wampum

n. [ North American Indian wampum, wompam, from the Mass. wómpi, Del. wāpe, white. ] Beads made of shells, used by the North American Indians as money, and also wrought into belts, etc., as an ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

Round his waist his belt of wampum. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Girded with his wampum braid. Whittier. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ These beads were of two kinds, one white, and the other black or dark purple. The term wampum is properly applied only to the white; the dark purple ones are called suckanhock. See Seawan. “It [ wampum ] consisted of cylindrical pieces of the shells of testaceous fishes, a quarter of an inch long, and in diameter less than a pipestem, drilled . . . so as to be strung upon a thread. The beads of a white color, rated at half the value of the black or violet, passed each as the equivalent of a farthing in transactions between the natives and the planters.” Palfrey. [ 1913 Webster ]