Cowry money or cowry-shell money. The money-cowry or the cowry-shell that is used as
money is a beautiful hemispherical shell scarcely an inch long, light straw color and white. Cowry
shells abound on the Malabar coast and near the Maldive Islands. They are shipped to England
for trade with Africa where they are put up in strings of 100 shells and 50 strings pass for the
equivalent of $1. These shells are also used as currency in Siam where no of them are equivalent
to 1 cent.