Use of Coivry-sJiclls for Cu)rciu\\ Aimilcts, etc. 127 



^ The use of cowries as ciiircnc\- and as amulets or 

 charms has beci\ frequenti}' discussctl in cthnolotjical 

 memoirs. From this h'terature it is clear, thouc;h the fact 

 has not always been realised or sufficiently emphasised by 

 the authors, that cowries have been for ages regarded and 

 even reverenced as charms in hunting and fishing, and as 

 amulets against the evil e)c. In fishing, especialK- in the 

 Pacific Islands, they are attached to the nets to ensure 

 luck, being misnamed " net-sinkers " by many writers on 

 ethnology. Thc}^ have been, and in man)- places are 

 still, associated with marriage, with the object of securing 

 communion with the spirit of fertility, supposed to be 

 indwelling in the cowrj'. In like manner they are used 

 in some places as offerings to rivers and springs in order 

 to ensure that the rivers will run and springs flow. 



In the following pages an attempt is made to show some 

 of the many uses of cowries in different parts of the world. 

 The remarkable manner in which some of the customs, in 

 which cowries play an important part, crop up in widely- 

 scattered localities is very significant, and goes far to 

 prove a common centre of origin for these practices. It 

 is altogether unreasonable to assume that exactly similar 

 customs of so peculiar and wholly arbitrary a nature and 

 identical beliefs concerning the cowry could have arisen 

 independently among isolated groups of people. 



The best and most comprehensive work on the subject of 

 shell-money is that by Dr. O. Schneider, on "Muschelgeld- 

 Studien."" This work contains some 180 pages dealing 

 with the subject, of which about 72 pages are devoted to 

 an excellent summary of the extensive literature relating 

 to cowry-currency. Some use has been made of this 

 work in the compilation of the present chapter, as will 



* Dr. O.skar Schneider, '• .MusclicIy;cI(l-.Sluclien "" (Nach dein liiiUer- 

 lasscnen Manuskript bcarbeilet von (Jarl KibLe). Ilerausgej^clicn voiu 

 Verein fiir Erdkunde zu Dresden. Dresden, 1905. 



