Pearls and Bone Beads 



149 



"Captain John Smith describes the temple of Powhatan, at Uttamussack, 

 which was in charge of seven priests, and was held in great awe by 'the salvages.' 

 At a place called Orapaks, was also his treasure-house, fifty or sixty yards long, 

 frequented only by priests, where he kept a great amount of skins, beads, pearls, 

 and copper, stored up against the time of his death and burial. A vivid account 

 is given of the four grotesque images that stood guard at the corners of this building, 

 all made 'evill favouredly according to their best workmanship.' 1 



In the province called Catifachique, De Soto captured an Indian 

 woman who seems to have had authority over the other Indians. He 

 questioned her as to pearls and other valuables. Concerning great 

 numbers of pearls in use in her province, his journal states as follows : 2 



"The Cacica, observing that the Christians valued pearls, told the Governor 

 that, if he should order some sepulchres that were in the town to be searched, he 

 would find many; and if he chose to send to those that were in the uninhabited 

 towns, he might load all his horses with them. They examined those in the town, 

 and found three hundred and fifty pounds weight of pearls, and figures of babies 

 and birds made of them." 



Objects of Bone, Teeth, and Claws. — A number of bone beads 

 were found, 325 being obtained from Altar 1. The total number was 



Fig. 45. 

 Three Bone Awls from Mound 25. 



probably about 3,600. Considering the number of skeletons found, 

 they do not appear to have been very popular, probably because they 

 were too common. The beads seem to have been made chiefly from the 

 slender bones of small animals or birds. 690 foot-bones of small animals 

 were recovered from the ashes of Altar 2. They were not perforated, 

 and their use is problematical. A large number of pointed bone tools 

 were discovered, but very few of these could be classed as ordinary bone 



^mith, True Travels, p. 143 (Richmond edition, 1819). 



2 Narratives of De Soto, translation of Buckingham Smith, Vol. I, p. 66 (New 

 York, 1904). 



