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Tabby is a building material consisting of lime, sand, water, and crushed oyster shells. It was made and used on the Sea Islands of coastal South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida in the Southern United States during the Colonial Period up until the early 19th century as a substitute for bricks, which were rare and expensive because of the absence of local clay. The name comes from the Spanish word, tapia, which means "mud wall". There is evidence that North African Moors brought tabby to Spain when they invaded that kingdom: a form of tabby is used in Morocco today and some tabby structures survive in Spain, though in both instances it is granite, not oyster shells, that is used.