New-York tribune. [volume], July 11, 1897, Page 9, Image 31

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THK IR0QU013 WAMPUM.
-AN ANCIENT TREASURE THAT HAS D?S
Al'i'l'ARED.
TUB LOSS D-SCOVI-RJ-D AT THE OMATU OK
cuji-j- weustek ?-ometuinq about tub
origin and da of vvami'im.
Syracuse, N. T.. Julv 8.
Now that Chic' Thomas Webster, the -toper
of the Wampum of the Klder Brothers of the
Iroquois Confederacy, is dead and burled, it is
discovered that most of the wampum that was
til his possession has been rtolen. The chief
?kept his wampum under his bed at his hut on
the Om.ndaga Reservation, south of this city.
Threo years ago. at the time of the Om.ndaga
Historical Association's celebration in this city,
this wampum was exhibited in charge of Chief
Webster. It was all intact at that time. Now
some cf the most valuable pieces are missed. It
Is said h. re that some of th.* missing piece? have
turned up in the collections in the State
Museum and the Smithsonian Institution. The
Mayor of Albany Is said to have come Into the
most valuable piece, called the Hiawatha belt
Tho Indians are very reticent when asked about
the wampum, but it is said that several of the
chiefs became aware of the theft several weeks
before Chief Webster's death. Men here who are
acquainted with the afTairs of the Indians say
that little of the wampum is left at Webster's
hut, and intimate that the most valuable pieces
were stolen and sold by somebody who deed red
the ?aged chief.
The Indian legends consider Hiawatha to be ;
the inventor of Wampum, asserting that his '
wampum was of fresh-water shells and bird |
quills. The Onondaga wampum belts are not
over a century old, and a'l but the beads In them
were made by white men. The death of Chief
Webster removes the last of the aged keepers
of the wampum of the Six Nation Confederacy.
He died last Sunday and was buried on Tuesday
vrith pagan ceremonies in charge of Chiefs Dan?
iel Ia Fert and Thomas Lyon. Abram Hill,
keeper of the Younger Brothers, died on Febru?
ary -W. 1895.
The office of wampum keeper Is one of the
most ancient in the Confederacy. The Elder
Brothers consist of the Onondagas. Mohawks
and S?necas; the Younger Brothers of the
Oncidas, Cayugas and Tuscaroras. Chief Hill,
Who was an Oneldan, lived to be seventy-seven
years old, and Chief Webster was seventy-six
years of age. The Webstors are mentioned
amoni; the most noted chiefs of the Onondagas
of recent years. They are the descendants of
Kpbralm Webater, Onondaga's first settler, who
married an Indian. These depcen.tants have
always lived with the Onondagas. Harry Web?
ster, one of Kphraim Webster's children, was
long a chief of high reputation, Thomas Web?
ster came from this same family.
For nearly a year Chief Webster had been
?weak and feeble, and death is attributed to old
age. Chief Webster had a prominent part ln
Oie "Feasts" of the Confederacy. He wore a
feather headdress, and made long addresses to
the Great Spirit, in these ?-en-monies the wam?
pum played its rart. Messengers hav.? been sent
to the various tribe-? to ?announce the death of
Chief Webster and to call a condoling council
to rain?? a chief and keeper of the wampum?that
Is, what is left of iL
If the wampum belts which have been prc
terved at Onondaga Castle for a century' 9* more
?should be gradually disappearing into the hands
of private collectors it would, indeed, be a pity.
Were it not that they have been used from time
immemorial (but with less and less Intelligence,
I fear) in same of the interesting ceremonies of
tbe Indians, especially that which preserves the
tradii ions of the formation of the Iroijuois
League, or the Federation of the Five Nations, It
?would have been wise had the belts long ago
been acquired by the State, so as to prevent their
dissipation. The reverence of the Indians for
What they are persuaded are historic memorials
of th?ir distant past might have safeguarded
them so far as their own people were concerned,
but they were always a temptation to white men
who had none of the scruples of the Indians, and
it is more strange that any should be left at
Onondaga Castle than that a portion of the col?
lection should have been stolen. It would be in?
teresting new to know how many of the belts
taken to the Five Nations Reserve on the Orand
River In Canada after the revolution are still
there.
