SOME ETHNOGRAPHIC PHASES OF CONCHOLOGY. 381 



of its primitiye barbarism ; but it is interesting to notice tlie fact 

 that the same simple mode of employing the spoils of the sea for 

 personal decoration, as is found prevalent among the rude Indians 

 of the North-west at the present day, prevailed among the primitive 

 occupants of the British isles in that dim dawn of their primeval 

 history revealed by the disclosures of their most ancient sepulchral 

 deposits. Among the personal ornaments found in early British 

 graves, seemingly pertaining to a period long prior to the acquisition 

 of the simplest metallurgic arts, are necklaces formed of the small 

 shells abounding on the neighboring coasts, such as the nerita littoralis, 

 tlae patella vulgata, and others equally common at the present day. 

 These are perforated, like the ioqua shells of the Chinook Indian, 

 apparently by the simple process of rubbing the projecting point on 

 a stonOj and thus converted into shell -beads, they were strung 

 together with a fibre or sinew. It may also be noted that, as among 

 the savage Indians of this continent such personal ornaments are 

 not confined to the squaws, but more frequently adorn the person of 

 the brave, and mingle with the scalp-locks and other war-trophies of 

 the most celebrated chief : so was it with the allophylian savage of 

 Britain's primeval centuries. Bead necklaces occur alongside of 

 the stone war-hatchet and flint lance-head, as the property of the 

 •warrior, and one of his most prized decorations. Possibly, indeed, 

 they may have constituted the symbols of rank, and the special badge 

 of office, as considerable variety marks their forms. An Orkney 

 stone cist, for example, contained about two dozen of the common 

 oyster shells each perforated, and in all probability designed to be 

 strung together as a collar, abundantly noticeable for size, if not for 

 beauty. In some cases, the form of these shells, as well as of those 

 of the limpet {patella vulgata)^ and of the cockle {cardium cominune), 

 are taken advantage of to form a novel shell-ornament. They are 

 rubbed down until they are reduced to rings, which were either 

 strung together, or attached, as ornaments, to the dress. Under- 

 neath a large cromlech, accidentally discovered in the Phoenix Park 

 at Dublin, in 1838, in the process of levelling a mound, which thus 

 proved to be an ancient tumulus, two male skeletons were found, and 

 beside each skull lay a quantity of the common littoral shells, nerita 

 littoralis. " On examination," it is noted in the report of the Royal 

 Irish Academy, " these shells were found to have been rubbed down 

 on the valve with a stone, to make a second hole, for the purpose, as 



