HOLMR8.J BEADS USED AS ORNAMENTS. 233 



is about the thickness of one's little finger, and there is a hole in the ear 

 about that size for holding it.'" 



Lewis and Clark found the Shoshone Indians of the Upper Missouri 

 using she'.Is of the pearl oyster to decorate the collars of their fur tip- 

 pets. Tue children wore beads around their necks; grown persons sus- 

 pended them in little bunches from the ears, and the collars of the men 

 •were formed either of sea-shells from the southwest or from twisted 

 grass with porcupine quills.' 



Among the Carrier Indians of the Northwest both sexes perforate 

 their noses, and from them the men often suspend an ornament consist- 

 ing of a piece of an oyster shell or a small piece of brass or copper. 

 The women, particularly those who are young, run a wooden pin through 

 their noses, upon each end of which they fix a kind of shell bead, which 

 is about an inch and a half long, and nearly the size of the stem of a 

 common clay pipe. These beads they obtain from their neighbors, the 

 At-e-nas, who purchase them from another tribe that is said to take 

 them from the sea-shore, where they are reported to be found in plenty. 



It is also stated of the same Indians that "the young women and 

 girls wear a parcel of European beads, strung together and tied to a lock 

 of hair directly behind each ear. The men have a sort of collar of the 

 shell beads already mentioned, which they wind about their heads or 

 throw around their necks." ^ 



The absurd extreme to which this passion for ornament is carried is 

 well illustrated by an example given by Swan, who, speaking of the 

 tribes north of the Columbia River, says that "some of these girls I 

 have seen with the whole rim of their ears bored full of holes, into each 

 of which would be inserted a string of these shells that reached to the 

 floor, and the whole weighing so heavy that, to save their ears from be- 

 ing pulled off, they were obliged to wear a band across the top of the 

 head."< 



When, however, beads are found in the graves in quantity, by thou- 

 sands or tens of thousands, we shall probably have to attribute to them 

 other than ornamental uses. 



Captain Tom, of the Nishinam tribe of California, according to 

 Powers,' had nearly a half bushel of shell beads and trinkets. One 

 string of these, worn by his wife on special occasions, contained sixteen 

 hundred pieces ; but these treasures were hoarded because of their value 

 as money rather than as ornaments. 



The wampum belts used by many of the tribes of Indians are known to 

 contain enormous numbers of beads. One of the historical belts kept by 

 the Onondagas among their treasures contains nearly ten thousand 

 beads. The famous belt of William Penn has about three thousand. 



'Du Pratz: History of Louisiana, p. 364. 



'Lewis and Clarlc: Expedition up the Missouri, &c., p. 537. 



' Harmon's Journal, p. 287. 



*Swan: The Northwest Coast, p. 156. 



•Powers : Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. Ill, p. 263. 



