23.2 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



with tlio leugtb. The .striugs are inade about as long as a mau's arm. 

 It ii? called allikoeliik (Yurok "Indian money"). Formerly' it was 

 valued at $40 to $50 a string, but now the value has fallen. Shell and 

 feather money arc demanded as fines from those who in any way trans- 

 gress the boundaries of religious rule, fines of $20, $30, $40, being re- 

 quired of one who profanely looks upon the smoke of the propitiatory 

 fire. 



Spies were often employed to visit the enemy's camp, and were paid 

 for this dangerous service as high as ten strings of allikochik, or $100, 

 contributed by the leading men. 



Hupa allikochik is rated a little differently from the Karok. The 

 standard of measurement is a string of five shells. Nearly every man 

 has ten lines tattooed across the inside of his left arm about half way 

 between the wrist and elbow, and in measuring shell money he takes 

 the string in his right liand, draws one end over his left thumb nail, and 

 if the other end reaches to the upi)ermost of the tattoo lines the five 

 shells are worth $25 in gold, or $5 a shell. Of course it is only one in 

 ten tliousand that is long enough to reach this high value. The longest 

 ones usually seen are worth about $2 — that is, $10 to the string. Single 

 shells are also measured on the creases on the inside of the left middle 

 finger, a $5 shell being one which will reach between tlie two extreme 

 creases. No shell is treated as monej' at all, unless it is long enough 

 to rate at 25 cents. Below that it degenerates into "■ squaw money," 

 and goes to form a part of a woman's necklace. Real money is orna- 

 mented with little scratchings or carvings, and with very narrow strips 

 of thin, fine fish-skin wrapped spirally around the shells, and some- 

 times a tiny tuft of scarlet woodpecker's down is pasted on the base of 

 the shell.* 



The shell money of the Round Valley Indians is made of a shell found 

 on this coast, something like that of an oyster, only it has a smooth sur- 

 face. (Fig. 111.) Similar disk money is from the shell of the olivella, the 

 disks being cut from the lip or the shells being strung after grinding 

 away the apex. This is broken into pieces about the size of a dime ; 

 the Indians then drill a small hole through the center of each with a 

 sharp-pointed flint (Fig. 112), by means of the pump drill with fly-wheel 

 attachment. Thirty or forty of these are strung on a tough piece of 

 wood about the size of a knitting-needle. They are then rubbed care- 

 full}^ on a smooth-surfaced stone until they become perfectly round. 

 Eighty 6f these pieces are equal to a dollar. This description of the 

 manufacture of flat-shell money is extremely valuable, since strings of 

 this same character are collected as far south as Panama, and in some 

 of the Polynesian groups. Another form of money described by Mr. 

 Purcell has long been noted in California collections, especially that of 

 Captain Wilkes, but its significance has not been appreciated. They 



* Tlie money ol' No Britain, called Dawarra, is made of small, rare shells perforated 

 and strung on liber. It is counted by measuring. 



