ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the tangible evidence of the actual types of primitive money—or money-substitutes—used by 'unrisen' people and others all over the world, and is concerned with the purposes, when discoverable, for which they were used. The evidence suggests that barter—in its usual sense of exchange of commodities—was not the main factor in the evolution of money. The objects commonly exchanged in barter do not develop naturally into money and the more important objects used as money seldom appear in ordinary everyday barter. Moreover, the inconveniences of barter do not disturb simple societies. Present-giving or giftexchange, seen in simple forms in the Andamans, Torres Straits or New Zealand, may develop into elaborate ceremonial as in Fiji or the North-West of America, but remain distinct from trading with money. When once a system of conventional gifts or payments with a definite scale of values has been established the first steps are taken in the evolution of money.
