ainpnm.
WAMPUM,
A PAPER PRESENTED TO
THE NUMISMATIC AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
OF PHILADELPHIA.
BY
ASHBEL WOODWARD, M.D.,
OF FRANKLIN, CONN.,
CORRESPONDING MEMBER.
ALBANY, N. Y. :
J. MUNSELL, PRINTER.
1878.
Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1878,
. /&y:Ak#EL WOODWARD,
m t*he" Library of Congress.
At a Stated Meeting of the Numismatic and Antiquarian
Society of Philadelphia, held January 2, 1868, the following
resolutions were unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That the thanks of this Society are due and are
hereby tendered to Ashbel Woodward, M.D., of Franklin,
Conn., for his very able and interesting research upon " Wam
pum " this evening read before the Society.
Resolved, That said paper be referred to the Publication Com
mittee.
Attest,
HENRY PHILLIPS, JR.,
Corresponding Secretary.
989592
NOTE.
The following pages constitute an Essay read
before the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society
of Philadelphia in January 1868. It was in
tended for publication in the second volume of
the Transactions of the Society, but as the ap
pearance of this volume has been unexpectedly
delayed, it has been thought best to allow the
Essay to appear separately.
Franklin, Conn., January, 1878.
WAMPUM. :?;;
When Columbus, on his second voyage to the
New World, landed upon Cape Cabron, Cuba,
the cacique of the adjacent country meeting him
upon the shore offered him a string of beads made
of the hard parts of shells as an assurance of wel
come. Similar gifts were often made to the
great discoverer, whenever the natives sought to
win his favor or wished to assure him of their
own good will. These shell beads were after
wards found to be in general use among the
tribes of the Atlantic coast. At the close of the
sixteenth century the English colonists found
them in Virginia, as did the Dutch at the com
mencement of the following century in New
York, the English in New England and the
8
French in Canada. The pre-historic inhabitants
oF :"tke : . Mississippi valley were also evidently
^ciq^a.^red.with their manufacture, as remains of
shell beads have been found in many of the
mounds which survive as the only memorials of
that mysterious people.
These Indian beads were known under a
variety of names among the early colonists, and
were called, wampum, wampom-peage, or wampeage,
frequently peage or peake only, and in some locali
ties sewan or zewand. But generally sewan pre-
vailed among the Dutch, and wampum among
the English. These names were applied without
distinction to all varieties of beads. This confu
sion arose naturally enough from the scanty
acquaintance of the whites with the Indian lan
guage. The word wampum [wompam], 1 which
1 Trumbull in his notes in the Narragansett Club Reprint
of Roger Williams s Key, says : " Worn pam was the name of
9
has since become a general term, was restricted
by the Indians to the white beads. It was derived
from wompi, " white." The other or dark beads
were called suckduhock, a name compounded of
sucki, "dark colored," and hock, "shell." The
name Mow hakes, compounded of mowi, " black,"
and hock, shell," was also sometimes applied to
the dark beads. It thus appears that the Indians
divided their beads into two general classes, the
wompam, or white beads, and sue kdu bock, or dark
beads. Both white and black consisted of highly
polished, testaceous cylinders, about one-eighth of
an inch in diameter and a quarter of an inch long,
the white beads collectively ; when strung or wrought in girdles
they constituted wanom-peg [Roger Williams], the wampon-
peage of Wood and other early writers."
Peage or peake signified simply "strung beads," and wampom-
peage accordingly signified " strings of white beads."
The English were doubtless led to consider wampum a
generic word, because they heard it oftenest used, wampum
10
drilled length- wise and strung upon fibres of hemp
or the tendons of wild beasts. Suckauhock was
made from the stem of the venus mercenana,
or common round clam, popularly known as the
quauhaug ; wampum from the column and inner
whorls of the Pyrula carica and Pyrula canicalata *
[Lam.], species known as Winkles or Peri winkles
among fishermen, and the largest convoluted shells
being much more abundant than suckauhock. Their error has
however long since received the sanction of usage. But as far
as our own knowledge extends there was no comprehensi/e
word for all shell beads in use among the Indians. Sewan hid
perhaps very nearly such a use in certain localities, but the real
meaning of the word sewan appears from the following note in
the Narragansett Club Reprint of Roger Williams s Key :
" Seahwhbog^ they are scattered [Elliot]. From this word
the Dutch traders gave the name of sewared or zeewand [the
participle, seahwhoun^ scattered, loose ], to all shell money
just as the English called all peage^or string beads, by the name
of the white or wampom."
1 Sometimes from the Bucdnum undulatum [Moll], foul d
from Nantucket to Labrador, and occasionally perhaps from the
II
of our New England coast. 1 These shells were
found in great abundance along the sea shore,
lying either upon the mud, or just beneath the
surface, and were wrought in the following
manner. The desirable portions of the shells
were first broken out into small pieces of the form
of a parallelepiped ; these were then drilled and
afterwards ground and polished. Possessing no
Natlca heros [Say] found from New York to Labrador, and the
Natlca duplicata found from Florida to Massachusetts bay.
In this connection the writer would acknowledge his indebted
ness to Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull, a gentleman who has
given much time and talent to the investigation of matters of
Indian history.
1 Many writers have asserted that wampum was worked out
of the inside of the Great Congue shell. This view is evidently
erroneous, as the Great Congue, Strombus gigas [Linn.], is not
found on the Atlantic coast, north of Florida and the West
Indies, except in the fossil state.
