6*.s7' of CiKvrv-sliclls for Cuncncw Aiiiiilcts, etc. 175 



Cypi\ra t)toHCta appears to have been current also in 

 other islands of the Tacific, as Hrenchlej- states:'" "At 

 Kramanoo [New Hebrides] a shell called ' Xun|)uri,' the 

 Cv/'r(T(i iiiotieta, [)asses as nione)-, as also in New Caledonia." 



in the l^isniark Aichipelac;o, says Schneider {op. cit , 

 [). 1 I 8\ C. (Vimiiiis was foimd as nione)' in s])ecial cases. 



In Gilbert Archipelago, the Ellice and Kingsinill 

 Islands, CvpiiCa iiio)ieta and C. a)tiiiiii(s arc used as body- 

 ornament and for decoratiuL;" iinpleinents and tools."" 



I"". W. Christian, in his article "On Micronesian 

 Weapons, Dress, Implements, etc,"""' figures a cowr}'-shcll 

 used in the Carolines for stripping off the outer skin of 

 the bread-fruit. The figured shell looks like a CrpiiCa 

 )iiaiiyitiann. He also figures an Ovithdii ovum shell 

 (often alluded tu as the white cowry) pieiced tor 

 ornamenting prows of canoes. The use of this shell 

 as a canoe-ornament is general throughout the Pacific. 

 Amongst other places it is recorded from the Pelew Islands, 

 Vap, Gilbert Archijijelago, Samoa, Nine, Viti Islands, 

 Solomon Archipelago and Torres Straits Islantls. In 

 some of these and in other islands it is also worn as an 

 ornament for the neck, breast, or leg, and placed on the 

 outsides of native houses. In Tonga it is used as a grave- 

 ornament, and in the Solomons as decoration (jf an idol.'"'" 



In Tahiti, Cvpiiva inoncta and C. talpa are worn on 

 the neck, and C. tii^ris occurs on the base of an idcjl frf)ni 

 Tahiti, ncnv in the l^ritish Museum."' Sir ( . II. Read, in 

 his description of specimens obtained (ju \'ancouver's 



'•• ' I'.iciichley, "Cruise of ilie ' CJuiacoa," ' 187J, p. 2<)<», i|iiciU-<l liyC". 

 Iledley, Mem. Ausl. Mns., iii., pi. 7, iSqg, p. 452. 



"■" .Sclineider, op. ciL, p. iiS. 



"•' /. Ant/nop. /list., 28 (1S98-9'. pp. 28S .1 .sc.|.. pi. xxiv., f. 5. 



"■- Sclimellz, ".Sclmeckeii uiul Mii.sclRln in lebcn ilci vollicr Iiulo- 

 nesieiis imd Oceaiiiens," Lcidcii, i.Sfq. 



"■■■' ll'id. 



