THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MONEY DAVIDSON. 201 



bore to the original ox unit with which the gold talent had been 

 equaled. The olive, again, was the most important product of 

 Attica, and was probably, as it still actually is in many of the 

 countries bordering on the Mediterranean, whether in the shape 

 of olives or of olive oil, an actual medium of exchange ; and the 

 silver coins of Attica which replaced this olive currency most 

 appropriately bore the olive sprig. The cuttle fish was an 

 esteemed dainty by the Greeks, as it is to this day in Naples, 

 and also along the Levant ; and the coins of Croton bore its 

 image. The ear of wheat appears on the coins of Metaportum, 

 which grew wealthy because of the agricultural resources of 

 Magna Graecia. 



Before the invention or discovery of the art of pottery, man 

 made use of natural shells, and many of the Greek names for 

 earthenware vessels are the names of sea shells. Even after 

 earthenware and wood had replaced these primitive and natural 

 utensils, vessels were fashioned, as can be seen in the museums 

 of antiquities to-day, in the old shapes. Thus there are Greek 

 vases in the British Museum which reproduce the shape of the 

 tortoise, and in the South Sea Islands to this day the natives 

 imitate the tortoise shell in wood and earthenware. The tortoise 

 shell was always specially valued, and in China it was used, and 

 perhaps is still used, to make bowls of great beauty. It is to be 

 expected that we should find, as we do, the tortoise shell stand- 

 ing at the top of the ancient Chinese scale of values. Among 

 the Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples it was also valued ; 

 and it was the principal article with which the citizens of Aegina 

 carried on their trade with the Phrenicians. It naturally, there- 

 fore, was a unit in their scale, and when the shell and commodity 

 currency was replaced among them, as among the other Greek 

 peoples, by silver coins, they stamped their silver coin with the 

 image of the tortoise. And they took pains to make the coin 

 actually represent the tortoise, for it has a high round upper 

 side with a flat under side and markings to indicate the shell. 

 The scarabs of Egypt, pieces of baked clay or porcelain, cut or 

 moulded in the shape of beetles and tortoises, were in all proba- 



