Famous Native American Chiefs

Iroquois Chief Red Jacket

Drawing of Iroquois Chief Red Jacket

Shawnee Indian Chief

Iroquois Indian Chief

Potawatomie Indian Chief

Creek Indian Chief

Chippewa Indian Chief

Sioux Indian Chief

Creek Indian Chief

Omaha Indian Chief

Sauk Indian Chief

Sioux Indian Chief

Chippewa Indian Chief

Ioway Indian Chief

Chippewa Indian Chief

Winnebago Indian Chief

Deleware Indian Chief

Fox Indian Chief

Mandan Indian Chief

Chippewa Indian Chief

 Seneca Indian Woman in traditional Seneca Iroquois Dress

Seneca Indian woman named Ah-Weh-Eyu photographed in 1903 in traditional Seneca Iroquois dress. 

Hochelagans and the Mohawks: A Link in Iroquois History

Hochelaga and the Mohawks: A Link in Iroquois History

A LINK IN IROQUOIS HISTORY

(Presented by John Reade and read May 26, 1899.)

The exact origin and first history of the race whose energy so stunted the growth of early Canada and made the cause of France in America impossible, have long been wrapped in mystery. In the days of the first white settlements the Iroquois are found leagued as the Five Nations in their familiar territory from the Mohawk River westward. Whence they came thither has always been a disputed question. The early Jesuits agreed that they were an off-shoot of the Huron race whose strongholds were thickly sown on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, but the Jesuits were not clear as to their course of migration from that region, it being merely remarked that they had once possessed some settlements on the St. Lawrence below Montreal, with the apparent inference that they had arrived at these by way of Lake Champlain. Later writers have drawn the same inference from the mention made to Cartier by the Hochelagans of certain enemies from the south whose name and direction had a likeness to later Iroquois conditions. Charlevoix was persuaded by persons who he considered had sufficiently studied the subject that their seats before they left for the country of the Five Nations were about Montreal. The late Horatio Hale put the more recently current and widely accepted form of this view as follows: "The clear and positive traditions of all the surviving tribes, Hurons, Iroquois and Tuscaroras, point to the Lower St. Lawrence as the earliest known abode of their stock. Here the first explorer, Cartier, found Indians of this stock at Hochelaga and Stadacona, now the sites of Montreal and Quebec. Centuries before his time, according to the native tradition, the ancestors of the Huron-Iroquois family had dwelt in this locality, or still further east and nearer to the river's mouth. As the numbers increased, dissensions arose. The hive swarmed and band after band moved off to the west and south."

"Their first station on the south side of the lakes was at the mouth of the Oswego River.Advancing to the southeast, the emigrants struck the River Hudson" and thence the ocean. Most of them returned to the Mohawk River, where the Huron speech was altered to Mohawk. In Iroquois tradition and in the constitution of their League the Canienga (Mohawk) nation ranks as 'eldest brother' of the family. A comparison of the dialects proves this tradition to be well founded. The Canienga language approaches nearest to the Huron, and is undoubtedly the source from which all the other Iroquois dialects are derived. Cusick states positively that the other families, as he styles them, of the Iroquois household, leaving the Mohawks in their original abode, proceeded step by step to the westward. The Oneidas halted at their creek, the Onondagas at their mountain, the Cayugas at their lake and the Senecas or Sonontowans, the great hill people, at a lofty eminence which rises south of the Canandaigua Lake." Hale appeals also to the Wyandot tradition recorded by Peter Dooyentate Clark, that the Huron originally lived about Montreal near the "Senecas," until war broke out and drove them westward. He sets the formation of the League of the Long House as far back as the fourteenth century.

