The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-12-05
SHELLS FOR MONEY.
Employed Largely for Currency Even .
the Present Day.

Employed Largely for Currency Even ~
the Present Day.
Shell fish have from time immemorial
contributed enormously to the wealth
of the world. Not merely have they
given up to man pearls of price, as we'll
as the material of their own dwellings
for ornamental purposes, but they have
supplied him for centuries with all the
money he needed to spend.
Before gold, silver and copper came
into use as medium of exchange shell
money was used for the same purposes
all over the world. To this day it is
employed as cash to an enormous ex-
tent in Southern Asia, the islands OF
the Indian and South Pacific Oceans and
in many parts of Africa. In these
regions the 'cowry she'll" is the one
chiefly employed, for the reason that it
is of convenient size and the natural
supply of it is limited, so that no one
cowry she'll may be considered to repre-
sent definite amount of labor in the
process of finding, and there is no
material chance of sudden imitation
of the currency by the discovery
of a great deposit of cowries. ono
hundred cowries are worth 2 cents, anil
strings of them are receivable where
they are current for merchandise, labor
or any thing purchasable. One can build
a house, for instance, worth $4,000 and
discharge the expenses with 10000, 900
cowries. For purposes of trade in tho
81 81 a~r1 fu;a OF inu
of cowries are imported to England,
whence they are carried by merchants
| for use in barter. On the west coast of
Africa young wife can be bought for
60, 600 cowries, equal to S12, while an or
binary wife not guaranteed as to youth,
NAV be had for 20, 200 cowries. In the
Soudan there is no other currency in
use. The late firm of Godeffroy & Co.,
Hanburgh, was accustomed to send each
ye.r fourteen vessels to Zanzibar for
| csrgoes of cowries with which cargoes
o. palm oil and other produce was pur-
chased on the west coast of Africa. Cow
ries were formerly largely used in the
purchase of slaves The main source of
supply of this species of she'll is the NAL
dive and L acadive Islands, in the Ara
bian Sea.
Before the settlement of America by
the whites, and for a long time after,
shells were exclusively used for money
by the Indians, mostly under the name
of "wampum, which consisted of disks
and pieces in other shapes cut out Of
shells of various kinds. One of the
shells most commonly used for this pur-
pose was the common round or qua
haug" clam. About half an inch of the
inside of the shell is of a purple color,
and this the Indians used to break off
and convert into beads Cash in the
early days Of this country's settlement
was chiefly, apart from the she'll money
employed in trade with the natives,
beaver skins, beads and musket balls.
The Island of Conanicut in Narragansett
Bay was originally sold to the whites
for 90 pounds of wampum. Wampum
was originally worth $3.50 a fathom,
strung on ordinary Irvine; but enter
prising merchants in New York, then
New Amsterdam, set to work to make it
by machinery, the result being a great
depreciation in this sort of currency.
The California Indians we're accus-
toraoa to manufacture large quantities
of wampum, to take the place of the
constant wastage caused by their custom
of burying big sums of she'll money
with every one of Importance who died.
In their country 500 worth of shell
money would buy two very desirable
wives. Periwinkles were largely used
for money by the Indians. The sort of
greatest value, however, was the abalone
of the Pacific coast, which was worth as
much as $40 and S15 she'll. Out of the
fiat part of the she'll were taken round
81 pieces, and, where the curve was
sharper, 25 cent pieces. The beauty OF
these shells is much appreciated at this
day, and in those times a fine one was
considered fair equivalent for a horse.
-Washington Star