282 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



aboriginal trade-religions, the distance from the Pacific 

 to the State of Ohio being almost equal to the whole 

 breadth of the North American continent. The Dentalmm 

 is also found in the West Indies. If it should likewise 

 occur on the southern coasts of the United States, there is 

 at least a possibility that the specimens found in Ohio may 

 have been obtained from the last-named region. 



The term " wampum " is often applied to shell beads 

 in general, but should be confined to a certain class of 

 cylindrical beads, usually one-fourth of an inch long and 

 drilled lengthwise, which were chiefly manufactured from 

 the shells of the common hard-shell clam ( Venus mercenaria^ 

 Lin.). This bivalve occurring, as every one knows, in great 

 abundance on the North American coasts, formed an im- 

 portant article of food of the Indians living near the sea, 

 a fact demonstrated by the enormous quantity of cast-away 

 clam shells, which form a considerable part of North 

 American kjoekkenmoeddings. The natives used to string 

 the molluscs and to dry them for consumption during 

 winter. The blue or violet portions of the clam shells 

 furnished the material for the dark wampum, which was 

 held in much higher estimation than that made of the white 

 part of the shells, or of the spines of certain univalves. 

 Even at the present time places are pointed out on the 

 Atlantic sea-board — for example, on that of Long Island — 

 where the Indians manufactured wampum, and such locali- 

 ties may be recognized by the accumulations of clam shells 

 from which the blue portions are broken off. Wampum 

 beads formed a favourite material for the manufacture of 

 necklaces, bracelets, and other articles of ornament, and 

 they constituted the strings and belts of wampum, which 

 played such a conspicuous part in Indian history. Loskiel 

 makes the following statement in reference to wampum : — 



