384 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
aware chief: “ Olumapies would have Resigned his Crown before 
now, but, as he had the keeping of the public treasure [that is to 
say, the Counsel Bagg] Consisting of Belts of Wampum, for which 
he buys Liquor, and has been Drunk for this two or three years, 
almost Constantly, and it is thought he wont. Die, so long as there 
is one single wampum left in the Bage.”—Penn. 1 762 
Weiser made another note at Onondaga, Sep. 16, 1750, which 
shows that the wampum-keeper was probably not restricted to a 
single clan. Camnassatego had died, being the speaker but not the 
To-do-da-ho, or head chief. “I was told by Tahashronchdioony, the 
Chief, that all the Belts of Wampum belonging to the Publick from 
the several English Governors that remained unanswered at the 
Death of Canassatogo, and found in his Possession, were by his 
orders burned! with him. ‘This the said Chief said to make Canas- 
satogo a Thief after his Death; some imagine that his Widow and 
Family took them.’”—Penn. 5:480 mat 
In this case it is probable that the Onondaga speaker held the 
belts till they were accepted, after which they would be divided or 
retained according to the action of the council. It should always 
be remembered that even in the grand council belts might be given 
to any one nation, and retained by it. 
Belts 
Making. The accounts we have of the making of early belts are 
conflicting, leading us to suppose they were not all alike. In his 
Narrative of the Indian wars in New England Hubbard says: “They 
are woven as broad as one’s hand and about 2 feet long. These 
they call belts, and give and receive at their treaties as seals of their 
friendship.” lLoskiel says, p. 26: “Four or six strings joined in one 
breadth and fastened to each other with fine thread, make a belt of 
wampum, being about 3 or 4 inches wide and 3 feet long, containing 
perhaps four, eight or twelve fathom of wampum, in proportion to 
its required length and breadth. This is determined by the im- 
portance of the subject which these belts are intended either to 
a ee 
1 The word burned in Weiser’s account was evidently intended for buried. 