The assertion that wampum is an Iroquois word, meaning a
" muscle," is doubtless equally unfounded.
12
better tools, the Indians made shift to bore them
with stone drills, 1 implements which hardly cor
respond with the delicacy and exactness exhibited
by the specimens of original wampum that have
come down to us. The process of polishing and
shaping was equally painful and laborious, for
rubbing with the hand over a smooth stony
surface, was the only method which the rudeness
of the Aborigines could devise. Yet the finished
beads, whether attached in thick masses to gar
ments, or strung in long flexible rows, were very
comely and without a trace of the tawdriness,
which is so characteristic of uncivilized peoples.
The suckauhock with its varying shades of purple
Roger Williams [Key-t chap, xxiv], who certainly had
fine opportunities for observation, and our other most trust
worthy authorities, state that the Suckauhock was made from the
clam shell, and the wampum from the shells of the Periwinkle,
and such was unquestionably the case.
1 Roger Williams s Key^ chap. xxiv.
13
was particularly beautiful. Its value was double
that of the white and the darker its color, the
more highly it was prized. But the laborious^ ^
method of production imparted no trivial value J
to both varieties.
It seems almost incredible that the Indian
could produce so clever an article with his rude
implements. Some have conjectured that the
specimens produced before the natives obtained
awl blades from the colonists were very inferior
to their later productions. One writer l even
goes so far as to suggest, that, before the advent
of Europeans, Indian beads consisted mostly of
small pieces of wood, stained white or black. The
fact is, however, that the manufacture of wam
pum dates back at least to the time of the mound
builders, for quantities of beads similar in form
to the more modern article, and proved by
1 Gordon, Hist, of Penn., Appendix F.
chemical tests and structural peculiarities to be
similar in material, have been exhumed from the
ancient mounds of the west. 1
Other species besides the wampum and suckau-
hock crept into local use among the different
tribes. The Iroquois in their civil and religious
ceremonies employed a variety named otekda, and
made from spiral fresh water shells of the genus
unio. This as may be inferred from its uses was
held in the highest esteem, and no other could be
employed in the different stages of the ceremo
nial. 2 In New England and perhaps elsewhere,
an inferior kind made evidently from shells too
small and thin to be wrought into the cylindrical
beads, circulated to a limited extent. The sepa
rate pieces were round and flat, about an eighth
See Schoolcraft s report on the Grove Creek Mound ir vol.
I, of Transactions of the Am. Ethnological Soc.
2 League of the Iroquois, p. 120.
15
of an inch broad and a sixteenth of an inch
thick, white and black were strung alternately,
but the strings, though arranged with considera
ble nicety, lacked wholly the finish and flexibility
of the regular article. In Virginia roenoke was
current. This consisted of small rough frag
ments of cockle shells, which were drilled and
strung. The last two varieties were only used to
a limited extent, even in the region of their
manufacture. Here, as elsewhere, the cylindrical
wampum was the standard, and the dearest to the
Indian of all his treasures. Indeed such was the
value set upon it, that attempts were often made
to counterfeit it, an unallowed shell being fraudu
lently used in the manufacture of the white,
while the black was imitated from a kind of
stone. Yet the habitual caution and keenness of
the Indian made it difficult to palm off* the spuri
ous article upon him.
i6
As wampum was made from marine shells, 1 it
was naturally manufactured by the sea shore
tribes, and in localities determined by the abund
ance of raw material. Here the shells were
stored up in some convenient spot during sum
mer, to be worked out in winter when the rigors
of the season should deter the men from their
ordinary out door pursuits. 2 Probably but little
was produced north of the Narragansetts [Rhode
Island], as the necessary shells were scarce beyond
Cape Cod. The Narragansetts were themselves
great producers, and tradition claimed for their
tribe the honor of the invention of wampum.
But the Long Island Indians were by far the
greatest producers along our northern coast. Their
sandy flats and marshes teemed with sea life, and,
when the Dutch first came to New Amsterdam,
1 The otekoa of the Iroquois was the only exception of which
we know.
2 Roger Williams s Key, chap. xxiv.
their island went by the name of sewan backy, or
the land of the sewan shell," so numerous were
the sewan manufactories upon it. Without doubt
production was stimulated beyond its natural limits
by the demand from powerful tribes from the
main land, who found it easier to exact wampum
as tribute from their weak neighbors, than per
sonally to engage in its laborious coinage. Hazard,
in his collection of state papers, states, that the
Narragansetts frequently compelled large tributes
in wampum from the Long Island Indians. The
Pequots also for many years prior to 1637, ex
acted large annual contributions from the same
tribes while they were still further subject to the
levies of the imperious Mohawks. Thus the
mint of wealth at their very doors became to its
possessors the source of untold misery. Constant
fear kept them toiling at the mines, while the
scanty proceeds of their labor only quickened the
i8
greed of their savage masters. The number and
extent of the sewan manufactories upon Long
Island may be inferred from the frequent and
immense shell heaps left by the Indians in all of
which scarcely a whole shell is to be found.
Occasionally the whole shells were carried over
to the main land and there wrought. F *om
Sewan-Hacky down the Atlantic coast and along
the gulf, the shaded covers and quiet banks v/ere
doubtless dotted with wampum manufactories,
for there was a great demand constantly to be
met.
