Use of CoTvry-sJiells for Cnnritn\ Aniu/cts, etc. 157 



worth 3d. In Okwaoii, on tin- contrarw thc\- were 

 reckoned thus : — 



35 cowries = i string (Obang . 

 12x35 -> therefore 12 strings = 3(1. 

 50x35 „ ,. 50 „ ( 1 75t) cowries) = I Head 



( Atraniatiri). 



In the pkn-al, Atiri, was used for 2-9, and Atramatiri, 

 for 10 or more heads. A game with cowries (obviously 

 tlie same game as elsewhere in this region) was named 

 Atramaton, i.e. to throw cowries. These words are com- 

 binations with the word Atrama, which denotes cou-rics. 

 " The\- were so named," sa\-s Perregaux, "in the Tshi 

 language in A(|uapim and Ashanti, wliile in Okwaon and 

 the northern lands the designation Serewa was used. A 

 single cowry was called Xiwa, because of its likeness to an 

 e}-e"'" (Oniwa), and ten cowries were called Niwandu.'""" 



Among the Mamprusi of the Gambaga country, north 

 of Ashanti, cowries, together with kola nut, figure among 

 the objects distributed to guests and musicians at wedding 

 ceremonies.'"' 



Apart from their use as currenc}-, cowries pla)- a very 

 important role as amulets and in fetish-worshi[) among 

 the Ewe negroes of Togo district. They are worn on 

 the neck, arm, wrist and ankle, and regarded as amulets 

 against wounds and sickness, and for luck in hunting. 

 Mischlich records that the hunt-fetishes, fjbofu of Dad- 

 ease and Xakuku of Mjooti, both in Adeii, a district in the 

 hill-country of Togo, were ornamented with cowries. Spiess 

 mentions that they were worn in quantity by expectant 

 women, to ward off danger. It was the custom among the 



'"" The likeness of the apeiUirc of the cowry to the cl.p>e(l eye ma) 

 explain why these shells have been applied as eyes for fetishes, elc, iu ihc 

 (Jongo region, Borneo, New Zealand, elc. 



*'"■ fide Schneider, op. cit., pp. I44-5- 



'"" "Women of all Nations,'' y. 344. 



