Use of Cowry-shells for Currency, Amulets, etc. 151 
between the Arabs and the natives of the interior.” Leo 
Africanus,” who wrote at the beginning of the 16th century, 
mentions in his description of Timbuctoo that “the 
natives of this place use small mussel-shells or snail-shells, 
which were brought from Persia, of which 400 equal one 
ducat, and six and two-thirds go to a Roman ounce.” In 
Benin, at the end of the 15th century, according to 
Pereira, cowries, under the name Iguru, were in currency. 
In the description of Commodore Stewart’s embassy 
journey to Mekines (Mequinez) in 1721, itis stated :°” “The 
goods, which they (the Moroccans) convey to Guinea, 
are salt, cowries, etc.—Cowries are small shells, which are 
brought from the East Indies, and they are current instead 
of ready money, and as such have the highest value.” 
From Timbuctoo and the Upper Niger” the territory 
of the cowry-currency extends to Lake Chad, with wide 
spaces here and there in which the cowries do not, or only 
in a minor degree, pass as currency. Barth mentions 
three such places within the great bend of the Niger,— 
Aribinda, where the shells had no value, and Isaye (Ise) 
and Bambara, where they were employed only in the sale 
of milk. The places noted by Barth as having the cowry- 
currency were Kabara, near Timbuctoo, Saraiyamo, Kubo, 
Dore, Bundore, Sinder and Say on the Niger ; Gando, 
Sokoto, Wurno, Bamurna, Badarana, Kammane, Bunka, 
Katsena, Kano, Lamisso, Kukameirua and Gummel, all in 
the northern part of Sokoto State; Tasawa, immediately 
north of the Haussa region; as well as Zinder, Wushek, 
95 PDeniker, ‘‘ Les Races et les Peuples de la Terre,” Paris, 1900, p. 
324; Schneider, of. cz¢., p. 119. 
°6 Leo Africanus, ‘* Description de I’Afrique,”” Lyon, 1556, p. 225 
(fide Schneider, of. czt., p. 119). 
*7 Thos. Winterbottom, ‘* Nachrichten von der Sierra-Leone-Kiiste ”’ 
p. 221 (fide Schneider, of. cz¢., p- 119). 
Js) Seou, jenne, iaarla, etc: 
