Wampum the spoken language is. Records and treaties are kept in this manner, and individuals could write letters to one another in this way. Wampum belts were used as a memory aid in oral tradition, and were sometimes used as badges of office or as ceremonial devices in Indian culture such as the Iroquois. The 1820 New Monthly Magazine reports on a speech given by chief Tecumseh in which he vehemently gesticulated to a belt, pointing out treaties made 20 years earlier and battles fought since then. The National Museum of the American Indian repatriated eleven wampum belts to "Iroquois" chiefs
Wampum is still used to this day in the ceremony of raising up a new chief and in the Iroquois Thanksgiving ceremonies. True wampum is scarce today and only wampum strings are used. The Wampum was central to the giving of names, in which the names and titles of deceased persons were passed on to others. Deceased individuals of high office are quickly replaced, as a wampum inscribed with the name of the deceased is laid on the shoulders of the successor, the successor may shake off the Wampum and reject the transfer of name. The reception of a name may