384 ANCIENT ABORIGINAL TRADE IN NORTH AMERICA. 



saw among the Indians of the parts traversed by them. Pearls, how- 

 ever, belonged to the things most desired by the Spaniards, and the 

 accounts relating to them, perhaps, may be somewhat exaggerated. The 

 following passage from (larcilasso de la Vega is of particular interest: 

 " While De Soto sojourned in the province of Ichiaha,* the cacique 

 visited him one day, and gave him a string of pearls about two fathoms 

 (deux hnisses) long. This present might have been considered a valu- 

 able one, if the pearls had not been pierced; for they were all of equal 

 size and as large as hazle-nnts.t Soto acknowledged this favor by pre- 

 senting the Indian with some pieces of velvet and cloth, which were 

 highly a])preciated by the latter. He then asked him concerning the 

 liearl-fishing, upon which he replied that this was done in his province. 

 A great number of pearls were stored in the temple of the town of 

 Ichiaha, where liis ancestors were buried, and he might take as many 

 of them as he pleased. The general expressed his obligation, but ob- 

 served that he would take away nothing from the temple, and that he 

 had accepted his present only to please him. He wished to learn, how- 

 ever, in what manner the pearls were extracted from the shells. The 

 cacique replied that he would send out people to fish for pearls all night, 

 and on the following day at eight o'clock {sic) his wish should be grati- 

 fied. He ordered at once four boats to be disiiatched for pearl-fishing, 

 which should be back in the morning. In the mean time much wood 

 was burned on the bank, producing a large quantity of glowing coals. 

 When the boats had returned, the shells were placed on the hot coals, 

 and they opened in consequence of the heat. In the very first, ten or 

 twelve pearls of the size of a pea were found, and handed to the 

 cacique and the general, who were present. They thought them very 

 tine, though the fire had partly deprived them of their lustre. When 

 the general had satisfied his curiosity, he retired to take his dinner. 

 While thus engaged, a soldier came in, who told him that in eating some 

 of the oysters caught by the Indians, a very fine and brilliant pearl had 

 got between his teeth, and he begged him to accept it as a i^resent for the 

 governess of Cuba.f Soto very civilly refused the present, but assured 

 the soldier that he was just as much obliged to him as though he had 

 accepted his gift : he would try to reward him one day for his kindness 

 and for the regard he was showing to his wife. He advised him to keep 

 his (intended) present, and to buy horses for it at Havana. The Span- 

 iards, who were with the general at that moment, examined the pearl of 

 this soldier, and some, who considered themselves as experts in the mat- 

 ter of jewelry, thought it was worth four hundred ducats. ■ It had re- 



* The province and town of Iciaha, or Icbiaba, have been located in that part of North- 

 ern Georgia where the Oostanaiila and Etowali rivers unite, and form the Coosa river. 

 (See Theodore Irving's " Conquest of Florida," second edition, p. 242 ; also McCulloh's 

 " Researches," p. 525.) 



t The Indians used to pierce them with a heated copper wire, a process by which they 

 were spoiled. 



tDofla Isabel de Bobadilla, De Soto's wife. 



I 



