384 ' NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



aware chief: " Olumapies would have Resigned his Crown before 

 now, but, as he had the keeping of the pubHc 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 Bagg." — Penn. 1 1762 



Weiser made another note at Onondaga, Sep. 16, 1750, which 

 sliows that the wampum-keeper was probably not restricted to a 

 single clan. Canassatego 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 



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 Nezv 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." Loskiel 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 



^ The word burned in Weiser's account was evidently intended for buried. 



