he different tribes and the states, and
later the general government, continued to be ratified by the
interchange of wampum belts. The records of the eighteenth century
abound with instances of this character. The last occasion of the kind
is believed to have been at Prairie du Chien in 1825.[59]

Among the Indians of the present day wampum is unknown. The name still
remains, but the trifles to which it is applied bear no resemblance to
the ancient article. The glass beads now current as wampum and the
original wampum are not less unlike, than the squalid Blackfoot of our
western plains, and the proud and imperious Mohawk, beside his native
stream.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Trumbull in his notes in the Narragansett Club Reprint of Roger
Williams's _Key_, says: "_Wom pam_ was the name of the white beads
collectively; when strung or wrought in girdles they constituted
_wanom-peg_ [Roger Williams], the _wampon-peage_ of Wood and other early
writers."

_Peage_ or _peake_ signified simply "strung beads," and _wampom-peage_
accordingly signified "strings of white beads."

The English were doubtless led to consider _wampum_ a generic word,
because they heard it oftenest used, _wampum_ being much more abundant
than _suckauhock_. Their error has however long since received the
sanction of usage. But as far as our own knowledge extends there was no
comprehensive word for all shell beads in use among the Indians. _Sewan_
had perhaps very nearly such a use in certain localities, but the real
meaning of the word _sewan_ appears from the following note in the
Narragansett Club Reprint of Roger Williams's _Key_:--"_Seahwhoog_,
'they are scattered' [Elliot]. From this word the Dutch traders gave the
name of _sewared_ or _zeewand_ [the participle, _seahwhoun_,
'scattered,' 'loose'], to _all_ shell money just as the English called
all _peage_, or string beads, by the name of the white or _wampom_."

[2] Sometimes from the _Buccinum undulatum_ [Moell], found from Nantucket
to Labrador, and occasionally perhaps from the _Natica heros_ [Say]
found from New York to Labrador, and the _Natica duplicata_ found from
Florida to Massachusetts Bay.

In this connection the writer would acknowledge his indebtedness to Hon.
J. Hammond Trumbull, a gentleman who has given much time and talent to
the investigation of matters of Indian history.

[3] Many writers have asserted that wampum was worked out of the inside
of the Great Conque shell. This view