3o6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pencTently in each of the four principal regions in which it existed — 

 that is, in China, Micronesia, California, and Eastern North America. 

 Few persons, however, will be inclined to doubt that the Micronesians 

 received this invention from Eastern Asia ; and, at the other end of 

 the line, the transmission of the usage from one side of the Rocky- 

 Mountains to the other will seem equally probable. The only question 

 will be as to its passage across the Pacific. The fact recorded by Dr. 

 Wilson, in his work already quoted, that in 1833 a Japanese junk was 

 wrecked on the coast of Oregon, and that some of her crew wei'e sub- 



1 3 3 4 6 6 



1, Chinese Cash ; 2 and 3, Kingsmill Island Shell-Money Oarge and pmall) ; 4, California Shell-Mcney 

 (email); 5, Wampum (large), all white; 6, M^ampum (email), white and purple. 



sequently rescued from captivity among the Indians of that region, 

 will show how easily this transmission might have been made. Nor is 

 this the only instance known. Mr. Charles Wolcott Brooks, in his 

 report on Japanese vessels wrecked in the North Pacific Ocean, read 

 before the California Academy of Sciences in March, 1876, states that 

 " one of these junks was wrecked on the Queen Charlotte Islands in 

 1881, and numerous others have been wrecked on other parts of the 

 Northwest coast." 



In certain respects the history of money bears a notable resem- 

 blance to the history of the alphabet, or rather of written speech. 

 Nations have attained a high degree of civilization without a knowl- 

 edge of either of these inventions ; and each invention, when once 

 known, has spread widely and rapidly through populations in very dif- 