All these authors, it will be seen, together with every historian who has referred to the League,—treat of the Five Nations as always having been one people. A very different view, based principally on archæology, has however been recently accepted by at least several of the leading authorities on the subject,—the view that the Iroquois League was acompound of two distinct peoples, the Mohawks, in the east, including the Oneidas; and the Senecas, in the west, including the Onondagas and Cayugas. Rev. W.M. Beauchamp, of Baldwinsville, the most thorough living student of the matter, first suggested a late date for the coming of the Mohawks and formation of the League. He had noticed that the three Seneca dialects differed very greatly from the two Mohawk, and that while the local relics of the former showed they had been long settled in their country, those of the latter evidenced a very recent occupation. He had several battles with Hale on the subject, the latter arguing chiefly from tradition and change of language. "The probability," writes Mr. Beauchamp—privately to the writer—"is that a division took place at Lake Erie, or perhaps further west; some passed on the north side and became the Neutrals and Hurons; the vanguard becoming the Mohawks or Hochelagans, afterwards Mohawks and Oneidas. Part went far south, as the Tuscaroras and Cherokees, and a more northern branch, the Andastes; part followed the south shore and became the Eries, Senecas and Cayugas; part went to the east of Lake Ontario, removing and becoming the Onondagas, when the Huron war began."

It is noticeable that the earliest accounts of the Five Nations speak of them as of two kinds—Mohawks and "Sinnekes," or as termed by the French the Inferior and Superior Iroquois. For example Antony Van Corlear's Journal, edited by Gen. James Grant Wilson, also certain of the New York documents. The most thorough local student of early Mohawk town-sites, Mr. S.L. Frey, of Palatine Bridge, N.Y., supports Mr. Beauchamp in his view of the late coming of the Mohawks into the Mohawk River Valley, where they have always been settled in historic times. According to him, although these people changed their sites every 25 or 30 years from failure of the wood supply and other causes, only four prehistoric sites have been discovered in that district, all the others containing relics of European origin. Mr. Beauchamp believes even this number too large. Both put forward the idea that the Mohawks were the ancient race of Hochelaga, whose town on the island of Montreal was visited by Jacques Cartier in 1535, and had disappeared completely in 1608 when Champlain founded Quebec. "What had become of these people?" writes Mr. Frey, in his pamphlet "The Mohawks." "An overwhelming force of wandering Algonquins had destroyed their towns. To what new land had they gone? I think we shall find them seated in the impregnable strongholds among the hills and in the dense forests of the Mohawk Valley."

It is my privilege to take up their theory from the Montreal end and in the light of the local archæology of this place and of early French historical lore, to supply links which seem to throw considerable light on the problem.

The description given by Cartier of the picturesque palisaded town of Hochelaga, situated near the foot of Mount Royal, surrounded by cornfields, has frequently been quoted. But other points of Cartier's narrative, concerning the numbers and relations of the population, have scarcely been studied. Let us examine this phase of it. During his first voyage in 1534, in the neighbourhood of Gaspé, he met on the water the first people speaking the tongue of this race, a temporary fishing community of over 200 souls, men, women and children, in some 40 canoes, under which they slept, having evidently no village there, but belonging, as afterwards is stated, to Stadacona. He seized and carried to France two of them, who, when he returned next year, called the place where they had been taken Honguédo, and said that the north shore, above Anticosti Island, was the commencement of inhabited country which led to Canada (the Quebec region), Hochelaga, (Montreal) and the country of Saguenay, far to the west "whence came the red copper" (of which axes have since been found in the débris of Hochelaga, and which, in fact, came from Lake Superior), and that no man they ever heard of had ever been to the end of the great river of fresh water above. Here we have the first indication of the racial situation of the Hochelagans. At the mouth of the Saguenay River—so called because it was one of the routes to the Sagnenay of the Algonquins, west of the Upper Ottawa—he found four fishing canoes from Canada. Plenty of fishing was prosecuted from this point upwards. In "the Province of Canada," he proceeds, "there are several peoples in unwalled villages." At the Isle of Orleans, just below Quebec, the principal peace chief, or, Agouhanna of "Canada," Donnaconna, came to them with 12 canoes from the town (ville) of Stadacona, or Stadaconé, which was surrounded by tilled land on the heights. Twenty-five canoes from Stadacona afterwards visited them; and later Donnaconna brought on board "10 or 12 other of the greatest chiefs" with more than 500 persons, men, women and children, some doubtless from the neighbouring settlements. If the same 200 persons as in the previous year were absent fishing at Gaspé, and others in other spots, these figures argue a considerable population.

