142 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



of an inch in length, the white beads are made from the conch 

 shell and the violet, or purple (called black by the Indians) from 

 the purple spot in the clam shell. The beads of the most ancient 

 belts are strung on twisted threads stripped from the inner bark 

 of the elm and arranged in parallel lines separated by strings of 

 buckskin that are overtwisted with fine threads shred from deer 

 sinews. 



At the tribal government councils the wampum is read before 

 action is taken in any controversy. Upon the convening of the 

 council a string of white wampum beads, about a foot in length, is 

 passed from chief to chief, each holding it in his hands for a moment ; 

 it is then laid on a table in the form of a circle, the ends touching; 

 this signifies that the council is " open " and harmony prevails. 



During the session, if a " condolence " is " called," by reason of 

 death, or the " raising " of a chief , a ceremony always preceded by a 

 condolence, a string of purple wampum is laid by the side of the 

 circled string, and so on the " laying down of the wampum strings " 

 one after another, each with its own significance, denotes the nature 

 of the business or discussion before the council that is subject to 

 consent, or rejection, by vote of the chiefs who are members 

 thereof. 



In the " old time," belts of the purple wampum were symbols of 

 death and, if adorned with red paint, or a red feather, signified 

 war. These belts were also exchanged as ransom for a life or lives. 

 Wampum beads, threaded in lengths varying from four inches to 

 a foot, were used as messages of peace or war, a " peace string " 

 of white beads was intrusted to a " runner," a swift footed Indian 

 trained to endurance and speed, who each day, at sunset, made a 

 notch in a small blade-shaped piece of willow wood attached to the 

 string that, at the end of the journey, the chief to whom it was 

 sent would know the number of days that had elapsed during the 

 conveyance of the message. 



All councils were " called " by a string of wampum sent from 

 nation to nation, by a "runner" appointed by the governmental 

 authorities at Onondaga. The Indian women, who had the power 

 of nominating or deposing chiefs, the latter, commonly called 

 "taking off their horns," were also custodians of distinctive belts 

 that were sent to the seat of government as their decisions of law 

 on occasions of their interference, or intercession, in politics or war. 

 In fact no action of public council could be proposed or ratified 

 unless " scaled " by the wampum, nor was any treaty, proffered by 

 the " paleface," recognized or considered valid until authorized by 

 the exchange of wampum belts. 



