A STUDY OF PRIMITIVE MONEY. 1Mb 



tribes, especially those of the Coast Bauge. From my own observa- 

 tions, which have not been limited, and from the statements of pioneers 

 and the Indians themselves, I hesitate little to express the belief that 

 every Indian in the State, in early days, possessed an average of at 

 least $100 worth of shell money. This would represent the value of 

 about two women (though the Nishinam never actually bought their 

 wives), or two grizzly-bear skins, or twenty-five cinnamon bear skins- 

 or about three average ponies. This may be considered a fair state, 

 meut of the diffusion of wealth among them in their primitive condi- 

 tion." 



The late George Gibbs,* in writing (prior to 1873) of the Indians of 

 the northwest coast, says: " Measures of length were probably all re- 

 ferred to parts of the body, the principal being the extent of the out- 

 stretched arms, which was used in valuing their money, the haikwa 

 or wampum of the Pacific." 



HAIK-WA, HI-A-QUA, OR TUSK-SHELL MONEY. 



Of these shells, a species of Dentalium, Mr. Lord writes :f 

 " The money-shells are procured upon the north end of Vancouver 

 Island ; also in the bays and inlets along the mainland coast north of 



Kg. 8. 

 Dentalium. 



(Pacific coast. From specimen in U. S. N. M. ) 



latitude of 49 degrees to Sitka, and is common likewise round Queen 

 Charlotte's Island. The genus has an enormous geographical range. 

 and it is, perhaps, strange that the shells from Northwest America, 

 from California, and those obtained on our own coast, when placed side 

 by side, scarcely present any material specific difference."f 



The Tusk-shells are collected in the following manner: "An Indian 

 when shell-fishiug arms himself with a long spear, the haft of which is 

 light deal; to the end of it is fastened a strip of wood placed trans- 

 versely, but driven full of teeth made of bone. The whole affair resem- 

 bles a long comb affixed to the end of a stick with the teeth very wide 

 apart. A squaw sits in the stern of the canoe, and paddles it slowly 

 along, whilst the Indian with the spear stands in the bow. He stabs 

 this comb-like affair into the sand at the bottom of the water, and after 

 giving two or three prods draws it up to look at it. If he has been 



* Tribes of Western Washington and Northwestern Oregon. 

 tThe Naturalist in British Columbia, vol. II. 



X There are several unquestionably distinct species on the west coast from Sitka 

 to Central America. 



