WAMPUM AND SHELL ARTICLES 405 



wampum to the University of the State of New York last June. This 

 precious relic will now forever remain with the state, and it is my re- 

 quest that the name of Gen. Ely S. Parker shall be attached to it in 

 his memory, not only as the most distinguished of his later people, 

 but as the last '' keeper of the west door " of the confederacy of 

 the Iroquois. At the condolence council of Gen. Parker another 

 Donehogawah sachem — one of the 52 names that were hereditary in 

 the nation — was raised or appointed as the successor of Gen. Parker, 

 but the remnant of the Senecas is so feeble that the present sachem 

 would not by law hold the belt. Some day the state of New York 

 may get its brother belt of the Mohawks. I hope for it. 



The statement given by the Senecas shows the small value to be 

 attached to Indian traditions; and their ideas of this fine belt seem 

 to have completely changed in the century and more in which it 

 may have been held by them. Mrs Converse has wisely called at- 

 tention to the red paint still to be seen on some of the beads, and 

 which changed any belt into one of war. War belts may be 

 reckoned by scores. This belt is a recent one of purple wampum, 

 having the Five Nations represented by five open hexagons of white 

 beads. Three rows of five white beads at each end alternate with 

 the purple. A belt recently held by the Onondagas is almost the 

 exact counterpart of this. In both, the hexagons represent the 

 nations and they could be transformed intO' war belts by the use 

 of red paint. The general design was common. Used as a war 

 belt it might have been sent to or by the Five Nations. In the 

 latter case the proposal of war was rejected, and the belt was re- 

 turned. It was customary for any of the Five Nations to propose 

 war by a belt, or even to carry it on alone, but a general war could 

 be determined only by the grand council at Onondaga. War belts 

 might call this council together, but they only proposed war. This 

 belt is 38 inches long in the beaded part, or 370 beads. The full 

 width is 2 inches, or seven rows. The buckskin thongs are about 3.5 

 inches long at the ends, the outer ones being double and twisted. 



L. FI. Morgan gives a list of 50 Iroquois principal chiefs, eight 

 of whom were Senecas, the last being- Do-ne-ho-gd-weh, or Open 

 door. He says : " The Senecas were made the doorkeepers of the 

 Long House, and having imposed upon Do-iic-ho-gd-zvch, the eighth 

 sachem, the duty of watching the door, they gave to him a sub- 



