GROUND STONE
STONE PIPES
Previous to the discovery of America, that strange custom of smoking was
confined to the New World natives. There have been some vague references
to inhaling of smoke by other ancient peoples elsewhere in the world.
But these are still in the realm of doubt. Certain it is that the
burning of tobacco, dried leaves, bark, etc., in stone, bone, clay, or
copper receptacles was not known to any considerable number of men
before Columbus set out upon his uncertain voyage, on an unknown sea.
There is an extensive literature dealing with pipes and smoking customs
of America, and it is unfortunate that I am unable to produce more than
a portion of what has been said by the early travelers, and later
scholars and others, regarding this peculiar custom. However, there are
two important publications accessible to all readers. The first was
published by Mr. Joseph D. McGuire.[9] Mr. McGuire illustrates his paper
with two hundred and thirty-one figures and five plates. The other paper
was written by Mr. George A. West and contains seventeen plates and two
hundred and three figures.[10] Mr. McGuire made a study of pipes and
smoking customs throughout the United States; Mr. West, of the St.
Lawrence basin and particularly Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and
Canada. These two publications will give readers abundant material for
consideration, and because of their excellence, I have made this
somewhat lengthy reference to them.
In addition to the monographs cited, there are numerous shorter articles
scattered throughout various publications and reports. These will be
found if readers refer to the Bibliography.
In the following pages, I follow the classifications made by Messrs.
McGuire and West with very few changes. These must both stand as the
best that have appeared on the subject up to the present time.
[Illustration:
FIG. 427. (S. 1–1.) Stone pipe-bowl made of catlinite. Collection of
the University of Toronto, Ontario. Found by Henry Montgomery in a
mound in western Manitoba.
]
Since Mr. McGuire’s paper was published there have been large additions
to pipe collections in the museums and private collections. As to the
number of pipes in the Smithsonian, American Museum, Peabody Museum, and
others, I do not know, but one might venture the opinion that each of
these three institutions have at the least fifteen hundred or two
thousand pipes scattered throughout the collections; and the smaller
museums in proportion. Professor W. C. Mills informs me that there are
two hundred and forty pipes in the exhibit under his charge at Columbus,
comprising collections owned by the Ohio State University and the Ohio
Archæological and Historical Society. They are divided as follows:
Monitor, twenty-eight; effigy, forty; tubular, twenty-four;
miscellaneous, one hundred and forty-eight. In the Andover collection
there are about one hundred and seventy pipes.
There are two large private collections of pipes in America. Mr. John A.
Beck of Pittsburg owns about eighteen hundred pipes of various kinds
from the United States and Canada. Mr. George A. West reports that there
are six hundred in his possession.
Pipes, from their very nature, were probably more highly prized among
our aborigines than any other articles. The pipe was sacred, and it was
not until Europeans, with their superior civilization, took up the
smoking custom, that it became a habit and totally lost its original
significance.
It is quite likely that pipes were more generally exchanged among tribes
than other artifacts. Possibly, one should except copper, but I am not
even sure of that. We find Northern forms South, Eastern types West, and
a general indication that aboriginal barter or trade in pipes was
extensive.
[Illustration:
FIG. 428. (S. about 1–2.) Pipes from North Dakota mounds. Explorations
of Henry Montgomery. (_a_) Pipe-bowl of catlinite. (_b_) Piece of
catlinite pipe-bowl which had been cut off before burial. (_c_)
Catlinite pipe, 2¼ inches in length. (_d_) Large bowl of catlinite
pipe, 10¼ inches long; from Ramsey County. (_e_) Catlinite pipe-bowl
found with the piece of pipe shown in (_b_). (_f_) Pipe-bowl made
from deer antler; length, about 4 inches. (_g_) Clay pipe, bent;
length, 5 inches; found in burial-pit in Benson County. (_h_)
Catlinite pipe-bowl, 1½ inches long. (_i_) Straight bowl of clay
pipe; length, 2¾ inches; found in burial-pit in Ramsey County. (See
Fig. 429.)
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 429. (S. about 1–2.) Pipes from North Dakota mounds. Described
under Fig. 428. (_American Anthropologist_, vol. 8, no. 4, plate
33.)
]
_The Classification of Pipes_
No one save Mr. J. D. McGuire has attempted to group these objects. In
his classification, Mr. McGuire presented four plates in which he showed
the distribution of fifteen types of pipes. I have followed his numbers,
but instead of presenting a map, have named states or localities, from
which these were taken.
1. Curved-base mound pipe. Mississippi Valley, north of the Ohio and
west of Pennsylvania. Also the Great Lakes basin.
2. Heavy bird or animal pipe. South of the Ohio and east of the
Mississippi.
3. Tubular pipe. East of the Mississippi, and from central Ohio east.
Throughout the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast.
4. Iroquoian clay pipe. New England to New York; Ohio, Michigan, and
West Virginia.
5. Iroquoian grotesque bird-pipe. The same region. Also eastern
Canada.
6. Iroquoian rectangular pipe. Eastern Canada and New York.
7. Disc or jewsharp pipe. Mississippi Valley, central portion.
8. Biconical pipe. Southern Mississippi Valley, east of the
Mississippi and south of the Ohio. Also Ohio and Michigan.
9. Micmac, keel-base pipes. The St. Lawrence basin.
10. Siouan and catlinite type. The Great Plains.
11. Southern mound type. The South, east of the Mississippi, and north
of Florida.
12. Pueblo pipes. Southwest.
13. Rectangular pipes, birds, and animals on bowls. Pennsylvania and
Ohio.
14. Monitor pipe. Ohio and Mississippi Valley, north of the mouth of
the Ohio, and Wisconsin.
15. Bowl and vase-shaped pipes. Kansas and entire eastern United
States, north of Alabama and Georgia.
[Illustration:
FIG. 430. (S. 1–1.) Earthenware pipe. Found near Lake Champlain.
Collection of the University of Vermont.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 431. (S. 1–1.) Conoidal tube pipe. Collection of G. A. West,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sheboygan County, red catlinite.
]
This table will serve as a beginning, but it is incomplete. Many pipes
of the types mentioned by Mr. McGuire are found in other sections than
those named by him.