The inland tribes were of course unable to pro
duce their own wampum, and depended for their
supply upon the coast tribes. A brisk trade thus
arose between the coast and interior. Hides and
furs were brought down to clothe the denser
population of the shore, and wampum carried
back in exchange . l Often, however, the inland
tribes were able to pounce down and wring this
precious material from its carriers in the form of
tribute.
Wampum is often spoken of as " Indian money."
This expression if referring to colonial times is
perfectly proper, but must be received with cau
tion in the consideration of ante-colonial days.
The barbarian, dwelling in independent isolation,
satisfies the majority of his wants by direct effort
and not by an interchange of services, nor till
civilization has considerably advanced can we look
for any general system of exchanges with the
mutual dependence and mutual benefits which
such a system involves. So attractive an article
as wampum was doubtless eagerly sought in
barter, and would readily procure for its possessor
whatever else he might desire. Indeed we know
1 Roger Williams s Key, chap. xxiv.
20
that it was the means of an extensive trade be
tween the coast and the interior, the inland
Indians bringing down hides and furs to be ex
changed for the wampum of the shore. All this,
however, was in the way of barter, and we cannot
hence infer that the idea of a medium or money
crept into the limited circle of the redman s Wc.nts
and satisfactions. His circumstances did not de
mand and would not therefore suggest it. Wam
pum was the gold of the aborigine. But he
had yet to learn that the value of gold resides not
alone in its glitter. The ancient Peruvians dwelt
amid mountains of gold, but the idea of a circu
lating medium never dawned upon them. In
like manner, the Indian had never learned that
use of his golden wampum which was the iirst
to suggest itself to the white man. He made
and valued it for other purposes.
A fondness for personal display and decoration
\*f
21
are characteristic of uncivilized life, and wampum
was well adapted to satisfy this weakness of the
Indian. It was every where used for adornment
of the person. The humblest proudly wore his
trifle, while the more favored ones were wont to
decorate themselves in countless gay and fantastic
ways. It was oftenest worn about the neck in
strings of the length of a rosary, the number of
strings being determined by the means or social
position of the wearer. 1 Bracelets and necklaces
were other forms in which it was frequently dis
played. With the females, head-dresses, con
sisting of bands of wampum twined about the
head and gathering up their abundant tresses,
were an especial delight. A border of beads
greatly enhanced the value of any garment, and
1 For an excellent illustration of the different modes of
wearing wampum, see the plates in that admirable work,
Harriot s Virginia, written in 1586, and published in 1590, in
the first volume of De Bry s Voyages.
22
outer clothing was usually thus ornamented.
Indeed the wealthy and powerful wore cloaks, as
also aprons and caps, thickly studded with wam
pum wrought into various fantastic forms and
figures. Says that old voyager, John Josselyn,
"Prince Phillip, a little before I came to Eng
land [1671], coming to Boston, had on a coat
and buskins thick set with these beads in pleasant
wild works." The moccasin was also, as at the
present day, the recipient of much taste and skill.
More of a luxury and confined mostly to
sachems and sagamores was the wampum belt,
alternate white and purple strings attached in rows
to a deerskin base, and worn as a belt about the
waist, or thrown over the shoulders like a scarf.
Ordinary belts consisted of twelve rows of one
hundred and eighty beads each, but they increased
in length and breadth with the social importance
of the wearer. As many as ten thousand beads are
23
known to have been wrought into a single war
belt four inches wide. The regular alternation
of white and purple rows was not always adopted,
but birds and beasts and such other rustic fantasies
as suited the owner^ taste, were often interwoven
with the different colors. One of King Philip s
belts surrendered by the Sagamore Annawon to
Capt. Church, was nine inches wide, of sufficient
length when placed about Capt. Church s
shoulders to reach to his ancles, and curiously
inwrought with figures of birds, beasts and flowers.
From another belt of no less exquisite workman
ship and designed to be worn about the head,
two flags fell in graceful folds upon the shoulders.
A third and smaller one had a star embroidered
upon its end, and was to be worn upon the breast.
The haughty old chief was wont to adorn his
person with these insignia when he sat in state
among his subjects. They symbolized, by striking
24-
emblems, his might and prowess, and kindled in
beholders feelings and emotions that royal pomp
and purple could not awake. The idea of gaudi-
ness is apt to associate itself in our minds with
Indian trappings, but we must confess that the
simple grace and force of these rustic adornments
would put to shame many a glittering article of
more modern wear.
But wampum strings and belts subserved other
equally important uses. They were among the
Indian race the universal bonds of nations and
individuals, the inviolable and sacred pledges of
word and deed. No promise was binding unless
confirmed by gifts of wampum. The young
warrior declared his passion for his Indian maid,
by presenting wampum chains and belts, and her
acceptance of the proffered present sealed the
marriage compact. 1 Like tokens accompanied
1 Trumbull s Hist, of Connecticut^ I, p. 50.
25
every weighty message, and little reliance was put
upon the messenger who brought not with him
such assurances of good faith. 1 They cemented
friendships, confirmed alliances, sealed treaties, and
effectually effaced the memory of injuries. 2 A
curious ceremonial had grown up in their pre
sentation on state occasions. When ambassadors
set out for another nation, they bore before them
the calumet, or pipe of peace, in evidence of their
pacific purpose and to secure protection for their
journey, and also belts of wampum to be sub-
1 " It is obvious to all who are the least acquainted with
Indian affairs, that they regard no message or invitation, be it of
what consequence it will, unless attended or confirmed by strings
or belts of wampum, which they look upon as we our letters
or rather bonds. Letter of Sir Wm. Johnson, 1753. Doc.
