6f the tr3£ 
Would be unknown ? What mart of fenfe is hot 
ftruck with wonder, when he beholds the innu- 
merable objefts, which the Author of nature 
has buried, as it were* in the great abyfs. Ob- 
jects for color, fliape, and mechanifm fo ad- 
mirable, that they furpafs the imagination of 
man to conceive without feeing them. If we 
vifit a royal palace, and there behold the walls 
covered with tapefhy, pi< 5 tures, fculptute, and 
other ornaments, are we not delighted, and 
even in rapture? We ought therefore to feel the 
fame pleafure, when we behold the beauties of 
this our globe. To deferibe eveiy fhell on this 
occafion would far exceed the bounds of my 
defign. At prefent i will only mention one, viz. 
the knotted margirtated Cypr*ea. Rump, t. 39. 
f. C. Argenvnill* t. 21. f, K. Petiv. Faz. 97. t, 
8. This is a fmall fheil, about the bignefs of 
a hazel nut, and is gathered in the Maldivee 
iflands by the women along the fea Ihore in 
fuch quantities, that 30 or 40 (hips are load- 
ed with them yearly for Africa, Bengal and 
Siam 5 fo that in thofe parts there are large 
palaces filled with them, where they are pre- 
ferved as treafures of the greatefl value. 
Thefe fhells ferve there as gold, and filver 
with us, for all kinds of commerce. In other 
coun- 
