Page of Aztec Book. (From Photograph.)
Charles V, to know about them, and ordered three skilled painters of the Aztecs to prepare a book to be sent to the Emperor. Each artist took a different subject, so the book [pg 073] consists of three parts. The first gives a picture-written story of the Aztecs from the time when they began their wanderings; the second gives a list of the towns that paid tribute to the city of Mexico and a statement of the kind and amount of tribute each paid; the third shows how children were trained, how they were punished when they were naughty, and what kind of work they were taught. Of course the Emperor would not understand the meaning of all these queer pictures, far different from anything he had ever seen; so Mendoza had an explanation or translation written with all the pictures. This is as fortunate for us as it was for the Emperor: in this way we can learn something about the use and meaning of these characters.
XI. Money.
Indians have always been fond of beads and of shells. Wampum is shell beads of an especial shape—cylindrical, with square cut ends, and with a length one and a half times their thickness or more. This wampum was made from a thick and heavy sea-shell. A piece was split off, and then ground down until it was like a wheat straw in shape and size. It was then cut into lengths [pg 074] and drilled. The drilling was slow and tedious work. A point of stone, or, after the whites came, of metal, was struck into a cane or reed. The bit of shell to be drilled was held in the left hand; the drill was rolled on the thigh with the right hand. There were two kinds of wampum—white and purple. The purple was most valued. Thomas Morton quaintly wrote in 1630—that is, it sounds quaint to us now,—“White with them is as silver with us, the other as our gould.”
Originally wampum was simply ornamental. But it is always easy for things that are prized as ornament to be used in trade. So wampum was used as a medium of exchange; it was really the money of the eastern Indians. Strings of it passed from hand to hand as coin does with us. Sometimes the ornamental string worn a moment before would be removed to buy some object seen and desired. The famous New England chief, King Philip, is said to have had a coat “made all of wampampeog, which when in need of money, he cuts to pieces and distributes it plentifully.”
Among the Algonkin and Iroquois tribes broad belts or bands of wampum were neatly woven. The work consisted, like all weaving, of two sets of threads. The long warp threads were crossed by threads laden with beads. These belts were neat and handsome and often contained thousands of beads. The differently colored beads [pg 075] were so combined as to make striking designs and figures.
Wampum Belt. (After Holmes.)