other shells, they made their white money, or white wampum. In reference to the 

 first shell, and its use as a substance from which the wampum was made, we 

 have the following: "The quahaug {Venus mercenarla), called by Eoger 

 Williams the poquau and the hen, is a round, thick shell-fish, or, to speak more 

 properly, worm. It does not bury itself but a little way in the sand ; is gene- 

 rally found lying on it, in deep water ; and is gathered by rakes made for the 

 purpose. After the tide ebbs away, a few are picked up on the shore below 

 high-water mark. The quahaug is not much inferior in relish to the oyster, but 

 is less digestible. It is not eaten raw ; but is cooked in various modes, being 

 roasted in the shell, or opened and broiled, fried, or made into soups and pies. 

 About half an inch of the inside of the shell is of a purple color. This the 

 Indians broke off and converted into beads, named by them mckauhock, or black 

 money, which was twice the value of their wampom, or white money, made of 

 the metauhock, or periwinkle {Pijrula).* 



" As to the derivation of the word ' quahog,' Governor Winthrop refers to it 

 as ' poquahauges, a rare shell and dainty food with the Indians. The flesh 

 eats like veal ; the English make pyes thereof; and of the shells the Indians 

 make money.' lie says of the money, ' It is called Wampampeege. f Also, 

 called by some English hens-po-qiia-hock ; three are equal to a penny ; a fathom 

 is worth five shillings.' % 



" Poquahock, corrupted into quahaug or quahog." 



The money or wampum made from the shells above referred to, was not only in 

 use among the Indians, but among the Whites also. Col. T. W. Higginson, 

 of Massachusetts, in one of his Atlantic Essays, " The Puritan Minister," says : 

 " In coming to the private affairs of the Puritan divines, it is humiliating to 

 find that anxieties about salary are of no modern origin. The highest compen- 

 sation I can find recorded, is that of John Higginson, in 1671, who had £160 

 voted him in ' country produce,' which he was glad, however, to exchange for 

 £120 in solid cash. Solid cash included beaver-skins, black and white i/;am- 

 pum, beads and musket-balls, value one farthing." 



In Cadwalader Colden's History of the Five Indian Nations (p. 34), he says 

 that wampum is made of the large whelk-shell Buccinum, and shaped like long 

 beads ; it is the current money of the Indians. Whether the shells of the true 

 Buccinum [B. undatum, Linn., or B. undulatum, Mull.), or those of Busycon 

 (5. canaliculalum and B. carica), is not satisfactorily explained. 



In Major Rogers' Account of North America (London 1765), in alluding to 

 the wampum of the Indians, he says : " When they solicit the alliance, offensive, 

 or defensive, of a whole nation, they send an embassy with a large belt of wam- 

 pum and a bloody hatchet, inviting them to come and drink the blood of their 

 enemies. The wampum made use of on these and other occasions, before their 

 acquaintance with the Europeans, was nothing but small shells, which they picked 



* Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections, VIII, 192 (1802) . 



t Journal Royal Society, June 27, 1631. 



% Vide Invertebrata of Massachusetts, Binney's edition, p. 134. 



