heir trading house at Kennebeck, where
"when the inland Indians came to know it, they could scarce procure
enough for many years together." Everywhere in New England, as in the
Dutch provinces, wampum soon became a leading article in the Indian
trade, and added greatly to its profits. Seven years after its
introduction to Kennebeck, Mr. Winslow carried thence into England about
twenty hogsheads of beaver, "the greater part whereof was traded for
wampampeage" during the year. By 1636 this trade had grown to such
proportions in Massachusetts colony that the standing colony were
authorized to farm it out for the increase of the public revenues, and
to establish the severest penalties for any infringement of the
privileges thus granted. The traders of New England were now ranging the
forests in all directions and often plunged into them for hundreds of
miles to the great alarm of the Dutch who feared that the English would
monopolize all the profits of the trade, and that "they should be
obliged to eat oats out of English hands."[29] From the north the French
descended in great numbers, eager to share in the gains of this traffic,
and often encroached upon the domains of other nations. The solitudes of
the wilderness thus resounded every where to the tread of the
adventurous white man, who, lured on by the hope of gain, thought not of
the dangers that beset his path. It doubtless afforded the Indian no
little satisfaction to welcome the haughty foreigner to his wigwam, and
while dictating his own terms, to receive in payment the honored
currency of his fathers. When he took his pay, he measured it off after
his own fashion, the unit being the distance from the elbow to the end
of the little finger. According to one authority it made no difference
whether a short or tall man measured it.[30] Adrian Van Tiedhoven, clerk
of the court at the South river, however tells a different story,
complaining bitterly "because the Indians always take the largest and
tallest among them to trade with us."

But hides and furs were not the only articles which wampum purchased
from the natives. It was a frequent consideration in early Indian deeds.
In the records of Windsor, Conn., is preserved a deed, which conveys
territory lying between the Podunk and Scantic rivers, and extending a
day's march into the country, the price paid for which was fifteen
fathoms of wampum and twenty cloth coats. Most of the present towns of
Warwick and Coventry i