SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF SHORE LIFE 301 



Venus tnercejiaria, the beads derived from the purple-coloured 

 parts of the shell being the more valuable. Another form 

 of wampum was made from the shells of Busycon carica 

 and B. perversum. Other shells employed for the same 

 purpose in California were Olivella hiplicata^ Saxidomus 

 arata, Pachydesma crassatelloides and Haliotis (Cooke, 

 191 3). Other practical uses of shells are as sinkers for 

 fishing nets and as material for the manufacture of fish- 

 hooks, weapons, etc. 



No less important than the practical is the zesthetic 

 and imaginative aspect of shells gathered from the sea-shore 

 (see Wilfrid Jackson, 191 7. Also essay on " The Cult 

 of Shells," in Thomson's Secrets of Animal Life). From 

 the very earliest times shells have been employed for 

 ornament, notably cowries and top-shells. Their beauty 

 early stimulated man's aesthetic sense and stirred his sense 

 of wonder and so shells acquired a symbolic and later, a 

 religious significance. At the present day the chank- 

 shell {Turhinella rapa) has a special religious significance 

 for the Hmdu, and the very rare left-handed form is said 

 to be regarded with extraordmary veneration (Hornell, 



1915)- 



