402 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



p. 2^, 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.'* 



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 



