112 Shells as evidence of the AMligrations. 
inch wide Every piece was finely polished, and reduced 
to the thinness of a card. Small perforations were made 
at each corner to enable the pieces to be threaded 
together. ‘The labour in making this, Ellis says, must 
have been excessive, as so many hundred pieces of pearl- 
shell had to be cut, ground down, polished, and perforated, 
without iron tools. Its manufacture was regarded as a 
sacred work. 
Pearl-oyster shells set in whales’ teeth are considered 
to be the most valuable ornament that a Fijian possesses ; 
he wears it at dances hanging on his breast, and he is 
forbidden by the chiefs to sell it." 
It has been asserted by some historians that pearls 
were unknown in the New World in pre-Columbian times, 
but we have evidence that ages prior to the discovery 
of America by Columbus the ancient inhabitants fully 
appreciated these gems. Quantities of pearls, in many 
cases perforated for stringing as necklaces, etc., have been 
discovered in the mounds erected by the ancient popu- 
lation of the Mississippi Valley. Professor Putnam" 
records that in excavating the mounds near Madisonville, 
Indiana, not less than fifty thousand pearls were found, 
most of them pierced and injured by heat. Squier and 
Davis‘ found them on the hearths of five distinct groups 
of mounds in Ohio, and sometimes in such numbers that 
they could be gathered by the hundred. In addition to 
the pearls, quantities of other interesting objects were met 
with which indicate the existence of inter-tribal com- 
merce on an extensive scale at a remote period. The 
‘4 TI, N. Moseley, ** Notes by a Naturalist on H.M,S. Challenger,” 
1892, p. 286. 
116 yor, Amer. Assoc, Adv. Sct., 1884. 
‘1 Squier and Davis, ** Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley,” 
Washington, 1848. 
