1586.—"In Bengal are current those little shells that are found in the islands of Maldiva, called here courim, and in Portugal Buzio."—Sassetti, in De Gubernatis, 205.
[c. 1590.—"Four kos from this is a well, into which if the bone of any animal be thrown it petrifies, like a cowrie shell, only smaller."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 229.]
c. 1610.—"Les marchandises qu'ils portent le plus souvent sont ces petites coquilles des Maldives, dont ils chargent tous les ans grand nombre de nauires. Ceux des Maldives les appellent Boly, et les autres Indiens Caury."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 517; see also p. 165; [Hak. Soc. i. 438; also comp. i. 78, 157, 228, 236, 240, 250, 299; Boly is Singh. bella, a cowry].
c. 1664.—"... lastly, it (Indostan) wants those little Sea-cockles of the Maldives, which serve for common Coyne in Bengale, and in some other places...."—Bernier, E.T. 63; [ed. Constable, 204].
[c. 1665.—"The other small money consists of shells called Cowries, which have the edges inverted, and they are not found in any other part of the world save only the Maldive Islands.... Close to the sea they give up to 80 for the paisa, and that diminishes as you leave the sea, on account of carriage; so that at Agra you receive but 50 or 55 for the paisa."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 27 seq.]
1672.—"Cowreys, like sea-shells, come from Siam, and the Philippine Islands."—Fryer, 86.
1683.—"The Ship Britannia—from the Maldiva Islands, arrived before the Factory ... at their first going ashore, their first salutation from the natives was a shower of Stones and Arrows, whereby 6 of their Men were wounded, which made them immediately return on board, and by ye mouths of their Guns forced them to a complyance, and permission to load what Cowries they would at Markett Price; so that in a few days time they sett sayle from thence for Surrat with above 60 Tunn of Cowryes."—Hedges, Diary, July 1; [Hak. Soc. i. 96].
1705.—"... Coris, qui sont des petits coquillages."—Luillier, 245.
1727.—"The Couries are caught by putting Branches of Cocoa-nut trees with their Leaves on, into the Sea, and in five or six Months the little Shell-fish stick to those leaves in Clusters, which they take off, and digging Pits in the Sand, put them in and cover them up, and leave them two or three Years in the Pit, that the Fish may putrefy, and then they take them out of the Pit, and barter them for Rice, Butter, and Cloth, which Shipping bring from Ballasore in Orisa near Bengal, in which Countries Couries pass for Money from 2500 to 3000 for a Rupee, or half a Crown English."—A. Hamilton [ed. 1744], i. 349.
1747.—"Formerly 12,000 weight of these cowries would purchase a cargo of five or six hundred Negroes: but those lucrative times are now no more; and the Negroes now set such a value on their countrymen, that there is no such thing as having a cargo under 12 or 14 tuns of cowries.