g in the thickness of the shell. They were called
wampumpeag, were sewed on deer or other fine skins, and the belts
thus made were used to emphasize points in negotiation or in
treaties, or in speeches. Farther down the coast beads were made
like flat button molds, with holes bored through them
perpendicularly to the plane of the shell, and called roanoke.
These beads, of both kinds, but especially of the former kind,
spread by exchange into the Mississippi Valley, and in the middle
of the nineteenth century they had reached the upper waters of
the Missouri River.

+153. Ring money; use of metal.+ The standpoint of the Vedic
hymns is that the cow is the real measure of value, but metal,
especially gold, is used for money in the payment of penalties
and weregild. The objects at stake in formulae of oaths and of
duels were estimated in gold.[342] There was therefore a pure
gold currency. In ancient India, however, silver and copper were
also used and locally some coins of lead and mixed metals
occurred. In value one of gold equaled ten of silver, and one of
silver forty of copper.[343] The most ancient money of China
consisted of shells,[344] also of knives and dress patterns of
silk.[345] The knives had rings at the end of the handle and were
gradually reduced to rings of metal as money.[346] The same
ancient king who established measures of length and capacity is
the legendary author of money (2697 B.C.). He fixed the five
objects of exchange,--beads, jade, gold, knives, textiles. The
sign for money was combined of the signs for "shell" and "to
exchange."[347] We hear that the Chinese emperor, 119 B.C., gave
to his vassals squares of white deerskin, about one foot on a
side, embroidered on the hem. He who had one of these could get
an audience of the emperor.[348] We are inclined to connect with
that usage the use of a scarf of bluish-white silk in central
Asia, which was used in all greetings and ceremonies. A certain
quality of this scarf was used in places as the unit of
value.[349] Przewalsky mentions the chadak which is given to
every guest in southern Mongolia, for which another must be given
in return. In Chalcha chadaks are used as money, not as
gifts.[350] An intragroup money of copper or brass rings is also
reported from Korintji on Sumatra. They are cast of three sizes,
so that one hundred and t