Hist, of N. T., vol. n, p. 624.
2 As late as 1720, a belt was brought into Connecticut from
some place at the south called Towattowan, and circulated very
generally among the Indians, to the alarm of the colony, " the
26
mitted in confirmation of their proposals, or, if
their people had been worsted in battle to atone
for injuries and purchase peace. In the great
council assembled to receive them, the orator of
the embassy rose and unfolded the object of their
visit, corroborating each important statement and
proposal at its close by laying down wampum
belts. If his words were pleasing, and the pre
sents taken from the ground in evidence thereof,
similar presents were given in return, and the
assembly caused some inquiries to be made into the mystery,
and an Indian, named Tapanranawko, testified that the belt
was in token that at each place where it was accepted, captive
Indians would be received and sold. He said that it would be
sent back to Towattowan, which was a great way to the south,
and was inhabited by a large tribe of Indians. The assembly
resolved that the Indians should be directed to send it back
whence it came, and should be charged not to receive such
presents in future without giving notice to the magistrates. "-
Deforest* s Hist, of Indians of Conn., p. 349.
27
contract sealed with the smoking of the calumet
and the burial of the hatchet in the midst. Among
the Six Nations, whenever the council failed to
adjust the difficulty or when for any other reason
peace was to be interrupted, war was proclaimed
by striking a tomahawk painted red and orna
mented with black wampum, into the war post
in each village of the league. 1
To illustrate what we have said, we subjoin
the following account of an interview between
Sir William Johnson, the noted Indian agent and
the Six Nations, among whom this ceremony
survived even after their decline. " At a meeting
of the Six Nations and their allies at Fort John
son, Feb. 1 8, 1756, Sir William Johnson said :
Brethren of the Six Nations,
I have heard with great concern that a war
party of the Senecas, the most remote nation of
1 League of the Iroquois, p. 339.
28
the confederacy, have had a considerable mis
understanding with their brethren the English to
the southward, which has been fatal to some of
that nation. I am extremely unable to express
my sorrow for that unhappy affair, and as the
hatchet remains fixed in your heads, I do with
the greatest tenderness and affection remove it
thence. A belt.
Brethren,
With this belt I cleanse and purify the beds of
those who fell in that unfortunate affair from the
defilement they have contracted. A belt.
J
Brethren,
I am informed that on that occasion you lost
three of your powerful warriors. I do with this
belt cover their dead bodies that they may not
offend our sight any more and bury the whole
affair in oblivion. A belt.
29
ANSWER OF THE Six NATIONS AND THIER ALLIES.
Brother Warraghiaygey,
We the sachems and warriors of the Seneca
nation return to you our sincere thanks for your
great affection in drying our tears and driving
sorrow from our hearts, and we in return perform
the same ceremony to you with the like hearty
affection. A string of wampum.
Brother Warraghiyagey,
We are sensible of your goodness expressed to
us in removing the cause of our grief and ten
derly taking the axe out of our heads. A belt.
After several more speeches and presentations
by the Senecas, the other nations in turn presented
belts. In 1748, the general had given them a
large belt upon which was an emblem of the Six
Nations joined hand in hand with the English.
This the speaker then took and said :
3
Brother Warraghiyagey,
Look with all attention on this belt and re
member the solemn and mutual engagements
we entered into when you first took upon you
the management of our affairs. Be assured we
look upon them as sound and shall on our part
punctually perform them as long as we remain a
people. A prodigious large belt.
Taking up another large belt formerly given
them by the governor of New York, he said :
Brother Warraghiyagey,
We hope our brethren, the English, will
seriously remember the promises made us by this
belt and exactly perform them, and we promise
to do the same though we have no record but
our memories. A very large belt." l
1 Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York,
vol. vn, p. 44.
The belts received at treaties, councils and other
assemblies were entrusted for presentation to the
care of one individual, usually the sachem, who
was expected to keep in mind the occasion and
purport of each, which he could readily do by
the aid of the devices emblematic of the event it
signalized that were traced upon each. 1 Thus a
belt presented to Sir Wm. Johnson by the Six
Nations, had wrought upon it the sun, the emblem
of light, and symbols of the Six Nations. It
signified that their minds were now illumined by
the clear bright light of truth and their intention
to abide in the light. 1 In a belt presented at
Easton, His Majesty King George was figured
taking hold of the king of the Six Nations with
one hand, and the king of the Delawares with
the other. A belt presented by the Indians of
Eastern Maine as a pledge of their friendship and
1 League of the Iroquois, p. I2O.
32
fidelity to the United States and the king of
France was explained as follows : The belt was
thirteen rows wide to represent the United States,
and had upon it a cross indicating France, and
several white figures denoting the different Indian
villages. 1 The Indian like other young languages
drew closer to nature than the dusty abstractions
of civilization. It was highly figurative and the
majority of its words referred directly to familiar
external sights. The tribes of each nation of the
Iroquois were known respectively as the Wolf,
Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron and
Hawk. The significant names of chiefs are
known to all, and whoever is familiar with Indian
oratory will readily recollect its garb of bold and
striking metaphors. These features, while im
parting energy to the language, at the same time
1 Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia in the Revolution, Kidder,
p. 286.
33
made it easy to convey its meaning by picture
writing or symbolism, the only mode of writing
which the aborigine possessed. 1 Thus, too, it
was easy to put upon a belt a few significant
characters which by the principle of mental asso
ciation should clearly depict the salient features
of an event or of a series of events. Such belts
carefully preserved served as the annals of a nation.
