Indush'ial and Manufacturing Uses of Shells. 2 79 



50 strings = i head of cowries. 



10 heads = i bag. 



2000 cowries = i head. 



3 heads = i dollar. 



20,000 cowries = i bag. 



In other places they are valued at about i^-. 3^. the 1000. 

 Sometimes 60,000 to 100,000 (or from ^3 15^-. to £J \Qs) 

 are given for a young wife, whilst a more common or 

 ordinary wife may be had for 20,000 cowries, or 25^". In 

 Sudan, much as the people trade, they have no other 

 currency than the cowry, of which 2000 shells, weighing 

 from five to seven pounds, are worth only one dollar. Since 

 the recent expansion of traffic in that country, the cowry 

 currency is already becoming an almost intolerable burden, 

 which operates as a powerful check to the prosperity of the 

 people. Although completely depreciated in the territory 

 of the Upper Nile, cowries still form among the Mittoo 

 tribes, between 5° and 6° N, lat, a favourite ornament. 



One of the most common and at the same time one of 

 the most beautiful species, the tiger cowry, is frequently 

 cut for snuff-boxes, made into ink-holders and ring-stands, 

 salt-ceilars, etc., and has frequently the Lord's Prayer or 

 sentences engraved on it They are often mounted as 

 punch-ladles and spoon-bowls, made into whistles and 

 other fancy articles, and shaped into grotesque imitations 

 of animals. 



The skin jacket worn by some of the Bornean tribes in 

 war is ornamented with small shells placed over one 

 another, like scales or links in a coat of armour. The 

 Dyaks stick small white money cowries in the eye-sockets 

 of the skulls of their enemies, which they keep ; they look 

 like a closed eye. In India these shells are much used 

 to ornament the trappings of horses and elephants, and 

 many of these cowry bands may be seen in the India 



