WAMPUM AND SHELL ARTICLES 339 
in arriving at sound conclusions, even when told as simple tales of 
the forest. 
In one story related by Mrs E. A. Smith, Hiawatha does not 
appear, but there is an obscure connection through the wampum 
_ bird. A man discovered this in the woods and hastened home with 
the news. The head chief offered his beautiful daughter to any one 
who would take the bird, dead or alive, and many were the arrows 
winged with this hope. Sometimes the bird was hit and off would 
fly a shower of wampum, speedily renewed on the strange visitor. 
No one could bring it to the ground. The best warriors despaired 
of success. Then came a little boy from an unfriendly tribe and 
wished to try his luck. This the warriors would not allow, and 
even threatened his life. The chief interfered. When warriors 
failed, a boy need not be feared, and his bow was bent. The swift 
arrow flew, the wonderful bird fell, and its plumage enriched the 
people. With the marriage came peace to two nations, and the 
boy decreed that wampum should bring and bind peace, and atone 
for blood.—Smith, p. 78. The feature to which attention is directed 
is that the first Iroquois wampum was of quills of some kind, accord- 
ing to this and some other legends. David Boyle gives this story 
in a larger form in his Archaeological report for 18990. 
Another story, briefly related by Mrs Smith, is that Hiawatha 
came to a little lake while on his way to the Mohawks. While he 
was thinking how he should cross it, a flock of ducks lit on the 
water. When they flew off the lake was dry, and the bottom filled 
with shells. Of these the great chief made the first wampum for 
the new confederacy.—Smith, p. 64. This story is variously 
told, and some Onondagas now think the dry basin of one of the 
Tully lakes was the scene of this wonderful event. White and 
dead shells are so abundant beside all lakes and ponds that the ducks 
were hardly needed; and no fresh-water shells in those of central 
New York could have been wrought into wampum belts. The story 
is in line with Mr Morgan’s statement, received from the Senecas, 
that the first Iroquois wampum was of fresh-water shells. The 
speedy introduction of beads probably prevented its general use. 
Horatio Hale mentions this story in his Jroquots book of rites, but 
leaves out the ducks. 
