Pearl Fisheries of Tennessee 23 



as they are called. They insert into the shell of the pearl oyster 

 small, half-round, smooth objects and fasten them to the shell with 

 cement. In the course of five or six years these are so coated with 

 pearl as to have all the outward appearance of genuine pearl. Only 

 an expert can detect the difference. I show you a sample of these 

 Japanese culture pearls in the original shell. 



Specimens of Jewelry Made from Tennessee Pearls. 



I will show you now some jewelry made from Cumberland River 

 pearls. I am sure that the beauty of these rings and pins will awaken 

 all the lurking savage in you. Pearls have been found and admired 

 and worn by savage man in every age and every part of the world 

 where mollusks are found. 



The World's Greatest Find of Pearls. 



De Soto, in his celebrated and ill-fated march through Georgia, 

 gave the Indians a very creditable imitation of what Sherman's 

 later march through Georgia was to be. You know what Sherman 

 called war. It is said that the Indians entertained for De Soto the 

 same tender affection that the later Georgians entertain for Sher- 

 man. 



Be that as it may, or as it most likely was, De Soto found in one 

 of the temple houses of a Georgia Indian town the enormous 

 quantity of two bushels of pearls. Never before or since in the his- 

 tory of the world has such enormous booty been found. The value 

 of this booty must have amounted, at present prices, to hundreds 

 of millions of dollars. To relieve the Indians of the care and worry 

 of this enormous treasure, he kindly took it with him. He also very 

 considerately opened many of the graves of their great men and took 

 the gems buried there. This is probably the pot calling the kettle 

 black, as the speaker has done a great deal of this same grave work, 

 as you will see later on. De Soto was never able to get his pearls to 

 market. As the trials of De Soto's men increased, they threw away 

 all useless impedimenta. Then De Soto, hoping to get a better spirit 

 into his men, divided this immense pearl booty and gave to each his 

 share, which was about one pint. This was enough to make each 

 man rich, if he could only get them home; but, as their troubles 

 increased, they gradually threw away their pearls. 



