BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 



459 



lages of the Niagara Frontier seem not to have been acquainted 

 with it at all. It was certainly rare in the Stone Age Seneca vil- 

 lage at Richmond Mills. Whether it was known at all to the 

 early Senecas of the Stone Age is doubtful, but if it were not 

 introduced by European traders who bought it from the Algon- 

 kins along the Atlantic coast, at least it became abundant only 

 after the traders had reached the Seneca towns. 



The Senecas probably bought their wampum from the 

 Indians living in the vicinity of Long Island, either by direct 

 trade with them, or through the traders from New Amsterdam. 

 They probably bought it ready made, though some of it they 

 undoubtedly made in their villages from imported shell. This is 

 shown by a few partly finished beads split in the making, which 

 have been found in the refuse heaps. They used the wampum as 

 ornaments, though at a comparatively early date belts of wam- 

 pum were used in the ceremonies and as records. When LaSalle 

 called the council of Senecas to ask for a guide to the Ohio, he 

 was answered by "the head chief" who "presented a wampum 

 belt to assure us we are welcome amongst our brothers. The 

 second present was a second wampum belt to tell us they were 

 firmly resolved to keep the peace with the French. ' ' 



As part of the ceremonies at the ossuary at Gandagora, the 

 Senecas laid on the ground either a wampum belt or several 

 wampum strings, and upon these they made a heap of skulls. 

 During the ceremonies as the bones were being thrown into 

 the pit, loose wampum and short wampum strings were thrown 

 in upon them. 



Besides wampum, and 

 clamshell to be made into 

 wampum, the Senecas im- 

 ported for ornaments the 

 massive shell of the fulgur 

 and busycon from the At- 

 lantic coast and possibly the 

 strombus from the Gulf 

 coast. It is not known 

 whether these were brought 

 in unworked, or partly 

 worked up, or made up into ornaments. Very few pieces of mas- 

 sive shell have been found on the sites, yet numerous ornaments 

 made from it are found both in the graves and the refuse heaps. 



Shell ornaments. In collection of Mr. 

 Hamlin, East Bloomfield, N. Y. 



