ANCIENT ABORIGINAL TRADE IN NORTH AMERICA. 379 



sound be perceived, the issue of the expedition would be considered 

 doubtful.''* This shell, it cannot be doubted, was of marine origin, 

 though the fact is not stated in the text. The nearest sea-coast from 

 which it could have been obtained is that of the Mexican Gulf, distant 

 about nine hundred miles from the district inhabited by the Omahas. 



The white traders used to derive great profit by selling fine sea-shells 

 to the tribes of the interior. Kohl, for instance, learned from Canadian 

 fur-traders that the Ojibways, on Lake Superior, formerly purchased 

 sea-shells from them at considerable prices. •' When they (the traders) 

 exhibited a fine large shell, and held it to the ears of the Indians, these 

 latter were astonished, saying they heard the roaring of the ocean in it, 

 and paid for such a marvelous shell furs to the value of thirty or forty 

 dollars, and even more."t 



Having undertaken to compose this essay for the purpose of bringing 

 together a series of facts relating to the trade among the aborigines of 

 North America, I would be guilty of an omission, if I neglected to men- 

 tion the wampum-beads, which, besides other uses, represented the 

 money among them. The term " wampum" is often applied to shell-beads 

 in general, but should be confined, I think, to a certain class of cylindri- 

 cal beads, usually one-fourth of an inch long and drilled lengthwise, 

 which were chiefly manufactured from the shells of the common hard- 

 shell clam ( Venus mercenaria, Lin). This bivalve occurring, as every 

 one knows, in great abundance on the North American coasts, formed 

 an important article of food of the Indians living near the sea, a fact 

 demonstrated by the enormous quantity of castaway clam-shells, which 

 form a considerable part of North American Kjoekkenmoeddings. The 

 natives used to string the mollusks and to dry them for consumption 

 during winter. The blue or violet portions of the clam-shells furnished 

 the material for the dark wampum, which was held in much higher es- 

 timation than that made of the white part of the shells, or of the spines 

 of certain univales. Even at the present time places are pointed out on 

 the Atlantic seaboard, for example on that of Long Island, where the 

 Indians manufactured wampum, and such localities may be recognized 

 by the accumulations of clam-shells from which the blue portions are 

 broken off. 



Wampum-beads formed a favorite material for the manufacture of 

 necklaces, bracelets, and other articles of ornament, and they constituted 

 the strings and belts of wampum, which i)layed such a conspicuous part 

 in Indian histor3\ 



Loskiel makes the following statement in reference to wampum : " Be- 

 fore North America was discovered by the Europeans, the Indians 

 mostly made their strings and belts of small pieces of wood, cut to an 

 equal size and dyed white and black. They made some of shells, which 



* Long, Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 

 1819 and 1820, London, 1823, Vol. II, p. 47, &c. 

 tKohl, KitscM-Gami, Vol. I, p. 186. 



