INTRODUCTION: 
In most places where shells are used it is not their 
decorative or zesthetic value to which primary importance 
is attached. Some arbitrary meaning that, in the course 
of ages, has come to be attached to or associated with 
certain shells determined the value assigned to them and 
impelled men to search for them far and wide and often 
at great peril. The cowry is widely believed to confer. 
fertility on women and to help in the process of parturition. 
They are, therefore, worn on girdles by maidens, presented 
to them as bridal offerings, and used by sterile or preg- 
nant women to attain these respective benefits. They are 
also put into graves to confer vitalising power and ensure 
the continuance of the deceased’s existence, z.¢., not merely 
life but also resurrection. They have been used as arti- 
ficial eyes for mummies, and also as charms against the 
evil eye, and to bring good luck. Hence they are used 
for games of chance. They were probably the earliest form 
of currency, 
Many of these attributes of the cowry were also trans- 
ferred to the snail shell. Like the cowry it also was the 
source of life, the parent of mankind, the dwelling place 
of the deity who conferred the blessings of fertility, not 
only to mankind, but also to his crops. The murmur of 
the shell was the voice of the god, and the trumpet made 
of a shell became an important instrument in initiation 
ceremonies and in temple worship. In the search for these 
shells special significance probably first came to beattached 
to pearls, which, however, had been known for many ages 
before then to the oyster-eating makers of kitchen-middens ; 