[Illustration:
FIG. 432. (S. a little over 1–3.) Found in a mound on Long Island,
Tennessee River, Jackson County, Alabama. Collection of J. T.
Reeder, Michigan.
]
The names of some pipes may not be familiar to all of my readers. I
therefore repeat Mr. McGuire’s list of fifteen pipe-types, and state
opposite each, the numbers of figures illustrating that particular type.
The fifteen types of pipes described by Mr. McGuire are illustrated in
this chapter under the following figure numbers:—
1. Curved-base mound pipe. Fig. 452.
2. Heavy bird or animal pipe. Figs. 477 and 481.
3. Tubular pipe. Figs. 428 and 446.
4. Iroquoian clay pipe. Upper specimen, Fig. 465.
5. Iroquoian grotesque bird-pipe. Fig. 470.
6. Iroquoian rectangular pipe. Central specimen, Fig. 465.
7. Disc or jewsharp pipe. Fig. 447.
8. Biconical pipe. Right specimen, Fig. 489.
9. Micmacs, keel-base pipes. One in Fig. 453; left specimen in Fig.
464.
10. Siouan and catlinite type. Fig. 437.
11. Southern mound type. Specimen K in Fig. 463.
12. Pueblo pipes. (No figures presented, but they resemble those in
Figs. 428, 446.)
13. Rectangular pipes, birds and animals on bowls. Fig. 496, specimen
in the lower left-hand corner.
14. Monitor pipe. Figs. 451, 449.
15. Bowl and vase-shaped pipes. Fig. 458, central specimen, Fig. 464.
Certain areas are characterized by particular forms of pipes, and in
regions where the population was more dense, several types of pipes are
usually found, thus indicating that they were taken from one region to
another.
[Illustration:
FIG. 433. (S. 1–2.) Collection of S. Van Rensselaer, Newark, New
Jersey.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 434. (S. 1–2.) Pottery pipes from Simcoe and Durham counties,
Ontario, Canada. Toronto University collection. Characteristic of
northern central Ontario.
]
One fact stands out prominently with reference to these pipes, and it is
that any one who is familiar with conditions under which pipes are found
can distinguish the prehistoric from the modern in most instances. Of
course there are exceptions. Many modern pipes show the marks of steel
tools, whereas the ancient forms do not. Certain specimens appear to
those who have done a great deal of field work as ancient, whereas
others do not. This is not merely a matter of opinion. I have found it
very difficult, during my lifetime, to make those observers who have no
intimate knowledge of field conditions realize the importance of this
statement. There is no convenient formula whereby one may explain to a
skeptic, how one specimen appears old and another does not. I shall
consider this subject at greater length in the Conclusions.
[Illustration:
FIG. 435. Peculiar tube pipes. Collection of G. A. West, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. Tubular and trumpet-like pipes are shown in Figs. 427–28,
and 430. These are considered to be earliest forms. More complicated
tubes are observed in Fig. 435. Mr. West described these in his
paper, previously cited.
]
Various remarks offered here and there on the pages of this chapter may
be taken to represent my conclusions as to pipes. I have not offered a
summary at the end of the chapter, preferring to state pertinent
observations, suggested by the figures illustrating pipes, as they
occur.
[Illustration:
FIG. 436. (S. 2–3.) Onyx pipe-bowl with wooden stem. From cave-house
ruins in San Juan County, Utah, February, 1894. The pipe lies
against a fragmentary skin covering or robe. Henry Montgomery,
Toronto, Ontario.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 437. (S. 1–2.) Diminutive Siouan pipes. Collection of G. A. West,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
]
Of the fifteen types named by Mr. McGuire, the tubular, rectangular, and
slightly curved pipe (of the forms shown in Fig. 433), are most common
and widespread in the United States. As some years have elapsed since
Mr. McGuire’s paper was written, monitor pipes in numbers have been
reported from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.
[Illustration:
FIG. 438. (S. 1–2.) Peculiar stone pipe. Collection of H. M. Whelpley,
St. Louis, Missouri.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 439. (S. 1–2.) Vase-shaped pipe. John Weber’s collection. “Found
by Mr. John Weber, in Killare, Juneau County, Wisconsin, in 1895, is
of a pinkish-colored stone, and exhibits on its two opposite faces
etched figures of some animal, possibly a lizard. The figure is
after a sketch furnished by Mr. W. H. Elkey.”
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 440. (S. 2–3.) Double conoidal pipe. J. P. Schumacher’s
collection. “A very attractive example, from Brown County,
Wisconsin, is of dark sandstone, nearly 4 inches long, 2½ inches
high, 3 inches wide, and oval in shape with a flat base. Its stem
and bowl cavities are each fully an inch in diameter at the surface,
and are placed at right angles to each other. This pipe was
evidently pecked into shape, both bowl and stem holes being made by
the same process.”
]
The modern Sioux, Ojibwa, and Winnebago and other pipes between the
years 1700 and 1850 are interesting by way of comparison. Mr. West[11]
wrote a few paragraphs concerning them, which I quote.
“No pipe was ever regarded by the American aborigine with greater
reverence and respect than the calumet. It was used in the ratification
of treaties and alliances; in the friendly reception of strangers; as a
symbol in declaring war or peace, and afforded its bearer safe transport
among savage tribes. Its acceptance sacredly sealed the terms of peace,
and its refusal was regarded as a rejection of them.
[Illustration:
FIG. 441. (S. 1–2.) Black pottery pipe. Collection of G. A. West,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “This is a type of Southern mound pipe taken
from a mound in Pepin County, Wisconsin. It is well tempered with
shell, contains eight knobs or coffee-bean protuberances about the
bowl, and the stem is ornamented on one side by a zigzag line,
probably intended to represent the emblem of lightning. This pipe is
3¼ inches long, and the only one of its kind so far found in this
state.”
]
“Calumets made of steatite, limestone, sandstone, and granite, are often
found, but a large majority of them are made of catlinite, a compact
clay slate, named after Mr. George Catlin, who lived for many years
among the Indians, and to whom great credit is due for his many
portraits and other paintings true to aboriginal life. The color of
catlinite is usually cherry red, often mottled and shading into ash,
grey, or black. This material was quarried by the Indians in several
places in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, and in Barron County,
Wisconsin. Specimens of ‘pipestone’ are sometimes secured from the
glacial drift. Pipes of catlinite are not necessarily of modern make.
