70 



Beautiful Shells. 



Cowries are obtained principally about the Philip- 

 pine Islands, the Maldive Islands, and the coast of 

 Congo, where, after high tides, the women collect 

 them in baskets, mixed with sand, from which they 

 are afterwards separated and cleaned, when they 

 are ready for the market. 



• They are only useful as coin so long as they 

 remain unbroken. The value of a single shell is 



very small, as the following table will show :■— 

 Four Cowries make one gunder; twenty Gunders 

 one punn ; four Punns one anna ; four Annas one 

 cahaun ; and four Cahauns one rupee. The value 

 of the latter coin is equal to two shillings and 

 threepence, English money, and this would be 

 exchangeable for five thousand one hundred and 

 twenty Cowries ; so that it would never do to pay 

 large sums in this kind of coin : a waggon would 

 be required to convey a few pounds with. In this 

 country the Money Cowries are frequently used as 



