Use of Cowry -shells for Currency, Amulets, etc. 183 



feudal lord with seven, that of a great officer with five, 

 and that of an ordinary official with three.'"" 



In some of the out-of-the-way corners of China cowries 

 remained in circulation for many centuries. In Marco 

 Polo's time (a.D. 1271 — 91) cowries, called " porcellani " 

 by this traveller, were still in use in the country of Yunnan, 

 the shells being gathered at the group of islands now 

 known as Pulo Condore, off Cochin China.^*' 



In the i6th century the cowry-currency seems to have 

 been officially suspended in Yunnan province. At the 

 present time cowries appear to have completely lost their 

 money value in Yunnan, since Lieutenant Garmer found 

 them nowhere in use north of Luang Prabang, Laos ; and 

 in western Yunnan tliey were worn only as ornament by 

 the Kakhyens. Carl Bock likewise saw cowries on the 

 head-masks of the leaders of the mule-caravans which 

 come from Yunnan into northern Further India.™ 



It is doubtful whether the cowry was used as currency 

 in Japan, though it is possible that in olden times shells 

 from the neighbouring Liu Kiu Islands were so used. 

 The Japanese name, Takara ( = prosperity, riches), kai or 

 gai ( = shell), may indicate their use as money. In 

 Kampfer's " Description of Japan " (London, 1727, Bk.i., 

 ch. ii.) appears : " Takara gai, called Kauri in India, 

 brought from the Maldives and other islands and im- 

 ported into Bengal, Pegu and Siam, where it serves as 

 current money." K. Florenz reports that the Japanese 

 women at their confinement hold in the hand a " Koyasu- 

 gai (Easy-delivery-shell), a species of cowry," in order to 

 ensure certain and easy delivery, a practise analagous to 



"*" fide De C^oot, op. cil., p. 275. 



"' Colonel Henry Yule, "The Book of Ser Marco Polo," London, 

 1S71, vol. ii., pp. 39 e/ scq. 



^^'^ Schneider, ol>. cit,, p. 107. 



