Appendix. 205 



excavations in the Soudan Mr. F. LI. Griffith found large 

 numbers of cowries and metallic representations of cowries 

 in graves at Napata and elsewhere, which are referred to 

 Early Christian and pre-Christian times. Many of these 

 cowries were rubbed down in the way so often mentioned 

 in this book. 



An interesting addition to the series of localities where 

 the cowry is put to a cultural use is furnished by Ellis 

 H. Minns, in his " Greeks and Scythians." In describing 

 the contents of ancient Scythian graves in the Kiev dis- 

 trict, he says : " Those who could not afford the precious 

 metals used beads, either home-made of clay or stone, or 

 of glass imported from the Mediterranean area ; even 

 cowrie shells found their way so far north." 



In his account of "Some Japanese Charms connected 

 with the Making of Clothing," 2 " W. L Hildburgh states 

 that " a plentiful supply of clothing and the securing of 

 good-fortune in general is thought to be assured by the 

 placing of a cowry-shell (koyasugai} with the laid-avvay 

 clothing, because, according to [his] informant, of the 

 koyasugat's well-known significance as a symbol of good 

 fortune, or by the placing of obscene pictures with the 

 clothing." In further explanation of this remarkable 

 custom he adds : " I have been told by an informant 

 from another part of Japan that people wishing to be 

 lucky in lotteries sometimes carry pictures of the vulva 

 (of which the cowry-shell noted above is a well-recognised 

 image)." (See also antea, p. 183). 



These additional scraps of information serve to 

 emphasise the general conclusions that emerge quite 

 definitely from the mass of data impartially set forth in 

 this book. All the cultural uses of shells are intimately . 

 related the one to the other. In whatever part of the 

 world shells are employed for such purposes, the same 

 peculiar and wholly arbitrary significance is attached to 

 them. They confer the blessings of fertility in women 

 and crops. They cure sterility and facilitate parturition. 

 They bring good-luck in games and more serious enter- 

 prises. They avert the evil eye. They secure the preser- 

 vation of the dead and bring resurrection and life. They 



38 Cambridge, 1913, p. 64, quoting Count A. A. Bokrii skoj, " Smela," 

 ii., v., I. 



29 A fan, Feb., 1917, 17. 



