I/O S/h-//s its evidoicc of tlie Mii:;ratioiis. 



Tluirston'''"' also cites a curious custom among the Chettis 

 (traders) of Southern India of unmarried girls wearing a 

 necklace of the money-cowry and beads, it being " unusual 

 for unmarried girls to wear any badge of their condition." 

 This association of cowries with the unmarried is of great 

 interest in view of a somewhat similar custom in I'last 

 Africa, to which reference is made on another page. 

 Tiiurston further states that "when a Hasalara or Hasala 

 (forest tribe) of Mysore dies, somebody's evil spirit is 

 credited with the mishap, and an astrologer is consulted 

 to ascertain its identit}'. Me throws cowr}- [CypriVa 

 vioitcia) shells or rice for divination, and mentions the 

 name of some neighbour as the owner of the devil. There- 

 upon tlie spirit of the dead is redeemed by the heir or 

 relative by means of a pig, fowl, or other guerdon." 

 (Thurston, op. cit., pp. 164-5). 



Turning to (■e}lon we find that Ilildburgh, in his 

 "Notes on Sinhalese Magic," '•'" states that cowries are 

 worn as amulets by infants. This same writer also gives 

 illustrations {\)\. xi. ) of masks worn by devil-dancers in 

 which sometimes the ui)per, or both upper and lower, 

 teeth are formed of cowry-shells. Culin, in his " Chess 

 and riaying-Cards," '^" describes a cowry game, Kawadi 

 Kelia, in which cowries of different kinds are used as men, 

 each player also having three cowries as dice. This game 

 is clearly related to the Hindu game of Tachisi, also 

 jjlayed with cowries. The shells are thrt)wn as dice and 

 the ccjunts are according as the apertures fall uppermost 

 or not. " The game of I'achisi," sa}'s Culin, " may l)e 



'^'"' K. Tluir,-,lon. •• Klhnoj^rai.liii; Notes in .Soul hern India.'' .Madias. 

 1906, p. 68; 1 n his article on ".Sonic .Man inge Customs in Soinljcr]i India'' 

 (Madras GotI. Miis. Bull, /in. vol. iv.. No. 5, 190?. p. 155), Thurston gives 

 the species as Cypma anihua. 



''■^'■' Joiini. A'. Aitlhtif. Jj/sL. vol. 3JS (190SI. \<. i<)j. 



'^" Report U. S. \al. Miis., for 1S96 (18981, pp. S51-4. 



