HOLMES. ] 



ANCIENT USE OF WAMPUM. 237 



smooth and even, like glass beads, then they are considered good, other- 

 wise they break and throw them away."' 



Although Beverly did not write until the beginning of the eighteenth 

 century, his statements are probably based upon accurate information. 

 Speakingof the Virginia Indians, he says that they "had nothing which 

 they reckoned riches before the English went among them, except 

 Peal-, Roeiwlr, and such-like tritles made out of the Cutilc Shell. These 

 past with them instead of Gold and Silver, and serv'd them both for 

 Money and Ornament. It was the Engl'mh alone that taught them first 

 to put a value on their Skins and Furs, and to make a Trade of theni."^ 



From Lawson, wlio wrote in 1714, but whose statements deserve 

 consideration, we also learn that the money of the Carolina Indians is 

 "all made of shells which are found on the coast of Carolina, which are 

 very large and hard so that they are very dirticult to cut. Some English 

 smiths have tried to drill this sort of shell-money, and thereby thought 

 to get an advantage ; but it proved so hard that nothing could be 

 gained."'' 



Speaking of its use and value in New York, he remarks that "an 

 Englishman could not afford to make so much of this wampum for five 

 or ten times the value; for it is made out of a vast great shell, of which 

 that country aftbrds plenty; where it is ground smaller than the small 

 end of a tobacco pipe, or a large wheat straw." * » * "This the In- 

 dians grind on stones and other things until they make it current, but 

 the drilling is the most difQcult to the Englishman, which the Indians 

 manage with a nail stuck in a cane or reed. Thus they roll it continu- 

 ally on their thighs with their right hand, holding the bit of shell wi^h 

 their left ; so, in time, they diill a hole quite through it which is a very 

 tedious work; but especially in making their ronoak, four of which will 

 scarce make one length of wampum. The Indians are a people that 

 never value their time, so that they can aftbrd to make them, and never 

 need to fear the English will take the trade out of their hands. This is 

 the money with which you may buy skins, furs, slaves, or anything the 

 Indians have; it being their mammon (as our money is to us) that en- 

 tices and persuades them to do anything, and part with everything they 

 possess, except their children for slaves. As for their wives, they are 

 often sold and their daughters violated for it. With this they buy oft' 

 murders; and whatsoever a man can do that is ill, this wampum will 

 quit him of and make him, in their opinion, good and virtuous, though 

 never so black before "* 



Adair confirms the statements made by these writers, and adds em- 

 phasis to the fact that the shell beads had, among the Cherokees and 

 other southern Indians, a fixed value as currency. "With these they 



' Penna. Historical Society, Vol. Ill, p. 131. 



''Beverly: History of Virginia, ji. 195. 



3 Lawson : History of North Carolina ; Raleigh reprint, 1860, p. 315. 



■•On this point, however, the author quoted is apparently at fault, as there is abun- 

 dance of proof that the whites often engaged successfully in the manufacture of this 

 shell money. 



