Wampum

wom'pum, a colored bead made by our Atlantic Indians by drilling holes in pieces of the interior of the round clam or quahog. It was much prized by them as an ornament. Strings of wampum were so valuable in aboriginal eyes that they were accepted gladly in exchange for other articles, and thus became their money. An article was valued at so much wampum. These shell beads were ground to a cylindrical form by rubbing them on a stone and were pierced by a flint awl, specimens of which have been found in the shell heaps of New England. Shell money was recognized by the laws of the colonists. In early days the ferryman charged so much wampum for setting the traveler across the stream. A wampum belt presented to William Penn by the Indians on the occasion of the famous Penn treaty is preserved by the Pennsylvania Historical Society. It consists of eighteen rows of white shell beads, in all, three thousand bits. Two dark figures are formed of dark bits. The two clasp hands,-one, wearing a hat, is for Penn; the other, bareheaded, represents the Indian. See Shell; Beads