If, for instance, the Senecas wished a council called, the Sachems of this nation convened and determined whether the matter was of sufficient importance to require a council of the Six Nations. If they concluded it was, they sent a runner, with a wampum belt, to the Cayugas. The Cayugas informed the Onondagas in the same manner, and they the Oneidas, and the Oneidas the Mohawks. If it was something which interested all, the effect was like an electric shock; and not the Sachems and chiefs and warriors alone, but women and little children gathered around the council fire, coming from the farthest limits of their territory, heeding no toil or danger in their zeal for the common welfare. No message was of any weight unless it was accompanied by the wampum belt. This originally consisted of small shells, strung upon strings of deer-skin. After their acquaintance with the Dutch they used manufactured wampum, which resembled small pieces of broken pipe stem. The belts consisted of several strings, woven together, and were some of them black and some white. The process by which they treasured up speeches and events was a kind of mnemonics, and done entirely by association. “This belt preserves my words” was the common expression at the end of every speech or sentence, and each part was associated with a particular portion of the belt or string which was held in the hand. When messengers were sent from tribe to tribe, or nation to nation, the wampum belt was the proof of its genuineness, and without it no messenger was heeded. White was the emblem of peace, and black of war, or danger. The calumet of peace is another mysterious symbol among the Indians, and not less respected than the sceptre of a king. It is a species of pipe of stone, with the head finely polished, and the quill two feet and a half long, made of a strong reed. The red calumets are most esteemed, and often trimmed with white, yellow, and green feathers. “Whilst high he lifted in his hand The sign of peace, the calumet; So sacred to the Indian soul, With its stem of reed, and its dark red bowl, Flaunting with feathers—white, yellow, and green.” It is the flag of truce among Indian nations, and a violation of it as disgraceful among them as an insult to the waving stars and stripes of the United States, or the Lion and the Unicorn, when these national emblems are borne to the enemy’s camp as a signal that strife may cease. Smoking the calumet together was a pledge of amity, and was often used as a figure of speech, in the expression of friendship. Their language is a language of metaphors, and very difficult to be translated or interpreted into any other, and is to them full of classical allusions, as every important event is transmitted by transferring it to some person as a name, or baptizing with it some mountain, lake, or stream.