They were the only authentic history of the past,
recalling the treaties, councils, triumphs and
domestic celebrations of former generations. At
stated times their custodian, the sachem, was
accustomed to gather the younger warriors about
him, and unfolding to them the secrets locked up
J It is interesting in this connection to notice the manner in
which the chiefs affixed their names to early deeds. In the
deed of New Haven given by the Quinnipiacs [see Appendix
iv, DeForest s Indians of Conn.], may be seen as autographs,
an arrow, a bow, a drawn bow, a war club, a tobacco pipe, a
snake, a wolf (apparently), a wild fowl, etc., etc.
5
34-
in these mysterious records, instruct them in th e
history and engagements of their tribe. The old
soldier s breast glowed with honest pride, as he
recounted to his young braves the exploits of their
sires, or exhibited the proud tokens of submission
forced from some ancient enemy, and most of all
when he came to dwell upon scenes conspicuous
for his own valor and reddened by his blood.
And as the impetuous youths drank in the glorious
story of their father s might and valor on the war
path, there sprang up within them a patriotism
" that grew by what it fed on." In the extensive
confederation of the Iroquois, Hono Wenato, an
Onondaga sachem, was the hereditary keeper of
the wampum. Whenever the grand council met
to fill a vacancy in the sachemship of a tribe of
any nation, it was his duty publicly to repeat to
the new sachem their ancient laws and usages, and
to unfold to him the structure and principles of
35
the league, as recorded in the belts commuted
to his charge. 1
Wampum played an important part in religious
as well as civil ceremonies. On occasions of
great public calamities, it formed the most accept
able sacrifice that could be offered to the terrible
Hobbamocko, the author of evil, and it entered
largely into the mystic rites of all those weird
assemblies that gathered under the shades of the
forest. When evil threatened or its farther pro
gress was to be stayed, as also after great triumphs
and abundant harvests, the Indians gathered
from far and near to celebrate their mysteries.
They danced for days, painted and clad in hideous
guise, about a great fire, the throne of the divinity,
and with wild and frantic yells cast from time to
time into the flames furs and weapons, and that
choicest of their treasures the costly wampum.
1 League of the Iroquois, p. 119.
36
Nay it was even whispered in the early time, that
little children gaily adorned with wampurn were
led into the midst and thrust into the fiery
embrace of the hissing god. 1 The practice of the
Iroquois was less fearful, among whom a string
of white wampum was hung around the neck of
a white dog suspended to a pole and offered as a
sacrifice to the mighty Haweuneyn. The wampum
was a pledge of their sincerity, and white an
emblem of purity and of faith. In the same
nation, previous to " giving thanks to the Maple, 1
and their other stated festivals, the people assem
bled for the mutual confession of their sins. " The
meeting was opened by one of the keepers of the
faith, with an address upon the propriety and
importance of acknowledging their evil deeds to
strengthen their minds against future temptations.
He then took a string of white wampum in his
1 President Stiles s///*rtfry, unpublished.
37
hand, and set the example by a confession of his
own faults, after which he handed the string to
the one nearest to him, who received it, made his
confession in like manner, and passed it to another.
In this way the wampum went around from hand
to hand, and those who had confessions to make,
stated wherein they had done wrong, and pro
mised to do better in the future. Old and young,
men, women and even children, all united in this
public acknowledgment of their faults, and joined
in the common resolution of amendment. On
some occasions the string of wampum was placed
in the centre of the room, and each one advanced
in turn to perform the duty as the inclination
seized him. A confession and promise without
holding the wampum would be of no avail. It
was the wampum which recorded their words and
gave their pledge of sincerity. The object of
the confession was future amendment."
1 League of the Iroquois^ page 188.
Wampum was the tribute paid by the van
quished in war, as also the means by which
threatened wars were often averted. The Long
Island Indians for many years paid an annual tri
bute to the Pequots, a powerful tribe dwelling in
Eastern Connecticut. 1 It is commonly supposed
that these tribes were also tributary to the Six
Nations. To the same great power were subject
the clans between the Hudson and the Connecticut,
and every year two aged but haughty Mohawks
might be seen going from village to village to
collect the tribute that was their due. It is asserted
that as late as 1756, a small tribe near Sugar Loaf
mountain made an annual payment to this nation
of 20 in wampum. Individual as well as national
obligations were similarly satisfied. Like the
early German, the Indian set a marketable value
on human life, and a suitable present of wampum
1 Thomson s Long Island, p. 62.
39
on the part of the murderer, if accepted, freed
him from the vengeance of the dead man s friends,
for the wampum belt washed away all traces of
the bloody stain. 1 Perhaps desire for another s
wampum sometimes prompted him to such foul
deeds, as it did the white man, 2 though happily
the Indian seldom stooped to theft.
Thus in the rude civilization of the aborigine
wampum filled a space accorded to no one article
in our own. Through life it faithfully met all
his varied wants, and when he came to die, his
friends placed it about his dead body, 3 that it
1 League of the Iroquots, p. 331.
2 It is stated in Winthrop s Journal [p. 147 and after], that
four servants of Plymouth were condemned and hung upon their
own confession of having murdered an Indian to obtain his
wampum.
3 In the tomb, apparently of a chief, in the Grove creek
mound, 1700 beads were found around the remains of a skeleton,
and such deposits are frequently found in opening old graves.
