THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MONEY—DAVIDSON. 187 
Beaver skins formed the greater part of the circulating medium, 
and in 1631 it was enacted that grain could be paid unless 
beaver or monev (that is metallic money) were called for by the 
contract. This law remained in force for half a century ; and 
other agricultural commodities were added to the list as occasion 
seemed to demand. Corn, wheat, barley, and peas, at fixed prices 
per bushel, were sanctioned by law as currency, and taxes could 
be paid in them at the discretion of the taxpayer.* 
A similar colonial policy produced similar results in French 
Canada. The scarcity of metallic money was even greater than 
in the English colonies ; and at all times commodity substitutes 
for metallic coinage were in use. The scarcity was so great that 
in addition to the beaver skin, which was practically the unit of 
value, wheat was declared a legal tender in 1669 at four livres 
the mint, while in 1673 the council further ordered that bear 
skins could be tendered in payment at their current value.+ 
But to return to the monetary practice of primitive communi- 
ties. In the torrid zone clothing is a burden, and nature supplies 
plenteous store of the food suited to the climate. The chief 
objects of desire are ornaments. The instinct for personal 
adornment is one of the most powerful instincts of the race, 
Shells were the earliest and simplest articles so employed ; and 
we find shell money used in all parts of the world. In the 
torrid zone they still form the principal medium of exchange. 
The cowries of the countries round the Indian Ocean have many 
of the qualities which we require in the money material. They 
are durable, portable, and are universally esteemed. In India 
and Siam, in West Africa, as well as in East Africa, and indeed 
at one time or another in every country in the world on whose 
shores they-are found, cowries serve as the small change of com- 
merce. They are to-day collected in vast quantities in the 
Maldive and Laccadive islands to be exported to serve as money 
elsewhere. The value fluctuates enormously, depending on 
their abundance or scarcity. In Africa traders estimate a 
*White: Money and Banking, Chap. 1. 
tKingsford : History of Canada, Vol. 1, p. 156. 
