Use of Cozvry-shells for Currency, Amulets, etc. i8i 



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 ""^ a symbol known as pei (see Fig. C, p. i8o), is 

 translated (p. 622, No. 8471) as "the tortoise shell or 

 pearl-oyster shell " : on an earlier page (p. 510, No. 68n) 

 quite a distinct symbol, kwei, is translated " tortoise," and 

 the /«■ symbol is attached to denote "tortoise shell" — 

 kwei pei (see Fig. D, p. 180). 



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

 Ceremonial Uses" (referred to on a later page) the/>« 

 symbol {Fig. C, p. 1 80) 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. A, p. 180) as quoted by Lacouperie for the "great 

 shells " {i.e., cowries) of the Wang Mang currency, are 

 used in a paragraph describing a display of various precious 

 relics. But these characters have been translated by Dr. 

 Legge, in his "Chinese Classics,"'™ 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 1, p. 510) of Morrison's Dictionary 

 {Fig. -5, p. 180). It is here translated by Legge as " the 

 great tortoise." '" In his footnotes to this passage the trans- 

 lator states that " according to the 'Historical Records ' the 



*" Dr. R. Morrison, "Dictionary of the Cliincse Language," 1819, 

 vol. i., pt. ii. 



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

 '" Ibid., vol. iii., pt. i., p. 116. 



