Wabanaki Wampum Protocol
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WABANAKI WAMPUM PROTOCOL WrLLARD WALKER Wesleyan University There are, I believe, at least two dbtinct kinds of literature— one b written, the other oral. UntU recently, the Wabanaki peoples, for the most part, have not adopted writing or native written literature, perhaps because they felt that thb would be a poor and spurious substitute for the rich and genuine oral liter ature in which so many of them exceUed. They were not averse to using visual, and even graphic, signs as aids in the accurate recitation of verbal texts. These mnemonic devices served to validate the speaker and hb text. They were never allowed to supplant ephemeral speech, although they were preserved and valued as a permanent record of its passage. Of the several forms of Wabanaki vbual accompaniments to speech—[wikhiganul], [gudsbuk] texts, Micmac ideographic texts, and wampum, thb paper wUl deal only with the latter, and with the role played by wampum in Wabanaki diplomacy until about a century ago. In January, 1777, the U.S. Congress appointed John AUan to the post of "Superintendent of the Eastern Indians and Colonel of Infantry". Hb instructions were to treat with the Indians "Eastward & Northward of Connecticut River, making no excep tions in what Nation or Country the Indians resorted" (Kidder 1867:311). At sunset on June 5 of that year Allan, accompanied by 15 canoes from Passamaquoddy arrived at Aukpaque, the Maliseet headquarters at the head of the tide on the St. John. Hb party 108 WfLLARD WALKER was greeted with a ceremonial discharge of Indian musquetry, a courtesy which was reciprocated by the visitors. In the days following Allan negotiated a treaty with both the Malbeets and the Passamaquoddies (Walker, Buesing and Conkling 1980:63), but only after he received some lessons on wampum protocol. Thus on June 7 he was summoned to the wigwam of the Malbeet Chief, Pier Toma, where the Vice-Chief, Ambrobe St. Aubin, gave a report to the chief, and a string of wampum, after which he addressed the petty chiefs and young men to whom he abo gave a string of wampum. Thereupon the whole meeting concluded "with one voice, that they would be all of a mind on what may be done, saying also, that they wanted Mr. Allan always to attend their meetings... " (Kidder 1867:94-95). That afternoon Allan was again summoned, thb time to Am brobe St. Aubin's wigwam. He was seated between the chief and the vice-chief. Captain Nicholas rose and addressed Allan, welcoming him as a friend and brother and as the representative of George Washington. A string of wampum was laid at his feet on behalf of the chiefs. Nicholas then said that the young men were at AUan's dbposal, submitting to his authority "if not con trary to those rules agreed upon by the tribe". As a pledge of their sincerity, another string of wampum was presented, and all the chiefs saluted him. Pier Toma then rose, gave strings of wampum to St. Aubin and the young men, then took the two strings given to Allan and, on behalf of the meeting, declared the friendship of the tribe for the United States, and returned the wampum to AUan, saluting him at the same time. Allan then asked permission to speak, but was told that "they had sent for him to see their manner of proceeding.. .and if he had anything to say, to call them to his own house..." (Kidder 1867:95-97). It is clear that the proceedings described in this account con formed to a weU establbhed pattern, for which we have evidence from other sources. See, for example, the account of the inau guration of the Penobscot Governor John Attean and Lt. Gov- WABANAKI WAMPUM PROTOCOL 109 ernor John Nepture at Old Town in 1816 (Speck 1940:240-245). Malbeet wampum protocol in the 1770s must have been sub stantially the same as that of the Passamaquoddies, Penobscots and Micmacs in the same period, since aU four tribes used iden tical, and reciprocal, procedures at joint meetings, when they dbcussed such common and perennial concerns as peace and war, and when they condoled one another at the death of a chief and mutually approved and inaugurated hb successor. When Speck surveyed the Wabanaki tribes early in thb cen tury, aU the tribes had lost their wampums, excepting only the Cape Breton Micmacs, who declined to give him detailed infor mation on the forms, functions, or meanings of their belts. In the other Wabanaki communities a number of old people stiU remembered the wampums, however; and Speck succeeded in having five facsimiles of Penobscot belts made by a Penobscot girl. (See Figure 1.) "These were based on specifications