from
the shells of the common hard-shell clam (Venus mercenaria). This
bivalve occurring, as every one knows, in great abundance on the North
American coasts, formed an important article of food of the Indians
living near the sea, a fact demonstrated by the enormous quantity of
cast-away clamshells, which form a considerable part of North American
Kjoekkenmoeddings (as these heaps are called). The natives used to
string the mollusks and to dry them for consumption during the winter.
The blue or violet portions of the clamshells furnished the material
for the dark wampum, which was held in much higher estimation than that
made of the white part of the shell or of the spires of certain
univalves. Even at the present time, places are pointed out on the
Atlantic seaboard, for example on that of Long Island, where the
Indians manufactured wampum, and such localities may be recognized by
the accumulations of clam-shells from which the blue portions are
broken off."
Wampum
beads formed a favorite material for the manufacture of necklaces,
bracelets, and other articles of ornament, and they constituted the
strings and belts of wampum which played such a conspicuous part in
Indian history. Loskiel says on this point : " Soon after their arrival
in America, the Europeans began to manufacture wampum from shells, very
neatly and in abundance, exchanging it to the Indians for other
commodities, thus carrying on a very profitable trade. The Indians now
abandoned their wooden belts and strings and substituted those of
shells. The latter, of course, gradually declined in value, but,
nevertheless, were and still are much prized."'
According
to Albert J. Pickett, the oyster alluded to by Garcilasso was identical
with the mussel so common in all the rivers of Alabama. " Heaps of
mussel shells," he says, " are now to be seen on our river banks
wherever Indians used to live. They were much used by the ancient
Indians for some purpose, and old warriors have informed me that their
ancestors once used the shells to temper the clay with which they made
their vessels. But as thousands of the shells lie banked up,
1 Mission der evangelischen Briider unter den Indianern in Nordamerika (Barby, 1789), p. 34.
