236 WAMPUM MORE VALUABLE THAN GOLD AND SILVEK. 



the king. Sed quid non mortalis fedora cogis, duri sacri fames! The 

 love of money is the root of all evil, &c." 



The authority for Gowan's statement is probably an intimation in 

 Nathaniel Morton's "New England's Memoriall" (1669), p. 67, followed 

 by the remark that "sundry unworthy persons" sold firearms to the 

 Indians for it. 



I am not singular in doubting the accuracy of this tradition, for in 

 addition to the contradictory evidence already quoted, I observe that, in 

 his work on the "Antiquities of the Southern Indians," C. 0. Jones re- 

 marks: " It may be safely asserted that this shell-money was manufactured 

 along the Atlantic coast, from Maine to Florida, and on the Gulf coast, 

 certainly as far south as Central America." The natives of Rhode Island 

 certainly practised the art before the arrival of Europeans. 



"Whatever may be the truth on this point, it is a fact that' at a very 

 early day both Dutch and English merchants adopted it as the most prof- 

 itable medium with which to do business. The red men, finding a new 

 value placed upon their ancient wealth, applied themselves anew to the 

 industry, and wampum increased rapidly in amount, but with the usual 

 result of depreciation in value. Political economy applies as well to 

 wampum as to silver and gold. Indeed the "precious" metals were of 

 little account then. " Au Indian chief to whom the value of a rix-dollar 

 was explained by the first clergyman of Rensselaerwyck, laughed exceed- 

 ingly to think the Dutch should set so high a value upon a piece of iron." 

 Mr. Gowan has very clearly explained how trade was helped by the wam- 

 pum at the first, and I quote his paragraph : 



"Although the general distinction of this seawant was black and 

 white, yet that in use in New England was black, blue, and white, and 

 that of the Five Nations of Indians was of a purple color. . . . The proc- 

 ess of trade was this : The Dutch and English sold for seawant to the 

 Indians of the interior their knives, combs, scissors, needles, awls, looking- 

 glasses, hatchets, guns, black cloth, and other articles of aboriginal traffic 

 (the Indians at this time [about 1665] rejected fabrics in which the least 

 white color in their texture was discoverable); and with the seawant 

 bought the furs, corn, and venison from the Indians on the seaboard, who 

 also, with their shell-money, bought such articles from the aborigines re- 

 siding farther inland ; and by this course the white men saved the trouble 

 of transporting their furs and grain through the country. Thus, by this 

 circulating medium, a brisk commerce was carried on, not only between 

 the white people and the Indians, but also between different tribes among 

 the latter. So much was this seawant the circulating medium of many of 



