The Dutch pioneers on Manhattan found it convenient to adopt the currency of the Indians, who took the common periwinkle, called by them "Meteanhock," found in great quantities along the shores, and having broken it so as to secure the thick portion at the stem, they made of this beads about the size of a straw and a third of an inch in length.^ This was the white sewan of least value. A black bead of the same description was made from the large round clam called the " quahaug." These beads were woven into belts, and divided into pieces of different values.

Thirty Dollars.

THE Bearer is entitled to recci'vc Thirty SpanSJh milled D O L LARS, or an equal Sum in Gold or Silver, according to a Refo lution of COAfGRESS /of the I4i]i fanuary,

^779-

AO Dollars.

cox irNl-ATA I, critllKNCV.

Four beads counted for a stuy ver or two for a cent, and a braided string a fathom long was valued at four guilders, equivalent to $1.(56. Sewant was conanonly measured by spans, and the Indians, in their traffic with the Dutch, always chose as traders their men who could cover the greatest length between finger and thumb.

But counterfeits sprung up, and the currency in course of time became debased. The Indian money was even imported from Europe, where imitations were made of porcelain, but this base article could not impose on the natives, and the counterfeit failed as a speculation. The " good splendid sewant of Manhattans " was the genuine article and passed in all the Indian country roundabout, for this island and the neighboring sections were the great mint of the Indians. Up the North River, in Westchester and