Below Stadacona, were four "peoples and settlements": Ajoasté, Starnatam, Tailla (on a mountain) and Satadin or Stadin. Above Stadacona were Tekenouday (on a mountain) and Hochelay (Achelacy or Hagouchouda) which was in open country. Further up were Hochelaga and some settlements on the island of Montreal, and various other places unobserved by Cartier, belonging to the same race; who according to a later statement of the remnant of them, confirmed by archæology, had several "towns" on the island of Montreal and inhabited "all the hills to the south and east." The hills to be seen from Mount Royal to the south are the northern slopes of the Adirondacks; while to the east are the lone volcanic eminences in the plain, Montarville, Beloeil, Rougemont, Johnson, Yamaska, Shefford, Orford and the Green Mountains. All these hills deserve search for Huron-Iroquois town-sites. The general sense of this paragraph includes an implication also of settlements towards and on Lake Champlain, that is to say, when taken in connection with the landscape. (My own dwelling overlooks this landscape.) At the same time let me say that perhaps due inquiries might locate some of the sites of Ajoaste and the other villages in the Quebec district. In Cartier's third voyage he refers obscurely, in treating of Montreal, to "the said town of Tutonaguy." This word, with French pronunciation, appears to be the same as that still given by Mohawks to the Island,—Tiotiaké, meaning "deep water beside shallow," that is to say, "below the Rapid." In the so-called Cabot map of 1544 the name Hochelaga is replaced by "Tutonaer," apparently from some map of Cartier's. It may be a reproduction of some lost map of his. Lewis H. Morgan gives "Tiotiake" as "Do-de-a-ga." Another place named by Cartier is Maisouna, to which the chief of Hochelay had been gone two days when the explorer made his settlement a visit. On a map of Ortelius of 1556 quoted by Parkman this name appears to be given as Muscova, a district placed on the right bank of the Richelieu River and opposite Hochelay, but possibly this is a pure guess, though it is a likely one. It may perhaps be conjectured that Stadacona, Tailla and Tekenouday, being on heights, were the oldest strongholds in their region.

All the country was covered with forests "except around the peoples, who cut it down to make their settlement and tillage." At Stadacona he was shown five scalps of a race called Toudamans from the south, with whom they were constantly at war, and who had killed about 200 of their people at Massacre Island, Bic, in a cave, while they were on the way to Honguédo to fish. All these names must of course be given the old French pronunciation.

Proceeding up the river near Hochelaga he found "a great number of dwellings along the shore" inhabited by fisherfolk, as was the custom of the Huron-Iroquois in the summer season. The village called Hochelay was situated about forty-five miles above Stadacona, at the Richelieu rapid, between which and Hochelaga, a distance of about 135 miles, he mentions no village. This absence of settlements I attribute to the fact that the intermediate Three Rivers region was an ancient special appurtenance of the Algonquins, with whom the Hochelagans were to all appearance then on terms of friendly sufferance and trade, if not alliance. In later days the same region was uninhabited, on account of Iroquois incursions by the River Richelieu and Lake Champlain. In the islands at the head of Lake St. Peter, Cartier met five hunters who directed him to Hochelaga. "More than a thousand" persons, he says, received them with joy at Hochelaga. This expression of number however is not very definite. It is frequently used by Dante to signify a multitude in the Divina Comédia. The town of Hochelaga consisted of "about fifty houses, in length about fifty paces each at most, and twelve or fifteen paces wide," made of bark on sapling frames in the manner of the Iroquois long houses. The round "fifties" are obviously approximate. The plan of the town given in Ramusio shows some forty-five fires, each serving some five families, but the interior division differs so greatly from that of early Huron and Iroquois houses, and from his phrase "fifty by twelve or fifteen," that it appears to be the result of inaccurate drawing. There is therefore considerable room for difference as to the population of the town, ranging from say 1,200 to 2,000 souls, the verbal description which is much the more authoritative, inclining in favour of the latter. Any estimate of the total population of the Hochelagan race on the river, must be a guess. If, however, those on the island of Montreal be set at 2,000, and the "more than 500" of Stadacona be considered as a fair average for the principal town and 300 (which also was the average estimated by Père Lalemant for the Neutral nation) as an average for the eight or so villages of the Quebec district, (the absentees, such as the 200 at Gaspé from Stadacona being perhaps offset by contingents from the places close to Stadacona) we have some 4,900 accounted for. Those on all the hills to the south and east of Mount Royal would add anywhere from say 3,000 to an indefinitely greater number more. Perhaps 5,000, however, should not be exceeded as the limit for these hills and Lake Champlain. We arrive therefore at a guess of from 7,900 to 9,900 as the total. As the lower figures seem conservative, compared with the early average of Huron and Iroquois villages, the guess may perhaps be raised a little to say from 10,000 to 11,000. "This people confines itself to tillage and fishing, for they do not leave their country and are not migratory like those of Canada and Saguenay, although the said Canadians are subject to them, with eight or nine other peoples who are on the said river." Nevertheless the site of Hochelaga, unearthed in 1860, shows them to have been traders to some extent with the west, evidently through the Ottawa Algonquins. What Cartier did during his brief visit to the town itself is well known. The main point for us is that three men led him to the top of Mount Royal and showed him the country. They told him of the Ottawa River and of three great rapids in the St. Lawrence, after passing which, "one could sail more than three moons along the said river," doubtless meaning along the Great Lakes. Silver and brass they identified as coming from that region, and "there were Agojudas, or wicked people, armed even to the fingers," of whom they showed "the make of their armor, which is of cords and wood laced and woven together; giving to understand that the said Agojudas are continually at war with one and other." This testimony clearly describes the armour of the early Hurons and Iroquois as found by Champlain, and seems to relate to war between the Hurons and Senecas at that period and to an aversion to them by the people of the town of Hochelaga themselves; who were, however, living in security from them at the time, apparently cut off from regular communication with them by Algonquin peoples, particularly those of the Ottawa, who controlled Huron communication with the lower St. Lawrence in the same way in Champlain's days.

On returning to Stadacona, Cartier, by talking with Donnaconna, learnt what showed this land of Saguenay so much talked of by these people, to be undoubtedly the Huron country. "The straight and good and safest road to it is by the Fleuve (St. Lawrence), to above Hochelaga and by the river which descends from the said Saguenay and enters the said Fleuve (as we had seen); and thence it takes a month to reach." This is simply the Ottawa route to Lake Huron used by the Jesuits in the next century. What they had seen was the Ottawa River entering the St. Lawrence—from the top of Mount Royal, whence it is visible to-day. The name Saguenay may possibly be Saginaw,—the old Saguenam, the "very deep bay on the west shore of Lake Huron," of Charlevoix, (Book XI.) though it is not necessarily Saginaw Bay itself, as such names shift. "And they gave to understand that in that country the people are clothed with clothes like us, and there are many peoples in towns and good persons and that they have a great quantity of gold and of red copper. And they told us that all the land from the said first river to Hochelagea and Saguenay is an island surrounded by streams and the said great river (St. Lawrence); and that after passing Saguenay, said river (Ottawa) enters two or three great lakes of water, very large; after which a fresh water sea is reached, whereof there is no mention of having seen the end, as they have heard from those of the Saguenay; for they told us they had never been there themselves." Yet later, in chapter XIX., it is stated that old Donnaconna assured them he had been in the land of the Saguenay, where he related several impossible marvels, such as people of only one leg. It is to be noted that "the peoples in towns," who are apparently Huron-Iroquois, are here referred to as "good people," while the Hochelagans speak of them as "wicked." This is explicable enough as a difference of view on distant races with whom they had no contact. It seems to imply that the "Canada" people were not in such close communication with the town of Hochelaga as to have the same opinions and perhaps the Canada view of the Hurons as good persons was the original view of the early settlers, while the Hochelagans may have had unpleasant later experiences or echo those of the Ottawa Algonquins. But furthermore they told him of the Richelieu River where apparently it took a month to go with their canoes from Sainte Croix (Stadacona) to a country "where there are never ice nor snow; but where there are constant wars one against another, and there are oranges, almonds, nuts, plums, and other kinds of fruit in great abundance, and oil is made from trees, very good for the cure of diseases; there the inhabitants are clothed and accoutred in skins like themselves." This land Cartier considered to be Florida,—but the point for our present purpose is the frequenting of the Richelieu, Lake Champlain and lands far south of them by the Hochelagans at that period. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Capt. John Smith met the canoes of an Iroquois people on the upper part of Chesapeake Bay.

