NOTE.
The following pages constitute an Essay read before the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia in January 1868. It was intended for publication in the second volume of the Transactions of the Society, but as the appearance 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 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 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[2] [Lam.], species known as Winkles or Periwinkles among fishermen, and the largest convoluted shells of our New England coast.[3] 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 better tools, the Indians made shift to bore them with stone drills,[4] 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 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[5] 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.[6]
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.[7] 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,[8] 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 pursuits.[9] 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 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.[11] 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 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.[12] Like tokens accompanied every weighty message, and little reliance was put upon the messenger who brought not with him such assurances of good faith.[13] They cemented friendships, confirmed alliances, sealed treaties, and effectually effaced the memory of injuries.[14] 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.[15]
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 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.