as to form and design furnbhed by NeweU Lyon who remembered the actual articles himself from having seen them used in hb younger days" (Speck 1915:500; 1919:37). As with all belts used by the Wabanaki tribes in confederacy rituals, these facsimiles are unfinbhed, the loose ends of the warp strings symboUzing "emanating words". Ornamental wampum belts which were not used in confederacy rituals had their ends braided or tied into a single strand; but those used in council were open ended and were called, in all the Wabanaki languages, as in Mohawk, by a term that meant "speech". In Penobscot the term was (pluszwdqgan, in Malbeet kluzawdgan, in Micmac gluzzwafan (Speck 1919:39 f.n.l). The belt on the left in Figure 1 has a blue rectangle in the center of a white field and four blue crosses. This b a facsimile of the belts that Penobscot delegates carried to Caughnawaga. It b about 15 inches long. According to Newell Lyon, The white ground color symbolises its peaceful mission, the blue rectangle in the center represents the four Wabanaki tribes grouped about their council fire, while the four small crosses ranged at the sides again denote the four tribes. Another somewhat variant interpretation may be given in which the central rectangle repre sents the council fire of the confederacy at Caughnawaga, to which the four tribes X 110 WmLARD WALKER Figure 1 The Penobscot National Wampum Belts reconstructed according to specifications of Noel Lyon prior to 1919, from Speck, (1919: opp.p.38) WABANAKI WAMPUM PROTOCOL 111 indicated by the crosses owe their allegiance (Speck 1919:37). The fact that thb belt consbts of four rows of beads b not mentioned, but seems consbtent with the fact that it is intended to represent the unity of the four confederate tribes. The belt marked "b" consists of five rows. It is said to repre sent the "union of the four eastern tribes in their local alUance". It has a dark background denoting former hostility among the tribes, lightened on the margins with white borders denoting the bonds of friendship that now surround them. The alternat ing panels of blue and white at the ends are evidently a convention imitated from the Iroquois. The four white triangles are tribal "wigwams', the Penobscot, Pas- samaquoddy, Malecite, and Micmac In the center is the pipe which is the symbol of the peace ceremony by which the allies are joined. Such a belt would serve very gen eral purposes in the days of the confederacy. It was a reminder of the Confederacy to be carried by messengers from any council as a testimonial (Speck 1919:38). The belts marked "c" and "d" represent the Penobscot war and peace belts, respectively. The other Wabanaki tribes each had a similar pair of belts. When war was imminent the war belt was sent to the other three confederate tribes to obtain their as sistance. The war belt made to Newell Lyon's specifications was about 15 inches long and had four pairs of crossed tomahawks in white on a blue background. According to Speck (1919:38), The dark background stands for war, the four pairs of axes constitute a call to the four nations to join in taking up the tomahawk in the common cause. To use the informant's phraseology, "If any trouble arose in sight of the chief he would send this belt by runners to the chief of the nearest tribe accompanied by his message stating the circumstances." The receiver would then forward it to the chief of the next tribe, and so on, until the belt would ultimately be returned to its starting place. The belt marked "d" b, of course, the peace belt. The design consbts of a blue pipe on a white field. According to Speck, "This was to inform the allies that overtures of peace had been received from the enemy, and also served as a summons to councU to consider the proposals" (Speck 1919:38). The belt marked "e" is a reproduction of the Penobscot mourn ing belt, which was sent out to the confederate tribes when the Penobscot chief died. It is about 12 inches long and has a blue section in the center, "representing the dead chief" and a blue 112 WmLARD WALKER cross at each end "denoting the second chiefs or captains in mourning" (Speck 1919:38). When the mourning belt was received by the chief of a con federate tribe he might either forward it to another tribe or hold it and forward in its place a string of wampum such as that Ulus- trated in Figure 2, which was made by Nev/ell Lyon. Thb string is described by Speck (1919:38) as foUows: The four looped lengths represent the four tribes of the confederacy: the four sec tions of blue and white in each length and the four beads of each section all rep resented the same.