448 - On the Aggry Beads of Africa. 
tioned by Pliny * as being held in veneration by the Druids of 
Gaul, and to the formation of which he gives nearly the same 
origin. They were probably worn as an ensign or mark of di- 
stinction, and suspended around the neck, as the perforation is _ 
not sufficiently large to admit the finger.”’ 
The bead engraved in Tumulus No, 9 resembles closely a 
coarse sort of bead, still manufactured in Syria, brought over by 
Dr. Meryon. The ‘glass globes dug up in Lincolnshire, and pre- 
sented by Sir Joseph Banks to the British Museum, are very like 
a distinct sort of aggry beads dug by the natives even more rarely 
than the others, but not larger than a moderate-sized apple: 
they are more opaque than the other beads; and the ground or 
body is generally black, speckled confusedly with red, white, and 
yellow. 
Aggry is the generic not the abstract name: § awynnee’ is 
bead, but aggry is an exotic word no native can explain. When 
first I heard of similar beads having been lately dug in India, I 
associated for an instant the expectation that it might have been 
in the neighbourhood of Agra, and thus have thrown some light 
on the name; but it appears they were found in Malabar, I am 
indebted for the foll lowing account of this interesting discovery to 
a gentleman lately returned from India: ‘ The bead you sent 
me is more like those I saw in India than any I have seen before, 
but it is thicker and shorter ; neither does the material of which 
it is formed exactly agree with those in India, which appear to be 
of a red glass very like red carnelian (such however are frequent 
among the aggry beads) with white lines of enamel inlaid as it 
were in the body of the bead. I gave these to a friend in India, 
who promised to send them to the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. 
The circles of stone in which these beads have been found abound 
most in Malabar, in the neighbourhood of Calicut; but I have 
seen them in other parts of India, and I am of opinion that they 
might be traced throughout the whole of the southern peninsula. 
They are formed of large masses of rough stones placed round in 
irregular circles, some of very large extent, some of smaller ; they 
appear so much like natural rocks that most persons would pass 
them unobserved. Severa! of these circles about three years since 
were excavated in the vicinity of Calicut, and in the centre of 
each of them we found, at the depth of about five feet, a large 
earthen jar, of the same shape as those found in Wiltshire, as near 
as we could judge, for it was broken to pieces: it was about four 
or five feet deep, its mouth in general closed with a square piece 
of granite: the beads were found at the botom of these jars with 
some pieces of iron, apparently parts of swords and spears. There 
was an iron jayelin found in one of these places tolerably perfect ; 
* Plinii Hist. Natural. 1. 29. c. 3. 
it 
