ORNAMENTS. 



PINS. 



Having studied the application of shell material to the various utilita- 

 rian arts, I turn to the consideration of what may, with more or less pro- 

 priety, be called the arts of taste. 



The skill acquired by the primitive artisan in shaping the homely 

 spoon or the rude celt served a good purpose in the more elegant arts, 

 and opened the way to a new and unique field for the development and 

 display of the remarkable art instincts of these savages. It probably 

 required no great skill and no very extended labor to fashion the various 

 utensils and implements of the outer walls of the univalves or the thin 

 valves of clams and mussels ; but to cut out, grind down, and polish the 

 columellse of the large conchs required a protracted effort and no little 

 mechanical skill. Of the various objects shaped from the columellae, 

 beads are probably the most important; but a large class of pin-shaped 

 articles naturally come first, as they consist of entire or nearly entire 

 columellae dressed down to the desired shape. 



The use of these objects is still problematical. As they are found in 

 most cases deposited with human remains, they were doubtless highly 

 valued. They must have served a definite purpose in well-established 

 and wide-spread customs, as they are found distributed over a district 

 almost co-extensive with that occupied by other shell vestigia of marina 

 origin. 



Let us first study the process of manufacture. A considerable num- 

 ber of the larger species of marine univalves have been brought into 

 requisition. Various species of Bmycon, Strombus, and Fasciolaria ofier 

 almost equal facilities ; the former, however, seemsto have been decidedly 

 the favorite, the Bmycon perversum having furnished at least three- 

 fourths of the columns used. This result may be attributed, however, 

 to the fact that, for reasons already mentioned, the perversum was so 

 universally employed for vessels, the axes extracted from these being 

 then ready for further manipulation. The outer case of the shell being 

 somewhat fragile it is probable that the sea has very frequently broken 

 it away, leaving the dismantled columella to be washed ashore in a 

 shape convenient for manufacture or for inland trade. If the demand 

 for these objects was very great, it is to be presumed that on shores 

 where they abound these shells were broken open and the columns 

 extracted for purposes of traflSc. The State of Tennessee is found to be 

 the great store-house of these as well as other ancient objects of shell. 

 This is probably owing to two causes: first, that far inland, where they 

 were difficult to procure, and very costly, they were highly esteemed, 



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