Produced by Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) WAMPUM, A PAPER PRESENTED TO THE NUMISMATIC AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA. BY ASHBEL WOODWARD, M.D., OF FRANKLIN, CONN., CORRESPONDING MEMBER. ALBANY, N. Y.: J. MUNSELL, PRINTER. 1878. Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1878, by ASHBEL WOODWARD, in the Library of Congress. At a Stated Meeting of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, held January 2, 1868, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: _Resolved_, That the thanks of this Society are due and are hereby tendered to Ashbel Woodward, M.D., of Franklin, Conn., for his very able and interesting research upon "Wampum" this evening read before the Society. _Resolved_, That said paper be referred to the Publication Committee. Attest, HENRY PHILLIPS, JR., _Corresponding Secretary._ NOTE. The following pages constitute an Essay read before the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia in January 1868. It was intended for publication in the second volume of the Transactions of the Society, but as the appearance of this volume has been unexpectedly delayed, it has been thought best to allow the Essay to appear separately. _Franklin, Conn._, January, 1878. WAMPUM. When Columbus, on his second voyage to the New World, landed upon Cape Cabron, Cuba, the cacique of the adjacent country meeting him upon the shore offered him a string of beads made of the hard parts of shells as an assurance of welcome. Similar gifts were often made to the great discoverer, whenever the natives sought to win his favor or wished to assure him of their own good will. These shell beads were afterwards found to be in general use among the tribes of the Atlantic coast. At the close of the sixteenth century the English colonists found them in Virginia, as did the Dutch at the commencement of the following century in New York, the English in New England and the French in Canada. The pre-historic inhabitants of the Mississippi valley were also evidently acquainted with their manufacture, as remains of shell beads have been found in many of the mounds which survive as the only memorials of that mysterious people.