Imperial Valley press., 1922-05-23
PRIVATE MONEY MAKING

nearly resembles a limekiln. The
floors are hidden from sight by
great heaps OF shells, and the rude
benches and tools are covered en-
tirely with white-hying dust as the
shells are being ground and drilled,
and suggests the application OF in
Vulnerable coats of whitewash,
! which in fact it really is.
The wampum makers purchase a
cartload OF conch and clam shells
for Is cents, delivered at their
doors, and when shell OF sufficient
thickness is selected it is broken
with hammer and chisel into cubes
OF about two inches in length and
one-thTd of an inch square. The
piece OF shell is then securely
wedged into q wise made OF two
pieces OF wood, connected with
hinge in the center. The jaws OF
the wise are opened and the shells
inserted. Then the wise is closed
tightly and held by pressure
against the grindstone. In this
manner. in a Short time, the edges
OF the she'll are rounded, and then
the drill is brought into use.
The workman sits at three
legged table, the top of which is
fashioned from the half of log,
the under side still retaining the
original bark covering, and affix-
ing one end of the drill to play
freely in a button on his jacket,
he next takes up whalebone bow,
similar to the kind used by jewel
ers, and, giving the cord turn
about the spool on the drill, he
works the bow rapidly back and
forth, from right to left, till the
sharp end OF the drill penetrates
through the cube OF she'll from end
to end lengthwise.
When a sufficient number OF
cubes are completed they are then
smoothed and polished with emery
paper and strung on wires, pre-
cisely the same as children string
beads, and they are then ready for
the market. The wampum that IS
made from the streaked, blush
parts of hard-clam shells is the
most beautiful, and therefore more
valuable, and is harder and tough
er to work. The price paid for the
products of this now almost obso-
lete industry is IA cents running
inch on the string, and the average
amount of money made by these
shell money makers is about So a
day during the season.
Origin of Wampum
In the Hall of the Indians of the
Woodlands, in The American
Museum of Natural History, New
York, may be seen case contain
ing strings and belts of curious
looking white and purple beads.
This is wampum. and was used as
currency by the Indians, early COL
onists and traders, and the Indians
also employed it in their ceremo-
nies and as a badge of authority.
Among other traditions explain
ing how wampum first came to be
used, the Iroquois have one to the
effect that once Hiawatha. on
journey, came to little lake, and
was wondering how to cross it
when flock of ducks appeared and
settled on the water. When they
flew away, the water had disap-
peared, and Hiawatha, looking on
the dry bed of the lake, saw that
it was covered with shells. OF
these he made the first wampum.
Despite this legend and similar
ones, however, it is believed that
the earliest wampum was made of
small pieces of wood of equal size,
stained black or white. Porcupine
quilts are also said to have been
used. Later, wampum was made
from shells, sometimes OF the
fresh-water varieties, but generally
of sea-shells. The best wampum
was made from the hearts of the
common hard clam of Long Island.
While shell beads were early
manufactured by the Indians along