AT THE "(??????,??? COUNCIL.?*
The wampum belts figure chiefly at the cere?
mony Of the "Condoling Council." as it has been
calbd since Mr. Hale published "The Iroquois
Book of Rites" in 1.883 At this council chiefs
are "raised up" to take the places in the federal
Senate vacated by the death or removal of other
chiefs. After the acceptance by the Senate of a
new councillor he takes his seat among the
others of hH rank, and the wampum belts are
brought out by the keeper and expounded by
him. Despite the fact that a good deal of doubt
bas been cast on the whole matter, Mr. Hale at?
tached much value to such "reading of the
archives." In September, 1871, he secured por
mlss'on of the council of the Six Nations on the
reserve ln Canada, near Brantford, ond gathered
the chiefs who knew most of the traditions of
their people together in the house of Chief George
H. M. Johnson.
There all the wampum belts were brought, and
their meaning was explained to Mr. Hale. A
photograph of the group preserves the incident.
I have a copy presented to me by Mr. Hale
when I began my studici into the muslo of ?!.?
ceremonies of condolence. Mr. Hale baa recorded
on the back the namea of all the chief, eng.?;;? .1
in th?? oonferenoe?their r.n;;ii.*h namea, titular
Indian names and the meaning of the latter.
They Were Joseph Snow, "Hahiroa" rib? who
scatters"). Onondaga chief and fire l?.- ? r.
George IL If. Johnson. "T? yonhi bkon" (' Doul '.?
life"), Mohawk chief and Government Inter?
preter; John Puck, "Skanawaliti," ("Beyond th
River," more correctly, "Swamp"), Onond g*
chief and wampum keeper; John Smoke Johnson,
"Sakayengwarahion" ('"Di-appearlng mist"),
Mohawk chief and speaker of the council; .
Hill, "Kawenens? n.nton" ("The voice sus?
pended"). Onondaga chief and flre-keeper, and
Seneca Johnson, "Ksnonki rltawih" ("Entan ?led
hair given"). Seneca chief. Tin- Information
given to Mr. Hale.? on this occasion he embodied
in the Introduction and notre to t'.i?? "Iroquois
H?iok of Rites."
In 1882 John Buck, who chsnted th? Iroquols
hymn, an?i what I have sin???? called The Iro
quois Litany," for me by the hour while tin
Rev. Isaac Bearfool acte d as ?nt? rpret? r between
us, also brought th?? wampum belts t ? tbe in??-t
lng place for my inspection and explain. ?1 them.
What be said led me to believe tha: th? y were
as much mnemonic signs helps t<> ?a......?. as
anything alee. They were of several Kinds. < ?.?.
one of them was R p m Of li-riir ;; like h..!f-dia
ir.onda, each extending acr,..??.? the belt From
Buck's explanation I gathered ? hat the flgnres
were conv?r.tioiializ?d hearts. This ? rpetuated
the memory of a treaty.
"With what trib?.??" I nsk. d.
"The Brios." answered Buck.
"About what time?"
"About two hundred years after the white m.rri
came to America."
This illustrais the starting polnl which Back
chose for nearly nil his estimates ?f time. S?>
rrany years or centurias b? for?? ?ir after the white
man ?3am??. It is also the basis of David Cus.c_
in hia singular but extremely Interesting .ini
suggestive "History of the Six Nations." i>
scribing the extinction of a tribe in balli??, to.
writer, himself a Tuscan?]a. says: "This at
happened probably about two thousand live hun?
dred winters before Columbus discovered the
America."
JOHN BVCtCm nrTKRPRBTATION.
Belts of pure white boadi Buck described as
records of treaties of peace. :*;:ip ? diagonali}
across a belt, be said, were symbols of agi
ment that the tribe giving it would help thi ? I
CHIEF JOHN BUCK.
(Of tin.? fourth gen? ration of Iroquols w-uarpum keeper?.)
Nations in war?the diagonal figure lieing in
! terpreted as props for the Long House the sym?
bol of the confederacy. One belt Which showed
ln Its middle an oblong figure with a colored
spot In Its entre Buck said was tho record
? of a treaty granting hunting and fishing Priv?
ileg? s, that is to say, the tribes exchanging the
belts agreed to use certain hunting and fishing
territory in common. When asked how this was
symbolized by the design on the belt. Buck ex?
plained that the parallelogram was a dish, the
spot ln its conlre a piece of meat A belt of
purple containing a white conventionalized de?
sign like that commonly culled tbe Greek key
pati rn (a tnoAzAtt) wag .?aid t?j bare ben s tit
by whites as a confirmation of a treaty.
The collection of belts brought by Buck did
ot appear so nunterous a? that shown on Mr.
