The household history of the United States and its people, for young Americans . ears; and sometimes, also, thesavage Indian warrior would wear the driedhand of his dead enemy in the same use of such ugly adornment was tomake the savages seem as fierce andterrible as possible. Both men and women decorateds iliemselves with beads, which they madeIrom sea-shells. These were called wampum, and were worn in strings,or wrought into belts, necklaces, and brace-lets. .\s the Indians had no iron, the makingof wampum was very laborious. A bit of stoneworked down to the size of a si.\penny nail,
The household history of the United States and its people, for young Americans . ears; and sometimes, also, thesavage Indian warrior would wear the driedhand of his dead enemy in the same use of such ugly adornment was tomake the savages seem as fierce andterrible as possible. Both men and women decorateds iliemselves with beads, which they madeIrom sea-shells. These were called wampum, and were worn in strings,or wrought into belts, necklaces, and brace-lets. .\s the Indians had no iron, the makingof wampum was very laborious. A bit of stoneworked down to the size of a si.\penny nail,with a large head, was made fast to a reed orcane. Then the Indian workman, hav-•;2^.:; ing chipped off a piece of the shell of,oP the hard clam, or a piece of the insideof a conch-shell, and worked it downto the right size, bored a hole in it by resting the pointof the drill against the bit of shell held in his hand,rolling over and over the other end of the reed againsthis thigh. This slow work being necessary* to make it,wampum was highly valued. As soon as the white men. SILK-GRASS. DRAWN IN 1SS5. ffOlV THE /XDIAXS LIVED. 71 came, the Indians used iron nails instead of stone drills. After a while the Dutch settlers in New Jersey and at Albany set up little lathes run with treadles, by means of which they could make wampum-beads so fast that the Indians gave it up. A large part of the difference between a civilized and a bar- baious people lies m the quicke: and easier waysof doing thingsamong those who havethe aits of were sent fromtribe to tribe with solemnmessages. They were used in makingpeace and in appealing to allied nations to join in a the white men came, wampum, being very costlyin human labor, served the purpose of money amongthe savages. With wampum they carried on a tradefrom tribe to tribe. The Indians of the interior sold theproducts of their country to the coast tribes, who werewampum-makers. Ornaments made of copper dug
Size: 875px × 2856px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthoregglesto, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1901
