Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-02
AMERICAN PEARLS.
SOMETHING OF THEIR HISTORY AND
WHERE THEY ARE FOUND.
Anecdotes of De Soto = Pearls Found
in the Mounds of the Ohio Valley.

Anecdotes of De Soto = Pearls Found
Among the Southern Islands Finds
in the Mounds of the Ohio Valley.
By popular consent pearl is considered
as one of the gems, although from scien-
tihc point of view the term should be
restricted to such gems as are of mineral
origin. Pearls have long been known to
the world, and in the Book of Job, which
by many is regarded as the Oldest book in
the Bible, we find them referred to. Wis
dom is valued in price above that of rubies
by the sacred writer, who adds: "No men
tion shall be made of coral or of pearls" /"
Pliny refers TO the lavish use of pearls
among the Romans in his time, and says :
"They put them on their feet, and that
not merely on the laces of their sandals,
but they must needs tread upon them and
walk with them under foot as WE'LL"
Pearls are intimately associated with
the history of America. In the Spanish
Conquest of America" Arthur Helps says:
There must be something essentially
beautiful in 1t, however, for it has been
dear to the eyes of both civilized and
uncivilized people. The dark-haired
Roman lady, in thepalmiest days of Rome,
cognizant of all the beautiful productions
in the world, valued the pearl as highly
as ever did the simple Indian woman, and
a love for these glistening beads came
upon the Spaniards from two quarters,
from the Romans who had colonized them,
and from the Moors they had conquered.
! The perilous nature, however, of his sub
marine possessions was not yet visible to
! the poor innocent Indian on the coast of
Paria or Cumana, and it was with childish
delight that he threw the strings of pearls,
strung in a way that would have driven
the jewellers of Europe with vexation, on
the smooth brown arm or rich brown neck
of his beloved"
Contemporary accounts of Columbus
. and of the great Spanish invaders who
followed him are filled with descriptions
of the rich stores of pearls found in Peru,
Mexico and elsewhere found by De Soto
are fabulous. Bancroft and other histori-
dis DdNC lOlu uOM llSCC SCuio hNlO Solh-
cred for that unfortunate explorer, who
came to found an Empire, but died and
found lonely grave in the mighty Mis-
, sissippi river. whose waters he was the
first to discover.
Irving, in his conquest of Florida y
tells the following story: "a foot soldier,
calling to hcrseman who was his friend,
drew forth from his wallet linen bag, in
which were six pounds of pearls, probably
filched from one of the Indian sepulchres.
These he offered as gift to his comrade,
being heartily tired of carrying them on
his back, though he had pair of shoulders
capable of bearing the burden Of mule.
The horseman refused to accept SO
. thoughtless an offer. Keep them your
SELF said he You have most need of
them. The Governor intends shortly to
send messengers to Havana, when
you can forward these presents and
have them sold, and obtain three
, or four horses with the proceeds, so that
you need no longer go on foot Juan Ter
ron was piqued at having his offer refused.
WELL said he, iii you will not have them,
swear 1 will not carry them, and they
shall remain here So saying, he united
the bag, and, whirling it around as if he
were sowing seed, scattered the pearls in
all directions among the thickets and herb
! age. Then putting up the bag in his wal
| let, as if it was more valuable than the
pearls, he marched on, leaving his CON-
rades and other bystanders astonished at
his folly. The soldiers made hasty search
for the scattered pearls, and recovered
| thirty of them. When they beheld their
great size and beauty, none of them being
bored or discolored, they lamented that SO
many had been lost, for the whole would
have been sold in Spain for more than
: 5000 ducats. This egregious folly gave
rise to a common proverb in the army,
! There are no pearls for Juan Terron.'"
Later we hear of 5000 pearls being col
lected from the natives of Virginia by a
member of an expedition sent out by Sir
| Walter Raleigh, and, indeed, down to mod
ern times writers continue in describing
| the magnificent pearls found among the
Indians. Colonel Charles c. Jones, in his
! Antiquities of the Southern Indians,
published in 1878, tells Of his having seen
! specimens "as large as pepper-corns, and
not wanting in beauty"
From the extracts given sufficient has
been shown of the prevalence of pearls in
this country. The magnificent specimens
still found along the Gulf of Lower Cali
fornia readily indicate the source of these
pearls Of the early historians. Kunz, in
/ his Seems and Precious Stones" tells of a
black pearl found in 1881 that weighed 162
| grains, and was sold in Paris for S11 1,000
while at the Worlds Fair held in Paris
during 1889 there was exhibited a set Of
seven black pearls from this district val
ued at $4,000 OF course these pearls
are all obtained by diving, and Browning
! has aptly suggested their value in few
i lines:
There are two moments to a divers
! life-one, when beggar he prepares to
| plunge; one when prince he rises with
! his pearl" Robert A. Wilson, who has
written of the fisheries at La Paz, says: 'tIt
is common to see girls with strings OF
pearls around their necks that would bring
a large price in London, and there are
women in La Paz who have pearls of ex-
traordinary value, but are so poor that
they have not means to buy food"
| But the pearls that are found in fresh
water shells form an important ad-
dition to the stock of our American Jewell
ers, and doubtles4t was from this source
that many of the splendid specimens de-
/ scribed by the Spanish explorers were OBJ
| tanned. DR.. Isaac Lea of Philadelphia
made a special study. of the fresh water
mollusks in which pearls occur and gives a
list of fifteen varieties of unios in which
pearls may be found. At first the rivers in
Ohio proved to be the chief source of sup
| ply for these fresh-water pearls, and from
near Waynesville, in that State, many
valuable specimens were found. Professor
Frederick w. Putnam, of the Peabody
| Museum, in Cambridge, found over sixty
| thousand pearls-nearly two bushels" in
an Indian mound in the Little Miami
valley.
Gradually the sources of pearls have in
creased until specimens have been found
in nearly every State in the Union.
| This year Wisconsin seems to have been
the great source of supply, and recent
account from Chelton county states that
more than three thousand of the gems
. have been taken out' of the Manltowoe
river. In one week 1000 pearls were
found, and in one day 200 specimens. 1t
is reported that the pearls found are of all
colors and that exnelfs nlaee hiph valua