A native spokesman's use of wampum in addressing the British.
An engraving from a painting by Benjamin West. The Indians customarily conducted and sealed their agreements with wampum belts, a system totally foreign to the Europeans. The problems of communication between the Europeans and the Indians were indeed enormous. Native languages cannot be easily translated into French or English, nor can the European tongues be readily translated into Indian. See D. Bruce Sealey, "Algonkian Linguistics" in Indians Without Tipis, A Resource Book by Indians and MÄtis, ed. D. Bruce Sealey and Verna J. Kirkness for Project Canada West (Vancouver and Winnipeg: William Clare Limited, 1973), pp. 73-95.
Courtesy: William Smith, An Historical Account of the Expedition Against the Ohio Indians (Philadelphia, 1766)
Illustration used in The Papers of Sir William Johnson, 14 vols. (Albany: The University of the State of New York, 1921-1965), 11:614
