A banded form of _Nerita polita_ was used as money in certain parts of the South Pacific. The sandal-wood imported into the China market is largely obtained from the New Hebrides, being purchased of the natives in exchange for _Ovulum angulosum_, which they especially esteem as an ornament. Sometimes, as in the Duke of York group, the use of shell money is specially restricted to certain kinds of purchase, being employed there only in the buying of swine. Among the tribes of the North-West coasts of America the common _Dentalium indianorum_ used to form the standard of value, until it was superseded, under the auspices of the Hudson’s Bay Company, by blankets. A slave was valued at a fathom of from 25 to 40 of these shells, strung lengthwise. Inferior or broken specimens were strung together in a similar way, but were less highly esteemed; they corresponded more to our silver and copper coins, while the strings of the best shells represented gold. The _wampum_ of the eastern coast of North America differed from all these forms of shell money, in that it required a laborious process for its manufacture. Wampum consisted of strings of cylindrical beads, each about a quarter of an inch in length and half that breadth. The beads were of two colours, white and purple, the latter being the more valuable. Both were formed from the common clam, _Venus mercenaria_, the valves of which are often stained with purple at the lower margins, while the rest of the shell is white. Cut small, ground down, and pierced, these shells were converted into money, which appears to have been current along the whole sea-board of North America from Maine to Florida, and on the Gulf Coast as far as Central America, as well as among the inland tribes east of the Mississippi. Another kind of wampum was made from the shells of _Busycon carica_ and _B. perversum_. By staining the wampum with various colours, and disposing these colours in belts in various forms of arrangement, the Indians were able to preserve records, send messages, and keep account of any kind of event, treaty, or transaction. Another common form of money in California was _Olivella biplicata_, strung together by rubbing down the apex. Button-shaped disks cut from _Saxidomus arata_ and _Pachydesma crassatelloides_, as well as oblong pieces of _Haliotis_, were employed for the same purpose, when strung together in lengths of several yards.