WAMPUM AND SHELL ARTICLES 4OI 



tis. The Ottawas can tell you what it is, because our people have 

 forgotten it. 



M. de Lamothe. The Ottawas will reply that, having- received it, 

 you should remember it, but since this collar is dumb and has lost 

 its speech, I am obliged to be silent myself. 



Pontiac's great wampum belt is said to have been 6 feet long and 

 4 inches wide, and would thus have contained 9000 beads. It was 

 covered with emblems of the 47 tribes and villages in alliance with 

 him. 



In the History of the Ojebway Indians, by the Rev. Peter Jones, 



p. 121, is an interesting description of a modern belt. 



Firstly, the council fire at the Sault Ste Marie has no emblem, be- 

 cause there the council was held. Secondly, the council fire at Mani- 

 toulin has the emblem of a beautiful white fish ; this signifies purity, 

 or a clean, white heart — that all our hearts ought to be white toward 

 each other. Thirdly, the emblem of a beaver, placed on an island on 

 Penetanguishew bay, denotes wisdom — that all the acts of our 

 fathers were done in wisdom. Fourthly, the emblem of a white 

 deer, placed at Lake Simcoe, signified superiority; the dish and 

 ladles at the same place indicated abundance of game and food. 

 Fifthly, the eagle perched on a tall pinetree at the Credit denotes 

 watching, and swiftness in carrying messages. The eagle was to 

 watch all the council fires between the Six Nations and the Ojeb- 

 ways, and being farsighted, he might, in the event of anything hap- 

 pening, communicate the tidings to the distant tribes. Sixthly, the 

 sun was hung up in the center of the belt to show that their acts 

 were done in the face of the sun, by whom they swore that they 

 would forever after observe the treaties made between the two 

 parties. 



This highly artificial character may be contrasted with the sim- 

 plicity of early belts. 



In a meeting between Johnson and some Cherokees in 1758, it is 

 said: "The Cherokee spoke to the Belt of Wampum, addressing 

 himself to Sir Wm., and the Belt of Wamp spoke it out in his own 

 language." The Cherokees " gave a white belt, with one black 

 row of wampum in it signifying the road, & 3 figures of men signi- 

 fying Sir Wm. Johnson, & the Kophy & Tsyody nations." — 

 O'Callaghan. Colonial hist. 2:'/66. In this case the Belt of Wampum 

 who speaks is the Seneca chief known by this name, and also as Old 

 Belt. 



In David Boyle's Fourth annual report of the Canadian institute, 



