"They were two colors, black and white, the black being double the value of the white. The early settlers of New England, finding that the fur trade with the Indians could be carried on with wampum, easily fell into the habit of using it as money. It was practically redeemable in beaver skins, which were in constant demand in Europe. The unit of wampum money was the fathom, consisting of 360 white beads worth sixty pence the fathom. In 1648 Connecticut decreed that wampum should be 'strung suitably and not small and great uncomely and disorderly mixt as formerly it hath been.' Four white beads passed as the equivalent of a penny in Connecticut, although six were usually required in Massachusetts and sometimes eight. In the latter colony wampum was at first made legally receivable for debts to the amount of 12d. only. In 1641 the limit was raised to fifty pounds sterling, but only for two years. It was then reduced to forty shillings. It was not receivable for taxes in Massachusetts. The use of wampum money extended southward as far as Virginia. "The decline of the beaver trade brought wampum money into disrepute. When it ceased to be exchangeable in large sums for an article of international trade the basis of its value was gone. Moreover it was extensively counterfeited, and the white beads were turned into the more valuable black ones by dyeing. Nevertheless it lingered in the currency of the colonies as small change till the early years of the eighteenth century. While it was in use it fluctuated greatly in value. "The first General Assembly of Virginia met at Jamestown July 31, 1619, and the first law passed was one fixing the price of tobacco 'at three shillings the beste, and the second sorte at 18d. the pounde.' Tobacco was already the local currency. In 1642 an act was passed forbidding the making of contracts payable in money, thus virtually making tobacco the sole currency. "The Act of 1642 was repealed in 1656, but nearly all the trading in the Province continued to be done with tobacco as the medium of exchange.