It was seldom or never considered sufficient to rely upon one species of fish. Usually several kinds were mingled together;[1387] and to the mixture were added many other ingredients, as nitre, urine, water, salt, and the fucus—a kind of moss—by some writers supposed to be our argol,[1388] found in abundance on the rocky shores of Crete.[1389] The tint produced by this mixture resembled the colour of the amethyst.[1390] For, under the word purple, the ancients included three distinct colours,—the first a deep violet with a black or dusky tinge, designed by Homer, when he speaks of the “purple wave,” or of “purple death.” This was the amethystine shade spoken of as so magnificent by Pliny; produced by the calchæ and buccina alone. The second which resembled deep scarlet or crimson, which is the colour of a ripe pomegranate, was the purple of Tyre and Tarentum. The third was the deep blue of the Mediterranean sea, when it begins to be ruffled by the winds; a variety produced by the buccinum alone, and always understood by the word conchyliata.[1391] Near the Isthmus of Darien, a sea-snail has been discovered, which some have supposed to be the murex of the ancients. In dimensions it is about equal to the bee. Being of extremely rare occurrence, the Indian fishermen preserve it, when found, in a vessel of water until they have collected a sufficient quantity for dyeing a piece of stuff. They then, like the ancient Tyrians, pound it shell and all with a smooth stone or something which serves them for a mortar, which as the shell is extremely thin and frail is a task of little labour, and immediately dip the cotton yarn or stuff in the liquor thus obtained. The colour resulting from this operation is the richest purple that can be conceived, which instead of fading by being passed through water grows more lustrous and brilliant the more it is washed. Stuffs dyed in this manner are, as may be supposed, exceedingly costly, and on account of their beauty much coveted by the richest of the Indian women.[1392] ----- Footnote 1387: The buccinum, for example, to give the ruddy hue. Fab. Column. de Purp. i. 19. Johan. Daniel. Annot. p. 33. Plin. ix. 37. Footnote 1388: Beckmann, i. 59, sqq. Footnote 1389: Goguet, iii. 20. Footnote 1390: Fab. Column. de Purpura, c. i. § 8. Footnote 1391: Dalecamp. ad Plin, ix. 62. t. iii. p. 770. Cf. Winkel. iv. 1. § 14. Footnote 1392: Valm. de Bomare. v. Murex, p. 169. -----