PRATT ON SHELL MONET. 43 



Mr. Harford, of the Coast Survey, has discovered in some Indian 

 graves on one of the islands off the southerly coast of this State (Califor- 

 nia), beads or money of a different character from any heretofore ob- 

 served. These were made by grinding off the spire and the lower portion 

 of the univalve shell, OUvella Mplicata, so as to form small, flat, button- 

 shaped disks, with a single central hole. These much resemble in form 

 some of the wampum of the New England tribes. 



H. H. Bancroft, in his description of the native races, says that " the 

 circulating medium of the Southern Californians consisted of small 

 round pieces of the white mussel shell." He also mentions the cacao 

 beans used in Central America even now. 



It appears then, that in many cases articles of no intrinsic value have 

 been used as a circulating medium, as we use paper money, which pos- 

 sesses no value in itself, but, like the wampum, had a, representative value, 

 and each individual would accept it in exchange for useful articles, or for 

 labor, because he knew that others would accept it from him in the same 

 way. It was not, of course, like our paper money, a promise to pay, but 

 was received from a reliance upon the custom of the country, which 

 really is just what our government money, bonds, etc., depend upon after 

 all. 



Actual intrinsic value, then, is not absolutely essential, but one indis- 

 pensable requisite to the currency of such an article, or of any article, is 

 that it must cost something. 



The successful hunter would not give the half of the deer he had killed, 

 or the arrow-maker the product of a day's labor for a certain limited 

 number of shells, if he could in a short time gather large quantities just 

 like them himself. If, however, it was one which could only be procured 

 at a great distance, that would give it this requisite of value, and whether 

 from a distance or not, if a certain amount of labor had been bestowed 

 upoH it, as in tiie case of beads and polished bones of certain forms, etc., 

 it would possess this value of having cost something. 



Stevens, in the volume entitled "Flint Chips," says of the Aulone 

 sheW, or Haliotis rufescens : '' The Indians converted them into buttons, 

 and strung them in numbers from 100 to 200 on deer's sinews. A string 

 of them was of great value, /or they were produced with immense labor. It 

 took an Indian twelve months to make a string of them." 



Here the value of them was merely as a medium of exchange, and was 

 just simply the representative and equivalent of the labor expended, and 

 not an intrinsic value at all. If by any means the people could learn to 

 make them twice as fast, they would at once become exchangeable for 

 but half the amount of labor, or of any useful article. 



WORKED SHELLS FROM ANCIENT MOUNDS. 



The shells before us (Fig. 2,) certainly carry with them the evidence of 

 this value of cost, and the amount of labor which has been invested is very 

 definitely determined. I ground one of the Anc}dosa down like the an- 

 cient specimens, using a hard sandstone for the purpose. It took three- 

 quarters of an hour, and as it was a small one, I do not believe that they 

 were done in less time on an average by the ancient manufacturers. 



