WAMPUM AND SHELL ARTICLES 5 Wi A 
office by marrying and settling in another nation, six short strings 
ae ———— oe ee —_ ad x 
s 7 
ans os 
‘of purple wampum were employed. This was no disqualification 
except when an inconvenience. Mr Hill had married an Onondaga 
4 woman and yet was an Oneida chief. Such intermarriages are 
common, but necessarily affect only the children, who follow the 
- mother’s line. Through this it happened that the celebrated Logan 
was a Cayuga, his equally noted Oneida father having a wife of 
that nation. Three strings, united as usual, had a few purple beads 
ce 
and contained ,the new chief’s name. He was to be “all good,” 
signified by white beads, while the few purple implied some human 
imperfections. No allowance was made in the moral law, embodied 
in 10 very long strings, composed entirely of white beads. These 
-were “all good, same as Bible.” Whether the number of the 
strings had, a meaning is conjectural. These strings were 2 feet 
long and each contained 110 beads. Fig. 31a represents a bunch 
of this kind belonging to the writer. Many others were about as 
long. Strings serve as credentials, and, armed with what was given 
. him, the writer was informed that he would be listened to by any 
chief or in any council. It was a letter of introduction, a certificate 
of authority. Fig. 37 is this wampum. 
It may be well to note here that the wampum in question varies 
much in size, the white being usually thicker than the purple, though 
this is not always the case. The beads are often more angular than 
cylindric, and, while the white is sometimes of a creamy tint, the 
purple passes through various shades, in which the layers of the 
shell appear. Three strands of purple wampum included a few 
white beads and were tied as usual. Each string contained 18 
beads, and at the end of a condolence this bunch was presented to 
the three elder brothers. They were told to take it and divide it 
among themselves, but only did this figuratively. A doubled 
string of 48 alternate white and purple beads showed the death of 
_a good chief. Two strands of 18 beads each were used in raising 
a chief. All but four of the beads were purple. Fight strings were 
used in the confession of sins at feasts. This handsome bunch was 
k 2 feet long, and about every fourth bead was purple. To a large 
} number of others meanings were attached as occasion required. 
