CHAPTER IV 



USES OF SHELLS FOR MONEY, ORNAMENT, AND FOOD CULTIVATION 



OF THE OYSTER, MUSSEL, AND SNAIL SNAILS AS MEDICINE 



PRICES GIVEN FOR SHELLS 



The employment of shells as a medium of exchange was 

 exceedingly common amongst uncivilised tribes in all parts of 

 the world, and has by no means yet become obsolete. One of 

 the commonest species thus employed is the ' money cowry ' 

 (Cypraea moneta, L.), which stands almost alone in being used 

 entire, while nearly all the other forms of shell money are made 

 out of portions of shells, thus requiring a certain amount of 

 labour in the process of formation. 



One of the earliest mentions of the cowry as money occurs 

 in an ancient Hindoo treatise on mathematics, written in the 

 seventh century a.d. A question is propounded thus: 'the ^ of -^^ 

 of ^ of I" of |- of ^ a dramma was given to a beggar by one from 

 whom he asked an alms ; tell me how many cowry shells the miser 

 gave.' In British India about 4000 are said to have passed 

 for a shilling, but the value appears to differ according to their 

 condition, poor specimens being comparatively worthless. Accord- 

 ing to Eeeve ^ a gentleman residing at Cuttack is said to have paid 

 for the erection of his bungalow entirely in cowries. The building 

 cost him 4000 Es. sicca (about £400), and as 64 cowries — 1 pice, 

 and 64 pice = 1 rupee sicca, he paid over 16,000,000 cowries in all. 



Cowries are imported to England from India and other places 

 for the purposes of exportation to "West Africa, to be exchanged 

 for native products. The trade, however, appears to be greatly 

 on the decrease. At the port of Lagos, in 1870, 50,000 cwts. 

 of cowries were imported.^ 



^ Conch. Syst. ii. p. 262 n. 

 ^ P. L. Simmonds, Commercial Products of the Sea, p. 278. 



