402 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
p. 23, there is a figure of porcupine quill work very suggestive of the 
wampum belt, having a similar plan, with the several divisions about 
the size of the beads used in the belts. 21 rows of the pattern, with 
the outer bands, have a depth of 5 inches, while the equivalents of 55 
beads, measured the other way, are placed beside each other for 
a space of 4.875 inches. This gives nearly 11 to the inch, which 
is somewhat narrower than the average beads used in belts, but 
about the usual length. Mr Boyle says that 55 narrow strips of 
leather were used as a warp, the ends being neatly bound. His 
account of the weaving of the belt would require double this num- 
ber. When thus bound at the ends, “the strips were then bound 
two and two by means of porcupine quills wound four or five times 
round, and fastened so ingeniously that even with a magnifying 
glass it is difficult to perceive how the work has been done. One 
row (say the top row in the plate) having been so formed, the next 
was commenced by binding the outer strip singly and thereafter 
taking one from each adjoining group of two above. In forming 
the third row the same strips would be bound as in the first row; 
and in the fourth as in the second, and so on. Meanwhile the pat- 
tern must have been clearly defined in the mind of the artist, for 
this is really a bit of artistic work, the purely ornamental portion 
of which speaks for itself both in color and design. The central 
figure demands a little more attention. At first sight one would 
hardly recognize it as a bird—perhaps not even at second or third 
sight, but there can hardly be a doubt that it is meant to represent 
the eagle or great thunder-bird, the belief in which is or was widely 
spread among the Indians over the northern part of this continent. 
The only claim that can be made for this conception of the thun- 
der-bird is that as nearly as possible it is symmetrical—the method 
of working led to that.” 9 
The pattern has the long points or serrations found on recent 
wampum belts. These are in white, blue and light brown. The 
ground is red, and the bird is black edged with white. The bind- 
ing of the leather strips in this alternate way makes the fabric very 
strong and has a pleasing effect on the pattern. 
In Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia in the revolution, p. 286, Mr 
EE 
