WAMPUM AND SHELL ARTICLES 349 
Fig. 57 belongs to the writer, and contains a chief’s name. Fig. 
181 and 182 are bunches of strings in Mr Roddy’s collection, ar- . 
, wy ranged for council use. Fig. 195 is in the Bigelow collection, and 
is a miscellaneous lot of small beads from Pompey sites, some of 
which are much weathered. On Cayuga and Seneca sites they are 
j - found in thousands. 
, As the Iroquois were very punctilious on state occasions, the 
mere presentation of wampum was sometimes an honorable distinc- 
; tion. It was customary to receive the Five Nations at Albany with 
| a salute from five cannon, but the French usually did more. When 
the Iroquois deputies went to Montreal in November 1756, they 
were surprised that no one came to meet them and that they were 
not received with the usual ceremonies. A note explains the mean- 
ing. In Canada “the Five Nations are the only ones for whose 
reception there is an established etiquet. An interpreter is sent 
to meet them, who presents them with some strings of wampum, 
and when they enter the town they are saluted by five discharges of 
cannon.” —O’Callaghan. Colonial hist. 10:556 
The Moravian bishops held a conference with some Seneca chiefs 
in Philadelphia July 17, 1749, and mention was made of Count 
Zinzendorf’s wampum string. Von Watteville promised to visit 
Eee ee CC 
‘ 
Onondaga the following spring, and gave a fathom of wampum to 
confirm his words. “There was then handed to the interpreter a 
beautiful fourfold fathom of wampum of white and blue beads, with 
_a large blue ribbon, who handed it to the Indians. It was received 
= with great consequence, they studied over its meaning, and then 
wrapped it up carefully for preservation.” John W. Jordan pub- 
lished the full account of this interesting conference from the diary 
of the congregation in the Moravian in 1808. 
: Abundance of wampum 
Few antiquarians have any idea of the scale of supply for the 
wampum trade after the colonization of New York. Sir John Lub- 
bock expressed surprise at the large number of beads sometimes 
found in early remains, when work was slower and methods ruder. 
