Five Cubits Of This
Purchase A Dress'd Doe-Skin, And Seven Or Eight Purchase A Dress'd Buck-Skin.
An English-
Man could not afford to make so much of this Wampum
for five or ten times the Value; for it
Is made out of a vast great Shell,
of which that Country affords Plenty; where it is ground smaller
than the small End of a Tobacco-Pipe, or a large Wheat-Straw.
Four or five of these make an Inch, and every one is to be drill'd through,
and made as smooth as Glass, and so strung, as Beads are,
and a Cubit of the Indian Measure contains as much in Length,
as will reach from the Elbow to the End of the little Finger.
They never stand to question, whether it is a tall Man, or a short one,
that measures it; but if this Wampum Peak be black or purple,
as some Part of that Shell is, then it is twice the Value. This the Indians
grind on Stones and other things, till they make it current,
but the Drilling is the most difficult to the English-men,
which the Indians manage with a Nail stuck in a Cane or Reed.
Thus they roll it continually on their Thighs, with their Right-hand,
holding the Bit of Shell with their Left, so in time they drill a Hole
quite through it, which is a very tedious Work; but especially in making
their Ronoak, four of which will scarce make one Length of Wampum.
The Indians are a People that never value their time,
so that they can afford to make them, and never need to fear
the English will take the Trade out of their Hands.
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