"Cowrie" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... crossing to its northern bank follow it down to Ullegga and Koshi. If you are so fortunate as to reach Utumbi, and don't wish to go farther south, inquire well about Ruanda, the M'Fumbiro mountains, if there is any copper in Ruanda, and whether or not the people of those countries receive Simbi (the cowrie shell) or any other articles of merchandise from the west coast, guarding well that no confusion is made with the trade of Karagwe, for Rumanika sends men to Utumbi ivory-hunting continually. "Remember well that the Wahuma are most likely ...
— The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile • Sir Samuel White Baker
... considered the sacred symbol of the Mid[-e]/wig[^a]n, and may consist of any small white shell, though the one believed to be similar to the one mentioned in the above tradition resembles the cowrie, and the ceremonies of initiation as carried out in the Mid[-e]/wiwin at this day are believed to be similar to those enacted by Mi/nab[-o]/zho and the Otter. It is admitted by all the Mid[-e]/ priests whom I have consulted that ...
— The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa • Walter James Hoffman
... little cove, lay a small schooner, the Cowrie, whose decks had but a few days since run red with the blood of her officers and the loyal members of her crew, for the Cowrie had fallen upon bad days when it had shipped such men as Gust and Momulla the Maori and that arch-fiend Kai ...
— The Beasts of Tarzan • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... maize and manioc, and near each of these I observed, for the first time, an ugly idol common in Londa—the figure of an animal, resembling an alligator, made of clay. It is formed of grass, plastered over with soft clay; two cowrie-shells are inserted as eyes, and numbers of the bristles from the tail of an elephant are stuck in about the neck. It is called a lion, though, if one were not told so, he would conclude it to be an alligator. It stood in a shed, and the Balonda pray and beat drums before ...
— Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa - Journeys and Researches in South Africa • David Livingstone
... Tibetan mendicant (Phud) was amusing the people: he put on a black mask with cowrie shells for eyes, and danced uncouth figures with a kind of heel and toe shuffle, in excellent time, to rude Tibetan songs of his own: for this he received ample alms, which a little boy collected in a wallet. These vagrants live well upon charity; they bless, curse, ...
— Himalayan Journals (Complete) • J. D. Hooker
... excited than anyone, chewing on a twig that he would presently use as a toothbrush; for he borrowed right- and left-handedly from all the customs of the country he knew and loved. There was no need to worry about food—no need to spend a cowrie at the crowded stalls. He was the disciple of a holy man annexed by a strong-willed old lady. All things would be prepared for them, and when they were respectfully invited so to do they would sit and eat. For the rest—Kim giggled here ...
— Kim • Rudyard Kipling
... was adopted because cowrie shells, which are used for counting, were strung by forties; and igba, 200, because a heap of 200 shells was five strings, and thus formed a convenient higher unit for reckoning. Proceeding in this curious manner,[106] they called 50 strings 1 afo or head; and to illustrate ...
— The Number Concept - Its Origin and Development • Levi Leonard Conant
... went with a party of scientific men "for the advancement of science" to Norway or America, seeing the Falls and the Yosemite Valley. No one else took his children as far as Dawli travelling all day, from eight until seven... no esplanade, the old stone jetty and coves and cowrie shells.... ...
— Pointed Roofs - Pilgrimage, Volume 1 • Dorothy Richardson |
