Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ix. (1916), No. 12. 53 



be made of an interesting reference to the use of pearl- 

 shell among the Indians of southern Alaska. 



In his description of Port des Francais, the celebrated 

 navigator, M. de la Perouse, remarks on the ability of the 

 Indians of this neighbourhood to inlay boxes of elegant 

 form with mother-of-pearl. Unfortunately, he does not 

 state whether the true pearl-shell was employed, or that 

 of the abalone {Haliotis). This, however, is not of very 

 great importance, as the point of chief interest is the fact 

 that the use of the pearl-shell for inlay purposes is 

 strongly suggestive of Asiatic influence. Other details, 

 given by Perouse, concerning the many curious customs 

 of these same people, such as ' platform burials,' the 

 ' special preservation of the head of the deceased and 

 cremation of the body,' etc., provide equally suggestive 

 evidence of this. 14 * 



The Haliotis, which also yields good pearls, was 

 applied to many varied uses by other savage peoples on 

 the Pacific coast of America, especially in California, 

 where these pearly shells have been found in great 

 numbers in the burial places of the ancient tribes. Putnam 

 records the discovery of several objects inlaid with Haliotis 

 shell in graves on the islands of Santa Catalina and of 

 Santa Cruz, the pieces of shell being held in place by a 

 thin cement of asphaltum. 147 



The remarkable resemblance between the shell-art 

 of ancient California and that of the Pacific Islands is 

 very significant. 



140 G. A. Cooke, op. at., ii., p. 106; see also Niblack, "The Coast 

 Indians of Southern Alaska and Northern British Columbia." Kept. U.S. 

 Nat. Mus., 1887-8 (1890), pp. 225-386 



147 F. W. Putnam, "U.S. Geographical Survey west of the rooth 

 Meridian : vol vii. , Archeology." Washington, 1879, pp. 232-3. 