Hale'S photograph. Its m est interesting f?*aturc
was half of the belt which, nceorduig to tra
! ditinn, signalised the f?>rmat!on or the Iroquois
Conf?*deracy. The cdrcuniatanoe that be h.id only
half tl-.' b ll I3u. u ? Kplalned by saying thai when
I Hi Six Nations s. pata'.cd after the American
R< volution, ih?? majority leaving their ancestral
; honn a in what is now Kew-Tork Siate to be?
come tie wards of the British people, for whom
{ Ihey had fought, in Can:, la, the wampum belts
?rrere divided between the two bodies. In the
case ??f this belt, tie- league ?belt, neither body
wished to surrender it to the other, so it was
cui iu two and ? ich body took a half. This belt,
however, is noi that win? h Is d?-acrtbed as the
Hiawatha belt, in the possession <?f the Mayor
of Albany
The latter belt, according to a description re?
it ? 11 y printed, contains lour oUong figures four
1 Inches by Uve, two of which are on either ?????- of
a diamond-shaped figure la the middle. All the
flgun-a ai??? connected by links and an ex?
; ? tund? d as follows: Tbe diamond represents the
' Onondaga Nation, whiah was the wealthiest and
mosl powerful. The other lour figures stand for
? the Beneeaa, Mohawk**, Cayugas and Onaklas.
', ,n se weie the ? riginal ?VI nations of th"
' confederacy, The sixth nation is the Tuacarora,
, which dui di t enter the league until early in the
j eighteenth century, after th?; Kn^lish had driven
it out a.f South Carolina. Now the belt belli ved
by the ('anadian Iruijuois t.i be th..? record of the
formctioa of the league ("The Oreat Pea????." as
Mr. Hal?? ?would hav? U called) shows only a row
? : conventi malised human figures clasping
hands, an exceedingly simple and rude design,
for all the world Una ih,? chains "f dolls which
are ? ut ?.ut of paper Id amuse children.
THE (?? J.iSTl'.:: of ANTIQUITT.
If Ihe belt ii an authentic record, it might be
| ary Way fr ...? two I.lindi? d ti five huti'li 1
j years old. Cusl.k, th?* Indian historian. \? h ?
'?? wrote down th tradlUonfl of his people without
1 qu ?-.?.??.i.Ing lhem, and than tried to fix chrono?
?jgi.ai points f? ? t..? sai..? ,f his white readers,
.said tbe iMgue was formed a thousand years
before ibe cumin;; of Cotambua
Viri-'.ari. taking the l?*wtlmony of tin* Indians
ar.d cella ing it. 1.x? ?1 upon the y? ar ?'.??); H?.ra
?,.? l?ale, calculating th, ra.e ?if change in th??
? Ungu?tMk"?cs of tho Iroqu ?,-, came to th,? same
conclusion as Morgan; the u?-?'. William M.
Besucbamp, of Baldwlnsvllle, N. Y., ??ne of the
moat Indefatigable students ??f th?- New-York
[roquois, hai satisfied himself that the y.-ar lo?A)
Is near r tbe real dut??.
Th?- question is tempting; but cannot be en?
tered on now. What is important in connection
with the belts whi. h usad to be kept at Onon
laga Castle is that I'r. Beaochamp holds them
all to be of very recent origin. In his notes on
CU-lckol history reprinted in liis bo.ik, 'The Iro
?luola Trail," he says:
It d?x?s not 8??em probable that a single belt
w.L-j left wh?_u ihe Ououdaga lowus were pii-,
lai ' d in 1770. I bave ran fully examined all the
Onondaga belts at various times, and all are of
while men's beads an 1 often string-? and threads
S? m ? hav? buckskin thongs, fien? ral ?Carrtngtoa
in 1801 secured the co vene ? t belt with the
Unil ? Btates, and another ?,f Interest, for tho
Government The- Covenant Bell had men h?,ld
ing banda, bul the chevron appears on some of
tii- wldi r belts
What Ur. Beanehamp calls the *'??venant licit
?orresponde with the belt which John Beak
showed me aa th?? League i>?-it, but Dr. lu-au
chanip make.; no reference to Ih?? mutilati??
which l have described.
As to the antiquity of wampum, it furnishes
another troublesome point. Wampum has been
found in th? mounds of the M< und liuilde-rs.
? >r. Beauchamp says, however, that the Iroqnool
had little or n>> wampum until the Dutch came.
!.. H. M?rgan says that they us?'d fresh-water
sh?'ll beads "f a Spiral form until they had ma?
rin?? shells from the Dutch, but non?? have been
found. Bh ?rt colored sticks wen- used fw some
tlm?' aft?r the? whites ?.ime In 1711 th.? Five
Nations gave some stick.- of wampum t<? confirm
S treaty, but ? year Inter replaced them with
belts, showing that the sticks were a temporal*
expedient Cnsiek does not mention wampum
In his narrative until he ? aches the ."tory of the
formation of the league.
