CHAPTER IV. 



The Use of Cowry-shells for the Purposes of 

 Currency, Amulets, and Charms. 



Of the many varieties of shells used for currency and 

 as amulets, the most familiar and extensively employed 

 are the cowries, especially the money-cowry (Cyprcea 

 moneta) and the ring-cowry (Cyprcza cumulus) {Figs. 

 A & />, p. 1 56). The small size, shape, and substance of the 

 latter renders them peculiarly adapted for use as money, 

 and no other species of shell or form of shell-money has had 

 so wide-spread and general use. They are distinguished by 

 the fact that they can be and are used in a natural state, 

 most other forms of shell-money being made from portions 

 of larger species. Though known to science under two dis- 

 tinct names, the difference between the two forms is so 

 slight that by some authorities they are considered as 

 merely the extremes of one variable mollusc.' Both forms 

 are inhabitants of Indo-Pacific seas, and the specimens 

 used as currency are derived mainly from the Persian 

 Gulf, Maldive Islands, Ceylon, the Malabar Coast, the 

 Sooloo Islands (between the Philippines and Borneo), and 

 other East Indian Islands ; also from various parts of the 

 East African coast, ranging from Ras Ilafun (near the 



1 Melvill and Standen,y<?w. of Concho/ogy, ix., 1899, p. 236; S. R. 

 Roberts, " Monograph of the Family Cypnvidne,'' in Tryon's " Manual of 

 Conchology," vol. vii., 1885, p. 179. 



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