284 The Commercial Products of the Sea, 



brance of the event. When sharp admonitions or threaten- 

 ing demonstrations were deemed necessary, the wampum 

 belts likewise played a part, and they were even sent as 

 challenges of war. In these various cases the arrangement 

 of the colours and figures of the belts corresponded to the 

 object in view : on peaceable occasions the white colour 

 predominated ; if the complications were of a serious 

 character, the dark prevailed ; and in the case of a declara- 

 tion of war, it is stated the belt was entirely of a sombre 

 hue, and, moreover, covered with red paint, while there 

 appeared in the middle the figure of a hatchet executed 

 in white. 



Large quantities of shell ornaments, mostly destined to 

 be strung together or to be worn as pendants, have been 

 found in the sepulchral mounds and other burial-places of 

 the Indian race. In Ohio, according to Messrs. Squier and 

 Davis, beads made of shell and other materials occur even 

 more frequently in the sacrificial mounds than in those of a 

 sepulchral character, a circumstance that may be accounted 

 for by the value attached to those objects by their owners, 

 who deemed them worthy of being offered in their sacrifi- 

 cial rites. The methods employed by the manufacturers 

 doubtless being of the most primitive character, each shell 

 bead was the result of a certain amount of patient labour, 

 and consequently was esteemed according to the time and 

 art bestowed on its production. 



The Indian shell ornament in its simplest form con- 

 sisted of entire specimens of small marine univalves, such 

 as Marginella, Natica, and Oliva, which, after being con- 

 veniently pierced, could be strung together at once without 

 farther preparation, and worn as necklaces, etc. The above- 

 mentioned kinds were met by Squier and Davis in the 

 mounds of Ohio, and in opening the Grave Creek mound 



