} 
ie 
$ 
; 
1883.] Wampum and its History. 475 
paid or received except “strunge suitably, and not small and 
great, uncomely and disorderly mixt, as formerly it hath beene.” In 
Massachusetts “ wampam-peag” was legal tender (Act of 1648) 
for all debts less than forty shillings, “except county rates to the 
treasurer,” the white at eight for a penny and the black at four 
fora penny. This remained the law till 1661, but wampum 
served as money there long subsequent, as it did everywhere else. 
It would be impossible to get at the volume in circulation, but 
values are accessible. These remained substantially those I have 
mentioned until 1673, when the true wampum had become very 
scarce, owing to the hoarding of it by the Indians and its dispo- 
sal to remote tribes. The Dutch council, therefore, issued an 
edict enhancing its legal value twenty-five per cent. Such an 
action as this the red man could not in the least comprehend. 
Adair says they had a fixed value for every bead, and “bought 
and sold at the current rate, without the least variation for circum- 
stances either of time or place; and now they will hear nothing 
patiently of loss or gain, or allow us to heighten the price of our 
goods, be our reasons ever so strong.” This was a sad case for 
an Indian trader ! 
Nearly a century passed and still the shell-money held a firm 
Place in colonial trade, all along the coast. That observant 
traveler, Dr. Kalm, who visited and wrote about the American 
settlements in 1748, has much to say of the profits of trading 
through this medium in Indian goods. “ The Indians,” he notes, 
formerly made their own wampums, though not without a deal 
a trouble; but at present the Europeans employ themselves 
that way, especially the inhabitants of Albany, who get a consid- 
erable profit by it.” This last fact is also mentioned by the Rev- 
ua emg who further saw it made by white men on Staten 
k is only a little later, indeed, that Jacob Spicer, the most 
prominent man in Cape May county, New Jersey, advertised to 
barter goods “ for all kinds of produce and commodities, and par- 
a for wampum, offering five dollars reward to the person 
“aking the largest amount of it. “ He succeeded in procuring a 
_ Wantity of the wampum, and before sending it off to Albany [ef 
 Mtèa) and a market, weighed a shot bag full of silver coin and 
the same shot bag full of wampum, and found the latter most val- 
ey ble by ten per cent.” 