We may now draw some conclusions. Originally the population of the St. Lawrence valley seems to have been occupied by Algonquins, as these people surrounded it on all sides. A question I would like to see investigated is whether any of these built villages and grew corn here, as did some of the Algonquins of the New England coast and those of Allumette Island on the Ottawa. This might explain some of the deserted Indian clearings which the early Jesuits noted along the shore of the river, and of which Champlain, in 1611, used one of about 60 acres at Place Royale, Montreal. Cartier, it is seen, expressly explains some of them to be Huron-Iroquois clearings cultivated under his own observation. The known Algonquins of the immediate region were all nomadic.

In 1534 we have, from below Stadacona (Quebec) to above Hochelaga (Montreal), and down the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain, the valley in possession of a Huron-Iroquois race, dominated by Hochelaga, a town of say 2,000 souls, judging from the Huron average and from Cartier's details. The descendants of the Hochelagans in 1642 pointed out the spots where there were "several towns" on the island. Mr. Beauchamp holds, with Parkman, Dawson and other writers, that "those who pointed out spots in 1642 were of anAlgonquin tribe, not descendants of the Mohawk Hochelagans, but locally their successors." But I cannot accept this Algonquin theory, as their connection with the Hochelagans is too explicit and I shall give other reasons further on. The savages, it is true, called the island by an Algonquin name; "the island where there was a city or village," the Algonquin phrase for which was Minitik-Outen-Entagougiban, but these later terms have small bearing. The site of one of the towns on the island is conjectured, from the finding of relics, to have been at Longue Pointe, nine miles below Hochelaga; a village appears from Cartier's account of his third voyage to have existed about the Lachine Rapids; and another was some miles below, probably at Point St. Charles or the Little River at Verdun. Fourteen skeletons, buried after the Mohawk fashion, have been discovered on the upper slope of Westmount, the southern ridge of Mount Royal, about a mile from Hochelaga and not far from an old Indian well, indicating possibly the proximity of another pre-historic town-site of the race, and at any rate a burying ground. The identification and excavations were made by the writer. If, however, the southern enemies, called Toudamans, five of whose scalps were shown Cartier at Stadacona, were, as one conjecture has it, Tonontouans or Senecas, the Iroquois identity theory must be varied, but it is much more likely the Toudamans were the Etchemins. At any rate it seems clear that the Hochelagan race came down the St. Lawrence as a spur (probably an adventurous fishing party) from the great Huron-Iroquois centre about Lake Huron; for that their advent had been recent appears from the fewness of sites discovered, from the smallness of the population, considering the richness of the country, and especially from the fact that the Huron, and the Seneca, and their own tongues were still mutually comprehensible, notwithstanding the rapid changes of Indian dialects. Everything considered, their coming might perhaps be placed about 1450, which could give time for the settlements on Lake Champlain, unearthed by Dr. D.S. Kellogg and others and rendered probable by their pottery and other evidence as being Huron-Iroquois. Cartier, as we have seen, described the Hochelagan towns along the river.

An Iroquois Story Of The Little Dipper

An Iroquois Story Of The Little Dipper

    
You all know the stars that are called the Pleiades. Sometimes, but wrongly, they are called the Little Dipper. They are a group of seven little stars that look as if they were quite close together.The Iroquois tell this story about them: There were once seven little Indian boys who were great friends. Every evening they used to come to a little mound to dance and feast. They would first eat their corn and beans, and then one of their number would sit upon the mound and sing, while the others danced around the mound. One time they thought they would have a much grander feast than usual, and each agreed upon what he would bring for it. But their parents would not give them what they wanted, and the little lads met at the mound without their feast. The singer took his place and began his song, while his companions started to dance. As they danced they forgot their sorrows and "their heads and hearts grew lighter," until at last they flew up into the air. Their parents saw them as they rose, and cried out to them to return; but up and up they went until they were changed into the seven stars. Now, one of the Pleiades is dimmer than the rest, and they say that it is the little singer, who is homesick and pale because he wants to return but cannot.

