I live in the East Columbia Valley of British Columbia. When I moved to
Athelmere in 1992 my landlady was a Ktunaxa/Kinbasket native.  This was a
part of the original Shushwap Indian Band.  Kate was in her late 70s at that
time.

When I unpacked some of my shells, Kate came over for a visit.  She went
right to the money cowries and told me that her great grandparents found
those along the Toby Creek and Lake Windermere.  I told her that that was
impossible!

Now,
At the time of David Thompson (founder of our valley 200 years ago) a paddle
wheel boat was established from Golden to Windermere.  Also about 100 kms
south of this was Fort Steele an RCMP establishment.

"Fort Steele, first known as Galbraith's Ferry during the 1864 Kootenay Gold
Rush, was renamed in 1888 in honour of Superintendent Samuel Steele of the
North West Mounted Police, who peacefully settled tensions between white
settlers and the Ktunaxa people."
http://britishcolumbia.com/regions/towns/?townID=3495

Is there any chance that money cowries made it this far west to be traded
with the natives and some got thrown or traded and lost along the banks of
Toby Creek?  Unfortunately Kate passed away (too late for me to apologize)
and her sister who is in her 90s is unable to give me any information on
this.  In a box of Kates belongings was indeed a small bag of money cowries
along with porcupine quills, sinew, leather pieces etc.  I was given the
shells and unfortunately just added them to my bag of money cowries not
recognizing that they could have some significance.

That's my story for the day.  Something to think about!

Avril Bourquin

-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
David Campbell
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 9:48 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Wikipedia entery in Cowries

Cypraea moneta was widely used as a trade item by the Europeans.
Conrad mistook a specimen from the James River in Virginia as a
genuine member of the Pliocene fauna rather than a trade bead lost by
a native.

Shells were traded over very long distances, and sometimes legends
developed about the source among inland peoples.  Gary Rosenberg's
Encyclopedia of Seashells has more on the Ojibway ceremony.  The
shells derive ultimately from European traders, despite the myths,
though it's certainly possible that locally available (non-marine or
traded) shells had been used before that.

Despite the fact that people were collecting shells tens of thousands
of years ago, it's probably better not to describe your interest in
conchology as following the world's oldest profession.

--
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"

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