ABSTRACT
Cowries are found in the Red Sea, and may have been used as currency in Egypt in ancient as in modern times. Most records are content with merely reporting 'cowry currency' with no description or further details; some distinguish between Indian and African: and some distinguish between 'large' and 'small', which it is usual to interpret as moneta and annulus but with caution. Money was certainly known, for with a string of cowries, Cyprea monetas, it was possible to buy any articles wanted. Cowries appear in the list of goods in payment for ivory at Nouvelle Anvers in 1885, together with a varied assortment of trade cloth, beads, brass wire and an empty bottle. The comparison with the British 'druid stones' is due to Bowdich, who in his report of his mission to Ashanti in 1817 gives a general description of the aggry beads and their uses.
