[Illustration: CORD MADE FROM FLYING-FOX USED AS CASH.]
Amongst other queer kinds of money in use in the South Seas may be mentioned the "Tabua" or whale's tooth of Fiji; the Mat-Money--small mats made of grass, curiously woven in quaint patterns, current in various parts of Melanesia (a somewhat similar currency is to be found amongst the Thlinket Indians of Alaska); and rings of quartzite, of which an illustration, taken from a specimen from the New Hebrides, is given above.
[Illustration: QUARTZITE RING AND MADAGASCAR BANGLE.]
It may be noticed that there is much of the artistic about these Pacific Islands moneys; those current in Africa do not exhibit any characteristic of the kind; they are simply barbaric. Here, for instance, is a rough ingot of copper of cruciform shape, which was used as money in East Central Africa, and represents what would be equivalent to a very heavy balance at an English bank account.
[Illustration: SQUARE INGOT MONEY. WEIGHS 1-1/2 LBS.]
Implements of iron, such as iron spades and the heads of hoes, and so on, were widely circulated as valuable consideration for the purchase of ivory, and ivory itself was, and still is, one of the most valuable of African currencies. From the spade to the spear is but a step, so we need not be surprised to find that the shaped spear-head is equal to a great many pounds sterling on the higher waters of the Congo.
[Illustration: INGOT OF COPPER FROM EAST CENTRAL AFRICA.]
Another form of African money is the armlet or bangle made of metal--bronze most commonly, silver sometimes, gold very rarely; and these are classed under the head of what is known as Ring-Money or "Manillas." However, it must be said that the use of bracelets and bangles as currency was quite common in ancient times before the invention of stamped or coined money.
Everyone is probably aware that beads have played a large part as a currency when Western merchants have been trading with savage tribes; but few people, I imagine, can have any idea how Bead-Money was systematised by Englishmen in their dealings with the natives of Africa. What I am about to say seems beyond belief, but yet it is true. There was one sort of beads used for the purchase of palm oil, a second for ivory, a third for gold, and a fourth for slaves.