438 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



a belt to the Delawares in 1756, which was a fathom long and 25 

 rows wide. Both these nations paid a large annual tribute of wam- 

 pum to the Five Nations, amounting to a score or more of belts 

 from each. Many of Johnson's belts were quite large, and in 1756 

 the Mohawks gave him one which was called a broad belt. No 

 belts on record were as wide as two now in the state museum. 

 Though there are a few instances of very wide belts, it is probable 

 that, where large numbers were brought together, the usual length 

 and width prevailed. Perhaps the council of Scioto of 1771 alone 

 rivaled Garakontie's collection, as a hundred belts were ready for 

 this some time before the council met. 



There are more belts now in existence than is commonly sup- 

 posed. Several have come to the writer's notice, and David Boyle 

 writes him that of recent Canadian ones "some 50 or 60 belts and 

 strings have disappeared," and sensibly adds: ''One answers our 

 purpose as well as a dozen or a score." This philosophic remark 

 may be qualified by the fact that belts vary much in form and 

 symbols, however rarely their history can be traced. No one will 

 object to a good supply. 



Uses of wampum 



Wampum was used in many ways. In 1646 the Mohawks 

 *'ofifered a fathom of wampum to kindle a council fire at Three 

 Rivers, and a great collar of 3000 grains to serve as wood or fuel 

 for this fire. The savages make no assembly unless with a calumet 

 of tobacco in the mouth, and as the fire is necessary to take the 

 tobacco, they almost always light some in all their assemblies." — 

 Relation, 1646. This seems the circumstance mentioned by Le- 

 clerq, as occurring much earlier, but in the same words. (Leclerq, 

 1:126) 



In 1657 a returning Onondaga war party was "regaled with many 

 thousands of porcelain." At the same place in 1670 Father Milet 

 used wampum in teaching. "During one week I placed before their 

 eyes different strings of porcelain to mark the number and diversi- 



