1897.] PRINCE — THE PASSAMAQUODDY WAMPUM RECORDvS. 485 



westoo, or '' Wigwam of Oratory." The ceremonies then began. 

 Each representative recited the history of his nation, telling all the 

 cruelties, tortures and hardships they had suffered during their wars 

 and stating that the time had now come to think of and take pity 

 on their women and children, their lame and old, all of whom had 

 suffered equally with the strongest and bravest warriors. When all 

 the speeches had been delivered, it was decided to erect an exten- 

 sive fence and within it to build a large wigwam. In this wigwam, 

 they were to make a big fire and, having made a switch or whip, to 

 place ^^ their father " as a guard over the wigwam with the whip 

 in his hand. If any of his children did wrong he was to punish 

 them with the whip. Every child of his within the enclosure must 

 therefore obey his orders implicitly. His duty also was to keep 

 replenishing the fire in the wigwam so that it should not go out. 

 This is the origin of the Wampum laws. 



The fence typified a treaty of peace for all the Indian nations 

 who took part in the council, fourteen in number, of which there 

 are many tribes. All these were to go within the fence and dwell 

 there, and if any should do wrong they would be liable to punish- 

 ment with the whip at the hands of '' their father." The wigwam 

 within the fence represented a universal house for all the tribes, in 

 which they might live in peace, without disputes and quarrels, like 

 members of one family. The big fire {ktchi squi) in the wigwam 

 denoted the warmth of the brotherly love engendered in the Indians 

 by their treaty. The father ruling the wigwam was the Great Chief 

 who lived at Caughnawaga. The whip in his hand was the type of 

 the Wampum laws, disobedience to which was punishable by con- 

 sent of all the tribes mentioned in the treaty. 



After this, they proceeded to make lesser laws, all of which were 

 to be recorded by means of wampum, in order that they could be 

 read to the Indians from time to time. Every feast, every cere- 

 mony, therefore, has its own ritual in the wampum ; such as the 

 burial and mourning rites after the death of a chief, the installa- 

 tion of a chief, marriage, etc. There were also salutation and 

 visiting wampum. 



PROG AMEE. PHILOS. SOC. XXXVI. loG. 2 G. PRINTED FEB. 17, 1898. 



