Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-05-15
NECKLACES IN AL AGES.
they Once Were Da.' ss Of slavery-Used
by All Peoples.

a point for adurnn,sut were early seen by
the human race, and the necklace Is one
of the oldest Of human ornaments. From
the very first a broad distinction was
drawn between the necklace which could
be removed and the collar which could
not: the first being the sign of the free.
the second Of the slave. Collars Of metal
were twisted or riyeted upon the necks
of captiyes or house born slaves. and
upon them the name of the owner or
conqueror was rudely cut. This usage
survives today in the dog collars which
are placed upon household pets.
The necklace, however. could for many
years only he worn by the freeman. In
primitive states Of society il was the
badge of the warrior and was often made
of some distinctive spoil of the chase or
of war. To this day one Of the most
valuable and coveted possessions Of the
western Indian is the necklace Of grizzly
bears claws, Il proof that he has met and
conquered the gray terror of the noun
tains. Among the Tartars of the time Of
the Genghls Khan the necklace was often
made of human teeth, strung upon wire.
This particular form of ornament is
found in South America in the graves Of
the Indians.
The earliest known form of necklace
outside Of such primitive types as shells
and bits of colored stone comes from
Egypt. They were of two kinds-orna-
mental and what may be called. for the
lack of a better word. superstitious. The
fnrf...r .V.....,.FN.aa 80 Er,n1 .tlt,.4 If
which blue was apparently the ~favorite
color, set in silver or gold and joined to-
gether in a chain. The latter. the anu
lets. were made of figures Of gods, from
three TO seven inches long. Three or
four Of these were hung in a chain of
beads.
The sacred images were believed TO
ward of danger Of infection, misfortune
or bad luck. Sonnet mes these amulets
had no gods on them. but were composed
of cowries or bits f stone arranged in
the forms Of locked horns, fish or cres-
cents, emblematlc Of their supposed
powers. This SUI rrstitious power Of the
necklace is widely spread today among
people Who are not very high in c~iviliZa-
tion. In South america there are found
necklaces of q peculiarly marked seed
which belongs ~ a plant growing only on
the mountains, along the snow line,
These seeds when first gathered are blue
in color, and ire strung on strings. They
are highly valued. not only for their
beauty but because of the great difficulty
in obtaining them. In the old graves.
which are found o and then, strings
of these seeds are often discovered. and
they are supposed 10 lsing the greatest
possible luck, especially 10 children.
But one does not have to 90 among the
poems of South America or the negroes
of Africa with their gee gee necklaces to
find evidence Of superstition. Thousands
o. people place necklaces Of coral beads
sround the necks Of babies with the be.
lief that they will assist the children in
~teething, and there are many persons
WHO wear necklaces all the time, think
inS that they bring luck. The southern
negroes constantly wear their bead neck
laces, looking upon them as genuine
charms, and they are very particular
aboIp keeping them intact, holding that
the charm is broken if even the relative
positions of the beads should be altered
when wear makes a new string neces-
sary.
Among men who have worn the neck
lace must lie ranked the warriors of an
Gent times. The gold torqucs Of the
Celts. the massive gold necklaces Of the
Medes, E,ruscans and Egyptians, which
formed the most valued insignia Of the
warrior class, have come down to Us
through the pictures in the tombS and
the actual specimens in the tombs them
selves. Some Of these were enormously
costly, They were bestowed as rewards
Of vslor and as marks IF civic diStinc-
ton. The latter survive today in the
gold chains of Office worn by the mayors
OF cities in the old world.
All orders Of knighthood had the neck
lace or collar as a principal insiguium,
AMI this custom Of decoration with the
necklace dates back at least as far as the
time of Joseph, Tor AS a mark Uf his au-
thority in Egypt, Pharaoh put a gold
chain about his neck. The women Of
antiquity rarely wore them except as
brides. when 20 mark the respect in
which they were held necklaces were
placed upon them. The necklace, how
ever. wa n prominent adOrnnent Of the
statues 81 the gods.
The ornament If the necklace was so
valued that when the Saxon dynasty was
overthrown by the Normans all persons
below a certain rank were forbidden to
wear them under heavy penalties. In
the reign Of Henry VIII, that king cele-
bratcl both for his wives and his revolt
against Rome. any n who had not f200
per year income could not wear a neck
lace.
In England amber has always been
one of tine ~iayorite materials for the
necklace. Even IN the barrows IT the
early Britains amber beads are found,
and the specimens of necklaces from the
reign Of Charles | have amber set in gold.
The Puritans abolished them ~ they
abolished everything they laid their hands
on which savored Of ornament, but the
necklace was revived again under the
merry monarch more extrayagently than
before.-New York Press.
superstitions of the Negro.
Never dig a grave until the day of the
burial; for. if left open over night, the