Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans: Second annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81, pages 179-306Holmes, William Henry
History
Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans: Second annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81, pages 179-306
Holmes, William Henry
Indian art; Indians -- Antiquities
Smith states, in writing of Powhatan, that he found him "reclining
proudly upon a Bedstead a foote high, upon tenne or twelve Mattes,
richly hung with manie Chaynes of great Pearles, about his necke, and
covered with a great Couvering of Rahaughcums,"[71] and the young women
who surrounded him wore "a great Chaine of white Beades over their
shoulders."[72]
The following is from Wood, whose quaint and graphic descriptions of the
New England Indians are always interesting: "But a Sagamore with a
Humberd in his eare for a pendant, a black hawk on his _occiput_ for his
plume, Mowhackees for his gold chaine, a good store of Wampompeage
begirting his loynes, his bow in his hand, his quiver at his back, with
six naked _Indian_ spatterlashes at his heels for his guard, thinkes
himselfe little inferior to the great _Cham_; he will not stick to say
he is all one with King _Charles_. Hee thinkes hee can blow down Castles
with his breath and conquer kingdomes with his conceit."[73]
Du Pratz, in speaking of the Louisiana Indians, says: "The women's
ear-rings are made of the center part of a large shell called bingo,
which is about the thickness of one's little finger, and there is a hole
in the ear about that size for holding it."[74]
Lewis and Clark found the Shoshone Indians of the Upper Missouri using
shells of the pearl oyster to decorate the collars of their fur tippets.
The children wore beads around their necks; grown persons suspended them
in little bunches from the ears, and the collars of the men were formed
either of sea-shells from the southwest or from twisted grass with
porcupine quills.[75]
Among the Carrier Indians of the Northwest both sexes perforate their
noses, and from them the men often suspend an ornament consisting of a
piece of an oyster shell or a small piece of brass or copper. The women,
particularly those who are young, run a wooden pin through their noses,
upon each end of which they fix a kind of shell bead, which is about an
inch and a half long, and nearly the size of the stem of a common clay
pipe. These beads they obtain from their neighbors, the At-e-nâs, who
purchase them from another tribe that is said to take them from the
sea-shore, where they are reported to be found in plenty.
It is also stated of the same Indians that "the young women and girls
wear a parcel of European beads, strung together and tied to a lock of
hair directly behind each ear. The men have a sort of collar of the
shell beads already mentioned, which they wind about their heads or
throw around their necks."[76]
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