1 84 THE EVOLUTION OF 



clear, let us put ourselves into the position of a tribe of 

 tropical savages. Thus : You and I and the rest of our 

 tribe have all got coco-nuts in varying quantities and 

 can find a use for them every day. I want fruit and you 

 want grain, but instead of exchanging my grain for your 

 fruit I give you six pairs of coco-nuts for the fruit 

 I want, and later on you come to me and give me five 

 pairs of coco-nuts for the corn you want. In the same 

 way I give you my adze for coco-nuts and you give me 

 your knife for coco-nuts. Here we are bartering 

 through a medium and coco-nuts are our currency. 



Currency consists in fact of articles real or imaginary 

 used for account, which is a highly civilized way of 

 saying 'for measuring the relative values of different 

 articles of use ' so many coco-nuts make one adze : so 

 many coco-nuts make one knife, to follow the fashion 

 of the tables of childhood. This is a universal and 

 inevitable condition not confined to wild peoples, and 

 shows once more the constant nature of human reasoning. 



An essential condition for an article to become cur- 

 rency is that it should be commonly required or pos- 

 sessed. Obviously if an article is to become a popular 

 medium of exchange, everybody must possess it in some 

 degree or other. Possession of it in a small degree we 

 term ' poverty' : its possession in a high degree we term 

 ' wealth.' I will explain this point among uncivilized 

 peoples from circumstances within my own experience. 

 In the Nicobar Islands from all time, and we have 

 knowledge of the Nicobars from the seventh century, 

 coco-nuts have been and still are the currency of the 

 people. They and the trees on which they grow are 

 the staple products of the country, and the most valuable 

 possession of the inhabitants. They play a great part 

 in finding them in food and drink, and in materials for 



