1883.] Wampum and its History. 469 
sorts; one white, which they make of the stem or stock of the 
Periwincle, which they call Meteathok, when all the shell is broken 
off” Again he says: “Their white they call Wampam (which 
signifies white).” Loskiel, however, tells us that wompom was an 
Iroquois word “ meaning a muscle.” The wampum made from 
the periwinkle was distinguished in law as late as 1663 in Rhode 
Island, and in 1679, Wooley, describing New York, says of it: 
“They [the Indians] make their White Wampum or Silver of a 
kind of Horn, which is beyond Oyster-bay ”—a phrase that cer- 
tainly would not apply to a bivalve. 
It appears certain, then, that the coiled, univalve, periwinkle 
shells (they are from six to ten inches in length) were largely used 
for this inferior grade of currency. It was only necessary to 
take out one or two small sections of the central column of the 
spire and smooth the edges; the hollow core made them natural 
beads. Smith’s “ History of New Jersey” (1765) informs us that 
this was precisely the plan followed, for it relates that “the white 
wampum was worked out of the inside of the great conques into 
the form of a bead, and perforated to string on leather.” Still 
earlier testimony comes from the southern coast. Thus Beverly, 
m his “ History and Present State of Virginia” (1705), records 
that the riches of the Indians there consisted of “ Peak, Roenoke 
and such-like trifles made out of the Cunk Shell.. Peak is of two 
Sorts, or rather of two colors, both are made of one Shell, tho’ of 
erent parts; one is a dark Purple Cylinder, and the other a 
white ; they are both made in size and figure alike.’ The same 
author also mentions a poorer kind of money yet, “ made of the 
cockle shell, broke into small bits with rough edges, drill’d 
ough in the same manner as Beads, and this they call Roenoke.” 
ee authorities corroborate this and prove what I have been led 
oe upon—the fact that the conchs were used mainly for 
a white money, —because the popular idea has been that aX the 
_ “7, Money was made from the valves of quahaug. 
This bivalve is one of the commonest mollusks on the shore of 
. “astern America south of Cape Cod. It is a thick, somewhat 
a bec shell which buries itself in the sand under pretty deep 
‘ wa The Indians gathered it alive by wading and feeling 
ia S toes or by diving, and ate the animal with great gusto; 
“Under the indeed, an article of extensive sale in all our markets 
a sin © name of round or hard clam or quahaug, the scientific 
: being Venus mercenaria. 
