IIC) 



TIIK AM ERIC AX MUSEl'M JOCRXAL 



Ornameiilal basket made hy I lie Iiidiaii^^ of Central 

 America. The basket itself is formed of small while 

 oval shells iOlu'elhi); trie flowers are made of thin and 

 shallow, white and rose-tinted shells (Tellina). Both 

 basket and flowers are constructed with fine wire. In 

 the American Museum 



trates the appeal which these objects 

 make to the eye. In the Board of Trade 

 returns for the United Kingfloin, in 1S97 

 the value of the imported shells (which 



iiioluded tortoise shell) was about three 

 millions of dollars, and while an appre- 

 ciable amount of this represents indus- 

 trial uses — as the shell powder mixed 

 in the finer grades of porcelain — yet a 

 large remainder is attributable to the 

 \agaries of taste. 



The shells employed in aboriginal 

 decoration either as insignia of office 

 or for personal adornment, or in avoca- 

 tional and culinary uses, do not seem to 

 l)e as numerous as the adaptability of 

 shells in their wide range of color and 

 form would lead one to expect. The 

 South Sea Islanders perhaps show the 

 most affection for them. The superl) 

 orange cowry (Ci/pyara auranfia) was 

 worn by Fiji and Tonga chiefs as a badge 

 of rank, the egg cowry (OcuJa ovum) by 

 Papuans and Melanesians, and, accord- 

 ing to Professor Lydekker, " not content 

 with their own shells, these latter sav- 

 ages imported those of a species of 

 iSfrui/iiolaria from New Zealand; the.se 



I'arl of a shell baskel made by the Indians of Lower California. The effect is showy, but the workmanship 

 not, as fine as that in the Central Ameri<-an baskets. {;l<ie instead of wire beinj; the basis of construction. ^On exhibi- 

 tion in the American Museum of Natural History 



