noLMEB.i ANCIENT USE OF WAMPUM. 239 



but frequently has a more, restricted significauce, referring to the small 

 cylindrical varieties used iu strings and belts. It was known first in 

 New England as irampiimjKag, rrampompcafje, peag, icompam and wam- 

 pnm ; the Dutch of New Sweden knew it as ncawan, sewant, and sea- 

 icant, while on the Virginia coast, it was called pcaJc, a roughly made 

 dlscoidal variety being known as ronoah or roenolce, and heavy flattish 

 beads pierced edgeways were called runtees. It is probable that all of 

 these names are American in origin, although there is some difference 

 of opinion as to their derivation. Loskiel says that wampom is an Iro- 

 quois word meaning muscle, but according to Morgan, who is probably 

 the best modern authority on this subject, the word wampum is not Iro- 

 quois in origin but Algonkin, as it was first known in New England as 

 wainpumpeage. 



Eoger Williams, speaking of the money of the New England Indians, 

 probably the Narragansetts (Algonkin), says that "their white they 

 call Wompam (which signifies white); their black Suclinnhocl; {SdclH, 

 signifying black)." In another place he gives the word icompi for white. 

 Wood mentions two varieties of beads known in New England wampom- 

 peage and moichaclxvs. The latter is probably derived from mowrsti, 

 which, according to Williams, also signifies black. 



It would seem that we have but little evidence of the ancient use 

 of shell money amongst the tribes of the Mississippi Valley or the 

 Pacific coast; yet we are not without proofs that it came into use at a 

 very early date throughout the entire West, and even today the custom 

 is by no means obsolete. The ancient burial places of the Pacific coast 

 are found to contain large quantities of beads precisely similar to those 

 now used as money by the coast tribes. 



Lewis and Clark, speaking of traffic among the Indians of the Colum- 

 bia River, state that shell beads are held in very high esteem by these 

 people, and that to procure them they will " sacrifice their last article 

 of clothing or their last mouthful of food. Independently of their fond- 

 ness for them as an ornament these beads are the medium of trade by 

 which they obtain from the Indians still higher up the river, robes, skins, 

 chappeled bread, bear grass."' 



The DentuUum shell has always been the favorite currency of the 

 peoples of the Northwest and is highly valued, especially by the inland 

 tribes. It is frequently found iu ancient graves at great distances from 

 the sea-shore. A few specimens have been found in burial places in 

 the Ohio Valley, but we have no means of determining the source from 

 which they were derived. As the modern use of this currency has but 

 little archreologic interest, I will not enlarge upon the subject here. For 

 further information the reader is referred to the Ibllowiug authors : J. 

 K. Lord, The Naturalist in British Columbia, Vol. II, pp. 20 to 2G; R. 

 E. C. Stearns in the American Naturalist, Vol. Ill, No. 1, and in pro- 

 ceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Vol. V, Part II, p. 113; 

 W. H. Pratt in proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural 

 ' Lewis au(l Clark : Exi>editiou ui) the Missouri, p. 73. 