40
might befriend him on his journey to the spirit
land, and on his arrival there gain for him ad
mission to the realms of the god Kiehtan, the
abode of the blessed.
The shrewd commercial instinct of the Dutch
colonists was quick to profit by wampum in their
dealings with the aborigines. Happily its most
extensive producers dwelt at their very doors.
They obtained from the Long Island tribes in
return for knives, scissors, hatchets and the like,
great quantities of this novel coinage, and then
exchanged it with the Indians of the mainland
for hides and furs, often plunging far into the
interior and drawing thence products which gold
could never have won from their possessors. Did
common trifles fail, wampum was the unfailing
reserve whose charms the savage was powerless to
resist. With such an adjutant trade became
doubly flourishing and lucrative. Posts sprang up
along the Hudson, in the valley of the Connecticut
and as far south as the Schuylkill, through all of
which ceaseless revenues poured into the coffers
of the Dutch West India Company. Connecticut,
alone, annually furnished to her traders ten thou
sand beaver skins. 1 In all this traffic wampum
played a leading part, so much so in fact that fur
trade and wampum trade became synonymous
terms.
Toward the close of September, 1627, Isaac
de Rasieres was dispatched from New Amsterdam
on an embassy to the English colony at New
Plymouth. Being of a trading turn, he carried
with him in his vessel among other merchandise
about 50 in wampum which he managed to
dispose of there. 2 Wampum was as yet com
paratively unknown in Massachusetts bay, and
1 JVintbrop, i, 113.
2 Bradford s Letters, Mass. Hist. Collections, in, 54.
4-2
the colonists were ignorant of its uses. This pur
chase made with great reluctance, they sent to
their trading house at Kennebeck, where " when
the inland Indians came to know it, they could
scarce procure enough for many years together."
Everywhere in New England, as in the Dutch
provinces, wampum soon became a leading article
in the Indian trade, and added greatly to its profits.
Seven years after its introduction to Kennebeck,
Mr. Winslow carried thence into England about
twenty hogsheads of beaver, " the greater part
whereof was traded for wampampeage " during
the year. By 1636 this trade had grown to such
proportions in Massachusetts colony that the
standing colony were authorized to farm it out
for the increase of the public revenues, and to
establish the severest penalties for any infringe
ment of the privileges thus granted. The traders
of New England were now ranging the forests in
43
all directions and often plunged into them for
hundreds of miles to the great alarm of the Dutch
who feared that the English would monopolize
all the profits of the trade, and that " they should
be obliged to eat oats out of English hands."
From the north the French descended in great
numbers, eager to share in the gains of this traffic,
and often encroached upon the domains of other
nations. The solitudes of the wilderness thus re
sounded every where to the tread of the adven
turous white man, who, lured on by the hope of
gain, thought not of the dangers that beset his
path. It doubtless afforded the Indian no little
satisfaction to welcome the haughty foreigner to
his wigwam, and while dictating his own terms, to
receive in payment the honored currency of his
fathers. When he took his pay, he measured it
off after his own fashion, the unit being the dis-
1 Doc. Rel. to Colonial History of New York, i, 459.
44
tance from the elbow to the end of the little
finger. According to one authority it made no
difference whether a short or tall man measured
it. 1 Adrian Van Tiedhoven, clerk of the court
at the South river, however tells a different story,
complaining bitterly " because the Indians always
take the largest and tallest among them to trade
with us."
But hides and furs were not the only articles
which wampum purchased from the natives. It
was a frequent consideration in early Indian deeds.
In the records of Windsor, Conn., is preserved a
deed, which conveys territory lying between the
Podunk and Scantic rivers, and extending a day s
march into the country, the price paid for which
was fifteen fathoms of wampum and twenty cloth
coats. Most of the present towns of Warwick
and Coventry in Rhode Island, were purchased of
1 Lawson s History of North Carolina^ ed. of 1714, page 315.
45
Miantinomi, sachem of the Narragansetts, for
one hundred and forty-four fathoms of wampum/
In New England the limits of the trade were
considerably extended by the quantities of wampum
tribute which poured into the hands of the colo
nial authorities. Wampum was the commodity
in which tribute was universally paid, and the
stern justice of our fathers imposed this with no
sparing hand upon their weak and erring neigh
bors. In 1634, the Pequots were fined 400
fathoms of wampum, and two years afterwards
600 fathoms more. 2 After 1637, the Long Island
Indians paid a large yearly tribute to the united
commissioners, 3 as did also the Block Islanders.
It is often difficult, as in the present case, to see
the justice of such exactions. These Indians had
1 Rhode Island Colonial Records, I, 130.
2 Winthrop, pages 147, 149 and 192.
3 Thompson s Long Island, page 62.
46
been guilty of no unfriendly act, and the utmost
urged in extenuation of the imposition was the
flimsy pretence that but for an alleged protection
the same sums would have gone in fealty to their
red brethren. In 1644, the Narragansetts were
fined 2000 fathoms, and doomed to pay yearly
thereafter a fathom for every Pequot man, half
a fathom for every youth and a hand breadth for
every child in the tribe. As late as 1658,* the
Pequots were fined ten fathoms a man, and one
of their number imprisoned for offering refuse
wampum in part payment. 2 This tribe had
suffered so many and severe exactions that they
were obliged to search in all directions for the
material out of which to manufacture their
wampum, and occasionally crossed over to Long
Island for this purpose. The Montauk sachem
1 Hazard, n, page 413.
2 Hazard, in, page 44.
4-7
fearing that his shores would be exhausted of their
shelly wealth, opposed these visits, until the
Pequots succeeded in securing the interposition
of the united commissioners in their behalf. 1
In 1663, the assessment upon this tribe was fixed
at 80 fathoms. Such are a few of the many in
stances to be found in the records, showing the
enormous amount of wampum paid as tribute by
the natives to the early authorities of New Eng
land.
