Iroquois Confederacy Chief's Bernie Parker, Arnie General, Allan MacNaughton, Jake Thomas, Harvey Longboat

  "They're here! They're here!" shouted the gate attendant. "Tell the people they're here!"

  A three-car caravan pulled in behind the Onondaga Longhouse at Six Nations Reserve and stopped. There were no bands playing, or flashing red lights atop escorting police cars. Two white-haired men in business suits, one wearing a green baseball cap and a lady emerged from a dusty 4X4. Others in the entourage got out of their cars and went into the shade offered by a nearby canopy.

  Some thought the 11 Iroquois wampum belts, insured for more than $1 million (US), would be delivered in an armored car. Others guessed a station wagon with an armed guard. Instead, they came from New York City in a plain shoulder bag worn by Maryanne Force, wife of Roland Force, director of the Museum of the American Indian.

"When you're carrying something valuable, it's better to carry it in an inconspicuous bag," said Mrs. Force to a Brantford Expositor reporter. "We didn't want attention called to the fact we were carrying them. One does have to be careful."

  After being gently unrolled from their muslin and tissue wrappings, the belts were spread on the ground under the canopy. Wampum is an Iroquois sacred medium. Articles made from it carry a sacred meaning. Clan mothers, chiefs and over 1,000 people from Quebec, New York State and Ontario watched in awe.

Wampum belts are made from purple and white tubular beads crafted from quahog or conch shells. Symbolic designs and patterns are created by using bark fibers and sinew to weave contrasting beads together in rows. Lengths are determined by the subject depicted. Iroquois wampum belts are strung straight, not in the curved style of Huron belts.