Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Lr. (191 6), No. 13. 59 



This suggests the possibility of the so-called " tortoise- 

 shells" being really cowries. 



From the following facts it is obvious that some con- 

 fusion has taken place with regard to the interpretation of 

 certain symbols in ancient Chinese works. 



In Dr. Morrison's " Dictionary of the Chinese Lan- 

 guage " 175 a symbol known as pei (see Fig. 36?), is translated 

 (p. 622, No. 8471) as "the tortoise shell or pearl-oyster 

 shell": on an earlier page (p. 510, No. 681 1) quite a 

 distinct symbol, kwei, is translated " tortoise," and the pei 

 symbol is attached to denote "tortoise shell" — kwei pei 

 (see Fig. 3D). 



In a Chinese work, the "Li Ki" or "Treatises on 

 Ceremonial Uses" (referred to on a later page) the pei 

 symbol (Fig. 3 £7) is used to denote a particular object 

 placed in the mouth of the dead. The symbol in this 

 case has been correctly interpreted by the translator of 

 the work as meaning " cowry." 



In the " Shoo King" (v., xxii., 19), the same symbols 

 (Fig. 3A) as quoted by Lacouperie for the " great shells" 

 (£.£., cowries) of the Wang Mang currency, are used in a 

 paragraph describing a display of various precious relics. 

 Hut these characters have been translated by Dr. Legge, 

 in his "Chinese Classics," 176 as the "great tortoise-shell."' 



The " Tribute of Yu " (" Shoo King," iii , i., 52) refers 

 to a particular object presented to Yii from the country 

 of the nine Keang, the symbol denoting this object being 

 the Kwei (No. 681 r, p. 510) of Morrison's Dictionary 

 (Fig. 3B). It is here translated by Legge as " the great 

 tortoise." I77 In his footnotes to this passage the translator 

 states that "according to the 'Historical Records' the 



17 B Dr. R. Morrison, "Dictionary of the Chinese Language," 1819, 

 vol. i., pt. ii. 



170 Dr. J. Legge, "Chinese Classics," 1865, vol. iii., pt. ii., p. 554. 

 lV7 Tbid.y vol. iii., pt. i., p. 116. 



