08 SHELL ORNAMENTS AND UTENSILS. 



for asphaltum (paint?) is demonstrated by a number of shells still filled with 

 that substance, which were obtained from graves on the Santa Barbara group 

 of islands, and but lately added to the collection of the National Museum. 



The Indian shell ornament in its simplest form consists of entire marine 

 shells, such as species of Marginella, Natica, Pecten, Olivet, Strombus, etc., 

 and of valves of fresh- water mollusks (chiefly of the Unio kind), which, after 

 being truncated at the apex, or pierced with a hole, could be strung together 

 (forming necklaces, bracelets, etc.) or suspended at once without further prep 

 aration (Fig. 257, Strombus pugilis, shell-heap, Florida; 2 Fig. 258, Unio, 

 Tennessee; Fig. 259, Olivella biplicata, San Miguel Island, California; Fig. 

 260, Oliva literata, Florida; Fig. 261, Pecten concentricus, Florida). 3 Far 

 more frequent than entire shells pierced to be used as beads and pendants are 

 objects of the same class cut from the valves of marine and fluviatile mollusks. 

 The wrought beads exhibit various forms and sizes, but are very frequently 

 found in the shape of more or less regular sections of cylinders, more rarely 

 of prisms, pierced through the middle (Figs. 262 and 263, originals partly 

 covered with oxide of iron, Dos Pueblos, California; Fig. 264, Santa Bar 

 bara County, California; Fig. 265, Dos Pueblos). Many shell beads, how 

 ever, are not cylindrical, but of roundish or irregular contours. The largest 

 beads were made from the colnmcllse of massive shells (Bysicon, Strombus) 

 and many of these still exhibit a portion of the columellar spiral groove (Fig. 

 266, Georgia) . Such beads are generally more or less cylindrical, or globular, 

 and drilled in the direction of the longer axis. Some taper at both ends, 

 resembling a cigar in shape. Very remarkable specimens of this kind were 

 obtained from California (Fig. 267, San Miguel Island). In some of them 

 the spiral groove is deepened by art and filled with asphaltum, doubtless with 

 a view to improve their appearance. Specimens of this kind may have con 

 stituted some part of the head-dress. 



The aborigines also made from the columella} of large marine univalves 

 peculiar pin-shaped articles, consisting of a more or less massive stem which 

 terminates in a round knob or disc (Fig. 268, Florida). There have been 

 found specimens measuring six inches in length. Their destination is as yet 

 unexplained; they were, perhaps, attached to the head-dress, or worn as 

 ornaments in some other way. 



Of particular interest are the wampum-beads, which represented the money 

 among many tribes of aborigines, forming also valued ornaments (necklaces, 

 bracelets, etc.), and constituting the strings and belts of wampum, 4 which 

 played such a conspicuous part in Indian history, being exchanged at the 



This shell Is pierced with a second hole noticeable in the drawing. The size of the holes and the weight 

 of the shell render It possible, that it was not used as an ornament, but for some other purpose. It may have 

 been a net-sinker. 



3 Similarly pierced shells of Pecten are strung together and used as rattles by the natives of the North 

 west Coast. 



4 The word &quot;wampum&quot; is derived from wompam, signifying white in the language of the Narragansetts. 

 Roger Williams : &quot;A Key into the Language of America,&quot; Providence, 1827, p. 130. 



