History of the Caribs. 233 
Lembies are large shells seen sometimes behind the 
show glasses of Paris apothecaries. These Lembies 
serve for two purposes, as trumpets by means of which 
they signal from great distances. They have different 
sounds by which they make known their wants, the suc- 
cess of their enterprises or of war, of hunting or fishing, 
and in accordance with which often one or two hours 
before their arrival the women prepare the kettle or 
boucan or the necessaries to dress their wounds. One 
will not be sorry to learn here that the fabulous patience 
of GRISELDY is surpassed by theirs in the fabrication of 
certain necklaces with which they ornament their heads 
on days of ceremony. They call them Ch'bat, and the 
savages of Canada, Pourcelaine. These are of small 
pieces of these Lembies, which they rub on stones until 
they have become round and about two lines in diameter 
and \ line in thickness in a necklace of ordinary size; 
as several rows are worked in, there are 3 to 4 thousand 
of these pieces in a necklace, and they could not make 
one piece to perfection and pierce it with the tools that 
they use in less then 3 days : it is a facl: that amongst 
the whole number not one will be found varying by 
the thickness of one hair. 
They also make these kinds of necklaces from the 
seed of the black palm. These glisten like jet when pol- 
ished. These pieces are a trifle longer and are less in 
diameter, and are notched at the extremities. 
When the women who are accused as witches pick up 
these different shells they say that ic is the remains 
of what the bewitched had eaten, which the pretended 
witch had buried in the ground. Many incisions are 
then made on her body. She is hanged by the feet ;. % 
GG 
