316 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



successful perhaps four or five money-shells have been impaled on the 

 teeth of the spear. It is a very ingenious mode of procuring them, for 

 it would be quite impracticable either to dredge or net them out, and 

 they are never, as far as I know, found between tide- 

 marks." 



Gibbs also describes the method of obtaining them 

 as follows: "This shell is a species of Dentalium, 

 which was procured on the northern coast by letting 

 down long poles to which was attached a piece of 

 wood filled with spikes or teeth, between which the 

 shell became fixed. The squaws string them very 

 neatly. A small bit of dried sinew, taken from * * * 

 the caribou is passed through the shell lengthwise, 

 there being a hole at each end. The string is gen- 

 erally ornamented with fragments of the * * * 

 Haliotis shell and tufts of dry wool taken from the 

 mountain goat (Capra americana)." 



KOP-KOPS; SHORT TUSK-SHELLS. 



The short, broken, and inferior shells are strung 

 together in the same manner, but in various lengths, 

 and represent shillings or pence, as the string is either 

 long or short or the shells defective. All inferior 

 strings, irrespective of either length or quality, are 

 called kop-kops. The hi-qua represents the sovereign, 

 the highest standard of currency, and, as a rule, would 

 purchase one male or two female slaves. The value 

 of the slave, estimating it by the sum paid in blankets 

 for a slave at the present day, would be about £50 

 sterling. Forty kop-kops equal a hi-qua in value, but 

 various small bargains are made and small debts paid 

 with kop-kops, only just as we pay away shillings or 

 lesser coin. 



Gibbs also says: " Its price depended entirely upon 

 its length ; forty to the fathom being the standard of 

 value. When the shells were so short that it required 

 more to make up the required length, they were of 

 inferior account, but rose proportionately with in- 

 creased size. A fathom of forty was formerly worth 

 a slave, and even now will bring five dollars in money. 



"Single shells were shown me on the Tsihalis for 

 which the owner refused one dollar apiece. . This 

 money is, however, becoming scarce, and is far less 

 used than formerly, at least by the tribes who have 

 much intercourse with the whites. It was the uni- 

 versal currency through an extensive district. On the Klamath River 



X 



Ear ornament made 

 of short Tusk-shells 

 k<rp-k(rps with pend- 

 ant of ear-shell, Ha- 

 liotis, uhl-lo. 



<\\ 



coast (.( North Amer 

 < imi d h 



N. M. ) 