HIAWATHA IN THK STOBT.
Singularly enough, he knows nothing about
Hiawatha in connection with that story, yet
?eversi legenda connect that Onondaga chief
(whose Imperishable monument is the history of
the Five Nations, and not, as the world thinks,
the poem of Longfellow, which makes him an
Ojibway d mi-god) with th?? invention of wam?
pum. Mr Hale translates Hiawatha with "He
who seeks the? wampum belt." One of the Ir?-?
quois legends tens how in his journeys under?
taken to bring about the confederation of tribes
Hiawatha ?arrie to a lake whie-h he wished to
cross. While he was gazing at the watt r a flock
of ducks settled in it and drank and soaked it all
up. Its dry b.?tt??m the chief found to b?? covered
with white ?h?'lls, which he gathered and made
int ? wampum According to the received tradi?
tion, Hiawatha, having failed to enlist the inter?
est of the head chief of his own people-, the Onon
dagas, in his enterprise Joined the Mohawks and
persuaded them to take the initiative. A story
told to Dr. Beauchamp bears upon this, ami also
on the use made by Hiawatha of wampum:
He 1 llllds a fire nerar the Mohawk town, which
! was reported to the chief, who sent y??ung men
out to .* e whether it was fri.-nd or too. They
crept near an?l looked through the bushes Sit?
ting I?. the tir?? they saw an old man stringing
short eagle ?luills. He ?lid not l???k up, ami they
u.nt hack and made their report. They w?.-re
sen) to Invil ? the oli man to a council, but he
neither looked Up tor answered, stringing the
quill? aa before. They repeated Hi?- ? hi.T.-? words,
and when they spoke tbe thitJ time he raise
his head and h??l?l up a string of beads, saying:
"?\'?< ? your chief wan's me at a council he must
send mea siring lik?? thla." The ??ui'.ls were those.
of the wampum bird, which soars very high and
i.? rarely ??????. but whlcb Hiawatha could call
down. The Mohawk chief had none of th?-se, and
sent a string of partridge ?mills Instead. Hia?
watha cam and hrst show? ? th.-m how to nrake
and use wampum, and then proposed the
league.
THK WAMPUM ????.
Concerning the wampum bird another ln?1ian
legend tells how a man once saw a wampum
bird In th? woods and told the head chief, who
offered his dsughter to any ?ine who would kill
it. Every time it was hit it would throw off
wampum, aad still had as much as bef?ire. At
last a sm ill b??y from another tribe wished to
try, and was opposed, but the chief allowed him
to shoot and the bird fell Ha divided the wam?
pum between his own tribe and that of his
briil??, and it became the offering of p?-ac.? and
for Injuries
I have already mentioned that a white wam?
pum belt was said to be a peace belt. In tho
Hiawatha story, as told by Mr. Hale, the great
missionary ami philanthropist covers his breast
w - ? Hi strings of White shells when he goes to the
Mohawks with hi.? message Of pence. These sto?
ries also illustrate a use to which wampum is
still put among the Indians When John Buck
died In lx?'? <th? office ?>f Wampum Keeper had
been la his family for f??ur generations) the let
t.-r from tin- Keserve near Brentford, which
brought the Information t?j me, contained two
purple wampum b tads strung oa a bit of thread.
Thej w?r.? th?? proofs of the g.nuineness of the
letter and the truthfulness of its message.
Abram Hill, an Onelda chief, long a com?
panion of the ?bad Chi??. Webst r in the ..ra?
mollies of the New-York Iroquola, one? explained
thi-i valu?? of wampum expressly and succinctly:
"Indian's waiupuni same as white man's letter."
Strings of wampum carried by messengers serve
as credentials. So, too. they are used In the ???n
dolence ceremony, where also the arrangement
Of th?? b?a?ls on the string aits as an aid to the
memory. Chief Webster was called oa ten years
ago to explain the use ?>?' wampum to a commit?
tee of the Oeneral Assembly investlgstlng "the
Indian problem" in New-York. Ha said that
wampum meant "nothing to white man, all to
liiiii.m"; le? also related a tradition as follows:
"There is a tree set in the ground, an.I it t??u? h??s
tb?? heavens Under that tree sits this wampum.
It ?sits on a log. Coals of fir?? are unquenchable,
and the Six Nations at?.? at the council tire held
by the tribe. To-do-ds-b0, a member of th?? bear
clan, is the great chief h? re. He? has a descend?
ant in our tribe to-day. His nam?? is Frank
Logan. One of the use-s of wampum is for a sym?
bol in the election of officers. The wampum
brave? keep the Ireatlae o? ihe pallini **
ail.