How the First East Hampton Settlers Helped the Indians to Make Money Faster!

by MORTON PENNYPACKER

THE first little band of English speaking people who were the first settlers in East Hampton found only local Indians upon their arrival. Oddly enough, these same Indians were industriously engaged in a pursuit which persists to this very day among many East Hampton folks - they were busy making Money! However, in 1648, it was the women who made the money (a job which the ladies have subsequently gracefully delegated to the men). The early Englishmen quickly discovered they could help, and on the very first boat which sailed for the Old world from Northwest Harbor, an order went for a quantity of Muxes, which in due time arrived on Long Island. Since then, many of our deeds with the Indians include a number of these Muxes, varying from a few to over a hundred. That little word "Muxes" has been the greatest stumbling block to certain historians. Only the early Dutch dictionaries explain it, and very few have thought to examine them.

WHEN Rev. J.A. Todd wrote some years ago of the deed to this land, purchased of the Indians in 1648, he says that payment - among other things - included "One hundred Muxes - whatever they might have been." Many people have felt the urge to explain this tantalizing word in some way, right or wrong. A Long Island woman, usually correct in other things, says the word "Muxes" means Mules! When the matter was called to her attention, she admitted she could never understand why so many Mules were imported at that time.

SPACE allows for only one more example among the many which could be mentioned. This is in the writing of a very able man in a Suffolk County paper recently. He says "Muxes" are Fish Hooks!

AND now to explain what "Muxes" really are. We mentioned that the Indians were discovered industriously engaged in "making money." Their money they called Wampum and it was made from a part of certain clam shells through which it was necessary to drill a hole in order that these shells could be strung like beads. Before the coming of the white man, a wooden point was all that the Indians had to drill with. These "Muxes" were tempered steel drills which enabled the Indians to make their money many times as fast as by their original method!