Examples have been found, over a wide area, in Indian mounds and graves.
In 1880 a broken pipe of this material was found by Ole Rasmussen, in
the town of Farmington, Waupaca County, while digging a well, eighteen
or twenty feet below the surface. The material has been known, under
different names, ever since the Discovery.
[Illustration:
FIG. 442. (S. 1–1.) A pipe of banded slate from the collection of
Albert L. Addis, Albion, Indiana. Pipes of slate are not wanting,
and they are usually either rounded or angular. It is seldom that
the banded slate is worked into pipe effigies.
]
“Catlin, who in 1835 visited the pipestone quarries of Minnesota, had
previously found catlinite ‘in the hands of the savages of every tribe,
and nearly every individual in the tribe has his pipe made of it.’ After
a visit to the famous quarries, Catlin concludes as follows: ‘From the
very numerous marks of ancient and modern diggings or excavations, it
would appear that this place has been for many centuries resorted to for
the redstone; and from the great number of graves and remains of ancient
fortifications in its vicinity, it would seem, as well as from their
actual traditions, that the Indians have long held this place in high
superstitious estimation; also it has been the resort of different
tribes who have made their regular pilgrimages here to renew their
pipes.’”[12]
[Illustration:
FIG. 443. (S. 4–5.) Handled disc pipe. Collection of G. A. West,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A rare old specimen found in a mound near
Delavan, Walworth County, Wisconsin, of greenish-colored limestone,
the color probably due to copper stains.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 444. (S. 1–2.) Type of monitor pipe. Collection of G. A. West,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “Found near Buffalo Creek, Nelson County,
Virginia; of dark schist, is 5 inches long. It has an alate stem,
running the length of the centre of which is a pronounced ridge. The
largest specimen of this type so far encountered is probably a
‘Great Pipe,’ having a bowl 8 inches long, being upward of 17 inches
in total length, which was found in a mound in Marion County,
Kentucky.”
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 445. (S. 4–5.) Short-base monitor pipe. Collection of S. D.
Mitchell. This specimen was “found in the town of Aurora, Marquette
County, Wisconsin, is of drab slate, 2½ inches long, the end broken
away, base rounded, and is ornamented near the stem end on each side
by three deep grooves. A second example of the same shape in G. A.
West’s collection, found by Mr. August Bartle, in the town of Scott,
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, in 1901, is of drab steatite. The top
of its bowl is ornamented by four sets of cross-lines, of three
lines each. The bowl cavities in each pipe are irregularly conical
in shape.”
]
In Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as southern Ohio, where the
population was dense, there are examples of nearly all the pipes except
the Iroquois and the catlinite. The few of these found in that region
must be set down as strays.
[Illustration:
FIG. 446. (S. 1–2.) Five tubular pipes, from the collection of James
A. Barr, Stockton, California.
]
The study of several specimens illustrated by both McGuire and West and
the comparison of the fifteen figures presented in “The Stone Age” will
acquaint readers with the distribution of forms and types. The striking
thing in all this, and it may be verified by inspection of any large
mound collection, is that the types shown in Figs. 435, 437, 439, and
465 are usually surface finds and may be distinguished from specimens
found in mounds and from various village-sites.
[Illustration:
FIG. 447. (S. 1–1.) Handled disc pipe. H. P. Hamilton’s collection.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 448. (S. 1–1.) Collection of Leslie W. Hills, Fort Wayne,
Indiana. From Kosciusko County, Indiana.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 449. (S. 2–5.) Straight-base monitor pipe, Logan collection,
Beloit College. “It was ploughed up in an early day by Mr. L.
Craigs, on Section 30, Eagle Township, Richland County, is of drab
steatite and finely polished. It is 9 inches long, 2¾ inches wide at
the base, 3 inches across the flange of the bowl, with the bowl
cavity ¾ inch in its greatest diameter, and made with a tubular
drill. This is certainly one of the finest examples of the
straight-base monitor pipe as yet found in Wisconsin.”
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 450. (S. 1–1.) This figure shows the top view of pipe shown in
Fig. 451, and is from the collection of Albert L. Addis, Albion,
Indiana. Found in northern Indiana.
]
Mr. West has kindly permitted me to reproduce portions of his valuable
paper on pipes, and I am sorry that space is insufficient to quote his
descriptions of the numerous figures he has loaned me. Referring again
to the Siouan pipes (Fig. 437), it requires no skill to distinguish
these modern forms from the more ancient. Many of the pipes shown in
that figure will apply to other living tribes as well as the Sioux.
[Illustration:
FIG. 451. (S. 1–1.) Collection of A. L. Addis, Albion, Indiana.
]
One may suppose that the tubular pipe soon developed into other forms.
That is, of course, taking it for granted that the tubular pipe is the
first form. Modifications of the tube tending toward the rectangular are
often met with, which seems to bear out this theory. Be that as it may,
we have in Fig. 438 a pipe from Dr. Whelpley’s collection, oval in
outline, curiously ornamented with circular depressions, and which is
hardly of the tubular class, but seems to be a modification of the same.
Instead of being perforated through its long diameter, the bowl is about
an inch from the broad end. Such a pipe as this is of rare occurrence.
It will be seen from an inspection of either Mr. West’s or Mr. McGuire’s
papers, as well as through a study of any museum collection, or of the
various figures presented in this section, that pipes on which there are
carvings or decorations, or pipes made in imitation of life-figures, are
quite as frequently found as plain and unornamented pipes. Why so much
skill should be employed on these pipes, whereas the flat surfaces of
slate gorgets and ornaments could have been more easily decorated, is a
problem. This may, however, be accounted for by the sacred significance
accorded to the pipe by the savage, for it was used in all ceremonial
performances, in the declaration of war and peace, and was among his
most treasured possessions. It is very seldom that we find markings or
tracings on any of these stone gorgets or ceremonial forms, yet on the
pipes, as remarked above, ornamentation is the rule. All of this is
significant to me, and I think that subsequently we shall be able to
draw some valuable lessons from this peculiarity.