The Dutch supply was augmented in a different
manner. They soon found the native manufac
tories inadequate to the demand and erected mints
of their own, and by introducing steel drills and
polishing lathes won a great advantage over the
original wearisome hand processes. The French
sought a still greater advantage by substituting
porcelain for shells, but the Indians were not to
1 Hazard, 11, pages 387 and 388.
48
be thus easily imposed upon, and the manufacture
of earthen money was soon given up. 1 It is
sometimes asserted that the English engaged in
making wampum, though the statement appeared
to be without foundation. The Dutch, however,
produced it in large quantities, and were thereby
enabled to enlarge the circle of their own posts ;
and also to furnish liberal supplies to the traders,
north and south, who ranged over the entire
Atlantic coast from the St. Lawrence to the gulf.
In Virginia, the Carolinas, and later in Georgia,
wampum was the chief medium employed in the
fur trade.
The poverty of the early settlers, added to that
short sighted and now obsolete policy of Europe
in the seventeenth century, which jealously
sought to keep all specie within her borders, pro
duced a general dearth of the precious metals in
1 Thompson s Long Island, page 60.
49
the currency of the New World, and all kinds
of shifts were made to eke out the scanty supply.
Corn, wheat, oats, peas, poultry and the like
sufficed to satisfy any obligation. But then, though
answering well in cases of barter, where two
mutual desires met, were far too bulky and un
wieldy for general use. Naturally then recourse
was had to an article in extensive use among the
traders, and possessing in a measure the porta
bility of gold and silver, and wampum became a
constituent part of the currency. In one feature
at least, the old civilization held its own beside
the new. As early as 1637, wampum was made
a legal tender in Massachusetts for any sum under
I2d, at the rate of six beads for a penny. 1 The
same year it became a legal tender in Connecticut
1 Records of Mass., I, 238. Where only one rate is mentioned,
as here, we are probably to understand the white, and deduct
one-half for the black or blue.
7
50
for any amount. The general court declaring
it receivable for taxes "at fousen (4) a penny." l
But coin grew scarcer in Massachusetts and
shell money increased in value, till in 1640, the
authorities were compelled to adopt the valuation
of Connecticut, ordering that the white pass at
four and the " bleuse " at two a penny, " and not
above 1 2d at a time except the receiver desire
more." The public needs soon required another
change, and the legality of shell currency rose to
io. 3 This novel coinage, thus regulated from
time to time, answered well for money through
out the colonies, till after a while trouble arose
from an unexpected source. The enormous de
mand at length brought upon the market beads
of stone or unallowed shells, as also many rough,
1 Colonial Records of Conn., I, I 2.
2 Records of Mass., i, p. 302.
s Ibid, p. 329.
5 1
ill-strung specimens of the genuine article. The
disorder was aggravated, because the Indians, who
best understood the qualities of their wampum,
would take only the genuine from the traders,
while the refuse was thrown back into the circu
lation of the colonies. The commissioners ol the
United Colonies being appealed to for a remedy
recommended to the separate governments to
suppress this poor " peage " by law. Accordingly
in 1648, the general courte of Connecticut
ordered " that no peage, white or black, be paid or
received, but what is strung and in some measure
strung suitably, and not small and great, uncomely
and disorderly mixt, as formerly it hath beene."
A similar order was passed in Massachusetts,
where it was further enacted to prepare this
Indian money for ready use, that it be " suitably
strung in eight known parcells, id. ^s. \id. $s.
1 Col. Records of Conn., I, I 79.
52
in white; id. 6s. 6d. and IQJ-. in blacke." l Ano
ther favorite length was the fathom, containing
360 beads and current at about IQJ-. Thus during
these years shell money was current throughout
New-England, and constituted, doubtless, the
best and most convenient portion of the currency.
The government received it for taxes, the farmer
for his produce, the merchant for his wares, and
the laborer for his hire. It formed a frequent
item in the inventories of deceased colonists, being
often the only cash mentioned. It even found
its way into the coffers of Harvard college, for
we read that the lease of the wampum trade in
Massachusetts was attended with the obligation
to take from the college the wampum which it
might have on hand from time to time. 2 In the
forest, likewise, it now circulated as money, for
1 Records of Mass., n, 261.
2 Records of Mass., I, 323.
53
the Indian was quick to copy the white man s
use of his beads.
Toward the middle of the century wampum
reached its highest value in New-England. There
after the increasing prosperity of the colonies,
the domestic coinage of silver, and perhaps the
too extensive manufacture of the shell money,
gradually diminishing its value, drove it from cir
culation. In 1650, it was refused in payment of
country rates in Massachusetts. 1 This action of
the government naturally created distrust among
the people, to counteract which it was ordered
that " peage " should still " remagne pawable from
man to man, according to the law in force."
