The Portland daily press., 1897-08-10
SHELLS OF THE SEASHORE.
Carlos Of the Beach Picked Up by
Summer Pilgrims.

Curios Of the Beach Picked Up by
Summer Pilgrims.
Some Shells That Are Worth Grea,
Deal of Money-various Employment.
to Which Such Things are Put by Peo
| pie All Over the World-.-Ancient and
Remarkable Specimens.
Washington, Aug. 6.-People who visit
| the ocean beaches in summer time are
always much interested in the shells
which they find scattered along the sand.
| This is particularly the case with chill
dren, who are superior to grown-up folks
in respect to imagination and curiosity
| about the unknown-qualities which to-
gether constitute the impulse of scientific
inquiry. The little ones, with panta-
looms and skirts tucked up, wade in the
| shadows and derive the keenest enjoy
ment from the examination of wonders
which escape the attention of the slug
gish adults. ss -
|, The average individual does not realize
what very important part shells have
played in the making of the earth. Yet
| it is fact that much of the land of the
globe is composed wholly of the liny
houses once occupied by marine animals.
All the chalk beds of the world are built
of them. The white cliffs Of Albion.
seen from the English channel, were con-
structed out of the same material when
what is now land was sea. The very
| stones of which the pyramids of Egypt
were formed are found to be made up en-
tirely of little Shells The same is true
of the Washington monument; marble is
a form OF limestone, and limestone is
compacted shell stuff.
The peninsula of Yucatan is composed
almost exclusively of limestone Water,
dissolving away the lime, has followed
out innumerable caves in that region,
underground. These caverns form vast
cellars beneath the surface of the coun-
try, SO to speak, and from them the in
habitants get nearly all of their water
supply, scarcely any surface streams ex-
isting in that region. In Mexico are
found whole mountains made of shells.
the limestone formation rising as high as
25, 900 feet. These lilnestones are made
up of material that was once in solution
in ocean water. Thence it was extracted
by animals,> becoming part of their shells
and skeletons. In the same way human
beings extract lime from water to make
their bones. .4t '-'s4
Water eats out caverns in the earth
wherever there are great limestone fo1n.
dations. In this way the Mammoth Cave
OF Kentucky and the .Luray caverns of
Virginia were excayated.s In Mexico
there are numerous caverns Of immense
size in the limestone mountains, and some
of them are famous in local tradition as
places of rendezvous for revolutionists
and banditti in earlier times. Hoards of
treasure are frequently found concealed
in them.
Throughout the Antilles are found
many beautiful limestone caverns. Caves
near Mantanzas, Cuba, are among the
principal points of interest to tourists
who visit that island. These caverns
have been dissolved out of massive coral
rock, and are noted for the whiteness of
their stalactites. In Cuba Jamaica, San
Domingo and some of the lesser islands
of that region, the caves were used form
erly as burial places by the native Ca
ribs, who sought shelter in them also
during the epoch when they were hunt.
ed to determination by the Spaniards.
The shells of mollusks nowadays find
few uses except for ornament. 1t was not
always SO by any means. When Column
bus came to this country he found the In
dians using mussel shells for knives and
spoons, and the warriors of Powhatan
employed the same instruments for scalp
ing their enemies. Before scalping them,
when practicable, they cut them Joint
from joint with mussel shells, winding
up the operation by flaying their bodies.
The American aborigines, before the arri-
val OF. the whites, were engaged to con-
siderable extent In AGRICULTURAL pursuits,
and shells fastened to sticks served them
for hoes. Conch shells made excellent
cups for liquids, being light for transpor-
tation and not easily broken.
ConchS are among the more familiar
shells along the southern coast of the
United States. The animals are gigantic
snails, spending their time in laborious
sandy bottom in lagoons and other shall
low places. Some of them weigh as
much as twelve pounds apiece. In Flori-
da large conchs are employed as horns to
call people to dinner and for other pur-
poses. A species of conch is used by the
Poixnesians as a teapot, being filled with
water and hung horizontally over fire.
When the tea is ready the canal at the
mouth serves as a spout. Ground conchs
shells enter into the manufacture of Dor
cedaln, while immense numbers of conchs
are cut for canoes. The choicest shells
for canoes are those of the "queen
eonch'' of the West Indies. The peaks of
the shells being broken off, the snails are
pulled out and the shells shipped to Eng
land.
Some shells of mollusks, by reason of
their beauty and rareness, command very
high prices. One of these is the magnifi-
cent orange cowry, which in the South
Seas is perforated and worn only by