Without proceding at any considerable length into the history of those mythological persuasions, it may be permitted to observe that as a type of the divine power in relieving the earth from the flood of waters with which it was overwhelmed at the time of the deluge, this shell is held among the Indians of the Brahma persuasion as one of the most sacred emblems of that figurative divinity; and this religion, it will be remembered, extends over no small portion of India and China, and even to part of Russia and Tartary. Vishnu, as one of the three attributes or triad of Brahma, almost invariably appears with this symbol in his hand. Whether in their paintings, sculptures, or carvings, or in the sacred paraphernalia of their temples, the Chank-shell is the customary type of their deity Vishnu, and sometimes it occurs in the hands of the inferior deities,[15] to whom Vishnu is imagined to have confided a portion of his power. If the Chank be the object of their devotion in health, so also it is the object of their superstitions in sickness and in death. The medicine administered by the Priest to his patient in the time of illness, from the spout of one of these shells, is considered of greater efficacy than if taken from any other drinking vessel; that from the spout of a reversed shell has a reputation inestimable. These reversed shells occur so rarely, that if at any time some happy fortunate of the fishing tribe of Hindoos should be so lucky as to find one, he is indeed considered as a mortal favoured by their divinity Vishnu; this treasure of the deep is immediately deposited in one of their pagodas, to the great honour and happiness of the discoverer. A dose of medicine from such a shell is deemed infallible, if the malady of the patient be within the art of medicine to cure; for if this should fail, they rest persuaded nothing else can save the patient from the death awaiting him. As these reversed shells are of very rare occurrence, the price they bear is of course of considerable. Very few of the Pagodas possess such an inestimable treasure as a _Chank reversed_, they will command a price in Asia surpassing infinitely any idea that might probably be formed upon the subject. Four or five hundred dollars have been given in China, among the worshippers of Brahma, for a shell of this kind. In India they have been known to produce from one hundred to two hundred rupees, sometimes, three, four, or five hundred rupees, or perhaps a larger sum. The shells of this kind, which are purchased from the natives and brought to Europe, it may be imagined, for this reason, can have been obtained only at a considerable cost. It was principally through the unrivalled liberality of the Conchologists of the low countries, about the beginning of the last century, that the cabinets of Europe became possessed of these rarities, and they still remain extremely scarce.