Traditional African money is often made of shells. However, the individual components only become money when strung together in a particular order. A single shell fraction is thus not yet money. Musanga money is made from the shell of a land snail living in the Congo. The shells are broken into more or less equal-sized pieces, pierced and strung together. The strings, called musanga, cannot be used as adornment because of the sharp edges and serve no other purpose than money. Musanga is little used in trade but forms an important part of the traditional bride price.