COWRIE.
Wuda ARAB. Khar-3lahra, . . PERS.
Beya, BENG. Pingo,. . . . . SINGH.
Kauris, . . DUT., GER. Bucios Zimbos, . , SP. Coris, Cauris, Bouges, Fa. Kavadi, . . . . Tem. Cori, Porcellanne, . Ir. Gavvallu, . . TEL. Beya, JAV.,MALAY,SANSK.
Cowries are small, white, or yellow, glossy shells, of the genus Cyprwa, found in abundance on the shores of the Laccadive and Maldive islands, African coast, Zanzibar, and the Sulu A islands, etc. There aro many species, bnt the Cyprtea moneta pass current as coin in payment of fractional parts of a pie°, in India and some parts of Africa. They aro brought to India in Largo quantities, and are re-exported to Britain, where they aro used in inlaying, in ornamenting toys, work-boxes, etc., and in the manufacture of the superior kinds of porCelain-ware. They were, during the slave trade, exported from Bombay to Africa. The cowrie seems never to have been used for money among the Indian islanders, as it has immemorially been by the Hindus. Yet the Malay and Javanese name Beya is Sanskrit, and is one of the synonyms which express duty, impost, or tolls. In the currency of India, 4 cowries make a ganda, 20 ganda=a pan, and 5 pan=one anna. In A.D. 1740, a rupee exchanged for 2400 covaies, in 1756 for 256U cowries, and in 1870, in Madras, as many as 5760 cowries were obtainable for one rupee. The Persian name.
Khar-mohra, means literally a jackass' or mule's shell, because mules are ornamented in that country with trappings of shells, as a Gosain's bullock is in India. Ibn Batuta says cowries were carried from the Maldive Islands to Bengal, to be used as coin. The Kamoos adds that a split or broken shell is suspended from the neck to avert the evil eye, and this is still done in India. Among European nations, excepting the British, these shells are known by the name Porcelli, Porcellian, Porcellanen, and Porcelaine, on account of the fancied resemblance of their shape to that of the back of a little pig ; and thence arose the term for the Chinese porcelain,' of which, the glaze or varnish is similar to that of the cowrie. Liverpool imported as under :— 1851, . . . 1704 cwt. 1854, . . . . 00 cwt.
1852, . . . . 2703 „ 1855, . . . . 311 „ 1853, . . . 1680 „ • Two commercial varieties are known, the live cowrio ' and the dead cowrie.'—illorrisetz's Com pendious DescriPtion; Crawfizrd's Dictionary.