Use of Cowry-shells for Currency, Amutlets, etc. 182 
o aD) ) 3) 
feudal lord with seven, that of a great officer with five, 
and that of an ordinary official with three.” 
In some of the out-of-the-way corners of China cowries 
remained in circulation for many centuries. In Marco 
Polo’s time (A.D. 1271—g91) cowries, called “ porcellani” 
by this traveller, were still in use in the country of Yunnan, 
the shells being gathered at the group of islands now 
known as Pulo Condore, off Cochin China." 
In the 16th century the cowry-currency seems to have 
been officially suspended in Yunnan province. At the 
present time cowries appear to have completely lost their 
money value in Yunnan, since Lieutenant Garmer found 
them nowhere in use north of Luang Prabang, Laos; and 
in western Yunnan they were worn only as ornament by 
the Kakhyens. Carl Bock likewise saw cowries on the 
head-masks of the leaders of the mule-caravans which 
come from Yunnan into northern Further India.” 
It is doubtful whether the cowry was used as currency 
in Japan, though it is possible that in olden times shells 
from the neighbouring Liu Kiu Islands were so used. 
The Japanese name, Zakara (=prosperity, riches), az or 
gar {=shell), may indicate their use as money. In 
Kampfer’s “ Description of Japan” (London, 1727, Bk. i, 
ch. ii.) appears: “Takara gai, called Kauri in India, 
brought from the Maldives and other islands and im- 
ported into Bengal, Pegu and Siam, where it serves as 
current money.” K. Florenz reports that the Japanese 
women at their confinement hold in the hand a “ Koyasu- 
gai (Easy-delivery-shell), a species of cowry,” in order to 
ensure certain and easy delivery, a practise analagous to 
aS 71ae De Groot, ops ct, p. 275: 
181 Colonel Henry Yule, ‘The Book of Ser Marco Polo,” London, 
1871, vol. il., pp. 39 e¢ seg. 
is ‘Schneider, op: c12., ps 107. 
