November 1, 1899.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



243 



pieces capable of being more conveniently strung together 

 than are entire specimens. In later times, shell-cameos 

 have commanded well-deserved admiration ; while the 

 beauty and utility of mother-of-pearl has been recognised 

 from time immemorial. Since a separate article has been 

 devoted to the latter substance, attention may be restricted 

 in the present communication to the uses of shells of other 

 descriptions. So numerous, however, are their applica- 

 tions, and so great is the number of species concerned, 

 that only a very few of the more striking examples of each 

 type of use can be even mentioned. With regard to the 

 volume of the trade in shells, which is mainly carried on 

 in Britain, it is to be regretted that precise statistics are 

 not forthcoming. In the Board of Trade returns, the 

 item "shells" is taken to include both mother-of-pearl 

 and tortoiseshell, so that the figures convey little real 

 information, especially as they relate to value alone. In 

 this wide sense, the declared value of the " shells" im- 

 ported into the United Kingdom during 1897 was five 

 hundred and eighty-five thousand, five hundred and fifty- 

 three pounds. Whatever be its precise amount, it may be 

 taken for granted that the British trade in shells, other 

 than mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell, is of very consider- 

 able volume. 



Evidence of the early development of the taste for shells 

 as articles of personal adornment is afforded by discoveries 

 made among the remains of the prehistoric inhabitants of 

 central France. Living at a distance from the sea, these 

 primitive people were unable to procure recent shells, and 

 accordingly had recourse to some of the fossil species so 

 abundant in the neighbouring tertiary deposits. Although 

 deprived of their colours, these fossil shells, which have 

 been perforated for stringing into necklaces by the cave- 

 dwellers, still retain their original polish, and are thus 

 objects of considerable beauty. Among modern aborigines 

 the taste for shell ornament seems to have attained its 

 highest development among the Melanesians and Papuans 

 of the South Seas. In Fiji and Tonga the chiefs wore the 

 lovely orange cowry as a special badge of rank ; while the 

 large egg-cowry [Ovida ovum) is much favoured by many 

 Melanesiau tribes, and especially the Papuans. Not 

 content with their own shells, these latter savages imported 

 those of a species of Struthiolnria (a distant relative of 

 our whelk) from New Zealand ; these they ground down 

 till little except the mouth remained, in which condition 

 they were strung together into necklaces. Sections of the 

 melon-volute (Mlo) were also worn as part of a breast 

 decoration, vrhile shells of a large Turbo and Conus were 

 ground down into bangles or sheaths for the upper 

 arm. A coronet made of a species of periwinkle [Litt'iriiui] 

 was in use among the Fijians ; and necklaces and coronets 

 composed of Xaticas, top-sheUs, etc., were worn by many 

 of the islanders of the South Pacific, especially those of 

 the EUice group and of Flinders' Island. Very curious is 

 a necklace in the writer's possession, which probably came 

 from the Marquesas ; it is shown in the accompanying 

 figure, with an entire shell of Conus vinio in the centre.* 

 The necklace is formed of the tops of thirty-one speci- 

 mens of that shell, and as these were doubtless reduced 

 to their present condition by grinding, the labour expended 

 on this ornament must have been very great. Large 

 specimens of the same white cone were cut in two 

 and worn as neck-ornaments in Samoa. Very elaborate 

 are the tall coronets of black and white shell formerly 

 worn by the chiefs in the Marquesas. These consisted of 

 upright pieces of thin curved shell, about two inches in 



* Tfo specimen of this type of necklace exists in the British 

 Museum. 



height and somewhat less in width, apparently belonging 

 to some kind of bivalve ; every other one was stained 

 black, and all were fastened together by a circle of cord. 

 Long necklaces of money cowries were often worn by some 

 South Sea Islanders : the back of each shell being ground 

 down to display the inner whorls. We have Ukewise seen a 

 belt from India ornamented with a number of these cowries 

 sewn on it with their mouths exposed. Beads made from 



Fig. 1. — Necklace made from the Virgin Cone, with an entire 

 specimen of the Shell. 



the crimson lip of a large stromlnts are also worn as 

 necklaces by the Papuans ; while nose-ornaments are 

 formed by grinding down segments from the horned helmet- 

 shell {Cassis coniutd). A fillet on the forehead bearing a 

 single specimen of the warty egg-cowry {<h-uhi verrucosa) 

 distinguishes the chief of a Papuan village ; while the 

 ears of many of the same race are often decorated with a 

 piece of bivalve shell, through a hole in which locks of 

 hair are passed. In Samoa an elaborate fillet was made 

 from the pearly inner whorls of a Xatitilus imported from 

 New Zealand and Australia. The brilliantly polished 

 green Trorhus iris, the so-called FAenchus, was used as an 

 ear-drop by the Maories. 



Equally partial to shell-ornaments were the aboriginal 

 inhabitants of America. In South America the cloaks 

 of the women were adorned with various land and fresh- 

 water shells, such as Ampidaria and Bulimulus ; while 

 large species of Bulimus were worn on the breast connected 

 with chains of other substances. Some North American 

 tribes used tooth-shells (Dentalium) to decorate the nose 

 and ears ; while others, as those of the Salt Lake district, 

 made necklaces of various small univalves belonging to 

 the genera Oliia and ManjineUa. In these instances the 

 shells were used entire ; but many other kinds were 

 ground down either into disks or cylindrical beads, which 

 after being strung together, were employed as money under 

 the name of wampum. Ordinary cylindrical wampum was 

 made from the bivalve shell of the common clam (i'enus 

 mercenaria) ; some of the beads being of the white colour 

 of the shell, while others, which bore a higher value, were 

 cut from the purple margin. Another kind of wampum 