[Illustration:
FIG. 452. (S. about 1–3.) Large, platform pipe from a burial. Length,
5⅕ inches. W. C. Mills’s explorations.
]
The Northern pipes, the pipes from the country west of the Mississippi,
excepting of course the calumets, appear to be smaller as a rule than
the Southern pipes, or the mound pipes. One might say that many of these
were individual and sometimes emblematic pipes rather than council
pipes. It must, however, not be forgotten that with the Indians of the
Great Lakes region especially, all significance was attached to the stem
and its ornamentation rather than to the bowl. Fig. 437 shows the
well-known Siouan types of pipes of that people from the time of their
migration to what is now known as Wisconsin. It is therefore possible
that some of the pipes of this place are several centuries old, while
others are distinctly of modern make.
[Illustration:
FIG. 453. (S. 1–3.) Collection of Leslie W. Hills, Fort Wayne,
Indiana.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 454. (S. 1–1.) This is a straight-base monitor pipe from the
collection of George A. West. It is made of greenish steatite and
was found in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It is a beautiful
specimen.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 455. (S. 1–1.) Collection of George Little, Xenia, Ohio.
]
There has been some discussion as to the part played by catlinite in
aboriginal trade or exchange. Catlinite does not appear to be as old as
other stones. It has been my theory that the catlinite quarry was of
recent discovery. By recent, I mean within two or three thousand years
or less. Catlinite pipes are frequently found in the mounds and graves
of Wisconsin, but not in those of the South in any considerable numbers.
[Illustration:
FIG. 456. (S. 1–1.) Collection of H. E. Towns, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 457. (S. 1–1.) This pipe was ploughed up five miles east of
Delaware, Ohio. Collection of Frank L. Grove, Delaware, Ohio.
]
In fact their occurrence there is very rare, yet they are found in great
numbers in modern graves, in village-sites where tribes have lived in
the historic period. This in itself is significant.
[Illustration:
FIG. 458. (S. 1–1.) Found about four miles north of Pierceton,
Indiana. Collection of W. F. Matchett, Pierceton, Indiana.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 459. (S. 1–5.) University of Vermont collection.
]
Fig. 446 shows five tubular pipes from California, collection of
Professor James A. Barr. These are all specialized forms, and somewhat
different in the method of treatment, being highly polished and
ornamented by rings carved in relief.
The disc pipe is placed in a class by itself by Mr. McGuire. We have six
of these at Andover, all from graves at the mouth of the Wabash,
southern Indiana. One of these is shown in Fig. 447. Mr. West remarks as
follows regarding this type of pipe:—
“The disc pipe, in the writer’s opinion, is an old type, and was in use
by the aborigines of this country long before the coming of the whites.
Authorities, however, differ as to this conclusion. General Gates P.
Thruston suggests that the stem holes of the disc pipe being
funnel-shaped, it may safely be regarded as an old type.
“Mr. J. D. McGuire writes: ‘The shape is so suggestive of the jewsharp,
an instrument used extensively in trade with the Indians, as to indicate
that the pipe itself is modeled after the form of this primitive musical
instrument, even though the file marks, so common on many of the pipes,
are absent from those coming under the writer’s observation.’
[Illustration:
FIG. 460. (S. 1–3.) Collection of L. W. Hills, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
]
“A careful study of the several forms of this type convinces the author
that it was not modeled after the jewsharp. Of the twenty-eight examples
in the author’s collection, when examined with a powerful glass, all
exhibited innumerable marks and scratches, that could have been made by
the use of a piece of sandstone or flake of flint. In no case were file
marks found.
“Mr. McGuire states: ‘Finding them of catlinite so far from the quarries
would indicate that they are of no great age.’ If Mr. McGuire’s
conclusion is correct, aboriginal barter and trade could not have been
carried on between distant tribes until within a comparatively recent
date, an abundance of evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.”[13]
[Illustration:
FIG. 461. (S. 1–1.) Turtle pipe found at Pierceton, Indiana. Front
view. Collection of W. D. Matchett, Peirceton, Indiana.
]
“Fig. 447, found at Baldwin’s Mills, Waupaca County, the largest handled
disc pipe so far found in Wisconsin, is of beautiful dark red catlinite
with pink flecks. Its bowl is five inches long, terminating in a handle
shaped like the blade of a hatchet, with what would be the cutting edge
ornamented with three notches. The disc is 3½ inches wide and so thin
that the distance through from the face of the disk to the outer side of
the bowl is but three fourths of an inch. The stem hole has the
characteristic curve and its interior is nicely polished. Both stem and
bowl holes appear to have been started with a stone drill and enlarged
with a wooden drill used in conjunction with sand. Under a glass this
specimen shows innumerable scratches, but none of these appear to have
been made by the use of metal tools. The same can be said of eleven
handled disc pipes in the author’s collection.” Mr. West has a record of
one hundred and four disc pipes found in Wisconsin.
[Illustration:
FIG. 462. (S. 1–1.) Rear view of Fig. 461.
]
The fact that these disc pipes are frequently made of catlinite leads me
to believe that they are not as old as other forms; yet there seems to
be no evidence of their use after the advent of white man.
The pipe with the curved base and monitor pipes are closely related.
These are found throughout the entire Mississippi Valley, and are
especially numerous in Illinois, to West Virginia and from southern
Wisconsin to southern Tennessee. Many beautiful specimens have been
taken from mounds and graves, particularly from the mounds. In Figs.
449–53, I show five of these. Perhaps the most beautiful ones have been
found in the mounds of the Scioto Valley, Ohio.
[Illustration:
FIG. 463. (S. 1–3.) Group of pipes from various localities in the
Mississippi Valley.
(a) Scioto County, Ohio.
(b) Ross County, Ohio.
(c) Pipe made from a whale’s tooth, Alaska.
(d) Scioto County, Ohio.
(e) Miami County, Ohio.
(f) Scioto County, Ohio.
(g) Scioto County, Ohio.
(h) Wabash Cemetery, Indiana.
(i) Hancock County, Ohio.
(j) Silver Creek, Morgantown, North Carolina.
(k) Grovetown, Georgia.
