ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

Lastly, the uses of shells as studies of design, form, and colour to the sculptor, painter, architect, and art manufacturer, may be seen in various parts of the South Kensington Museum.

Lamarck long ago recommended to the attentive study of the architect the extreme diversity of the protuberant parts on the surface of shells, as well as the regularity and elegance of their distribution. There is no possible form of which nature does not offer examples. Architecture would find in many of the species of the genus Cerithium, even to those of Pleurotomis and spirals, a choice of models for the adornment of columns, and these models would be found very worthy of being employed.

Shells were the favourite objects of ornamentation of the older wood-carvers, as evidenced in the fireplaces of many ancient mansions. The famous garoon pattern, so much used formerly by silversmiths, is said to be derived from the edge of the trumpet shell (Triton femorale), which is called the garoon shell.

There are many other industrial uses of shells, but those enumerated may be considered the principal ones.

Mother-of-pearl, and other nacreous shells, will be noticed in a separate chapter.

The aggregate value of the imports of foreign shells, in the last few years, may be taken at £250,000. It is somewhat difficult to arrive at any correct estimate on this subject, because shells are scarcely particularized in the Board of Trade returns. Classified under the head of raw materials which come in "duty free" for the use of manufacturers, the officials are very indifferent as to the nature of the imports; and thus we have no account of the rough cameo shells, the snail and ear shells, the Murices, and others which are received in large quantities. When shells

were subject to an import duty, varying from 5 to 20 per cent., it was necessary that the entries should be more specifically detailed.

Large quantities of shells, which are used for different manufacturing purposes, come in under the broad, general heading of "specimens of natural history." The only

specific mention of shells in the Parliamentary trade returns are mother-of-pearl, cowries, and cameos unset, besides pearls,-the well-known and valued product of the pearl oyster.

The imports and value, as far as officially stated, in 1870 were :

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

These figures were much below the average.

The use of shells is not restricted to this country. They are employed for manufacturing purposes in China and India, in France, Italy, Germany, and other parts of the continent of Europe, and also in North America; so that the subject we have been considering takes larger proportions than at first sight would appear.

CHAPTER XI.

INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING USES OF SHELLSContinued.

Shell bangles or bracelets, made from the chank or Turbinella species-Religious veneration for the shell-Process of manufacture-The bangles described-Great clam shells used as benitiers-The queen conch, large importations of Uses of nacreous and iridescent shells-Utilization of shells for economic purposes-Shell utensils-Shell flowers-Shell trumpetsShell pipes-Pulverized and calcined shells-Ornamental uses of opercula -Dyes from the mollusca-Tyrian purple-Marine silk.

Shell Bangles or Bracelets.-Under the commercial name of chanks, the large white, concave, heavy, porcelaneous

[merged small][graphic][merged small]

shells of the Turbinella pyrum, Lam., the Voluta gravis, Lin., and T. rapa, are much prized in India. The shell is ventricose above, pear-shaped, fulvous white, with reddish spots in young individuals.

The shankh or chank is the sacred shell of the Hindus, and the national emblem of the kingdom of Travancore. The god Vishnu is represented as carrying a chank shell in one hand, and a chakra in the other.

The Hindus believe that unless they worshipped this shell at the commencement of every worship or prayer, their offerings would not be accepted. Vishnu, the Protector, is supposed to hold a chank in his hand. It is called Devadatta. Shankar, the Destroyer, according to mythology, possesses a like shell. The first incarnation of Vishnu, called Machhávatár (which literally means transformation into fish), was undertaken for destroying Shankhásura (the giant chank shell), in order to regain the Vedas, he having stolen them and taken refuge under the

ocean.

The fishery for these shells is principally carried on in the Gulf of Manaar, in the vicinity of Ceylon, and on the coast of Coromandel, at Travancore, Tuticorin, and other places, the shells being brought up by divers in about two or three fathoms of water. Those taken with the animal in, and called green chanks, from having the epidermis on, are most in demand. The white chanks, or dead shells thrown upon the beach by strong tides, having lost their enamel, are scarcely worth the cost of freight to Calcutta. The number obtained varies considerably in different years, according to the weather and the success attending the divers. Frequently 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 of these shells are shipped in a year from the Gulf of Manaar. In some years the value of the rough shells, as imported into Madras and Calcutta, reaches a value of £10,000 to £15,000. A few hundreds are occasionally imported into Calcutta from the Arabian and Persian Gulfs. The chank fishery of Ceylon at one time employed 600 divers, and yielded a

U

revenue to the island government of £4000 per annum for licenses. The fishery is now free.

These shells are often used as oil vessels or lamps in Indian temples, for which purpose they are carved and sculptured or otherwise ornamented. When the volute turns to the right, the shell is held in peculiar estimation -a right-handed chank being so highly prized for its rarity as sometimes to sell in Calcutta for its weight in gold, or at from £40 to £50. In Ceylon also, the reversed

FIG. 20.

Saw used by natives for cutting segments of the shell.

variety is held sacred by the priests, who administer medicine by it. This shell, from its weight and smoothness, is used in Dacca for calendering or glazing cotton, and in Nepal for giving a polished surface to paper.

The principal demand for these shells is for making bangles or armlets and anklets, and the manufacture is still almost confined to Dacca. The shell is cut or sliced into segments of circles, or narrow rings of various sizes, by a rude semicircular saw, the hands and toes being both actively employed in the operation.

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »