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.