finest
"ball" pearl he has ever seen. If these gems were so regarded by the
ignorant white settlers of the west until the advent of men who had
learned to appreciate them either for their beauty or the price they
would bring from the outside world, it may be surmised that the
awakening of the ancient Indian to their beauty, must have been a much
slower process, unassisted as it was by men from beyond their limits
who had long regarded them as precious. At first, probably, pearls were
thrown to the children as playthings, as diamonds were in the Cape:
then the young squaws gradually opened their eyes to the fact that the
white shining things enhanced the charms of their smooth copper skins
by contrast: the brave sought them to please the maid he would bring to
his tepee: perhaps rovers brought news that in the far south, in lands
of houses and teocalli and much magnificence, or farther off among the
Incas, these baubles were prized by the chiefs. So gradually it dawned
upon some that the "eggs" of the mollusk were beautiful, and upon
others that they could be bartered for skins, blankets, or arrows,
possibly for a pony, and
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