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Show MAI. LBRT.] TREATIES WAR. 87 belt was a figure of a diamond made of white wampum, which the Indians call the council fire." See Voyages and Travels of an Indian interpreter and trader, etc., by J. Long, London, 1791, p. 47. More minute statements regarding wampum is made superfluous after its full discussion by Mr. W. H. Holmes in his work, " Art in Shell of the ancient Americans," in the Second Annual Eeport of the Bureau of Ethnology, pages 253 et seq. One of his illustrations specially in point for the present purpose is here reproduced in Plate V. His remarks upon it are as follows: The remarkable belt shown has an extremely interesting, although a somewhat incomplete, history attached to it. It is believed to be the original belt delivered by the Leni- Lenape sachems to William Penn at the celebrated treaty under the elm tree at Shackamaxon in 1682. Although there is no documentary evidence to show that this identical belt was delivered on that occasion, it is conceded on all hands that it came into the possession of the great founder of Pennsylvania at some one of his treaties with the tribes that occupied the province ceded to him. Up to the year 1857 this belt remained in the keeping of the Penn family. In March, 1857, it was presented to the Pennsylvania Historical Society by Granville John Penn, a great-grandson of William Penn. Mr. Penn, in his speech on this occasion, states that there can be no doubt that this is the identical belt used at the treaty, and presents his views in the following language: " In the first place, its dimensions are greater than of those used on more ordinary occasions, of which we have one still in our possession- this belt being composed of eighteen strings of wampum, which is a proof that it was the record of some very important negotiation. In the next place, in the center of the belt, which is of white wampum, are delineated in dark- colored beads, in a rude but graphic style, two figures- that of an Indian grasping with the hand of friendship the hand of a man evidently intended to be represented in the European costume, wearing a hat; which can only be interpreted as having reference to the treaty of peace and friendship which was then concluded between William Penn and the Indians, and recorded by them in their own simple but descriptive mode of expressing their meaning, by the employment of hieroglyphics. Then the fact of itB having been preserved in the family of the founder from that period to the present time, having descended through three generations, gives an authenticity to the document which leaves no doubt of its genuineness; and as the chain and medal which were presented by the parliament to his father the admiral, for his naval services, have descended among the family archives unaccompanied by any written document, but is recorded on the journals of the House of Commons, equal authenticity may be claimed for the wampum belt confirmatory of the treaty made by his son with the Indians; which event is recorded on the page of history, though, like the older relic, it has been unaccompanied in its descent by any document in writing/' WAR. Material objects were often employed in challenge to and declaration of war, some of which may assist in the interpretation of pictographs. A few instances are mentioned: Arrows, to which long hairs are attached, were stuck up along the |
