ures
of these early people. At various points along the southern rivers,
relic beds are found, composed of the freshwater shells native to the
streams. The inland lakes of Florida show similar evidences of
occupancy of their shores by aborigines, and even some ponds in middle
Georgia and Alabama exhibit along their banks signs of ancient refuse
piles where lacustrine shells abound. These heaps are common in the
South, and several of them on the banks of the Savannah River, above
Augusta, are fully described by Charles C. Jones.1 He says:
"In these relic beds no two parts of the same shell are, as a general
rule, found in juxtaposition. The hinge is broken, and the valves of
the shell, after having been artificially torn asunder, seem to have
been carelessly cast aside and allowed to accumulate."
Thus,
in addition to the historical evidence given, physical proof is adduced
of the pearl fisheries of the aboriginal tribes of the South. In order
to ascertain the precise varieties of shells from which the southern
Indians obtained their pearls, Mr. Jones invited an expression of
opinion from the following scientists, whose pursuits rendered them
familiar with the conchology of the United States. They throw
considerable light upon this inquiry.
Dr.
William Stimpson, of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, considered the
statements of the early Spanish historians with regard to the size of
the pearls (as large as filberts) exaggerated. He says: "The pearls of
the Aviculae, our only marga-ritiferous marine genus, are very small,
and those of the oyster valueless. The Indians must have obtained their
pearls from the fresh-water bivalves (Unio and Anodon) which abound in
the rivers of Georgia, etc. These are usually small, but in very rare
instances examples have occurred reaching in diameter 1/3 of an inch."
"
Most of the fresh-water mussels," writes Prof. Joseph Le Conte, "
contain small pearls now and then. By far the best and largest number I
have seen were taken from the Anodon gibbosa (Lea), a large and
beautiful shell abundant in the
1 Antiquities of the Southern Indians (New York, 1873), p. 483; also Monumental Remains of Georgia (Savannah, 1861), p. 14.
