It consists of eighteen strings woven together -- formed entirely of small beads strung in rows. In the centre there is a rude, but striking representation,

THK TOWN OF BKDFORD.

worked in dark violet beads -- of two men, one somewhat the stouter, wearing a hat ; the other rather thin, having an uncovered head. The figures stand erect, with hands clasped -- symbolic of the contract which will always live in History as -- 'Not sworn to, but never broken.'

"The use of 'Quauhaug' in the form of a wampum belt was the most solemn purpose to which the Indians devoted the precious shell.

"For more than one hundred years after the settlement of New Netherland and New England it served as a circulating medium in the affairs of trade and was received with equal good faith by the Indians and Whites.

"Until within quite a recent period wampum was manufactured in Suffolk County, Long Island. As late as the Summer of 1831, several bushels were sent from Babylon to be used by the Indians of the Western Territories for the purpose of conventions and treaties. Although Quauhaug is technically a plural -- custom and usage long established and now sanctioned by the best writers have made it a singular word."*

The great Indian settlement of this town was called "Nanichiestawack," which occupied the southern spur of "Indian Hill," sometimes called the "Indian Farm," and "Stony Point or Hill," stretching toward die north-west. There is a most romantic approach to the site of mountain fastness, by a steep, narrow, beaten track opposite the Stamford cart path, as it was formerly denominated, which followed the old Indian trail called the "Thoroughfare." There is a tradition current in the neighborhood that the south side of this hill was the scene of a bloody fight between the early settlers and the aboriginees.