1 76 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 



voyage, figures an instrument of palm-wood, used for 

 splitting bread-fruit in this island, to which are attached 

 two tiger cowries with their inner whorls broken out, and 

 one end cut off."^ 



In the Loyalty Islands, the orange cowry {Cypiaa 

 aurora) is greatly valued. The Rev. Mr. Hadfield, in 

 the course of his missionary work, came across a fine 

 specimen in a native hut in Lifu, where it was held in 

 much veneration by the occupant, who considered it a 

 kind of fetish."^ Mr. Hadfield also gives us some further 

 interesting information regarding this species. He tells 

 us that his wife came upon a specimen which, according 

 to the native report, had been found by an old woman 

 who was struck on the forehead by a demon, who asked 

 her why she took the shell. The woman, it is said, died 

 from the effects of the blow.'"' This fine shell is used as a 

 badge of high rank in Tonga, or Friendly Islands, as well 

 as in Fiji. One of the most remarkable Fijian industries 

 is the working of whales' teeth to represent this cowry, as 

 well as the commoner C. ialpa, which is more easily 

 imitated.'"' 



The New Zealanders, it is stated, use Cyprcea asellus 

 and other shells to form the eyes of their idols.'** 



Codrington, in his " Melanesians" (Oxford, 1891, p. 26), 

 tells us that in Aurora, the nearest of the New Hebrides 

 to the Bank's Islands, the natives have a story that the 

 first woman came from a cowry-shell. Somewhat analogous 

 ideas are expressed in the traditions of the .Samoans as 

 to the origin of man. By these people it is believed 



'°* /. Anthrop. Iiisl., 21 (1891-2), pp. 105-6, pi. x., f. 5, 

 1C6 Melvill & Standen, "Lifu Molhisca,'' y"««-«. of Conch ology,^\\\., 

 189s, p. 112. 



'»« Ibid., p. 131. 



1" A. H. Cooke, " Molluscs," Camb. Nat. Hist., iii., 1S95, P- 98- 



1" Ibid., p. 99. 