The Complete History of Indian 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 welcome. 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 afterwards 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 commencement of the following century in New York, the English in New England and the French in Canada. The pre-historic inhabitants of the Mississippi valley were also evidently acquainted 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 localities sewan or zewand. But generally sewan prevailed among the Dutch, and wampum among the English. These names were applied without distinction to all varieties of beads. This confusion arose naturally enough from the scanty acquaintance of the whites with the Indian language. The word wampum [wompam],[1] which[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 suckáuhock, a name compounded of súcki, "dark colored," and hock, "shell." The name Mowhakes, 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 suckáuhock, 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,] drilled length-wise and strung upon fibres of hemp or the tendons of wild beasts. Suckáuhock was made from the stem of the Venus mercenaria, or common round clam, popularly known as the quauhaug; wampum from the column and inner whorls of the Pyrula carica and Pyrula caniculata [Lam.], species known as Winkles or Periwinkles among fishermen, and the largest convoluted shells[11] of our New England coast.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 parallelopiped; these were then drilled and afterwards ground and polished. Possessing no[12] better tools, the Indians made shift to bore them with stone drills,   implements which hardly correspond 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 garments, or strung in long flexible rows, were very comely and without a trace of the tawdriness, which is so characteristic of uncivilized peoples. The suckáuhock with its varying shades of purple[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 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 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 wampum 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] chemical tests and structural peculiarities to be similar in material, have been exhumed from the ancient mounds of the west

Other species besides the wampum and suckáuhock crept into local use among the different tribes. The Iroquois in their civil and religious ceremonies employed a variety named otekóa, 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 ceremonial. 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 separate pieces were round and flat, about an eighth] of an inch broad and a sixteenth of an inch thick, white and black were strung alternately, but the strings, though arranged with considerable nicety, lacked wholly the finish and flexibility of the regular article. In Virginia roenoke was current. This consisted of small rough fragments 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 fraudulently 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 spurious article upon him.

]

As wampum was made from marine shells it was naturally manufactured by the sea shore tribes, and in localities determined by the abundance of raw material. Here the shells were stored up in some convenient spot during summer, to be worked out in winter when the rigors of the season should deter the men from their ordinary out door pursuit 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,
 their island went by the name of sewan hacky, 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 personally 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, exacted 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[18] 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. From Sewan-Hacky down the Atlantic coast and along the gulf, the shaded covers and quiet banks were doubtless dotted with wampum manufactories, for there was a great demand constantly to be met.

The inland tribes were of course unable to produce 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.[10] 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 caution 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
 that it was the means of an extensive trade between the coast and the interior, the inland Indians bringing down hides and furs to be exchanged 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 wants and satisfactions. His circumstances did not demand and would not therefore suggest it. Wampum 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 circulating medium never dawned upon them. In like manner, the Indian had never learned that use of his golden wampum which was the first to suggest itself to the white man. He made and valued it for other purposes.

A fondness for personal display and decoration
 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. Bracelets and necklaces were other forms in which it was frequently displayed. With the females, head-dresses, consisting 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
 outer clothing was usually thus ornamented. Indeed the wealthy and powerful wore cloaks, as also aprons and caps, thickly studded with wampum wrought into various fantastic forms and figures. Says that old voyager, John Josselyn, "Prince Phillip, a little before I came to England [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
 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's 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 workmanship 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 gaudiness 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. Like tokens accompanied
 every weighty message, and little reliance was put upon the messenger who brought not with him such assurances of good faith.They cemented friendships, confirmed alliances, sealed treaties, and effectually effaced the memory of injuries.A curious ceremonial had grown up in their presentation 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 submitted
 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 presents taken from the ground in evidence thereof, similar presents were given in return, and the
 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 ornamented with black wampum, into the war post in each village of the league.

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 Johnson, Feb. 18, 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[28] the confederacy, have had a considerable misunderstanding 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.

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 their Allies.

Brother Warraghiyagey,

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 tenderly 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:[30]

Brother Warraghiyagey,

Look with all attention on this belt and remember 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."[

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.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.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
 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. 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 imparting energy to the language, at the same time
 made it easy to convey its meaning by picture writing or symbolism, the only mode of writing which the aborigine possessed.Thus, too, it was easy to put upon a belt a few significant characters which by the principle of mental association 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
 in these mysterious records, instruct them in the 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
 the league, as recorded in the belts committed to his charge.