]
Just how this peculiar form originated, no man may know. It was the
favorite among the prehistoric peoples. A few examples found in use
among historic tribes are very poor imitations of the old forms, and
cannot compare in workmanship and beauty of finish with such as are
removed from the mounds of the Middle West and the South.
[Illustration:
FIG. 464. Three pipe-bowls. Collection of Henry Montgomery, Toronto,
Ontario.
Left. Pipe-bowl made of sandstone. From near Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Length, 2¾ inches.
Centre. Pipe-bowl made of limestone. From Markham, Ontario. Length, 3
inches.
Right. Pipe-bowl made of white quartzite. Found by Henry Montgomery in
Simcoe County, Ontario. About one third actual size.
]
Beginning with Fig. 449 and continuing to Fig. 453, and from Fig. 471
through Fig. 500, I present a series of pipes, all of which are
decorated either by incised lines or by likenesses of animals, birds, or
human beings, carved in relief. These may be taken as typical of any
large series of pipes in a public museum, and represent the height of
pipe-making art.
As previously remarked, the decoration seems to be the essential thing
in pipes. The idea of the maker was to portray something on the pipe or
to have the pipe stand for more than a mere receptacle in which tobacco
was smoked. No other conclusion is possible when we consider the high
percentage of decorated and ornamented pipes, and the surprising number
of pipes worked into effigies. Fig. 469 is a very clumsy pipe at best,
and the decorations on it may not indicate age. Examples such as this
are not wanting, and there are a great many in collections. Contrasted
with this rough specimen is Fig. 455, which is also decorated but is
worked less crudely.
[Illustration:
FIG. 465. (S. 1–1.) Collection of the Buffalo Society of Natural
Sciences, Buffalo, New York. Typical Iroquois pipes. These are fine
examples of Iroquois art and were found in western New York, where
the Iroquois culture was high. From graves at Grand Island, New
York.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 466. (S. 1–3.)
From a stone grave, Wofford Farm, Hurricane Mills, Humphrey County,
Tennessee. Material: red and brown clay.
Collection of J. T. Reeder, Houghton, Michigan.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 467. (S. 1–1.)
Greenstone pipe found in Tennessee. Apparently an Iroquois type of
pipe. This is a rare form.
From the collection of W. B. Rhodes, Danville, Pennsylvania.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 468. (S. 2–3.) New York State Museum collection, Albany, New
York. Human effigy and human bird-pipes from Iroquois sites in
northwestern New York. Both of these sculptures are unusually fine
examples of art in pipe-working, for the greater part of Iroquois
pipes are plainer.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 469. Pottery pipe with human face; the stem part broken off.
Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. Toronto University Museum.
]
The human sculpture of the priest on the altar at Palenque, so
frequently illustrated, illustrates an individual either blowing or
drawing smoke through a tube. The tube is ornamented with bands, and
appears to be larger at one end. It is a straight and not a curved pipe.
I have always thought that this interesting figure from ancient Palenque
typified what the pipe meant to the more cultured American tribes. There
is a vast difference between the use of the pipe as portrayed in that
sculpture, and the degeneration of the smoking ceremony as it appears
to-day among modern tribes. We have in this figure the ancient shaman in
full regalia; the elaboration with which the slab is wrought, and the
fact that it was part of the sacred altar at Palenque, are significant.
[Illustration:
FIG. 470. New York State Museum collection, Albany, New York. The New
York State Museum contains many fine specimens of early Iroquois
make. The upper figure to the right, with long stem, is gracefully
curved.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 471. (S. 1–1.) Collection of Leslie W. Hills, Fort Wayne,
Indiana. This is the form of bird effigy most frequently found. That
is, it is not common, but more of this type are found in the
Mound-Builder country than other bird-forms.
]
We have no such sculptures in the Mississippi Valley, but we have altar
mounds in which effigy and monitor pipes were buried. I have never found
a crude pipe in an altar mound and I do not think that either Squier and
Davis or Professor Mills ever found an example of crude art in an altar
mound. This refers to original interments, on the base-line—not to
intrusive burials. Everything indicates that the pipes in use in
pre-Columbian times were of two kinds, the small, individual pipes, and
the large council pipes, or those made use of at important functions
either religious or tribal, being characteristic. I have never observed
the mark of any steel or iron tool on a mound pipe in the Ohio Valley.
[Illustration:
FIG. 472. (S. 1–2.) This form of pipe is rare in Wisconsin. But a few
mouth-pipes with curved bases have been found in the St. Lawrence
region. It may have been obtained by trade in the South. Collection
of J. G. Pickett.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 473. (S. 1–2.) Collection of A. J. Powers, Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
Eagle pipe, Georgia. This remarkable pipe has been described several
times in various publications. It is a beautiful specimen.
]
Whether smoking was discovered through accident, or developed from the
use of the straight tube in the hands of the priests, is something we
may never be able to determine with accuracy.
While the effigy pipes required particular skill in their manufacture,
yet some of the tubular, rectangular, and disc pipes, although
unornamented, are wrought skillfully and brought to a high finish, and
the surfaces polished until almost as smooth as glass.
[Illustration:
FIG. 474. Collection of Leslie W. Hills, Fort Wayne, Indiana. A group
of beautiful mound pipes from Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. None
of these can be considered modern.
]
I have often thought that a careful catalogue of all pipes in our large
museums, with a detailed statement as to where each was found, would be
of great value, and enable us to prepare accurate tables as to these and
their significance and age. In this connection it is to be regretted
that greater care has not been at all times exercised in securing
complete data relative to aboriginal pipes and other artifacts deposited
in museums and private collections, for without this a specimen however
interesting is of little value in solving archæological problems.
[Illustration:
FIG. 474 _A_. (S. 2–3.) Front and rear view of pipe from Trigg County,
Kentucky. Hard, compact, dark reddish stone. B. H. Young’s
collection.
]
The bird seems to have been the favorite sculpture, yet there are
frequent portrayals of the frog. I present three of them, all of
sandstone, in Figs. 485 and 486, and a beautiful one, full size, in a
photogravure plate, Fig. 500, from the collection of Mr. F. P. Graves,
Doe Run, Missouri.
