Use of Coivry -shells for Currency ', Amulets, etc. 181 



This suggests the possibility of the so-called " tortoise- 

 shells " being really cowries. 



From the following facts it is obvious that some con- 

 fusion has taken place with regard to the interpretation of 

 certain symbols in ancient Chinese works. 



In Dr. Morrison's " Dictionary of the Chinese Lan- 

 guage " 175 a symbol known as pet (see Fig. C, p. 180), is 

 translated (p. 622, No. 8471) as "the tortoise shell or 

 pearl-oyster shell" : on an earlier page (p. 510, No. 6811) 

 quite a distinct symbol, kwei, is translated " tortoise," and 

 the pel symbol is attached to denote ''tortoise shell "- 

 kwei pel (see Fig. D, p. 1 80). 



In a Chinese work, the "Li Ki" or "Treatises on 

 Ceremonial Uses" (referred to on a later page) the pet 

 symbol (Fig. C, p. 180) is used to denote a particular object 

 placed in the mouth of the dead. The symbol in this 

 case has been correctly interpreted by the translator of 

 the work as meaning " cowry." 



In the "Shoo King" (v., xxii., 19), the same symbols 

 (Fig. A, p. 1 80) as quoted by Lacouperie for the "great 

 shells" (i.e., cowries) of the Wang Mang currency, are 

 used in a paragraph describing a display of various precious 

 relics. But these characters have been translated by Dr. 

 Legge, in his " Chinese Classics," 176 as the "great tortoise- 

 shell." 



The " Tribute of Yu " (" Shoo King," iii., i., 52) refers 

 to a particular object presented to Yu from the country 

 of the nine Keang, the symbol denoting this object being 

 the Kwei (No. 6811, p. 510) of Morrison's Dictionary 

 (Fig. B, p. 1 80). It is here translated by Legge as " the 

 great tortoise." 177 In his footnotes to this passage the trans- 

 lator states that " according to the 'Historical Records' the 



17S Dr. R. Morrison, "Dictionary of the Chinese Language," 1819, 

 vol. i., pt. ii. 



170 Dr. J. Legge, "Chinese Classics," 1865, vo1 - *"< P l - " P- 554- 

 177 Tbid., vol. iii., pt. i., p. 116. 



