feb 15, 1798 - White shell bead machine

Description:

In America the colonists in the 18th century go to the length of inventing a machine
which can manufacture white shell beads accepted as wampum by their Indian
trading partners

Also in the 18th century more than 10,000 tons of these shells are brought round the Cape. By 1770 the price of a single slave is about
150,000 cowries.

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