[Illustration:
FIG. 475. (S. about 1–1.) Slate pipe, bird effigy. Collection of Mrs.
Nellie Gowthrop, Camden, Michigan.
]
Among the Ojibwa Indians, during the summer of 1909, I observed a number
of stone pipes in use. An excellent opportunity was afforded to study
such among these Indians, as I was on White Earth Reservation,
Minnesota, for seventeen weeks, and came in contact with all the full
blood Indians and many of the mixed bloods. Being frequently in council
with these Indians, I observed their pipes with some care. Except
rectangular pipes of Siouan types, which were inlaid with lead or
silver, most of the pipes were exceedingly crude and far inferior in
every way to the ancient forms. Few Indians owned inlaid pipes. The
major part of all the pipes I observed were common egg-shaped bowls
without stem which were fitted with the common cane or wooden stem, such
as are sold in stores at a penny each. Others were rectangular and
unornamented. Two in use by old medicine-men, one smoked by a Cree
woman, and several others were purchased by me and placed in the Andover
collection.
As these Ojibwa are all in possession of steel tools, one would suppose
that their pipes would be well made. But on the contrary, the art of
making pipes has degenerated among them.
While there are tubular pipes in California, they do not occur in great
numbers, and, as has been remarked, other types of pipes are either very
scarce or entirely absent.
It seems to me that among our American aborigines the finest art existed
previous to contact with European civilization. The finest sculptures on
exhibition in our museums come from sites which appear to be
prehistoric. To him who is skeptical and does not believe these
statements, I suggest that he inspect modern Iroquoian, Siouan, Ojibwa,
and Cherokee pipes, and compare them with the ancient forms such as have
been taken from mounds and graves in southern Ohio, Kentucky, and
Tennessee.
[Illustration:
FIG. 476. (S. about 1–3.) Collection of J. T. Reeder, Houghton,
Michigan. Locality, Tennessee. Materials: soapstone, slate, and
quartz.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 476 _A_. (S. about 1–3.) Collection of J. T. Reeder, Houghton,
Michigan. Locality, North Carolina. Material, soapstone.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 476 _B_. (S. 3–4.) Steatite, Barbour County, Kentucky. From a
mound on Stoner’s Creek. B. H. Young’s collection, Louisville,
Kentucky.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 476 _C_. (S. 1–2.) This beautiful little pipe is of a type
occasionally found in Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. It may not be
prehistoric. At any rate, it is an interesting specimen. Collection
of Dudley A. Martin, Duboistown, Pennsylvania.
]
Most of these tubular pipes are much larger at one end than the other,
corresponding to the bowl, which is more highly developed in later
forms. There is one in the Andover collection that was obtained from the
Hupa Indians of California about fifty years ago by an early settler.
The stem is round, made of redwood, and a stone ring surrounds the bowl.
The tobacco would of necessity have to be packed tightly when one smoked
such a pipe, unless, as has been reported, the smoker lay upon his back.
Fig. 457 is a roughly outlined and unfinished effigy pipe, which when
complete was intended to represent the head of some animal. In this we
have evidence of the method of work on the part of the maker. Instead of
the hand-hammer it would appear that a cutting-tool had been used. He
had begun to rim out the bowl on the top of the head, but the stem hole
is not yet in evidence.
[Illustration:
FIG. 477. (S. 1–1.) Eagle pipe. Clarence B. Moore. A superb pipe of
limestone representing an eagle. “This pipe, 4.6 inches in length,
carved with great spirit, is a worthy exemplar of the prehistoric
art of Moundville. The bird is represented on its back, the head
swung around to one side with the beak open and tongue extended.
Incidentally, it may be said that the ‘hump’ shown on the tongue by
the native artist, though somewhat exaggerated, is not imaginary, as
may be proved upon examination of an eagle. It may be that this
pipe, showing as it does the eagle lying on its back, its legs and
claws on the belly, represents the dead bird. By pulling out the
tongue of a dead eagle one would be certain to notice the ‘hump’;
hence the examination of a dead bird would have sufficed so far as
correct rendering on the pipe was concerned. On the other hand, the
‘hump’ on the tongue is plainly shown on pottery from Moundville,
where the eagle’s head is erect and the bird is evidently
represented as alive.”
]
It is in the effigy pipes themselves as a class that we see the greatest
skill and care manifested in the manufacture of these strange objects.
This does not, however, mean that all effigy pipes are models of the
carver’s art, as many of them show poor workmanship. In other words, the
art in pipes is no exception to the rule of art elsewhere. There were
those who understood their business and produced masterpieces, and there
were those who produced just the opposite. There may be a totally
different method of treatment in representing the same creature, as for
instance Figs. 468 and 470 showing the Iroquois treatment of human and
bird forms in life; and the Southern Mound-Builder, Figs. 473, 474 _A_,
499, illustrating birds and men. The Iroquois and the Plains tribes made
pipes more nearly like our modern pipes of to-day. The bowl was round or
angular, and the stem long and tapering, or angular. Excellent examples
from the Buffalo collection are shown in Fig. 465.
[Illustration:
FIG. 477 _A_. (S. 1–1.) Eagle pipe. Clarence B. Moore. “Several
experts who have charge of eagles in captivity inform us that under
certain circumstances the ‘hump’ on the tongue is visible on the
living bird. Possibly the aboriginal artist at Moundville was
familiar with the characteristics on eagles through the possession
there of captive birds—a custom observed among the Zuñi of New
Mexico at the present time.
“Owing to slight disintegration of the stone at that part of the pipe
where the head is, the details of the carving are somewhat
indistinct, but by holding the pipe in a suitable light all the
details of the head are still distinguishable. A wing is represented
on each side. The legs, beginning at the tail, which extends
outward, rise upward and forward, the feet and talons resting on the
belly and embracing the orifice of the bowl. The opening for the
stem is immediately above the tail.”[14]
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 478. (S. 1–1.) Handled pipe. This figure “represents one of the
oldest handled pipes that has come under the writer’s observation.
