The cowry circulation of the Indian coasts is probably a case in point.
The cowry shells, so widely used as a small currency in the East, are valued for ornamental purposes on the West Coast of Africa, and were in all probability employed as ornaments before they were employed as money.
A species of cowry is in use for money among some people of Africa; and pearls, so much valued as articles of ornament, are obtained from the oyster and mussel genera.
I know the difference between a cowry and a cone; but I am not yet acquainted with a multivalve shell--will you show me one?
The tiger-cowry is before you; a large and very common species in collections; it also frequently adorns the mantel-piece.
Cowry shells on an Eastern mule, hanging like the pendant of the 10th Hussars.
Cowry shells on the head-stall of a camel from Palestine.
Cowry shells were once generally used by the Hussars, and were revived in the case of the 10th Hussars in connection with service in India.
Persons who were in debt made haste to pay their debts, and every body was ready to lendcowry money to start all sorts of new enterprises.
It was also observed that, as distrust increased, there was also a remarkable increase in societary activity; for every body desired to change off his cowry money for something else.
All these creatures are Mollusca very closely allied to the Cowry and the Trochus which we lately examined, but destitute of a shell.
This current may be readily perceived by any one who will take the trouble to watch, with a pocket-lens, a Cowry crawling along the side of a phial filled with sea-water.
But in infancy and youth theCowry is a shell manifestly of such a character, scarcely to be distinguished from the Olives and Volutes; a shell with a distinct spire, a long wide aperture, and a thin-edged outer lip.
In the dancing a tall pole, called tadri or tadrsi, decorated with cowry shells, is used.
Her prize was a long water gourd strapped with leather and decorated with cowry shells.
Many of them have settled as merchants in Madras, and sell glass beads, cowry shells, dolls from Tirupati, toys, etc.
They carry a basket, winnow, stick, and a wicker tray in which cowry shells are imbedded in a mixture of cow-dung, and turmeric.
These beggars carry with them a gourd, have tortoise and cowry shells tied on their elbows, and carry an iron rod, with which they beat an iron ring worn on the hand.
Two things are essential to the astrologer, namely, a bag of cowry shells (Cypraea moneta), and an almanac.
He shows why the cowryand snail shells were worn as amulets and charms, and why men were impelled "to search for them far and wide and often at great peril".
A Red Sea cowry shell (Cyproea minor) found on the site of Hurstbourne station (L.
The animal which inhabits a Cowryshell is a curiosity.
In western Africa the moneycowry (Cypraea moneta) has been and is now used as a medium of exchange in place of gold.
We may truly say that of all the mollusks, large or small, handsome or ugly, the modest little money cowry surpasses any in point of economical importance.
The eyed-cowry (Cypraea argus) has large, dark brown spots on a lighter background.
In the Friendly Islands the orange cowry (Cypraea aurantia) is used as a badge of chieftainship and for a long time specimens were almost priceless because no one but the chief was allowed to wear this ornament.
Among marine mollusks none stand so favorably in the eyes of collectors or are so beautiful as the Cypraeas, or Cowry shells.
The money cowry is also used as ornaments on the trappings of horses and elephants, as well as on the persons of men and women.
The Ladies Endor, Eldritch, and Cowry sifted their best.
On this animal no burden is ever laid, but he is decorated with streamers of red-dyed silk and tinkling bells, with many brass chains and rings on neck and feet, and strings of cowry shells and silken tassels hanging in all directions.
An effigy of the deceased is made, in which twigs of the Palasa tree represent the bones, a cocoanut or Bel fruit the head, pearls or cowry shells the eyes, and a piece of birch bark or the skin of a deer the cuticle.
This is something like the principle of travellers, who keep a cowry or two in their purses, so that thieves may not be able to divine the contents.
He is not used for agriculture, but given to a Jogi, who covers him with cowry shells, and carries him about on begging excursions.
The cowry shell is, with the same object, tied round the neck or pasterns of a valued horse, or on a cow or buffalo.
Observe also a far more beautiful creature by its side, the Tiger Cowry (Cypraea tigris).
The Cowry has never had a lip that was not thickened, nor an exterior that was not porcellanous.
The rate of exchange of the cowry is much higher in Africa than in Asia, which shows that this shell is an imported object.
It was probably by the Arabs that the cowry was introduced to the east coast of Africa.
A number of bead necklets, one with young cowry shells pendent, another consisting of a heavy roll of black beads.
They carry a basket, winnow, stick, and a wicker tray in which cowryshells are embedded in a mixture of cow-dung and turmeric.
Thus gold came to share the same magical reputation as the cowry and the pearl.
We have now given reasons for believing that the personification of the mandrake was in some way brought about by the transference to the plant of the magical virtues that originally belonged to the cowry shell.
For they were originally nothing more than personifications of the life-giving cowry amulets from the Red Sea.
Cowry shells have also been employed, both in the Persian Gulf and the Pacific, to decorate the bows of boats, probably for the dual purpose of representing eyes and conferring vitality upon the vessel.
Whether this is the explanation of the confusion or not, it is certain that the beliefs associated with the cowry and the octopus in the Ægean area are identical with those linked up with the cowry and the Pterocera in the Red Sea.
The goddess Aphrodite was closely related to Cyprus; the mandrake was a magical plant there; and the cowry is so intimately associated with the island as to be called Cypræa.
The use of the cowryand gold models of the cowry goes back to an early time in Ægean history.
Moreover, we know why the cowry was regarded as feminine and accredited with life-giving attributes.
The idea that the cowry was the giver of life and the parent of men was also transferred to crude stone imitations of the shell.
The money cowry (Cypraea moneta) has been used as money by the natives of Western Africa, and many tons of this small shell were annually imported to England to be used in barter by the African traders.
The ne plus ultra of mollusks to the collector is without doubt the genus Cypraea, comprising the cowry shells.
From the earliest times, in China, the purple cowry was more valuable than the white.
They then play seven times withcowry shells, and the ceremonial closes with the throwing of Zizyphus leaves, and the eating by the bride and bridegroom of rice mixed with jaggery (crude sugar) and curds.
Her necklace of cowry (Cypraea moneta) shells is deposited in a well for three days, before she is allowed to put it on for the ceremony.
Women adorn themselves with necklaces of beads and cowry shells, or sometimes, like the Lambadis, wear shell bracelets.
Some cowry (Cypraea arabica) shells are then thrown into the tank, and the vessel is filled with water, and taken to the house.
Woman--Glass necklet ornamented with cowry shells, and charm pendant from it, consisting of a fragment of the root of some tree rolled up in a ball of cloth.
Paddison informs me, the bullocks of the Lambadis are ornamented with peacock's feathers and cowry shells, and generally a small mirror on the forehead.
With married women it is fastened, in like manner, with a cowry or a brass button, and heavy pendants or gujuris are fastened at the temples.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "cowry" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
