THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MONEY—DAVIDSON. 201 
bore to the original ox unit with which the gold talent had been 
equaled. The olive, again, was the most important product of 
Attica, and was probably, as it still actually is in many of the 
countries bordering on the Mediterranean, whether in the shape 
of olives or of olive oil, an actual medium of exchange ; and the 
silver coins of Attica which replaced this olive currency most 
appropriately bore the olive sprig. The cuttle fish was an 
esteemed dainty by the Greeks, as it is to this day in Naples, 
and also along the Levant; and the coins of Croton bore its 
image. The ear of wheat appears on the coins of Metaportum, 
which grew wealthy because of the agricultural resources of 
Magna Grecia. 
Before the invention or discovery of the art of pottery, man 
made use of natural shells, and many of the Greek names for 
earthenware vessels are the names of sea shells. Even after 
earthenware and wood had replaced these primitive and natural 
utensils, vessels were fashioned, as can be seen in the museums 
of antiquities to-day, in the old shapes. Thus there are Greek 
vases in the British Museum which reproduce the shape of the 
tortoise, and in the South Sea Islands to this day the natives 
imitate the tortoise shell in wood and earthenware. The tortoise 
shell was always specially valued, and in China it was used, and 
perhaps is still used, to make bowls of great beauty. It is to be 
expected that we should find, as we do, the tortoise shell stand- 
ing at the top of the ancient Chinese scale of values. Among 
the Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples it was also valued ; 
and it was the principal article with which the citizens of Aegina 
carried on their trade with the Phcenicians. It naturally, there- 
fore, was a unit in their scale, and when the shell and commodity 
currency was replaced among them, as among the other Greek 
peoples, by silver coins, they stamped their silver coin with the 
image of the tortoise. And they took pains to make the coin 
actually represent the tortoise, for it has a high round upper 
side with a flat under side and markings to indicate the shell. 
The scarabs of Egypt, pieces of baked clay or porcelain, cut or 
moulded in the shape of beetles and tortoises, were in all proba- 