This interesting specimen was taken from a burial-mound, on the
Nicholai farm, Big Bend, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in July, 1902,
by Mr. La Fayette Ellerson. With it was found a curved-base mound
pipe.” From the collection of G. A. West, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 478 _A_. (S. 1–2.) Handled pipe. “Found by Mr. O. S. Ludington,
near Prairie du Chien, of red sandstone, formed, mainly by the
pecking process, into the shape of a fish, and is 5½ inches long, 2½
inches wide, and 1 inch thick. Its bowl cavity is three fourths of
an inch across, the stem hole nearly as large, and both are
cone-shaped, having been made with a stone drill. This specimen is
not worked down smooth, nor does it exhibit file marks.” From the
collection of G. A. West, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 479. (S. 1–3.) Six interesting effigy pipes from the collection
of Bennett H. Young, Louisville, Kentucky.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 479 _A_. Turtle pipe. Milwaukee Museum collection. This figure
“is of grayish-brown steatite, 3¼ inches long, 2¼ inches in its
greatest width, and with a finely carved upper surface representing
a turtle. The bowl is in the centre of the turtle’s back, the stem
hole is small, and was doubtless used without the addition of a
detachable mouthpiece. The lower part of the body is flat, with no
attempt to form either legs or tail.” This specimen was discovered
within the southern limits of the city of Milwaukee, and is believed
to be one of two ceremonial pipes of turtle-form, so far found in
Wisconsin. “The turtle was an emblem of the Sioux, and from the
frequent occurrence of its shell in graves must have been held in
high esteem by the Indians; yet representations of it in stone are
exceedingly rare.”
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 480. (S. 1–1.) Effigy pipe, Hopewell Group.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 481. (S. 1–1.) Turtle pipe found near Burnett, Dodge County,
Wisconsin. Milwaukee Public Museum collection.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 481 _A_. (S. 1–1.) Another view of Fig. 481.
]
The Iroquois pipes and pipes characteristic of the Plains, pipes
classified by Mr. McGuire and Mr. West as Micmacs, and other modern
pipes, are scattered quite generally throughout north, central, and
eastern United States. It is good that Mr. McGuire has given us so
careful a distribution of pipes as is set forth in his fifteen
divisions. The student of archæology must distinguish between the pipes
from the old burial-places and those that are apparently modern. The
prehistoric cultures and the modern cultures of our American aborigines
here in the United States may be compared with those of Europe; where on
one site we might find Roman weapons or implements, those of early
Germanic tribes associated with the Roman, and beneath all of these,
those of the stone-age type. But if the soil had been disturbed, through
digging on the part of people subsequent to these epochs, stone-age
objects, together with those of Roman and Germanic occupations, might be
found associated together. It follows, therefore, that here in America,
when we find modern catlinite pipes and rectangular stone pipes on a
village-site or beneath the surface, these may represent different
epochs or cultures. These cultures may or may not be separated by
hundreds of years.
There are many complications to be taken into consideration, in our
study of the distribution of pipes. As has been pointed out, rude pipes
are quite as likely to have been made by modern Indians as by
prehistoric people.
It does not follow, because the type of pipes recognized as Iroquoian in
character is widespread north of the Ohio Valley and Canada, that all
pipes in that region were made by the tribes of this stock.
The Iroquois overran the entire territory north of the Ohio and east of
the Scioto. We know that they overwhelmed the Eries, Hurons, and others,
whose art was quite different.
[Illustration:
FIG. 482. (S. 1–2.) Oolitic limestone pipe, Hart County, Kentucky.
Highly polished, a beautiful specimen. Collection of Bennett H.
Young. These long effigy pipes of this type are to be found in the
Smithsonian and American Museum collections. An example in the G. A.
West collection, found in Ohio, is 14 inches long.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 483. (S. 1–1.)
From ossuary in the Township of Manvers, County of Durham, Ontario,
Canada.
Collection of J. G. Ogle D’Olier, Rochester, New York.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 484. (S. 1–1.)
From ossuary in the Township of Manvers, County of Durham, Ontario,
Canada.
Collection of J. G. Ogle D’Olier, Rochester, New York.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 485. (S. 2–3.) Beautiful effigy pipe of a frog found in a grave
at Waynesville, Ohio, overlooking the Miami River. Secured by W. K.
Moorehead, 1889. Now in the Ohio State University Museum, Columbus.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 486. (S. 1–2.) Frog pipe. From village-site at the mouth of Bush
Creek, Adams County, Ohio.
]
As I have remarked, these Iroquoian pipes are easily distinguished from
other forms; they are not found in the ancient burial-places of the
Mississippi Valley. The beautiful mound and grave pipes from the Ohio
Valley, the middle South, and the far South, shown in Figs. 474, 477 A,
485 to 491, 494, 496, and 499, are not only of ancient lineage, but show
no mark of steel tools, and do not appear to have been inspired by
European civilization. On the other hand, many of the pipes referred to
do appear to have been suggested by a knowledge of European art. Some of
the best effigy pipes, the monitor or platform pipes, were not made of
stone, but of a fine grade of fire-clay. There are also effigies in
pipes of terra-cotta. In answering a letter requesting information,
Professor W. C. Mills, under date of April 27, 1910, said concerning the
pipes in his collection: “Of the platform pipes, ten are fire-clay, of
the effigy pipes, fifteen are fire-clay, and of the tubular pipes,
twenty are fire-clay. The fire-clay pipes were never burned, but were
cut from original pieces of clay. Twenty of the miscellaneous pipes are
made of potter’s clay.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 487. (S. 2–3.) An interesting human effigy found in northern
Ohio, now in the collection of the Ohio State University, Columbus.
]
The bird is much in evidence as a prehistoric sculpture. In fact, there
are more bird-pipes than any other life-form. This at once suggests the
famous “Thunder Bird,” so famous in Indian mythology in America. Yet if
it is true that these effigies are not totemic, as relating to tribes,
but stand for “Thunder Birds,” it is curious that so many different
kinds of birds should have been represented. There are the hawk, eagle,
crow, woodcock, duck, woodpecker, paroquet, and others. Examine Fig. 474
_A_. It is one of the best sculptures presented in this chapter. Compare
this beautiful carving with the following bird-pipes, Figs. 470, 471,
473, 476, 477, 480, where possible readers are advised to visit some
public museum or consult a library and study the illustrations of
bird-pipes. The range is considerable. Even in so brief space as is
afforded in this chapter, it will be observed that it was the intention
of the ancient people to represent not one kind of bird but many. The
statement frequently made, that it is impossible in some instances to
determine just what species of bird was intended, is true. But we have
no difficulty in distinguishing between the duck, the eagle, the owl, or
the crow, although the different kinds of ducks, or of hawks, might not
be differentiated accurately.
