Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ix. ( 1 9 1 6), No. 4. 



IV. The Money Cowry (Cyprcea moneta, L.), as a Sacred 

 Object among North American Indians. 



By J. Wilfrid Jackson, F.G 



Manchester Museum. 

 (Communicated by Professor G. Elliot Smith, M.A. 

 (Received and read December 14th, IQ15.) 



In a paper on " ' The Mide'wiwin ' or ' Grand Medicine 

 Society' of the Ojibvva," 1 the author, W. J. Hoffman, 

 gives some interesting particulars regarding the use made 

 of the money cowry, CyprcEa moneta, L., in ceremonies 

 connected with the initiation of a candidate to the society 

 of medicine men. A somewhat similar account, by the 

 same author, is also given in his article on " The Meno- 

 mini Indians." 2 



The use of this particular cowry amongst the Indians 

 is of great interest '; in the first place, owing to it being 

 alien to the American continent, and in the second place, 

 in view of its adoption for religious and other purposes in 

 different parts of the Old World. 



This well-known species is an inhabitant of the Indo- 

 Pacific seas and is not known to occur on any of the coasts 

 of the Americas. Its nearest habitat to that continent is 

 probably the Sandwich Islands. 



As a medium of exchange no other species of shell, or 



1 Bureau of Ethnology (United States), jth Ann. Report, 1891. 

 - Id., 14th Ann. Report, 1896, pt. i. 



May ijth, 1916, 



