They had no commerce, except the sale of corn, skins, and some other articles, to the Europeans. Their only money consisted of shells, sewed together on strips of cloth, and thus forming belts of various lengths, and different degrees of beauty, according to the taste of the maker. This money, as described by Roger Williams, “was of two sorts: one white, which they make of the stem or stock of the periwinkle, which they call meteauhock, when all the shell is broken off; and of this sort, six of their small beads (which they make with holes to string the bracelets) are current with the English for a penny. The second is black, inclining to blue, which is made of the shell of a fish which the English call hens, poquauhock,[104] and of this sort three make an English penny.” The white money was called wampum, which signified white. The other was called suckauhock, a word signifying black. Both kinds seem to have been called wampum, or wampumpeag. The Narraganset Indians were reputed the most skilful coiners of wampum, and the most ingenious manufacturers of pendants, bracelets, stone tobacco pipes, and earthen vessels for cooking and other domestic uses.[105] They were, as a cause, or perhaps as a consequence, more civilized and less warlike than their neighbors.[106] The Pequods insulted them, with the contemptuous title of a nation of women. It is a coincidence worthy of remark, that Rhode-Island, where this primitive nation of manufacturers resided, is distinguished as the place where the manufacture of cotton was commenced in this country, and where this, and its kindred arts, have been cultivated with great success. The history of Rhode-Island, however, shows that her sons have not been deficient in martial qualities. If the sarcasm of the Pequods was deserved by the Narragansets, it has no application to those who now occupy the beautiful islands, the streams, the hills and the plains, from which this hapless tribe have disappeared forever. The wars of the Indians were frequent. They were conducted in a desultory manner, with all the arts of savage cunning. Their weapons were bows and arrows, clubs, and rude spears. Their arrows were headed with sharp, triangular pieces of stone, many of which are found at the present day. After the arrival of the English, the arrow heads were made of brass, and an iron hatchet being added to the club, formed the dreaded tomahawk. The Indians soon learned the value of fire arms. Though the sale of muskets and of powder to the Indians was forbidden by the colonists, yet the natives, obtaining a supply from the Dutch, and from unprincipled traders, speedily rivalled the Europeans in the skilful use of these instruments of death.