Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-04-03
LONG ISLAND WAMPUM.
THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER CUR
RENcT OF COLONIAL DAYS.

BY far the greater part of all gen.
uine wampum in circulation through
, cut the colonies was manufactured
near Gardeners bay and upon Long
| Islands shores to the westward. The
flats and marshes swarmed with sea
| life, furnishing shells found nowhere
else in such abundance. or 30 well
adapted for transformation into the
| currency universally recognized
among both aborigines and colonists.
| The historian Weeden wrote: Long
Islands shores abounded in these
shells, and Long Island Indians were
| the chief manufacturers of wampum
upon the whole Atlantic coast" John
Fiske, indorsing this statement, adds:
The Long Island shores were a kind
of primitive mint"
On Gardeners bay. called BY the
Indians "Cromme gouw," were found,
however, the largest shell deposits;
here the Montauks and Manhansetts
established their mint and carefully
kept watch over the mines of New
Netherlands, as these shores had al
ready been designated by the envious
Dutch governor OF New York. The
island itself was known to Dutch colo
nists as Sewanhacky, or land of the
sewan shell, and traces, it is said. of
the sewan, or wampum industry, are
still indicated by the large refuse
shell heaps left by the Indians in pro.
cess Of coinage. Weeden thinks wam-
pun originated with the Nsrragan-
setts; Fiske afTirms that Tor untold
ages it was the red mans currency
and there is authentic evidence of it's
use by the mound builders in the
quantities discovered during eIplora-
tions of ancient mounds.
The word wampum, or wompan, is
derived from wompi, meaning white;
and wampum, in its primitive sense,
was restricted by the Indians to white
beads manufactured from periwinkles.
There was also used for convenience,
and to expand the currency, black
wampum called suckahock, made from
the common round clam or quahaug.
Black wampnm was considered worth
twice as much as the white. Long Is
! landers are said to be endowed with a
skill and ingenuity unsurpassed by
like characteristics usually accorded
in greater abundance to their nearby
Yankee neighbors; but that similar
traits predominated among the Indian
clans is clearly demonstrated by the
degree of perfection to which they
brought the manufacture of wampum
and suckahock, making it thereby
generally accepted coinage-every-
where current-a legal tender in mer-
~~~+''~ +~"r~n otio-e ~o---d vro~o- %
fixed valuation, equivalent to a gold
standard.
me crude shells were transformed
into highly polished acylinders, about
one-eighth OF an inch in diameter and
one-fourth of an inch long, drilled
lengthwise and strung upon f1bres Of
hemp or tendons of wild beasts. Con
sidering the tools at their command.
the finished product was q wonderful
exhibition of mechanical labor and
Indian patience. So perfect, indeed,
were these coins that efforts to initiate
the currency by putting upon the mar
ket similar combination of shells
elsewhere made were detected at the
original mint, and thus counterfeit
ing failed to become a productive in
dustry.
Dutch settlers early recognized the
value of a monopoly in handling this
wampum-hence their persistent op-
position to immigration and the set
tlement of Lord Strings colonists;
persistency practiced by the Indians
in turn, when Montauk's sachem re.
PEELED incursions upon the mintine
ground made by interior tribes to Sc
cure both wamDum and shells in prim-
tive form. But the demand for wan
pun so increased that more powerful
tribes, headed by Narrangansetts, Pc
quots and Mohawks. united to compel
annual payment from the Great
South and Shinnecock Bay clans of
tribute money, expressed in wampum
for protection and service never
rendered. The demands were COM
piled with, however, from sheer ina
bility to resist, and so constant fear
kept the clans toiling to manufacture
and pay tribute. their mint thus be-
coming source Of untold misery.
Governor Kieft from New York tried
a similar experiment, but met with
utter failure. He levied a tax, payable
in wampum, for the rebuilding of Fort
Amsterdam. But the willy red man
sent back his collector with message
that they did not want the fort. Il
was no protection to them 90 miles
away and they failed to see any rea-
son for giving up valuables at the
governors request when they were
to receive from him nothing in return.
Styuvesant, too, the valiant, weather.
beaten, mettlesome. obstinate, leath-
ernsided, lion-hearted. generous-spirit-
ed old governor" as he is called by
Father Knickerbocker. had his eyes
turned toward the Long Island minting
grounds, but never seems to have
realized anything therefrom.
Tn, 1909 bn