300 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



THE CRUSADES AND PILGRIMAGES OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



The common Mediterranean shell (Pectenjacobceus) or St. James's shell 

 was, during the Middle Ages, worn by pilgrims to the Holy Land, and 

 became the badge of several orders of knighthood. "When the monks 

 of the ninth century converted the fisherman of Genneseret into a Span- 

 ish warrior they assigned him the scallop-shell for his 'cognizance.'"* 



Sir Walter Scott in his poem, "Marmion," refers to this badge or em- 

 blem, as follows: 



Here is a holy Palmer come 

 From Salem first and last from Rome ; 

 One that hath kissed the blessed tomb, 

 And visited each holy shrine 

 In Araby and Palestine! 

 # * # * * ♦ # 



In Sinai's wilderness he saw 

 The Mount where Israel heard the law, 

 'Mid thunder-dint and flashing leveu, 

 And shadows, mists, and darkness given. 

 He shows St. James's cockle-shell — 

 Of fair Montserrat, too, can tell. 



The summoned Palmer came in place, 

 His sable cowl o'erhung his face; 

 lu his black mantle was he clad, 

 With Peter's keys, in cloth of red, 

 On his broad shoulders wrought ; 

 The Scallop-shell his cap did deck. 



From the romantic pages of the past which relate to Pearls and famous 

 Pearl- hunters, from the Pilgrims and Pecteu shells of the Middle Ages, 

 let us turn over a few leaves and briefly review 



THE USE OF SHELLS FOR THE PURPOSES OF MONEY. 



It would be quite difficult to point out any natural production better 

 adapted for use as money, or more convenient, when size, shape, and sub- 

 stance are considered, than the Money cowry, and no species of shell or 

 form of shell money has had so wide-spread, so general and extended 

 use as this species. With a few exceptions, other forms of shell money 

 have been made from portions of shells of larger species, necessitating 

 considerable labor in the process of manipulation, the natural form of 

 the shells not being preserved, the form or shape of the money being 

 altogether conventional^ 



* Moule's Heraldry of Fish. 



tWhen the division of labor was first introduced, commodities were directly bar- 

 tered for each other. Those, for example, who had a surplus of corn and were in 

 want of wine endeavored to find out those who were iu the opposite circumstances, 

 or who had a surplus of wine and wanted corn, and they exchanged one for the other. 

 It is obvious, however, that the power of changing and, consequently, of dividing em- 



