Roger Williams, speaking of the money of the New England Indians, probably the Narragansetts (Algonkin), says that "their white they call _Wompam_ (which signifies white); their black _Suckanhock_ (_Sácki_, signifying black)." In another place he gives the word _wompi_ for white. Wood mentions two varieties of beads known in New England _wampompeage_ and _mowhackees_. The latter is probably derived from _mowêsu_, which, according to Williams, also signifies black. It would seem that we have but little evidence of the ancient use of shell money amongst the tribes of the Mississippi Valley or the Pacific coast; yet we are not without proofs that it came into use at a very early date throughout the entire West, and even today the custom is by no means obsolete. The ancient burial places of the Pacific coast are found to contain large quantities of beads precisely similar to those now used as money by the coast tribes. Lewis and Clark, speaking of traffic among the Indians of the Columbia River, state that shell beads are held in very high esteem by these people, and that to procure them they will "sacrifice their last article of clothing or their last mouthful of food. Independently of their fondness for them as an ornament these beads are the medium of trade by which they obtain from the Indians still higher up the river, robes, skins, chappeled bread, bear grass."[93] The _Dentalium_ shell has always been the favorite currency of the peoples of the Northwest and is highly valued, especially by the inland tribes. It is frequently found in ancient graves at great distances from the sea-shore. A few specimens have been found in burial places in the Ohio Valley, but we have no means of determining the source from which they were derived. As the modern use of this currency has but little archæologic interest, I will not enlarge upon the subject here. For further information the reader is referred to the following authors: J. K. Lord, The Naturalist in British Columbia, Vol. II, pp. 20 to 26; R. E. C. Stearns in the American Naturalist, Vol. III, No. 1, and in proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Vol. V, Part II, p. 113; W. H. Pratt in proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, Vol. II, Part I, p. 38; and Stephen Powers in Vol. 3, Contributions to North American Ethnology, pp. 21, 24, 30. MNEMONIC USE OF BEADS.