WAMPUM AND SHELL ARTICLES 329 



The small white council wampum was often made of a smaller 

 gasteropod, or even of the white parts of some bivalves. Fig. 9 

 is a full size drawing of Buccinum undatum, which is a 

 northern shell, but is found to some extent at Montauk point and 

 elsewhere about Long Island. Beads were made of this. L i t - 

 torina irrorata is still rarer along the New York coast, but 

 one perforated specimen has been found at the Onondaga fort of 

 1600, which is shown in fig. 19. Some others will be mentioned 

 later. For ornamental purposes the larger shells were preferred. 

 Mr Tooker says: "Some writers illustrate the basal whorl as being 

 the part from which the wampum was made, but this is contrary 

 to the early writers, who state that it was made ' from the inmost 

 wreaths, stem or stock, when all the shell is broken off.' We find 

 these stems in great abundance about the sites of former wigwams, 

 in shell heaps and other localities." Reference has been made to 

 some figures of these. With all due deference to early writers, it 

 must be confessed that some wrote what they heard rather than what 

 they saw, often quoting largely without the slightest credit or per- 

 sonal knowledge. 



At first beads, long or short, were made from the columellae, or 

 pillars of shells, because they could be easily ground before cutting: 

 to the desired length, no slight advantage. With better appliances 

 this was less necessary. It is clear, however, that no New York 

 shell was large enough for some beads found here, but after the 

 Iroquois became supreme in power southern material of a massive 

 nature was easily obtained. With the increase of ornaments other 

 parts of the shell became available. The whorls naturally afforded 

 the curves found in gorgets and other things, and it is probable 

 that these articles were first seen by the Iroquois in their southerti 

 wars in the 17th century. Sailors brought some materials, and a 

 few articles of H a 1 i o t i s shell have been found. The gradual 

 increase of shell ornaments may easily be traced in any center of 

 Iroquois occupation, and the use of metallic tools in their produc- 

 tion. 



In fact these tools changed everything, though there were other 

 reasons for the sudden increase of wampum in the 17th centur/. 



