222. ART IN SHELL OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS. 



governed ia :i great measure by tlie thickness of the shell from which 

 they are mauufactureil. 



The Venus mercenaria of the Atlantic coast and the heavier Unios of 

 the Mississippi Valley give a general thickness of from one-eighth to 

 three-eighths of an inch, while others, such as the heavy clams of the 

 Pacific, are very much thicker. The walls of univalves, especially near 

 the base, are often extremely heavy, while the smaller varieties of shells 

 furnish specimens of wafer-like thinness. 



In Plate XXXIII a series of beads of this class is given, beginning 

 with the smaller disks and ending with those of large, though not the 

 largest, size. 



In fig. 1 I present two views of a minute disk, obtained, with many 

 others of similar shape and size, from a mound on Lick Creek, Tenn. 

 The perforations in these specimens, as well as in most of those that 

 follow, are bi-conical, and sufficiently irregular in form to indicate that 

 they are hand-made. Beads of this general appearance have been found 

 in a multitude of graves and mounds, distributed over a large part of 

 Xorth as well as of South America. A vast majority of these beads are 

 doubtless of aboriginal make, as they are found in the oldest mounds. 



Fig. 2 represents a minute form from Santa Cruz Island, Cal. The 

 peripheral surftice is ornamentedwith a net- work of incised lines. 



Fig. 3 illustrates a small cylindrical bead, with large perforation, from 

 a mound near Prairie du Chieu, Wis. It was found, with a number of 

 others, near the neck of the skeleton of a child. 



Fig. 4 represents a small spheroidal bead from the great mound near 

 Sevierville, Tenn.; it is neatly made and well preserved. 



Figs. 5 and G illustrate specimens of roughly finished concavo-convex 

 disks, much used by both ancient and modern tribes of California, Ari- 

 zona, and Xew Mexico. 



I essayed at one time to purchase a long necklace of these homely 

 ornaments from a Navajo Indian in Arizona, but soon discovered that " 

 it was beyond my reach, as my best mule was hardly considered a fair 

 exchange for it. These beads are made from the Oliva chiefly, but to 

 some extent from small bivalves. 



This bead is not common in the mounds of the Mississippi Valley, ' 

 but is used by many modern savages. It seems to be the form called, 

 by the Indians of Virginia, " roenoke," which, according to Beverly, is 

 made of the cockle shell, broken into small bits, with rough edges, and 

 drilled through in the same manner as beads. 



Fig. 7 represents a smoothly cut bead of medium size, said to have been 

 obtained from a grave at Lynn, Mass. It has been cut from the curved 

 wall of some large univalve, and is very similar to modern specimens 

 in use over a greater part of the United States. 



Fig. 8 belongs to a necklace brought from the northwest coast, and 

 is very much like the specimen shown in Fig. 7. 



Fig. 9 is a well-made specimen from Sevierville. Tenn. The sides are 



