FOOTNOTES:

[1] Trumbull in his notes in the Narragansett Club Reprint of Roger Williams's Key, says: "Wom pam was the name of the white beads collectively; when strung or wrought in girdles they constituted wanôm-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 being much more abundant than suckáuhock. Their error has however long since received the sanction of usage. But as far as our own knowledge extends there was no comprehensive word for all shell beads in use among the Indians. Sewan had 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:—"Seahwhóog, 'they are scattered' [Elliot]. From this word the Dutch traders gave the name of sewared or zeewand [the participle, seahwhóun, 'scattered,' 'loose'], to all shell money just as the English called all peage, or string beads, by the name of the white or wampom."

[2] Sometimes from the Buccinum undulatum [Möll], found from Nantucket to Labrador, and occasionally perhaps from the Natica heros [Say] found from New York to Labrador, and the Natica duplicata found from Florida to Massachusetts Bay.

In this connection the writer would acknowledge his indebtedness to Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull, a gentleman who has given much time and talent to the investigation of matters of Indian history.

[3] Many writers have asserted that wampum was worked out of the inside of the Great Conque shell. This view is evidently erroneous, as the Great Conque, 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.

Roger Williams [Key, chap. xxiv], who certainly had fine opportunities for observation, and our other most trustworthy authorities, state that the Suckáuhock was made from the clam shell, and the wampum from the shells of the Periwinkle, and such was unquestionably the case.

[4] Roger Williams's Key, chap. xxiv.

[5] Gordon, Hist. of Penn., Appendix F.

[6] See Schoolcraft's report on the Grove Creek Mound in vol. I, of Transactions of the Am. Ethnological Soc.

[7] League of the Iroquois, p. 120.

[8] The otekóa of the Iroquois was the only exception of which we know.

[9] Roger Williams's Key, chap. xxiv.

[10] Roger Williams's Key, chap. xxiv.

[11] 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.

[12] Trumbull's Hist. of Connecticut, I, p. 50.

[13] "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. Y., vol. II, p. 624.

[14] 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 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.

[15] League of the Iroquois, p. 339.

[16] Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. VII, p. 44.

[17] League of the Iroquois, p. 120.

[18] Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia in the Revolution, Kidder, p. 286.

[19] 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.

[20] League of the Iroquois, p. 119.

[21] President Stiles's Itinerary, unpublished.

[22] League of the Iroquois, page 188.

[23] Thomson's Long Island, p. 62.

[24] League of the Iroquois, p. 331.

[25] 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.

[26] 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.

[27] Winthrop, I, 113.

[28] Bradford's Letters, Mass. Hist. Collections, III, 54.

[29] Doc. Rel. to Colonial History of New York, I, 459.

[30] Lawson's History of North Carolina, ed. of 1714, page 315.

[31] Rhode Island Colonial Records, I, 130.

[32] Winthrop, pages 147, 149 and 192.

[33] Thompson's Long Island, page 62.

[34] Hazard, II, page 413.

[35] Hazard, III, page 44.

[36] Hazard, II, pages 387 and 388.

[37] Thompson's Long Island, page 60.

[38] 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.

[39] Colonial Records of Conn., I, 12.

[40] Records of Mass., I, p. 302.

[41] Ibid., p. 329.

[42] Col. Records of Conn., I, 179.

[43] Records of Mass., II, 261.

[44] Records of Mass., I, 323.

[45] Records of Mass., II, 279.

[46] Ibid., IV, p. 36.

[47] Records of Mass., IV, part 2, pages 4, 5.

[48] R. Island Colonial Records, I, page 474.

[49] Madam Knight's Journal, written in 1704, page 43.

[50] Doc. Relating to the Colonial Hist. of New York, I, 474.

[51] Ibid., p. 336.

[52] Ibid., p. 425.

[53] O'Callaghan's New Netherland, I, 230.

[54] Doc. Col. Hist. of New York, II, p. 371.

[55] Proud's Hist. of Pennsylvania, I, page 133.

[56] Hazzard's Annals of Pennsylvania.

[57] O'Callaghan's New Netherland, I, 61.

[58] O'Callaghan's New Netherland, I, ibid.

[59] Schoolcraft's Notes on the Iroquois.

Transcriber's Note

Archaic spellings have been retained. Abbreviations have been normalised. Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note, whilst more significant amendments are listed below: