Distribution of Pearls and Peart-shell. 119 
Montezuma used to pray at night, is said to have had walls 
of beaten silver and gold, decorated with pearls and precious 
stones.” Humboldt refers to a statue of a Mexican 
priestess in basalt, whose head-dress is ornamented with 
pearls.” Bateman ™ likewise mentions an ancient Mexi- 
can horned head-dress, inlaid in mosaic with turquoise, 
malachite, coral (?), and mother-of-pearl. Pearl-shell also 
appears to have been used as an inlay in the Mexican 
mosaic masks in the British Museum, which are pre- 
Columbian in origin. One of these, a plain mask, is of 
special interest as the eyes are of mother-of-pearl.” 
Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, in a letter to Kunz and Steven- 
son,” writes “that pearls are not mentioned either as 
articles of tribute or of decoration in ancient Mexican 
codices ; possibly a lack of fine, hard instruments with 
which to drill holes in pearls may have caused them to be 
comparatively little used in personal adornment. Neither 
do they appear to have been found incrusted in prehis- 
toric objects, and we have no written evidence of their 
having been used in this way. We do not know of any 
instances of the wearing of pearls by the Indian women, 
but the women of the higher classes used to wear them 
profusely, more especially drop-earrings and pendants.” 
W. H. Holmes,” quoting from Davis’ “ Spanish Con- 
quest of New Mexico,” says: “In travelling north along 
the west coast of Mexico, the Friar Niza encountered 
Indians who wore many large shells of mother-of-pearl 
about their necks, and farther up towards Cibola, the 
152 Streeter, of. cz/., p. 45 ; Kunz and Stevenson, of. ¢77., p. 23. 
188 Humboldt, of. cz?¢., 1., p. 191. 
184 Bateman, ‘‘ Catalogue of Antiquities.” Bakewell, 1855, p. 230. 
135 J<unz and Stevenson, of. cz¢., p. 510. 
ES Jb7d.. Pp: 433- 
W. H. Holmes, ‘‘ Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans.” Second 
Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1883, p. 256. 
