B0UIE8.J ANCIENT PENDANT ORNAMENTS. 257 



lets of their curious wampompeag and mowhackees, wliich they put 

 about their necks and loynes." ' 



Kalin saj'S of the Indians of Lorette, near Quebec, Canada, that 

 " round their necks they have a string of violet wampums, with little 

 white wiimpums between them. These wampums are small, of the fig- 

 ure of oblong pearls, and made of the shells which the English call 

 clams. At the end of the wampum strings many of the Indians wear a 

 large French silver coin, ■with the king's effigy, on their breasts ; others 

 have a large shell on the breast, of a fine white colour, which they value 

 very high, and is very dear ; others, again, have no ornament at all 

 round the neck."' 



Pendants of metal and medals of European manufacture soon replaced 

 in a great measure the primitive gorgets of shell ; and early in the his- 

 tory of the tribes a heterogeneous collection of native beads, silver 

 crosses, and traders' medals, ornamented the breasts of the simple 

 savages. 



In studying the habits and customs of our native peoples we look 

 with a great deal of interest upon the earliest historical records, but 

 generally find it prudent to remember that the "personal equation" was 

 unusually large in those days, and in studying the illustrations given 

 in the works of early writers we must make due allowance for the well- 

 known tendency to exaggerate as well as for the fact that the artist has 

 more frequently drawn from descriptions than from sketches made on 

 the spot. 



In Plate XLV two examples are given which seem to me to be trust- 

 worthy, as they agree with the descriptions given, and are in a general 

 . way characteristic of the American aborigines. Fig. 1 is reproduced, 

 original size, from Plate 2, Volume II, of Lafitau, and shows a broad 

 necklace ornamented with figures that resemble arrow heads. From 

 this, by means of a cord, is suspended a large circular disk with con- 

 cave front, which undoubtedly represents a shell gorget. In front of 

 this and suspended from the necklace are two long strands of beads of 

 various sizes and shapes, which give comjjleteness to a very tasteful 

 ornament. In the same plate is a pretty fair drawing of a native in 

 costume. He is represented wearing a necklace similar to the one just 

 described. An enlarged drawing of this ornament is given in Fig. 2. 

 In Fig. 3 I reproduce a necklace from a plate in De Bry, which consists 

 of a string of beads with two large disks that look more like metal 

 than shell. A similar ornament is shown in Fig. 4, but with figured 

 disks and secondary pendants. It is copied from the Codex of the 

 Vatican. A common form of necklace among the ancient Aztecs con- 

 sisted of small univalve shells suspended from a string. One of these, 

 with other pendants, is shown in Fig. 5. It is also copied from the 

 Vatican Codex. Others of a much more complex nature may be found 



'Wood: New England Prospect, p. 74. 

 ' Ealm : Travels in North America, 1772, vol. ii, p. 320. 

 17 E 



