Fig. 319. (S. 1–4.) Four unfinished winged objects from Beloit College collection, Wisconsin. Material: mottled granite and porphyry. To work hard materials into these forms must have required both skill and patience on the part of the natives.
“In addition to the articles noted above and worn as ornaments, honors, etc., there were others that were used as bracelets, necklaces, gorgets, etc. As a rule they were of bone, pearl, shell, and copper, though the claws and talons of beasts and birds of prey[[34]] were also used. Except occasionally in size, they did not differ materially from the beads, pendants, etc., that were worn on the head and in the ears. Taking up these articles in their order, we find that in the Gulf States the Indians made bracelets of bone. For this purpose they chose the rib of a deer, which was soaked in boiling water and thus rendered soft and pliable. It was then worked into the desired shape, and is said to have been as white and smooth as polished ivory.[[35]] In Virginia ‘polished,’ or as they are sometimes called ‘smooth bones,’ were used in connection with ‘pearles and little beedes of copper,’ as necklaces and ear-rings;[[36]] and in New England, as we have seen, bones carved in the shape of birds, beasts and fishes were worn as pendants in the ears; and in Waymouth’s voyage we are told that they were also used as bracelets.
Fig. 320. (S. 1–2.) The first stage in the making of the problematical form. These are of slate and are from Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. The upper specimen is a block of slate which has been worked into shape by means of a heavy hand-hammer. The first stage is not unlike that observed in the manufacture of flint implements. The central and lower ones represent the second stage in the process of pecking, while the one to the right is still further reduced, and the elevation, strengthening the perforation, is worked into relief. Andover collection.
“Of pearls, there seems to have been an abundance,[[37]] though they were unequally distributed. Owing perhaps to this fact, and to the extravagant accounts of some of the old writers, it has been thought that they were, not unfrequently, confounded with shell beads; and, yet, the statements as to their use are too frequent and too detailed in character, to leave any doubt about the matter, even without the confirmatory evidence of the mounds. Upon this point the chroniclers of De Soto’s expedition are in full accord; and whilst we may well doubt whether the Spaniards took ‘three hundred and ninety-two pounds of pearls, and little babies and birds made of them’ from the graves near Cutifachiqui,[[38]] yet when we are told that pearls ‘of the bigness of good pease’ were found in Virginia, and that one man ‘gathered together from among the savage people about five thousand’ of them,[[39]] we cannot but admit that there is a foundation of fact in the story of the old writer, extravagant as it seems to be.”
Professor Carr, in the same paper I have quoted, speaks regarding both copper and shell in use in early historic times as ornaments.
I shall quote what he has to say on those subjects in their proper places in subsequent chapters. His article on “Dress and Ornaments,” ends with these words:—
“With this suggestion, as to the additional use of what was evidently a leading article in the Indian’s toilet, our investigation must come to a close. In it we have endeavored not only to picture the dress and ornaments of our savages, but we have been obliged to examine the materials of which their dresses and ornaments were made, and to describe the arts by which these materials were fitted for their several uses. It has been a laborious task, but fortunately the sources of information were abundant; and whilst it is probable that our treatment of the subject has not been as complete as might have been desired, yet it is believed, that enough has been given to justify us in accepting, as our own, the statement that ‘from what has been said as to their method of adorning themselves, it might be inferred that the savages, instead of adding to their personal beauty (for they are, nearly all, well made), were really trying to render themselves unnatural and hideous.’ This is true; and yet when they are in full dress, the fantastical arrangement of their ornaments not only has nothing in it that is offensive, but it really possesses a certain charm which is pleasing in itself and makes them appear to great advantage.”[[40]]