A STUDY OF PRIMITIVE MONEY. 



305 



half the length. The color of the wampum 

 determined its value. The term Wampum, 

 Wampon, or Wampom, and Wampampeege 

 was apparently applied to these beads when 

 strung or otherwise connected, fastened, or 

 woven together,* as in Fig. 3 ; also shown 

 in Plate I. 



Outside of New England it was otherwise 

 known. By the Dutch settlers of New York 

 it was called JSeaicanJ Seaward, or Zeewand, 

 and RoenolceX in Virginia, and perhaps fur- 

 ther south, for shell money was also known 

 in the Oarolinas, but whether the roenoke 

 of the Virginia Indians was made from the 

 same species of shells as the wampum beads 

 of the more northern tribes is not definitely 

 shown, as the common names given to "shell- 

 fish" were then, as now, quite confusing. 



Beverly§ says of Virginia wampum: "Peak 

 is of two sorts, or rather of two colors, for 

 both are made of one shell, || though or dif- 

 feent parts; one is a dark-purple cylinder, 

 and the other a white; they are both made 

 in size and figure alike, and commonly much 

 resembling the English bugles, but not so 

 transparent nor so brittle. They are wrought 

 as smooth as glass, being one-third of an 

 inch long, and about a quarter diameter, 

 strung by a hole drilled through the center. 



"The dark color is the dearest,^ and dis- 

 tinguished by the name Wampum peak. 

 The Englishmen, that are called Indian 

 traders, value the wampum peak at eighteen 



* Cylindrical shell beads similar to the "wampam- 

 peege of the Atlantic coast Indians were made to 

 some extent by the red men of the west coast, as is 

 proven by examples in the National Museum from 

 ancient graves, vide specimens as follows : Santa Rosa 

 Island, California, 23698, 29123 ; San Miguel Island, 

 29122 ; San Luis Obispo, 21173 ; Santa Cruz, 18235 ; 

 Santa Barbara, 15203. These are a modification of 

 the haivoek of the California tribes, and were made 

 from the dark-purple shells of the mussel, Mytilus cali- 

 fornianus, which abounds on the west coast. 



t Weeden. 



t'Lawson. 



§ History of Virginia, 1705. 



II This certainly applies to the quahaug, Venus mer- 

 cenaria. 



11 This difference in values is the same as among 

 the New Englanders, whites and Indians. 



I s 



