Human blood, or at least what passes as proof of the extinction of a human life, operates as the medium of exchange in Trias s war. For Glanton and his crew, scalps are specie, bloody human specie. Scalps evidence a commerce in death and, specifically, genocide as a commodity. But rules exist even in this market of genocide. Glanton s head is soon worth eight thousand pesos on the very same market in which he originally made his fortune.
Scalps are the medium of exchange and human life the guarantor of the bill.
Glanton s gang knows no such decorum as might be found in standard shopkeeping or the haggling of the bazaar. But Glanton and his bloody underlings are not merely bullies or thugs, rather the only commerce that seems rational to them is the commerce of blood. The Americans are not traders, but rather mercenaries, partisans hired by the state to fight a genocidal war. Within the logic of Blood Meridian , particularly that of the judge, all markets are merely derivative of war. As well ask men what they think of stone.