468 Wampum and its History. .  [May, 
pence a day; and all writers enlarged upon the great labor and 
patience needed to make it, especially at the South. Hence the 
purchasing power of a Wampum bead was far in advance of that 
of a cowrie, the dentalium of the Pacific coast, or any other un- 
wrought shell used as money; and this form was probably an 
evolution from the use of single small shells, which still pre- 
vail to some extent on the western shore of the continent. 
Many small fresh-water shells, suitable for stringing and unsuited 
for ornamental purposes, have been found in mounds and graves 
in the Mississippi valley, and many archzologists believe that 
these were employed as the currency of the tribes of that region; 
it is very probable, but there seems to be little’or no positive evi- 
dence (of record), that such was the case. 
The very earliest accounts of North America show that this 
money was in common and widespread service among the natives 
as far north as the Saskatchewan, and westward to the Rocky 
mountains. Among the far western tribes, who obtained it after 
a succession of barterings through races living between them and 
the coast, the beads came to be considered rare and precious, and 
were devoted almost wholly to ornament; but everywhere east 
the Mississippi their circulation commonly as a buying and sell- 
ing medium seems well assured. The evidences of this are de- 
rived not only from the accounts of early visitors to the tribes of 
the interior, but from relics abounding at their village sites and 
in their graves. : 
The Pacific coast had a shell-money of entirely different char- 
acter from that of the Atlantic side of the continent, but I defer 
reference to it until later. The eastern money consisted of w 
gated beads of two colors, white, and purplish or brownish b i 
The white variety was most plentiful and of inferior value. o 
was commonly made from the large univalves, Sycotypus i uff: 
ulatus and Fulgur carica, whose pear-shaped, coiled shells are ail i 
ciently alike to be easily confounded under the vernacular ae 
“ periwinkle,” “ winkle ” or “conch.” But sometimes other ; 
terial was used. Thus the “New England’s Rarities dicor = 
: “ : le of whose — 
by John Josselyn, gent, reads: “A kind of coccle © 
shell the Indians make their beads called wampumpese oget 
mohaicks. The first are white,” etc. This is an ae P 
Williams wrote in his “ Key :” “The New England & fm 
ignorant of Europe's coyne. * * * Their owne i ft 
