The tribesman would probably wonder why the Chief of the English Tribe kept cowrie shells under his hat.
"A World by the Tale"
Gordon Randall Garrett
It usually took the form of cowrie shells, iron bars, brass rings, or other standard items of value.
"The Black Experience in America The Immigrant Heritage of America"
Norman Coombs
Know, that there is no dealing here except by cowries, and the cowrie is 3,500 to a mithcal.
"Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846"
James Richardson