CHAP. IV SHELLS AS MONEY WAMPUM 9/ 



A banded form of Nerita 2^olita was used as money in certain 

 parts of the South Pacific. The sandal-wood imported into the 

 China market is largely obtained from the New Hebrides, being 

 purchased of the natives in exchange for Ovulum angulosum, 

 which they especially esteem as an ornament. Sometimes, as 

 in the Duke of York group, the use of shell money is specially 

 restricted to certain kinds of purchase, being employed there 

 only in the buying of swine. 



Among the tribes of the North-West coasts of America the 

 common Dentalium indianorum used to form the standard of 

 value, until it was superseded, under the auspices of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company, by blankets. A slave was valued at a fathom of 

 from 25 to 40 of these shells, strung lengthwise. Inferior or 

 broken specimens were strung together in a similar way, but 

 were less highly esteemed ; they corresponded more to our 

 silver and copper coins, while the strings of the best shells 

 represented gold. 



The ivavipum of the eastern coast of North America difiered 

 from all these forms of shell money, in that it required a laborious 

 process for its manufacture. Wampum consisted of strings of 

 cylindrical beads, each about a quarter of an inch in length and 

 half that breadth. The beads were of two colours, white and 

 purple, the latter being the more valuable. Both were formed 

 from the common clam, Venus mercenaria, the valves of which 

 are often stained with purple at the lower margins, while the 

 rest of the shell is white. Cut small, ground down, and pierced, 

 these shells were converted into money, which appears to have 

 been cm^rent along the whole seaboard of North America from 

 Maine to Florida, and on the Gulf Coast as far as Central 

 America, as well as among the inland tribes east of the 

 Mississippi. Another kind of wampum was made from the 

 shells of Busijcon carica and B. perversum. By staining the 

 wampum with various colours, and disposing these colours in 

 belts in various forms of arrangement, the Indians were able to 

 preserve records, send messages, and keep account of any kind of 

 event, treaty, or transaction. 



Another common form of money in California was Olivdla 

 hiplicata, strung together by rubbing down the apex. Button- 

 shaped disks cut from Saxidomus arata and Pachydesma 

 crassate! hides, as well as oblong pieces of Hcdiotis, were em- 



VOL. Ill H 



