IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS OF THE STONE AGE. 143 



dress. Around the edge was a fringe of perforated 

 canines of the deer; two flint arrows trophies, per- 

 haps, of war were fixed on the back, and in front 

 was a bone pin, which had probably supported his 

 long hair. Bracelets and anklets of similar shells 

 adorned his stalwart limbs, and to complete the re- 

 semblance, a little oxide of iron was placed in front 

 of his face, the "war paint " wherewith to appear in 

 presence of his ancestors. Could this old brave of 

 Mentone, belonging to a tribe whose very name is 

 unknown to history, spring again into life, he would, 

 in garb, arms, and appearance, have shown no marked 

 difference from the tribes that inhabited the St. Law- 

 rence valley three hundred years ago. This is not an 

 isolated case, for we find that the same customs with 

 regard to wampum prevailed throughout Western 

 Europe in the oldest pre-historic times known to us, 

 and that shell beads were transported by trade or 

 migration to great distances, exactly as in America. 

 There is no good reason to assign to these pre-historic 

 men of Europe the fabulous antiquity claimed for 

 them by some ; but they carry back the customs of 

 America to a time as old as any known to us by human 

 remains and works of art. 



In America the wampum had a still higher use. 

 Woven into belts of various patterns, into which dates 

 and histories and national treaties were " talked/' it 

 formed the records of the American tribes; com- 

 mitted to the care of " wampum-keepers," it was 

 handed down from one generation to another, and 



