Use of Coii'rr-s/iiils for Ciiireiiiy, Aiuu/ffs, cfc. \h^ 



ployed b)' the Jebii tribe of the west co;ist. The sliells 

 are strun<^ together in varving numbers, odd numbers, as 

 a rule, being of evil im[)()rt, while even numbers express 

 good will. A single cowry may be sent as an unfavour- 

 able answer to a requestor message. In some cases other 

 substances besides cowries are included in the aroko or 

 symbolic letters. Thus we find pieces of spice, a piece of 

 mat, and a feather, introduced for the purpose o{ convc\-- 

 ing some significant idea. (See Fig: A, p. 162). 



This method of employing cowries for the purpose of 

 conveying certain ideas is of interest in connection with 

 discoveries made in Eg\ pt of knotted cords with the same 

 cowries, papyrus charm pendants, u/.at e\-es. etc., attached. 

 Several of these cords are figured b\' I'etrie"" in his book 

 oil " Amulets," all from Kafr Ammar, xxiii-xxvth dynasty, 

 lie places the objects among amulets for protection and 

 sa\'s no explanation of their meaning is known in Egypt. 

 (See Figs. />' & C, p. 162.) 



The histor}' of the cowrx' in Africa may be concluded 

 with a ^Qw remarks on its use in Benin and about the 

 lower Niger. Dennett, speaking of the customs of the 

 l^ini,'-" informs us that "the people swear by licking and 

 touching stones, iron, cowries, bits of twisted rojic. and the 

 crushed leaves of a plant, asking these things to kill them 

 if they are not telling the truth." According to the same 

 authority, every great house has an altar to Olukun — the 

 river spirit of Olukun or Great Benin river— in or near tf) 

 which is a pot of water, cowries (Igo) and a heap of other 

 objects. At Ewesi, not far from the Sobo plains, is a 

 temple to Olukun, in which are ver\- old wooden figures 

 (like those into which nails are driven in the C'ongoJ 

 covered with cowries and other objects. In front of the 



■ '■' \V. M. Flinders Petric, " Aimilels," I,()n(l(jn, 1914, y. 29. Xo. 1.51. 

 '-" \s. v.. I>cnneU, of. (it., p. 193. 



