Note 5 — Chapter XVI · ON TO MATHURÂ OR MUTTRA. CONDITION AND CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL INDIA; OF THE MONKS, VIHÂRAS, AND MONASTERIES.
James Legge translation
‘Cowries;’ 貝齒, not ‘shells and ivory,’ as one might suppose; but cowries alone, the second term entering into the name from the marks inside the edge of the shell, resembling ‘the teeth of fishes.’