298 THE WAMPUM. 
Horses, however, constitute the chief wealth 
of the prairie Indian. These are the incen- 
tives to most of their predatory excursions. 
The tribes of the north in particular, as well 
as the white trappers, frequently maintain their — 
horses, during winter, upon the tender bark 
of the sweet cottonwood, the populus angulata 
of the Mississippi valley. 
The western savages know nothing of the 
value of money. The wampum bead, it is 
true, among a few tribes, somewhat resembles 
acurrency: for, being generally esteemed, it ac- 
quires a value in proportion te size, and some- 
times passes from hand to hand, in exchange 
for necessaries. The legitimate wampum 
is only of shells, and was of aboriginal manu- 
facture ; being small long tubes with an ovate 
surface, or sometimes simply cylindrical ; and 
handsomely polished: but imitations of glass 
or porcelain seem now the most common. 
The color is generally white, though some- 
times blue or striped. 
These Indians have no knowledge of the 
divisions of time, except by palpable distine- 
tions ; as days, mvons and years; which last 
they commonly represent as so many springs, 
or falls of the leaves, or as often by winters, that 
is, frosts or snows. Distances are represented 
by days’ journey, which are oftener designat- 
ed by camps or ‘sleeps.’ When a day’s jour- 
ney is spoken of in general terms, it is meant 
that of a band in regular travel, which rarely 
exceeds twenty miles. 
