486 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



the only writer to supply any description and at least some of the 

 beads of which he speaks were introduced by the traders. 



When they have beads (rassade) they make necklaces composed of one or 

 many rows. They make them long enough for the head to pass through. The 

 rassade is a bead of the size of the end of the finger of a small infant. Its 

 length is greater than its diameter. Its substance is similar to porcelain. 

 There is a smaller one, ordinarily round and white, which they value more 

 than the other. There is a blue variety and one of another style which is 

 banded (bardeUe) with blue and white. The medium sized and the smallest 

 are strung to ornament skins, garters, etc. (Le Page du Pratz, 1758, vol, 2, pp. 

 195-196; Swanton, 1911, p. 56.) 



There is mention, however, of a conch-shell ornament not referred 

 to, and apparently unknown, in Carolina and Virginia, but of which 

 the mounds and cemeteries of the interior have yielded abundant 

 samples. Du Pratz says of this : 



The women ornament themselves with earrings made of the core of a 

 great shell called "burgo," of which I have spoken already. This ear pendant 

 is as large as the little finger and at least as long. They have a hole in the 

 lower part of each ear large enough for the insertion of this ornament. It has 

 a head a little larger than the rest to keep it from falling out. (Le Page du 

 Pratz, 1758, vol. 2, pp. 195-196; Swanton, 1911, p. 55.) 



Dumont de Montigny describes this ornament at greater length, and 

 informs us that the same shell was also used in the manufacture of 

 gorgets : 



There are found besides, on the shores of the sea, beautiful shells of a spiral 

 shape called "burgau." They are very suitable for the manufacture of pretty 

 tobacco boxes, for they carry their mother-of-pearl with them. It is of these 

 burgau that the Indian women make their earrings. For this purpose they 

 rub the ends of them for a long time on hard stones and thus give them the 

 shapes of nails with heads, in order that, when they insert them in their ears, 

 they will be stopped by this kind of obstruction, for these Indian women have 

 their ears laid open very much more than our French women. One might 

 pass the thumb, however large, through [the slit]. The savages also wear on 

 their necks plates 3 or 4 inches in diameter made of pieces of this shell, to 

 which they give a round or oval shape by grinding them on stones in the 

 same manner. They then pierce them near the edge by means of fire and use 

 them as ornaments. (Dumont, 1753, vol. 1, pp. 94-95; Swanton, 1911, p. 55). 



We have already noted large beads made from the columella of 

 the conch. 



The Caddo wore "little white shells they find in the fields which are 

 shaped like beads," and the carved gorgets from their country are a 

 glorious manifestation of their artistic ability, to be placed beside 

 their pottery, though they are scarcely mentioned by our Spanish and 

 French authorities. (Casanas, 1927; Swanton, 1942, p. 145; Pearce 

 and Jackson, 1912.) 



A few bead substitutes might here be referred to. The Creek In- 

 dians used the berry of a kind of bush or tree called "wild cherry" 



