips. It is not a 
loud noise, and yet it attracts one’s attention. 
I have heard it at different parts of the East African coast 
from Durban to Mombasa, and on different kinds of shore, 
whether exposed reef, sand, or loose rock. At first I naturally 
ascribed it to the explosion of sea-weed bladders when trodden 
upon, but it soon became obvious that this was not the cause, 
for when one has remained quite still without moving one’s 
feet the noise will be heard in the absence of sea-weed. 
Then I wondered whether large bivalves in holes in the 
