Beads made from the hard part of the quahaug shell, and used as money. An inferior sort, roenoke, was made from conch-shells. The true wampum was hand-made by the Indians; but the people along the Hudson River, using lathes, made an imitation; and William Kieft and his Council passed a law in 1641 to regulate the prices at which each should pass current. A later act (1657) is mentioned s.v. STIVER.
1753. The half king told me that he offered the wampum to the commander. George Washington’s Journal.—Mass. Spy, Oct. 24.
1762. “White Wampung” and “Black Wampung” are mentioned.—Boston Evening Post, Jan. 18.
1784. The chief of the Mohawks rose, and [held] up a Belt of Wampoon.—Mass. Spy, Dec. 2.
1788. The Sachem magnificently dressed; ten strings of wampum round his neck, &c. [Philadelphia Federal Procession.]—Maryland Journal, July 15.
1794. I send you three strings of wampum given by Bears Oil Chief,—“Corn-planter,” alias John Obail, to Lieut. Polhemus.—Gazette of the U.S., Phila., June 20.
1828. Their richest skins [of the Nootka Indians], when converted to garments, are edged with a great curiosity. This is nothing less than the very species of wampum, so well known on the opposite side of the continent.—‘Life of John Ledyard,’ p. 94 (Lond.). (Italics in the original.)
