Wampum

These Indian beads were known under a variety of names among the early colonists, and were called, wampum , wampom peage , or wampeage , frequently peage or peake only, and in some localities sewan or zewand . But generally sewan prevailed among the Dutch, and wampum among the English. These names were applied without distinction to all varieties of beads. This confusion arose naturally enough from the scanty acquaintance of the whites with the Indian language. The word wampum [wompam, which has since become a general term, was restricted by the Indians to the white beads. It was derived from wompi , "white. " The other or dark beads were called suckáuhock , a name compounded of súcki , "dark colored, " and hock , "shell. " The name Mowhakes , compounded of mowi , "black, " and hock , "shell, " was also sometimes applied to the dark beads. It thus appears that the Indians divided their beads into two general classes, the wompam , or white beads, and suckáuhock , or dark beads. Both white and black consisted of highly polished, testaceous cylinders, about one eighth of an inch in diameter and a quarter of an inch long, drilled length wise and strung upon fibres of hemp or the tendons of wild beasts. Suckáuhock was made from the stem of the Venus mercenaria , or common round clam, popularly known as the quauhaug; wampum from the column and inner whorls of the Pyrula carica and Pyrula caniculata [Lam. ], species known as Winkles or Periwinkles among fishermen, and the largest convoluted shells of our New England coast.