WESTERN HINDOOSTAN. 151 



One article is the Cozury, a fmali fpecies of lliell, the Cvprcea Trade in 

 Moneta of Linnans, D'Argenville^ tab. xviii. fig. K. It is very ^"^""'^^ Shells. 

 Angular that many parts of the world fhould for ages pail be 

 obliged to theie little and remote illands for their fpecie ; and 

 that the contemptible lliells of the Maldives, prove the price of 

 mankind, and contribute to the vileft of traffic in Negro-land\ 

 but fo it is ! Thefe fliells are coUeifted twice in the month, at 

 full and new moon. It is the bullnefs of the women, who 

 wade up to their middle to gather them. They are packed 

 lip in parcels of twelve thoufand each, and are the cur- 

 rent money among the poor in Bengal. A Cowry is rated 

 there at the hundred and lixtieth part of a penny, fo that it is 

 impoffible to find a coin fo fmall as to be of ufe to the poor 

 in a country where provitions are fo exceedingly cheap ; eighty 

 Cowries make z pun, and from fifty to fiKtypunStthQ value of a 

 roitpee, or four fhillings and fix-pence EngUPj,^ They are 

 re-exported to England, France, &:c. ; and from thofe places 

 again to Guinea, as the price of the unhappy natives. Ha- 

 milton, i. 347, miftakes the manner of gathering them, vrhen 

 he fays — " The natives fling into the fea branches of coco trees,. 

 ** to which the fliells adhere, and are collecfled every four or 

 " five months." The exchange for them from Bengal, is rice, 

 butter, and cloth, which is brought from that country in fmall. 

 velTels, fitted for the fhallow navigations. 



These iflands, as well as the Laccadives, have befides a brifk 

 trade with the weftern coafts of India, chiefly in coco nuts, and 

 the feveral manufactures from that ufeful article. Among 

 which, x.h.Q Kaiar, or cables and ropes, made of the filaments of 

 the nuts, have a vaft fale on all the coafl oi India. 



+ Fish 



