Photographs (left to right): All Mohave Desert, California/Nevada

Wampum Belt Archive

 

Wyandot Two Row Wampum Belt

Reproduction R. D. Hamell

November 11 2011

 

Original Size:	Not given except bead length: 425 and bead width: 25
Reproduction:	Beaded length: 44.3 inches. Width: 11.2 inches. Length w/fringe: 68.3inches.
Beads:	Rows: 265 by 25 beads wide. Total: 6,625 beads.
Materials:	Warp: deer leather. Weave: artificial sinew.

Description:

There is no known image of the original belt. The style of the figures used to depict this belt are a 'hybrid' of those found on the Canandaigua Treaty Belt and others. The depiction of the New York Governor (far left - outlined body), the five nations of the Iroquois (solid bodies), and the Wyandot far (right) holding a hatchet. I am indebted to Darren Bonaparte, Akwesasne Mohawk, for his assistance in reconstructing another 'lost' belt to history.

Excerpt from Weiser (1748):

"8th. Had a Council with the Chiefs of the Wondats; enquired their number, & what occasioned them to come away from the French, What Correspondence they had with the Six Nations, & whether or no they had ever had any correspondence with the Government of New York; they inform’d me their coming away from the French was because of the hard Usage they received from them; That they wou’d always get their Young Men to go to War against their Enemies, and wou’d use them as their own People, that is like Slaves, & their Goods were so dear that they, the Indians, cou’d not buy them; that there was one hundred fighting Men that came over [30] to join the English, seventy were left behind at another Town a good distance off, & they hoped they wou’d follow them; that they had a very good Correspondence with the Six Nations many Years, & were one People with them, that they cou’d wish the Six Nations wou’d act more brisker against the French; That above fifty Years ago they made a Treaty of Friendship with the Governor of New York at Albany, & shewed me a large Belt of Wampum they received there from the said Governor as from the King of Great Britain; the Belt was 25 Grains wide & 265 long, very Curiously wrought, there were seven Images of Men holding one another by the Hand, the 1st signifying the Governor of New York (or rather, as they said, the King of Great Britain), the 2d the Mohawks, the 3d the Oneidos, the 4th the Cajugas, the 5th the Onondagers, the 6th the Senekas, the 7th the Owandaets [Wyandots], the two Rows of black Wampum under their feet thro’ the whole length of the Belt to signify the Road from Albany thro’ the 5 Nations to the Owendaets; That 6 Years ago, they had sent Deputies with the same Belt to Albany to renew the Friendship."

The following is a notation on this belt's similarity to the traditions story affiliated with the Two Row Belt by Darren Bonaparte - Wampum Chronicles.

"[I'm] not sure if [everyone] is are aware of the so-called two row "controversy," that is, that some scholars believe the Iroquois story about the boat and canoe on the two row is a recent invention.  (I allude to this on the two row article on my web site.)  I suspect that that the boat and canoe metaphor is not linked to the two row wampum in the historical records because the two rows are actually representative of the "road" between various nations that are "cleared of brambles, thorns and weeds" at the beginning of councils.  This road, back in Indian times, was a single footpath but with the arrival of Europeans became a double path due to the use of wagon wheels carrying trade goods.  This seems to be supported by the Wyandot belt given to them by the English via the 5 Nations in the late 1600's."

Rick Hill suggested the figures feet may have actually rested on the 'road' as depicted in other christian wampum belts such as depicted in the Two Dog Christian Mohawk Belt.

Reference:

Bonaparte, Darren. 2011. Personal Communications.

Hill, Rick. 2011. Personal Communications.

Weiser, Conrad. 1748. Conrad's Weiser's Journal or A Tour To The Ohio August 11 - October 2, 1748. Pennsylvania Colonial Records, v. pp. 348; with variations from Pennsylvania Historical Collections, i, pp. 22-33.