84 S/irlls as evidence of the ]\Ti(:;raiio}is. 



very probable from the discover}- of the shell of the 

 fresh-water pearl-mussel {Margaritana inargaritifera) 

 associated with human remains in the sepulchral cave at 

 Perth i Chwareu, near Llandegla, Denbighshire."*'-' 



The presence of fragments of pearl-shell in the paste 

 of earl)' hand-made pottery may also be an indication 

 that the Early Britons considered the shell as auspicious 

 and consequently adding further value to their product, 

 analogous to the use in India of lime obtained by burn- 

 ing both chank and pearl oyster shells. It is significant 

 how widely spread are both these customs. The shells 

 of Unio are recorded from North American Indian graves 

 where they had been placed to serve as food for the dead 

 during the journc}- to the land of s[)irits ; and fragments 

 of Uitio shells were used b)' the Indians to temper the 

 clay for pottery, l^eads of Unto shell have also been 

 found in graves in the neighbourhood of Bulavvayo, 

 Rhodesia, as already stated. 



An interesting survival of the Greek word r/^/yAj/i-a 

 (triple drops or beads, i.e., pearls) seems to exist in the 

 Welsh glain (bead), the name having been carried to 

 Britain by Phcenician traders* It is well known that the 

 Phoenicians, after founding many colonies in the 

 Mediterranean, passed on through the Straits of Gibraltar, 

 and in course of time probably reached the British Isles. 

 Here no doubt they became acquainted with the [)earls of 

 the British rivers. 



The principal fresh-water pearl-fisheries in the British 

 Isles are those of the Conway River, in North Wales, 

 where it is supposed Cajsar obtained his pearls ; the Irt, 

 in Cumberland ; the Ta\', Earn, and Teith, in Perthshire ; 

 the Dee, Don, and Ythan, in Aberdeenshire ; the Spey 



■*- J. W.Jackson, Lancashire Natuialist, Dec, 1913, pp. 321-2. 

 •*■■ Kmiz and Stevenson, o[^. cit., p. S. 



J 



