INTRODUCTION. 



In most places where shells are used it is not their 

 decorative or aesthetic value to which primary importance 

 is attached. Some arbitrary meaning that, in the course 

 of ages, has come to be attached to or associated with 

 certain shells determined the value assigned to them and 

 impelled men to search for them far and wide and often 

 at great peril. The cowry is widely believed to confer 

 fertility on women and to help in the process of parturition. 

 They are, therefore, worn on girdles by maidens, presented 

 to them as bridal offerings, and used by sterile or preg- 

 nant women to attain these respective benefits. They are 

 also put into graves to confer vitalising power and ensure 

 the continuance of the deceased's existence, i.e., not merely 

 life but also resurrection. They have been used as arti- 

 ficial eyes for mummies, and also as charms against the 

 evil eye, and to bring good luck. Hence they are used 

 for games of chance. They were probably the earliest form 

 of currency. 



Many of these attributes of the cowry were also trans- 

 ferred to the snail shell. Like the cowry it also was the 

 source of life, the parent of mankind, the dwelling place 

 of the deity who conferred the blessings of fertility, not 

 only to mankind, but also to his crops. The murmur of 

 the shell was the voice of the god, and the trumpet made 

 of a shell became an important instrument in initiation 

 ceremonies and in temple worship. In the search for these 

 shells special significance probably first came to be attached 

 to pearls, which, however, had been known for many ages 

 before then to the oyster-eating makers of kitchen-middens ; 



