188 ART IN SHELL OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS. 



portation of such articles to distant places by wandering tribes, ex- 

 changes would take place with other tribes, and finally a trade would 

 be developed and a future commerce of nations be inaugurated. 



Kesults similar to the foregoing would sjjring doubtless from the 

 employment of substances other than shell, but that material most 

 closely associated with the acquisition of food would come first prom- 

 inently into use. 



The farther these useful articles were carried from the source of supply 

 the greater the value that would attach to them, and far inland the 

 shell of the sea might easily become an object of imusual consideration. 

 Having an origin more or less shrouded in mysterj', it would in time 

 become doubly dear to the heart of the superstitious savage, jierhaps 

 an object of actual veneration, or at least one of such high esteem that 

 it would be treasured by the living and buried with the dead. 



The material so plentiful on the sea-shore that it was thought of only 

 as it proved useful for vessels and implements, became a valued treas- 

 ure in the interior; its functions were gradually enlarged and difi'eren- 

 tiated; it was worked into varied shapes, such as pendants for the 

 ears, beads for the neck, pins for the hair, and elaborate gorgets for the 

 breast ; it served its turn as fetich and charm ; and was frequently used 

 in the ceremonial jugglery of the mystic dance. 



The slightest modification of these relics by the hand of man attracts 

 our attention, and from that infant stage of the art until the highest 

 and most elaborate forms are reached they have the deepest interest to 

 the student of human progress. 



