Under the growth of
marine vegetation, he passed his hand, and pulled from the rock a living
shell. Paul had been fully instructed by his father in the science of
conchology, so he recognized this specimen as very rare and much sought
after. It was the shell called "voluta musica." This was the first one
of those shells found during the expedition. After a careful search he
found twenty-three more of the same kind, and several large shells
known as "Triton's trumpet." The bucket was filled. Paul followed it to
the surface well satisfied with his first day's work as a submarine
diver.
Scott was not enthusiastic over the "volute musica", but the captain of
the Cayosa was delighted. He knew the value of the shell. He told Paid
he had sold many of them to the tourists and collectors in Barbadoes
receiving from fifty cents to a dollar and a half apiece. He also
said that where one of those shells was found there was generally many
in the vicinity, and advised Paul not to move the sloop that night, but
to descend again the next day.
When the sun was sufficiently high the next morning, Paul again donned
the armor and resumed his search for the voluta. Not thirty yards from
where he had discovered the first one, he found a basin in the rocks
filled with sand.
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