cowries

In 1437, the Ming court decided to move cowries from the Nanjing treasury to Yunnan to pay salary to officials. 59 Three years later, the emperor ordered a shipment of 550,000 jin of cowries to Yunnan, again for salaries. 60 It should be pointed out that not all people liked to pay cowries to the state.

Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE) 2008

Table 6.2 provides a view of the decreasing value of cowries from the Yuan period to the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE) 2008

Sometimes the loaner borrowed silver, but paid cowries as interest; other times, he borrowed and repaid in cowries. 58

Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE) 2008

As the cowries were a form of currency they were probably held sacred, and hence sewn on to clothes as a charm, just as gold and silver are used for ornaments.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II R. V. Russell

The "Buyapart," valued at twenty-five cents, is a piece of cloth four inches square, covered thickly over with the small shells called cowries, sewed on.

Journal of an African Cruiser Horatio Bridge 1849

Thus it may have been gold, or silver, or copper, or a species of beautiful shells called cowries, or even a sort of mat called makutes, as in Congo; or ingots of iron, as in Senegal; or Negro slaves, as on the Guinea

The Science of Right 1790

It was highly probable, too, that among the victims about to be transported were many who had been his own subjects; for these African potentates do not scruple to make merchandise of their own people, when cash or "cowries" run short, and their enemies have been too strong to be captured.

Ran Away to Sea Mayne Reid 1850

Meanwhile I hunted for less time-consuming cowries, and raced around literally breathless with excitement for the entire time.

Archive 2009-01-01 2009

One day I happened to speak of my disappointment in failing to trade for a beautiful pair of orange cowries.

YAH! YAH! YAH! 2010

One night I was out fishing in the lagoon with Oti, the man who had been mulcted of the cowries.

YAH! YAH! YAH! 2010