=Ornament=: Copper or brass, breast-plates, necklaces, bandoliers, etc. are often mentioned by explorers who visited the New England coast prior to the establishment of permanent settlements.[203] A change in fashion apparently took place among the Indians of southeastern New England during the early historic period, however, for colonial writers describe the same types of ornaments as being made of shell. Breast-plates were solid sheets of copper or brass hammered thin and flat.[204] They were about a foot in length and half that wide.[205] Sheet copper was also made into tubular beads. These were about four inches long and a quarter of an inch in diameter. They were made by bending the sheet of metal around a stick from which the pith had been removed to form a hole for stringing.[206] Tubular beads were strung together (long axes parallel) to make bandoliers. Bandoliers were worn diagonally across the chest or sometimes as belts around the waist.[207] Similar fillets made of shorter copper beads were probably worn as headbands.[208] Tubular copper beads strung end to end were worn as necklaces.[209] Gorgets and pendant earrings were also made out of copper and brass.[210] By the time the Pilgrims arrived, shell ornaments apparently had replaced the metal ornaments which earlier chroniclers said were worn by everyone, for none of the colonial writers mentions Indians wearing copper or brass ornaments.[211] Most shell ornament was based on beadwork, although shell, along with bone and stone was used for ear pendants—cut-outs of birds, fish, and other animals.[212] By at least 1647 wampum was the most popular style of shell beads.[213] Wampum served as “money” and as ornament. It was introduced into Plymouth colony as an item of exchange in 1627 by the Dutch, for although it was common among Indians to the south, it was virtually unknown as an item of trading value to Indians around Plymouth and farther north.[214] Important people in the tribe had a few ornaments of wampum prior to 1627. Altham describes Massasoit in 1623 as wearing a belt of shell beads that were probably wampum.[215] After a slow start in Plymouth, wampum increased in popularity until it was common to see Indians wearing bracelets, necklaces, headbands, and belts, woven in various designs of small purple and white beads.[216] Collars, caps, and ear pendents were also made of wampum.[217] The beads were strung end to end as well as being woven in bands.[218] The wampum made in southern New England was fashioned from the shells of the quahog, or hard-shelled clam (_Venus mercenaria_).[219] Bead blanks were first roughed out from the whole shell then drilled with a stone (later metal—introduced by Europeans) drill. Beads were then strung together and ground into their final shape with an abrasive stone.[220]