Indian Money

When we first came to this land, and I heard our people talking of trading with the Indians, it was in my mind that the brown-skinned men had nothing among them which would answer the purpose of gold and silver money; but before we had been here many days I discovered my mistake, and already do we count the value of an article in the Indian way, which is to say, that a beaver skin is worth so many strings of wampum.

And now what is wampum?

It is the money of the Indians, and odd money, too, being neither more nor less than tiny beads; not such as we have brought over for barter, but cut from a certain kind of seashell, and of a particular color. Some are taken from conchs, and are pure white; others from the thick portion of the quahaug that has been cast up from the deep sea, and is deep purple in shade.

I cannot say of what other shells wampum is made; but there are several kinds, and so rare that when these money-makers seek them on the seacoast beyond Point Comfort, they may not find above a dozen in a week's search.

When a certain kind of shell has been found, it becomes necessary to fashion the desired parts into beads, and this, if you can imagine it, is done first by chipping with stones, and then by drilling the holes with a splinter of flint fastened to a stick of wood, after which the beads are strung on thin strips of deer hide.

I have seen a wampum maker spend nearly three hours drilling a hole through a single bead, which serves to show how valuable in the eyes of the savages must be these seeming trinkets.