HOLMES,! SYMBOLIC USES OF WAMPUM. 241 



tioiial perinaueiiey to tradition and l)iinging it one step further forward 

 in tlii' direction of written records. Such records were, of course, 

 quite useless without tlie agency of an interpreter. Among tlie Iro- 

 quois, according to Morgan, one of the Onondaga saclienis was made 

 hereditary " keeper of wampum," wliose duty it was to be thoroiiglily 

 versed in its interpretation. But knowledge of the contents of these 

 records was not confined to the keeper, or even to the sachems. At 

 a certain season each year the belts were taken from the treasure-honse 

 and exposed to the whole tribe, while the history and import of each 

 was publicly recited. This custom is kept up to the present day. It is 

 recorded by Ruttenber that among the Mohicans a certain sachem had 

 charge of the bag of j)eace which contained the wampum belts and strings 

 used in establishing peace and frieudshij) with the ditterent nations.' 



Aside from records wampum was used in the form of strings and 

 belts for a variety of purposes; some of them were probably mnemonic, 

 others only partially so, being based either upon its association with 

 the name of some chief or clan, or upon a semi sacred character result- 

 ing from its important uses. It was employed in summoning councils, 

 and the messenger who journeyed from tribe to tribe fonnd in it a 

 well recognized passport. When a council was called it was presented 

 by the delegates from the various tribes as their credentials; it was 

 nsed in the ceremony of opening and closing councils, as was ahso 

 the calumet; it assisted in solemnizing oaths and in absolving from 

 them ; white, it was a messenger of peace ; black, it threatened war, 

 and covered with clay, it expressed grief. " White wampum was the 

 Iroquois emblem of purity and faith, it was hung around the neck of 

 the white dog before it was burned ; it was used before the periodical 

 religious festivals for the confession of sins, no confession being re- 

 garded as sincere unless recorded with white wampum ; further than 

 this, it was the customary offering in condonation of murder, although 

 the purple was sometimes employed. Six strings was the value of a 

 life, or the quantity sent in condonation, for the wampum was rather 

 sent as a regretful confession of the crime, with a petition for forgive- 

 ness, than as the actual price of blood.'" We readily recognize the in- 

 fluence of the Christian missionary in a number of these symbolic vises 

 of wampum. 



The literature of wampum would fill a volume, but I forbear present- 

 ing more than will give an outline of the subject, confining myself to 

 such quotations as will serve to show clearly the extent and importance 

 of this ancient custom and its attendant practices. 



The method of handling the belts of wampum in the i)resence of cer- 

 emonial assemblies is extremely interesting, and cannot be better pre- 

 sented than in the \vords of eye-witnesses. 



'Riitteuber: Indian Tribes of the Hudson River, page 43. 



'Morgan, in Fifth Annual Report ou the condition of the New York State Cabinet 

 of Natural History, page T3. 

 16 E 