Close upon this followed another decree, limiting
it as a legal tender to 40 shillings. 2 These laws
continued in force till 1661, when wampum was
1 Records of Mass., n, 279.
2 Ibid, IV, p. 36.
54
declared to be no longer a legal tender in Massa
chusetts. 1 Rhode Island passed a similar decree
the next year 2 and Connecticut, probably, soon
afterwards. But though wampum now ceased to
be legally current, it lingered among the people
for years and constituted in great part the small
change of the community. As late as 1704, it
was a common mode of payment in country places. 3
Shell money was used extensively and for a long
time in the Dutch colonies. Here for a while
absolutely no coin was in circulation, and wampum
being the feasiblesubstitute was universallyadopted.
So great was the popular demand, that even the
unstrung wampum, prohibited in the eastern
colonies, passed at but a trifling discount. 4 For
1 Records of Mass., iv, part 2, pages 4, 5.
2 R. Island Colonial Records, I, page 474.
3 Madam Knight s Journal, written in 1704, page 43.
4 Doc. relating to the Colonial Hist of New York, I, 474.
55
many years the easy-going government at New
Amsterdam does not seem to have regulated the
currency by law, as did its more thorough neigh
bors, and the amount of wampum requisite to
make a stiver, was left to be determined by the
parties concerned. Such a course was fraught
with inconvenience to the public, and frequent
petitions were made for the establishment of some
uniform rate. 1
The rate, however, which obtained by common
consent, was four of the strung and six of the
loose beads for a stiver. 2 But in 1641, there
came from foreign parts an inundation of " nasty,
rough " sewan, which drove the better sort out
of circulation, " nay," so runs the record, " threat
ened the ruin of the country," and legislation was
imperatively demanded. This inferior article was
-Ibid, P . 336.
2 Ibid, p. 425.
56
therefore condemned to pass five for a stiver during
the following month, and afterwards six, at
which rate the loose, unstringed wampum, which
served the community as change, subsequently
circulated. 1 The importance of wampum during
these years is well illustrated by the fact that the
opulent West India Company in 1664, sought
to negotiate a loan of five or six thousand guilders
in it, wherewith to pay the laboring people, the
obligation to be satisfied with goodnegroes or other
goods. 2 The Dutch succumbed to superior force,
but wampum still held its own. It continued to
be the chief currency not only in New York, but
in the many settlements to the west and south,
which were then under the control of the author
ities at New York. In 1672, the inhabitants of
Hoanskill and New Castle on the Delaware,
1 O Callaghan s New Netherland, I, 230.
"Doc. Col. Hist of New Tork, II, p. 371.
57
having been plundered by Dutch privateers were
permitted by the government at New York to
lay an impost of four guilders, in wampum, upon
each anker of strong rum imported or sold there. 1
A guilder, which was about six pence currency
or four pence sterling, consisted of twenty stivers,
and eight beads were reckoned equal to one stiver.
As heretofore there was little or no certain coin
in circulation and wampum passed for current
payment in all cases. Indeed the country was so
drained of even this currency by the Indian trade,
that there was difficulty in obtaining a sufficiency.
To remedy this state of affairs, the governor and
council of New York were in 1673 constrained
to issue their proclamation which was published
at Albany, Esopus, Delaware, Long Island and the
adjacent parts, commanding that " instead of
eight white and four black (beads), six white and
1 Proud s Hist, of Pennsylvania^ I, page 133.
8
three black should pass for a stiver ; and three
times so much the value of silver/ 1
The contributions in the churches were for
many years made in wampum, and the first church
on the Jersey shore was built with funds contri
buted in this way from Sabbath to Sabbath. As
late as 1683, " the schoolmaster in Flatbush was
paid his salary in wheat, wampum value : He
was bound to provide a basin of water for the
purpose of baptism, for which he received from
the parents or sponsors twelve stivers in wam
pum." Nor ten years later had the money of
the aborigines become wholly supplanted by gold
and silver, for we learn that " in 1693, ^ e ferriage
of each single person from New York to
Brooklyn was eight stivers in wampum, or a
1 Hazzard s Annals of Pennsylvania.
2 O Callaghan s New Netherlands I, 61.
59
silver two-pence/ l Further than this we are
unable to trace, though we have good reason to
believe that it circulated, to a limited extent, for
some time thereafter.
Thus while the Indian declined in power his
simple coinage passed from hand to hand, among
his conquerors, in the haunts where unnumbered
generations of his ancestors had trafficked it in
rude barter, or offered it with solemn ceremonial,
their costliest offering, to their country s gods.
It was for about a quarter of a century a legal
tender in New England, while among the Dutch
it was during half a century often the only circu
lating medium, and among both Dutch and
English it rilled a more or less important part
in the currency for nearly an entire century.
When at length the increasing wealth of the
people drove wampum out of common use, it still
1 O Callaghan s New Nether/and, I, ibid.
6o
remained an important article in commerce. It
was manufactured at New York until the com
mencement of the present century to be used in
traffic with the Indians, for whom it had lost
none of its charms, and to be carried by our
whalers into the northern seas.
Treaties and compacts between the different
tribes and the states, and later the general govern
ment, continued to be ratified by the interchange
of wampum belts. The records of the eighteenth
century abound with instances of this character.
The last occasion of the kind is believed to have
been at Prairie du Chien in 1825. L
Among the Indians of the present day wampum
is unknown. The name still remains, but the
trifles to which it is applied bear no resemblance
to the ancient article. The glass beads now
1 Schoolcraft s Notes on the Iroquois.
6i
current as wampum and the original wampum
are not less unlike, than the squalid Blackfoot of
our western plains, and the proud and imperious
Mohawk, beside his native stream.
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