Wampum played an important part in religious as well as civil ceremonies. On occasions of great public calamities, it formed the most acceptable 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 progress 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.
 Nay it was even whispered in the early time, that little children gaily adorned with wampum were led into the midst and thrust into the fiery embrace of the hissing god.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," and their other stated festivals, the people assembled 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
 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 promised 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.

Wampum was the tribute paid by the vanquished in war, as also the means by which threatened wars were often averted. The Long Island Indians for many years paid an annual tribute to the Pequots, a powerful tribe dwelling in Eastern Connecticut 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
 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.Perhaps desire for another's wampum sometimes prompted him to such foul deeds, as it did the white man, 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,that it
 might befriend him on his journey to the spirit land, and on his arrival there gain for him admission 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 thousand beaver skins.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.] Wampum was as yet comparatively unknown in Massachusetts Bay, and
 the colonists were ignorant of its uses. This purchase 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 infringement of the privileges thus granted. The traders of New England were now ranging the forests in 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 resounded every where to the tread of the adventurous 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 distance[ 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. 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
 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 colonial 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 neighbors. In 1634, the Pequots were fined 400 fathoms of wampum, and two years afterwards 600 fathoms more.After 1637, the Long Island Indians paid a large yearly tribute to the united commissioners,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[ 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] 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
 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. In 1663, the assessment upon this tribe was fixed at 80 fathoms. Such are a few of the many instances to be found in the records, showing the enormous amount of wampum paid as tribute by the natives to the early authorities of New England.

The Dutch supply was augmented in a different manner. They soon found the native manufactories 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
 be thus easily imposed upon, and the manufacture of earthen money was soon given up.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, produced a general dearth of the precious metals in[ 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 unwieldy for general use. Naturally then recourse was had to an article in extensive use among the traders, and possessing in a measure the portability 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 12d., at the rate of six beads for a penny.The same year it became a legal tender in Connecticut] for any amount. The general court declaring it receivable for taxes "at fousen (4) a penny."

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 12d. at a time except the receiver desire more."The public needs soon required another change, and the legality of shell currency rose to £10.This novel coinage, thus regulated from time to time, answered well for money throughout the colonies, till after a while trouble arose from an unexpected source. The enormous demand at length brought upon the market beads of stone or unallowed shells, as also many rough,[ 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 circulation of the colonies. The commissioners of 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, 1d. 3s. 12d. 5s.
 in white; 2d. 6s. 6d. and 10s. in blacke." Another favorite length was the fathom, containing 360 beads and current at about 10s. 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.In the forest, likewise, it now circulated as money, for
 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. Thereafter 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 circulation. In 1650, it was refused in payment of country rates in Massachusetts. 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.These laws continued in force till 1661, when wampum was
 declared to be no longer a legal tender in Massachusetts. Rhode Island passed a similar decree the next year 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.

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 feasible substitute was universally adopted. So great was the popular demand, that even the unstrung wampum, prohibited in the eastern colonies, passed at but a trifling discount.For
 many years the easy-going government at New Amsterdam does not seem to have regulated the currency by law, as did its more thorough neighbors, 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.

The rate, however, which obtained by common consent, was four of the strung and six of the loose beads for a stiver. 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, "threatened the ruin of the country," and legislation was imperatively demanded. This inferior article was
 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 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 good negroes or other goods.  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 authorities at New York. In 1672, the inhabitants of Hoanskill and New Castle on the Delaware,
 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.[ 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
 three black should pass for a stiver; and three times so much the value of silver."[

The contributions in the churches were for many years made in wampum, and the first church on the Jersey shore was built with funds contributed 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 wampum."Nor ten years later had the money of the aborigines become wholly supplanted by gold and silver, for we learn that "in 1693, the ferriage of each single person from New York to Brooklyn was eight stivers in wampum, or a
 silver two-pence."[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 circulating medium, and among both Dutch and English it filled 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
 remained an important article in commerce. It was manufactured at New York until the commencement 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 government, 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.

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
 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.