BOLL. 30] 



WAMPUM 



907 



and other weapons and implements; 

 lastly, he adds, that these Indians made 

 another kind of beads, of less value than 

 the other, from the cockle shell, which 

 was broken into small fragments, which 

 were left with rough edges, and drilled 

 through in the same manner as the other 

 shell beads forming the peak; these rough- 

 edged "beads" were called roenoke (the 

 ronoak of Lawson), and they were used 

 in the same manner as the peak or 

 strung beads. 



To the Iroquois and to many other In- 

 dians white as a color was auspicious, and 

 its use in ritual and ceremony therefore 

 indicated peace, health, welfare, and pros- 

 perity — ideas expressed by white wam- 

 pum when ceremonially employed; on 

 the contrary, black as a color was inaus- 

 picious, and its use therefore indicated 

 hostility, sorrow, death, condolence, and 

 mourning — ideas expressed by dark or 

 purple wampum when ceremonially em- 

 ployed; nevertheless the dark or purple 

 variety of wampum was commercially 

 much more valuable than the white kind, 

 and the darker its shade the more valu- 

 able it was. Commonly the ratio was as 

 one to two. In commercial transactions 

 wampum was used strung or unstrung. 

 In trade it was usually exchanged by 

 count when loose, by the string, or by 

 the fathom. The fathom was a count. 

 Williams (Key, chap, xiv) says that 

 piuckquat was the native name for 10 

 sixpence, or 60 pence, and that this was 

 called nquittompeg, that is, 'one fathom,' 

 5 shillings. So a fathom was a count of 

 beads, the number of which was deter- 

 mined by the number legally current for 

 a penny. Williams said that 6 white and 

 3 black beads were current for a penny; 

 therefore at this ratio 360 white and 

 180 black beads constituted a fathom. 

 A large portion of the white shell beads 

 was consumed in the manufacture of va- 

 rious articles of personal adornment and 

 in the embroidery of various articles 

 of raiment for both men and women. 

 For use in public affairs and in official 

 communications, in ritualistic and fiducial 

 transactions, wampum was wrought into 

 two well-known products — strings, often 

 tied into bundles or sheaves of strings, 

 and belts or scarfs or cashes. The first 

 variety was made originally by stringing 

 the wampum beads on small strands of 

 skin or sinew, and later on a strong thread 

 or on several threads twisted together; 

 these strings of shell beads were called 

 "branches" by French writers gener- 

 ally, probably including the bunches or 

 sheaves. In making these strings of 

 beads it was possible, by using all white, 

 all purple, or by a combination of the two 

 colors in definite proportions, regulated 

 by the color symbolism of the people, to 



convey mnemonically a variety or a dif- 

 ference of ideas, indicated by the propor- 

 tion, the sequence of the two colors, and 

 the figures or outlines portrayed by them 

 on the strand or string; for example, there 

 might be one white bead and then one 

 purple bead alternately on the strand, or 

 a white bead and then two purple beads 

 alternately, or there might be two or more 

 white beads followed by two or more 

 purple beads alternately on the strand; 

 or the strand might be composed one half 

 of white and the other half of purple 

 beads; or one half of tlie string of heads 

 might be arranged in one way and the 

 other half in another. Thus it was pos- 

 sible by these simple devices to indicate 

 by means of- the two available colors a 

 number of combinations, differing one 

 from another sufficiently to convey a 

 number of ideas without much chance 

 for confusion. The white strings tinged 

 red by vermilion or some other red color 

 were used as a challenge or declaration of 

 war, or as an invitation to friends to join 

 in a war. For these reasons some strings 

 of beads consisted wholly of white l^eads, 

 while others were composed entirely of 

 purple or dai-k beads. A string composed 

 entirely of dark beads is the official string 



THE PENN TREATY BELT 



of beads by which one of the Iroquois 

 tribes notifies its brother and cousin tribes 

 of the death of one or more of its chiefs. 

 White strings were commonly employed 

 in matters of ordinary routine, requirmg 

 only some degree of formality, or merely 

 as preliminary exhibits to others of more 

 and deeper import. The second kind of 

 shell-bead product was the more or less 

 broad sash, scarf, or belt, on which the 

 white and the purple beads, first suitably 

 proportioned on strings, were fastened to- 

 gether by small strands of sinew or skin 

 in such manner as to form a neat and dur- 

 able fabric. By suitable combinations of 

 the two colors dominant in the beads va- 

 rious symbolic figures and devices were 

 neatly and deftly wrought into the body 

 of the belt or scarf. Sometimes the fabric 

 took the form of a symbolic sun. But the 

 breadth and length of the belt or sash, 

 and the proportions of the white and the 

 purple beads composing it, were naturally 

 determined by the nature and importance 

 of the occasion for its use. According to 

 Lafitau (1724), a very good authority, the 

 usual size of a belt in his time was 11 

 strands of 180 beads each, or about 1,980 

 wampum beads. There are references to 

 belts composed of 6,000 and 7,000 beads, 



