458 THE SENECA NATION 



water mussels from the nearby creeks. Occasionally shell from 

 the ocean, and catlinite or Huron slate, reached them in trade 

 with the Indians farther south or west. The really beautiful 

 glass beads of the traders appealed to them, and from the very 

 beginning the Senecas imported them in great numbers and 

 variety. The most commonly used were small spherical beads, 

 red or blue in color. An elliptical black bead seems to have been 

 in vogue a great deal, possibly because it resembled purple 

 wampum. The polychrome beads of Venice, large as gooseber- 

 ries, of a variety of colors, and showing a star in cross section, 

 were rare at the time, though more abundant later. L,ong thin 

 cylindrical beads, similar to those which many years ago received 

 amongst us the name of bugle beads, were in commcn use. 



Pipes. — (A) European clay pipe, (B) Seneca stone pipe. 

 The others are clay pipes of Indian manufacture. 



Next to glass their commonest material for adornment was 

 shell. This was brought in already made up into ornaments and 

 also as raw material and made up in the villages. The Senecas 

 seem to have prized it even more than glass, and worked it up 

 into a large variety of ornaments. 



More than any other ornament, they used the small cylind- 

 rical bead made of ocean clam shell, Venus mercenaria, which has 

 come to be called wampum. At what time wampum was first 

 used by the Senecas is unknown. It is probably a comparatively 

 late introduction from coastal tribes. Stone Age Iroquoian vil- 



