Sir W. H. Sleeman, _Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official_ (Westminster, 1893), i. 147-149, 175. The _Salagrama_ is commonly perforated in one or more places by worms or, as the Hindoos believe, by the legendary insect Vajrakita or by Vishnu himself. The value of the fossil shell depends on its colour, and the number of its convolutions and holes. The black are prized as gracious embodiments of Vishnu; the violet are shunned as dangerous avatars of the god. He who possesses a black _Salagrama_ keeps it wrapped in white linen, washes and adores it daily. A draught of the water in which the shell has been washed is supposed to purge away all sin and to secure the temporal and eternal welfare of the drinker. These fossils are found in Nepaul, in the upper course of the river Gandaka, a northern tributary of the Ganges. Hence the district goes by the name of Salagrami, and is highly esteemed for its sanctity; a visit to it confers great merit on a man. See Sonnerat, _Voyage aux Indes Orientales et à la Chine_ (Paris, 1782), i. 173 _sq._; J. A. Dubois, _Mœurs, institutions et cérémonies des peuples de l’Indie_ (Paris, 1825), ii. 446-448; Sir W. H. Sleeman, _op. cit._ i. 148 _sq._, with the editor’s notes; Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_, pp. 69 _sq._; G. Watt, _Dictionary of the Economic Products of India_, vi. Part II. (London and Calcutta, 1893) p. 384; W. Crooke, _op. cit._ ii. 164 _sq._; _Indian Antiquary_, xxv. (1896) p. 146; G. Oppert, _On the Original Inhabitants of Bharatavarsa or India_ (Westminster and Leipsic, 1893), pp. 337-359; _id._, “Note sur les Sālagrāmas,” _Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres_ (Paris, 1900), pp. 472-485. The shell derives its name of ammonite from its resemblance to a ram’s horn, recalling the ram-god Ammon. Footnote 89: _Die gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie_ (Chemnitz, 1759), pp. 239 _sq._; U. Jahn, _Die deutschen Opfergebräuche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht_, pp. 214 _sqq._ See above, p. 17. Footnote 90: Van Schmid, “Aanteekeningen nopens de zeden, gewoonten en gebruiken, etc., der bevolking van de eilanden Saparoea, etc.” _Tijdschrift voor Neêrlands Indië_, 1843 (Batavia), dl. ii. p. 605; A. Bastian, _Indonesien_, i. 156. Footnote 91: G. W. W. C. Baron van Hoëvell, _Ambon en meer bepaaldelijk de Oeliasers_ (Dordrecht, 1875), p. 62. Footnote 92: G. A. Wilken, “Het animisme bij de volken van het Indischen archipel,” _De Indische Gids_, June 1884, p. 958; _id._, _Handleiding voor de vergelijkende Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch Indië_ (Leyden, 1893), pp. 549 _sq._ Footnote 93: E. L. M. Kühr, “Schetsen uit Borneo’s Westerafdeeling,” _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië_, xlvii. (1897) pp. 58 _sq._ Footnote 94: