The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-27
PREHISTORIC PEARLS.
Great Quantities of the Gems Found In
Indian Mounds.

THESE DedutlIul OBJECTS nave Deen OlS-
covered during the last few years in
the ancient mounds erected by a for
gotten race in the Mississippi valley,
especially at certain points I'm Ohio,
and the evidence thus obtained proves
that some of the chiefs whose people
formerly inhabited that region did
actually possess treasures in this form
which far exceeded in value those
owned by the richest crowned heads
to-day. In fact. there are no collec-
tons OF pearls in existence at the pres
ent time that would compare at all
with those gathered by the aboriginal
connoisseurs referred to. In some of
the mounds pearls have been found,
not by hundreds of thousands, but by
bushels-large numbers of them APP
preaching or even exceeding in size a
hazel nut.
How uch enormous stores OF them
were gathered is a problem not easily
solved. The pearls were certainly OBJ
tanned from a species Of mussel called
the ~'unio,'' which is still found in
great abundance in many of the
streams of this country, but in those
days the shellfish in question must
have been far more plentiful than now,
and IL is probable that the o~borisines
Of the Mississippi valley depended upon
It to a great extent for food. 1t may
be imagined that the pearls were Sc
cured incidentally, and that quantities
of them were accumulated in the course
OF time. No more beautiful pearls ex-
ist In nature than those yielded by the
unto, and the collections described
must have been magnificent indeed in
the period of their glory. Apparently
they lie not belong to the tribes at
large, but were held as property of a
few individuals Of wealth and distinc-
ton. Unfortunately all of them hav
been ruined by decay due to long burial,
though an occasional specimen reveals
something of its pristine beauty when
its outer layers are peeled off.
In the famous effiey mound. near
Chillicothe. Ohio, was found more thar
a gallon of pearls. with two skeletons.
They ranged from the size Of q mile;
seed to a diameter of two-thirds oc IN
inch. All had been drilled with holes,
made with a heated copper wire. This
drilling was undoubtedly for the pur-
pose Of attaching them to clothing or
belts. as illustrated by the fact hat 400
or 500 had been sewed originally upon
a shirt worn by one of the skeletons.
In other places in the same region more
than 40 bears teeth with pearls set in
them, lying near skeletons, were dis
covered. From n mound in the Little
Miami valley Prof. +. w. Putnam OBJ
tanned over 10000 pearls. nearly two
bushels, drilled n undrilled. Tive
other deposits yielded upward Of 100 600
pearls. 1t Is noticed as a remarkable
fact that pearls have never been found
in isolated mounds. nor out Of the
great moun groups They seem to
have been used by the more cultured
tribes and are an evidence Of extensive
trade and barter.
Plenty of evidence as to the posses
sion of great stores of pearls by the
early aborigines of this country Is af-
forded by the writings of the first ex-
plorers Of the new world. The atten-
ton of Columbus and other Spanish dis
coverers was attracted TO the matter,
and a story having a bearing on the
same subject is told of the followers of
De Soto, who came upon an Indian town
near what is now Tampa bay. At one
end of the town was a temple. on the
top of which was perched a wooden
fowl with gilded eyes. In these eyes
were pearls of huge size. When the In
queen, whose name was Ucita, well
coined the strangers she drew from over
her lead a long string of pearls and
threw II around the neck of the leader
of the expedition. The ~Spaniards re-
turned this courtesy oy robbing the
tombs in the neiEhborhood. obtaining
from them about $50 pounds of pearls.
II is further recorded hat the queen,
whom De Soto kidnapped. succeeded in
making her escape, carrying back with
her a box filled with unbored pearls,
the most precious of all her Jewels.
While De Soto was in the neighbor-
hood where now stands the city of
Rome. Ga. the local cocique came to
him, bringing a gift Of a string of pearls
five feet long. These pearls were as
large as flberts and had they not been
bored would have been of immense
value. The Indian chieftain stated tina
the pearls were obtained in the neigh
borhood, and furthermore that a pro
diElous quantity Of them was amassed
in the supulcher of his ancestors. De
Soto having expressed a curiosity TO see
The manner Of extracting pearls from
the shells, the CaCique sent 40 canoe
to fish for mussels. The bivalves thus
obtained were laid upon hot Goals and
quickly opened. From some OF them
pearls as large as peas were got, but
they were somewhat discolored by the
fire and smoke.
During the weary march OF De Soto's
expedition through the OF
upper Georgia, as related by the same
historian, "a foot soldier" calling TO a
horseman who was his friend. drew
forth from his wallet a linen bag In
which were six pounds OF pearls, prob
ably hlched from one Of the Indian
tombs. These he offered as a gift to his
comrade, being tired of carrying them
on his back. The horseman, however.
refused To accept 50 thoughtless an Of
FER and Juan Terror, piqued at the de
clination, replied: We'll, If you will
not have them. l swear | will not carry
them SO saying he united the bag,
and. whirling it around his head, scat
tered the pearls I'm all directions. The
soldiers made a hasty search for them
and recovered 20. When they beheld
their great size and beauty. none OF
them being bored or discolored, they la
mented that So many had been lost, for
the whole would have sold In Spain for
6,00O ducats. This folly gave rise to a
proverb in the army. There are nc
pearls for Juau Terron. "-Washington
correspondence Chicago Chronicle.
Amos Turkish baths, 81. cor. r. & NJ.