IY. SHELLS. 



Shells being above other natural productions particularly fitted to be made 

 into ornaments, it is not surprising that they were employed for that purpose 

 by primitive man of all ages and in all parts of the world. The North 

 American tribes iitilized, to a great extent, the shells of the sea-coast as well 

 as those of their rivers, and there can be no doubt that marine shells formed 

 an article of exchange in former times, considering that they have been met 

 among aboriginal relics far in the interior of the country. This kind of traffic 

 has been taken up at a later period by white traders, who derived great profit 

 in selling fine specimens to the tribes inhabiting the inland. It is known that 

 the Indians sometimes paid for a fine shell fur to the value of thirty or forty 

 dollars, and more. Shells even seem to have been looked upon with a kind of 

 superstitious reverence, and indications are not wanting that they sometimes 

 played a part in their religious ceremonies. Shells, however, were not exclu 

 sively converted into ornaments, or preserved as objects of value, but were 

 also employed as utensils, more especially as vessels, an application for which 

 large species, such as Cassis and Bysicon seemed particularly adapted. The 

 Florida Indians, when first seen by Europeans, used large shells as drinking- 

 cups, and when a chieftain died, the shell which he had used during lifetime 

 (crater e quo bibere solebat] was placed on the apex of the mound that 

 marked his place of burial. 1 A large Bysicon perversum (JPyrula perversd) 

 made into a drinking vessel by the removal of the inner whorls and other 

 modifications may be seen in the collection (Fig. 252, mound in Indiana). 

 Valves of 7mo-shells, somewhat altered by art, in order to be handled with 

 greater convenience, formed very serviceable spoons (Fig. 253, mound in 

 Kentucky). There are several utensils of this kind in the National Museum. 

 Among other objects designed for useful purposes should be mentioned celts 

 or adzes made of heavy shells, and identical in shape with corresponding tools 

 of stone. Such shell implements have been found on the southern coasts of 

 the United States, especially in Florida, but also at a considerable distance 

 from the sea-board (Fig. 254, Florida; Fig. 255, Kentucky). It further 

 appears that the Florida Indians applied shells of the Bysicon perversum as 

 clubs or casse-tetes by adapting them to be used with a handle, which was 

 made to pass transversely through the shell. This was effected by a hole 



1 Do Bry, Brevis Narratio (Vol. II, Frankfort on the Main, 1591), Plate 40. 

 (66) 



