192 ART IN SHELL OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS. 



The Busycon perversnm has been more extensively used than any other 

 shell, and consequently its distribution in one form or other is very 

 wide. It is o tained along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Massa- 

 chusetts to Mexico, and within the United States it is artificially dis- 

 tributed over the greater part of the Atlantic slope. The uses to 

 which this shell has been put by the ancient Americans are so numerous 

 and varied that I shall not attemjit to enumerate them here. They are, 

 however, pretty thoroughly brought out in the subsequent pages of this 

 paper. 



From the employment of shells in their complete state their modifi- 

 cation for convenience is but a slight step, and when once suggested is 

 easily accomplished — holes are bored, handles are carved or added, 

 margins are ground down, useless parts are broken away, and surfaces 

 are polished. . The columellae are i-emoved from the large univalves, 

 and the parts used for a great variety of purposes. The mechanical 

 devices employed have been very simple, such as flint implements for 

 cutting, and rough stones for breaking and grinding. Iland-drills were 

 at first used for perforating; but later mechanically revolving drills 

 were devised. 



VESSELS. 



I shall not attempt to take up the various classes of objects iu shell in 

 the order of their development, as it would be hard to say whether food 

 utensils, weapons, or ornaments were first used. It is also diflBcult to 

 distinguish weapons proper from implements employed iu the arts, such 

 as celts, knives, hammers, etc., as it is probable they were all variously 

 used according to the needs of their possessors. 



Having briefly treated of natural vessels, it seems convenient to go 

 on with vessels shaped by art. Early explorers in many i^ortions of the 

 American continent record, iu their writmg, the use by the natives of 

 shells of various kinds as vessels. We have in this case historic evi- 

 dence which bears directly upon prehistoric customs. Indeed, it is not 

 impossible that the very shells used by the natives first encountered by 

 Europeans, are the identical ones exhumed so recently from burial 

 places, as many of the finer specimens of shell objects have associated 

 with thein articles of undoubted European manufacture. A notice of 

 the earliest recorded use of these objects naturally introduces the pre- 

 historic use. 



With many nations that were bountifully sirpplied with convenient 

 earthen and stone vessels, as well perhaps as others of the hard shells 

 of fruits, the sea-shell was nevertheless a favorite vessel for drinking. 

 Herrera describes the use of silver, gold, shell, and gourd cups at the 

 banquets of the elegant monarch Montezuma II, who " sometimes drank 



