mai.lerv.1 TREATIES WAR. 87 



belt was a figure of a diamond made of white wampum, which the 

 Indians call the council fire." See Voyages and Travels of an Indian 

 interpreter and trader, etc., by J. Long, London, 1791, p. 47. 



More minute statements regarding wampum is made superfluous after 

 its full discussion by Mr. W. II. Holmes in his work, "Art in Shell of 

 the ancient Americans," in the Second Annual Eeport of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, pages 253 et seq. One of his illustrations specially in point 

 for the present purpose is here reproduced in Plate V. His remarks 

 upon it are as follows: 



The remarkable belt sbowu has an extremely interesting, although a somewhat in- 

 complete, history attached to it. It is believed to be the original belt delivered by 

 the Leni-Lenape sachems to William Penn at the celebrated treaty under the elm tree 

 at Shackamaxon in 1683. Although there is no documentary evidence to show that 

 this identical belt was delivered on that occasion, it is conceded on all hands that it 

 came into the possession of the great founder of Pennsylvania at some one of his 

 treaties with the tribes that occupied the province ceded to him. Up to the year 

 1857 this belt remained in the keeping of the Penn family. In March, 1857, it was 

 presented to the Pennsylvania Historical Society by Granville John Penn, a great- 

 grandson of William Penn. Mr. Penu, in his speech on this occasion, states that there 

 can be no doubt that this is the identical belt used at the treaty, and presents his 

 views in the following language: 



"In the first place, its dimensions are greater than of those used on more ordinary 

 occasions, of which we have one still in our possession — this belt being composed of 

 eighteen strings of wampum, which is a proof that it was the record of some very im- 

 portant negotiation. Iu the next place, in the center of the belt, which is of white 

 wampum, are delineated in dark-colored beads, in a rude but graphic style, two fig- 

 ures —that of an Indian grasping with the hand of friendship the hand of a man evi- 

 dently intended to be represented in the European costume, wearing a hat ; which 

 can only be interpreted as having reference to the treaty of peace and friendship 

 which was then concluded between William Penn and the Indians, and recorded by 

 them in their own simple but descriptive mode of expressing their meaning, by the 

 employment of hieroglyphics. Then the fact of its having been preserved in the 

 family of the founder from that period to the present time, having descended through 

 three generations, gives an authenticity to the document which leaves no doubt of its 

 genuineness; and as the chain and medal which were presented by the parliament to 

 his father the admiral, for his naval services, have descended among the family 

 archives unaccompanied by any written document, but is recorded on the journals of 

 the House of Commons, equal authenticity may be claimed for the wampum belt con- 

 firmatory of the treaty made by his son with the Indians; which event is recorded on 

 the page of history, though, like the older relic, it has been unaccompanied in its 

 descent by any document in writing." 



WAR. 



Material objects were often employed iu challenge to and declaration 

 of war, some of which may assist in the interpretation of pictographs. 

 A few instances are mentioned : 



Arrows, to which long hairs are attached, were stuck up along the 



