38 JACKSON, Use of Coivry-sJiells for Currency, Amulets, etc. 



by Mawu (God), which the black eagerly appropriated 

 for purposes of trade. 113 



In Dahomey similar customs to those of the Ewe- 

 negroes prevail. The famous Amazons of the king, who 

 dwell in a house richly ornamented with skulls and cowry- 

 garlands, have a custom of glueing a cowry-shell for each 

 slain enemy to the stocks of their muskets, the shells being 

 glued by means of the blood of the slain man. Another 

 custom of the Dahomeyans takes the form of a " fight for 

 cowries 1 ' thrown by the king and his Amazons, this being 

 followed by the sacrifice of a human victim upon which 

 cowries and other objects have been dashed. At the con- 

 clusion of these ceremonies a number of cowries are 

 thrown upon the blood-stained earth. 114 



In Yoruba, as in Dahomey, cowries have been a 

 recognised form of currency for centuries, and in recent 

 years thousands of tons have been imported into Lagos. 

 According to Hoffmann, in 1850, about 40 white cowries 

 (C. moneta) were equal to an English penny. In Yoemba, 

 in Lander's time, it was the custom on the death of a 

 chief for one of his wives to destroy all his possessions 

 and shell-money and then destroy herself. On his travels 

 through Yoruba Lander also saw a sorcerer whose cowry- 

 hangings he estimated at 20,000 specimens. Not far off 

 the river Mussa, Forscher saw a hut with a veiled entrance 

 in which it was customary for passing negroes to place 

 cowries, because the god housed therein gave them water, 

 corn, and yams in abundance. 115 



Among the Egbas, according to Brown, 116 it is the 

 custom when a great man dies for slaves to be slain to 

 act as his attendants in the land of spirits. Messengers 



113 C. Spiess, Deutsch. Geogr. Blatter, 1899, p. 33 {fide Schneider). 



114 Brown, " Races of Mankind," vol. iii., N.D., pp. 92 and 100-2. 



115 Schneider, op. at., pp. 154-6, and 170. 

 110 Brown, op. at., III., pp. 1 14-15. 



