MALTA AND SICILY. 
139 
Bay, and by wading in the shallow water, 
we found a few small shells, and some beau¬ 
tiful echini or sea-eggs, with long green and 
purple spines. These sea-eggs are eaten 
by some persons, but I have not courage to 
taste them. It is dangerous to wade with- 
* 
out shoes in places where they abound, for 
the spines run into the feet, and breaking 
off, cannot be extracted without great dif¬ 
ficulty. There have been instances of per¬ 
sons losing their limbs in this manner. We 
here met with an old man who was catching 
eels by dropping a baited hook into the 
holes and crevices among the rocks close to 
the shore, and in order to see the bottom 
more clearly, he had recourse to the inge¬ 
nious contrivance of sprinkling on the water 
a few drops of oil, which had the effect of 
making the surface perfectly smooth in an 
instant. The eels he caught were large, 
