140 
LETTERS FROM 
disgusting, spotted, snake-like creatures, but 
I have since found, that when properly 
cooked they make a most delicious dish. 
From St. Mark’s Bay we proceeded directly 
homewards, for our want of success was so 
discouraging that we made no further use of 
our dredge on that day. 
We sometimes obtain a few cowries, 
(i cyprcea lari da,) as large as a walnut, 
and some other shells, by a process 
called “ clamping,” which has proved a 
more successful method of collecting than 
dredging. Clamps are a sort of strong iron 
pincers or tongs, which the boatmen lower 
down to the bottom with ropes, and by this 
means draw up large stones for the sake of 
the oysters adhering to them, and the 
large boring shells, (.lithodomus dactylus) 
by which they are perforated. The animals 
of the latter are esteemed a great delicacy. 
