Distribution of Pearls and Pearl-shell. 117 



great wooden coffins, in which the dead lay embalmed, 

 and beside them were small baskets full of pearls. The 

 temple of Tolomecco, however, was the richest in pearls ; 

 its high walls and roof were of mother-of-pearl, while 

 strings of pearls and plumes of feathers hung round the 

 walls ; over the coffins of their kings hung their shields, 

 crowned with pearls, and in the centre of the temple 

 stood vases full of costly pearls." 



Though the various accounts relating to the abundance 

 of pearls in Florida are probably somewhat exaggerated, 

 there seems sufficient evidence to prove that pearls of some 

 value were in the possession of the wealthier tribes. That 

 they were met with in some numbers in graves seems also 

 to be a reliable statement. 1 -' 



As to the source of these pearls, most of the narratives 

 refer to them as coming from the coast of the South Sea 

 or Gulf of Mexico. While possibly this was the case with 

 some of the pearls, it is more probable that the majority 

 came from the freshwater shells (Unios) of the inland 

 lakes and rivers. 



In Alabama, pearls pierced for stringing have been 

 found in several of the mounds at Moundville by Clarence 

 B. Moore, along with a sheet-copper pendant bearing a 

 perforated pearl nearly / mm. in diameter, and an elliptical 

 gorget of sheet-copper decorated with a pearl. 1 -" Per- 

 forated pearl beads have been also found in the Etowah 

 Mound, located in Barton County, Georgia. 1 - 7 



At the pre-Columbian capital of Copan, in Western 

 Honduras, evidences have been met with pointing to a 

 very early use of pearls. G. B. Gordon 1 - 8 tells us that in 



125 This question is fully discussed by Kunz and Stevenson (op. ?'/., 

 pp. 252-259). 



t; Kun/ and Stevenson, op. cit., p. 493. 

 1 '-' W. K. Moorehead, " Prehistoric Implements," N. V., 1900, p. 376. 



lt " (i. 15. Gordon, "The Mysterious City of Honduras," The Century 

 Magazine, vol. lv., p. 417. 



