Distribution of Pearls and Pearl-shell. 1 2 1 



cut from a Cassis shell, the cover of which was a fragment 

 of the valve of the pearl-oyster."' This and other dis-. 

 coveries of pearls in that country by the same investigator 

 point to the existence of pearl fisheries on this coast many 

 centuries ago. It is reported that Manta, in the Province 

 of Manabi, is the place where the Incas obtained the 

 splendid gems found in the temples and palaces of Peru 

 by the Spaniards."' 



The Incas of Peru held a curious belief concerning 

 pearls ; they regarded them as the " eggs " of the pearl- 

 producing shell-fish.'*^ 



The artificial eyes of their mummies have been spoken 

 of as pearls, but, according to Tschudi, they are the dried 

 eyes of the cuttle-fish {Loligo gigas')}^* 



Rivero and Tschudi"' inform us that the Peruvians 

 were accustomed to ornament their textiles by sewing 

 upon them leaves of gold and silver, or small pieces of 

 mother-of-pearl, etc. ; and in speaking of the Huaca of 

 Misa, they say that a stone idol, with mother-of-pearl, was 

 formerly met with here, along with mummies, cloths, 

 pieces of gold and silver, etc. 



Much further information could be given concerning 

 tlie use of pearls and pearl-shell, but enough evidence has 

 been collected t6 demonstrate the nature and extent of 

 the ideas concerning them. Plowever, mention might be 



"^ M. H. Saville, " Anliquities of Manabi, Ecuador," Conlribulions 

 to South American Arcliiieology, N. V,, 1910, vol. ii., p. 177. 



^"^ Kunz and Stevenson, op. cit., p. 282. 



1" W. J. Dakin, " Pearls," Cambridge, 1913, p. 8. 



'^* Tryon, " Structural and Systematic Conchology," vol. ii., 1883, 

 p. 24. Cuttle-fish eyes are strung, as pearls for necklaces, on the shores of 

 Sicily and Naples ; and the natives of the Sandwich Islands have imposed 

 them on the Russians as pearls. Johnston, op. cit., p. 62 footnote. 



'■" i\r. E. Rivero and J. J. von T.schudi," Peruvian Antiquities," New 

 York and London, 1857, pp. 224 and 266 (Translation by F. L, Hawks). 



