256 THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
The
account of the first voyage along the coast of the United States, that
of the Italian, Juan Verrazano, in 1524, contains no reference to
pearls, although he penetrated into the interior a score or two of
miles, and was frequently in contact with the natives, who lived
largely by fishing, and who prized many ornaments of different colored
stones, copper rings, etc.
The
first expedition which went far into the interior was the ill-fated one
under command of Pânfilo de Narvaez in 1528. A thrilling account1
of this journey was written by Cabeza de Vaca, who was one of the four
survivors, after eight years' wandering through America to Mexico.
Cabeza had been controller and royal treasurer of the expedition, and
in that position it was his particular duty to acquaint himself with
all the pearls, gold, and similar riches found by the party.
Notwithstanding his tradings with the Indians and their efforts to gain
his friendship by means of presents, his account makes no mention of
pearls, except to refer to a statement made by some Indians that on the
coast of the South Sea there were pearls and great riches.
Hernando
D'Escalante Fontaneda, who was shipwrecked on the Florida coast about
1550, and was detained there a prisoner for seventeen years, wrote :
"Between
Abolachi [Appalachicola] and Olagale is a river which the Indians call
Guasaca-Esqui, which means Reed River. It is on the sea-coast, and at
the mouth of this river the pearls are found in oysters and other
shells; from thence they are carried into all the provinces and
villages of Florida."2
The
European narrators also reported great stores of pearls along the
Atlantic seaboard. Among the first of these may be mentioned David
Ingram, who is represented as traveling by land from the Gulf of Mexico
to the vicinity of Cape Breton in the years 1568 and 1569. As it
appeared in the first edition of Hakluyt's Voyages, this relation
states :
"There
is in some of those Countreys great abundance of Pearle, for in every
Cottage he founde Pearle, in some howse a quarte, in some a pottel
[half a gallon], in some a pecke, more or less, where he did see some
as great as an Acorn; and Richard Browne, one of his Companyons, found
one of these great Pearls in one of their Canoes, or Boates, wch Pearls
he gave to Mouns Campaine, whoe toke them aboarde his shippe."3
Estimation of Ingram's wonderful relation is decreased by Purchase comment :
1 "Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeça de ä
Hakluyt, "The Principall Navigations, Vaca," translated by Buckingham
Smith, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English New York, 1871. Nation,"
London, 1589.
2 Bernard Shipp, "History of Hernando de Soto and Florida," Philadelphia, 1881, p. 586.
