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In his scalp lock was fastened a number of eagle feathers, and of course he wore two or three necklaces of beads and wampum. There was nothing unusual about the pony he was riding, except that it was larger and in better condition than the average Indian horse, but the one he was leading undoubtedly his war horse was a most beautiful animal, one of the most beautiful I ever saw.
Differences in language were obviated by the sign language, a fixed system of communication, intelligible to all the western tribes at least. The peace pipe, or calumet, was used for settling disputes, strengthening alliances, and speaking to strangers a sanctity attached to it. Wampum belts served in New England and the middle region as money and as symbols in the ratification of treaties.
Endicott then crossed to the mainland to reckon with the Pequots. He demanded the surrender of the murderers, with a thousand fathoms of wampum for damages; and not getting a satisfactory answer, he attacked the Indians, killed a score of them, seized their ripe corn, and burned and spoiled what he could. But such reprisals served only to enrage the red men.
The Five Nations, with Johnson at one end of the Confederacy and Joncaire at the other, the one cajoling them in behalf of England, and the other in behalf of France, were still divided in counsel; but even among the Senecas, the tribe most under Joncaire's influence, there was a party so far inclined to England that, like the Delaware chief, they sent wampum to the Ohio, inviting peace.
Manuscript: The Superstitions of the Passamaquoddies. In Indian and English. A History of the Passamaquoddy Indians. Manuscript of 80 pages, Indian and English. All of these were written for me by L. Mitchell, M.L. Wampum Records. Read for me by Sapiel Selmo, the only living Indian who has the key to them. David Cusick's Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations. Lockport, N.Y., 1848.
His bright red calico shirt was literally covered with silver ornaments and his ears were pierced with heavy silver rings, at least three inches in diameter. His wrists and arms were heavy with massive silver bracelets and others, carved from a stone, which resembled jade. About his neck he wore strings of wampum and glass beads, garnets, and bits of turquoise.
Lone Wolf is no longer a warrior, and of course no longer wears a scalp lock and strings of wampum and beads, and would like to have you believe that he has ever been the white man's friend, but I suspect that even now there might be brought forth an old war belt with hanging scalps that could tell of massacre, torture, and murder.
"Tell your people not to fire," again called Black Hoof's powerful voice. Dale faced the cabins and waved his white wampum, crying: "I am saving your lives. You men in the lower cabin, throw down your arms!" "Like thunder!" grunted Cousin. "He's fairly among them!" I gasped. Dale had come to a stop and was turning his head and glancing from one point to another on the ground as he talked.
Even our pious forefathers were not always quite honest in their church contributions, and had to be publicly warned, as the records show, that they must deposit "wampum without break or deforming spots," or "passable peage without breaches."
"They never hated you as much as we love you," returned the old hunter. The word "love" had never passed his lips before, and Wampum knew then that not only had his courageous act brought the blessing of the white man's God, but it had won for him the priceless friendship of this stalwart old Indian, whose wisdom and whose laughter would be shared with him through all his coming life.
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