CHAPTER IV 



USES OF SHELLS FOR MONEY, ORNAMENT, AND FOOD — CULTI- 

 VATION OF THE OYSTER, MUSSEL, AND SNAIL — SNAILS AS 

 MEDICINE PRICES GIVEN FOR SHELLS 



The employment of shells as a medium of exchange was 

 exceedingly common amongst uncivilised tribes in all parts of 

 the world, and has by no means yet become obsolete. One of 

 the commonest species thus employed is the ' money cowry ' 

 {Cypraea moneta^ L.), which stands almost alone in being used 

 entire, while nearly all the other forms of shell money are made 

 out of portions of shells, thus requiring a certain amount of 

 labour in the process of formation. 



One of the earliest mentions of the cowry as money occurs 

 in an ancient Hindoo treatise on mathematics, written in the 

 seventh century a.d. A question is propounded thus : ' the ^ of 

 Jg of 1^ of f of f of J a dramma was given to a beggar by one 

 from whom he asked an alms ; tell me how many cowry shells 

 the miser gave.' In British India about 4000 are said to have 

 passed for a shilling, but the value appears to differ according 

 to their condition, poor specimens being comparatively worth- 

 less. According to Reeve ^ a gentleman residing at Cuttack is 

 said to have paid for the erection of his bungalow entirely in 

 cowries. The building cost him 4000 Rs. sicca (about ^400), 

 and as 64 cowries = 1 pice, and 64 pice = 1 rupee sicca, he paid 

 over 16,000,000 cowries in all. 



Cowries are imported to England from India and other places 

 for the purposes of exportation to West Africa, to be exchanged 

 for native products. The trade, however, appears to be greatly 

 on the decrease. At the port of Lagos, in 1870, 50,000 cwts. of 

 cowries were imported.^ 



1 ConcJi. Syst. ii. p. 262 n. 



2 P. L. Simmonds, Commercial Products of the Sea., p. 278. 



90 