[Illustration:
FIG. 488. (S. 1–1.) Effigy pipe of limestone. A remarkable effigy pipe
found by Mr. Moore in one of the mounds at Moundville, Alabama. This
group of mounds has furnished some remarkable specimens in stone and
clay.
]
Mr. West says of the so-called handled pipes:—
“In this class the author has placed a small number of very interesting
pipes which are provided with an elongated base or handle, by which they
were held or supported; and in most examples with a short mouthpiece
also. Some are without the latter feature, and were probably furnished
with a short stem of wood or bone. They differ considerably as to
general shape and manner of ornamentation. A few have the bowls
artistically carved to represent the head of a human being, a fish, or
an animal.
“A small number of similar pipes have been described from other sections
of the United States. Twenty-two examples have been found in Wisconsin,
no two of which are of exactly the same pattern. No theory of their
authorship among the Wisconsin or other Indians has as yet been
advanced. Even though originally limited to one tribe, so convenient a
form of pipe is sure to have been copied by individuals belonging to
others.
[Illustration:
FIG. 489. (S. 2–3.) These pipes were found together in a small mound,
a short distance south of St. Louis, Missouri. Collection of H. M.
Braun, East St. Louis, Illinois.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 490. (S. 2–3.) Human effigy pipe, from a grave in the Willis
Cemetery, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Phillips Academy collection.
]
“Authorities who have written on the subject, seem to regard this type
of pipe as modern. Some of the Wisconsin finds contain no marks of metal
tools, are unpolished, and have all indications of being prehistoric,
while others are new in appearance, finely polished and show evidence of
the use of metal tools in their manufacture.”[15]
[Illustration:
FIG. 491. (S. 3–5.) The discs and the effigy pipes were found in 1904
by W. W. Almond while ploughing on a farm near Menard’s Mound, about
eight miles from Arkansas Post. It would appear that these were
buried together in a cache, and covered with a layer of pottery.
These will be described more fully under Conclusions, chapters
XXXVI, XXXVII.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 492. (S. 4–5.) Collection of W. C. Herriman, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada.
Figs. 492 and 493 present two views of a pipe of the ordinary clay
material. The bowl is behind the head, passing down the region of
the back. The unique feature of this pipe is that when shaken it
gives evidence of a hollow sound in the head with several small,
hard particles which distinctly rattle. These have never been
investigated and their nature is not known.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 493. (S. 4–5.) Side view of Fig. 492.
]
Fig. 480 is a remarkable carving in graphite slate. This was found by me
on the altar of the effigy mound, Hopewell Group, Ross County, Ohio,
during the course of explorations, August 1901–March 1902. The pipe
represents a woodcock resting on the back of a grotesque fish. The bird
is true to life, the fish is not. No pipe found by Squier and Davis in
the famous Mound City Group exceeded this in its beautiful artistic
lines and skill evinced in manufacture. With this pipe were thousands of
pearl beads, copper ear ornaments, obsidian blades, and other remarkable
objects, all of which are foreign to Ohio. The pipe, together with the
other objects, is exhibited in the Field Museum of Natural History,
Chicago.
[Illustration:
FIG. 494. (S. about 2–7.) Collection of H. M. Whelpley, St. Louis, Mo.
Found near Muskogee, Ind. Ter. Color, terra-cotta; size, eight and
one half inches high by five and one half inches anterio-posterior,
by four and one eighth inches wide; weight, five pounds. The
discoidal in the right hand measures one and three fourths by five
eighths inches. Each of the two sticks in the left hand are four and
one eighth inches long. Earrings, one by three eighths inch; bead
under chin, three fourths by three eighths inch.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 495. (S. 1–6.) Collection of W. A. Holmes, Chicago, Illinois.
]
In Figs. 481 and 481 _A_, I present front and rear views of an effigy
pipe from Wisconsin, now in the Milwaukee Public Museum. This is one of
the finest examples of mound pipe found in the North. An inspection of
the two figures will acquaint readers with the fact that the top and
bottom of the pipe represent two kinds of reptilia. Prof. S. A. Barrett,
who kindly furnished this and some other photographs for me, explains
this peculiarity as follows:
[Illustration:
FIG. 496. (S. 1–2.) Collection of Leslie W. Hills, Fort Wayne,
Indiana. The effigy to the left is a remarkable and interesting
pipe, of hard black stone, and was found in Ohio.
]
“In sending you the information concerning specimens, there is one point
that I overlooked, and that is the difference between the carapace and
the plastron of the turtle pipe. It is an interesting fact that the
carapace of this specimen is that of a terrapin, while the plastron is
carved after the fashion of the snapping turtle.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 497. (S. 1–1.) Portrait pipe. Collection of G. A. West,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This figure was dug from a grave at East
Jacksonport, Door County, Wisconsin, over which was an old pine
stump 30 inches in diameter, by Mr. L. K. Erkskin, from whom it was
secured by Mr. W. H. Elkey, for Mr. G. A. West. This pipe is of
compact flinty limestone and most skillfully carved into a
resemblance of the head and face of a frowning Indian. Both bowl and
stem excavations are conical in shape, and were evidently made with
stone drills.
]
I have referred in a number of places to smoking as a ceremony. In
addition to being a rite, it was always practiced for medicinal
purposes. Not only did the Indians in ancient times inhale fumes in
order to alleviate distress, but the white people did likewise. Mr.
McGuire, in his work which I have previously quoted, makes this
perfectly clear and cites numerous instances as to the supposed curative
property of tobacco. I quote one of his paragraphs[16] concerning the
truly remarkable material gathered by Mr. Bragg:—
[Illustration:
FIG. 498. (S. 1–2.) Portrait pipe. Described by G. A. West, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. This figure “is of dark sandstone, 10 inches long, with a
portion of its bowl broken away. This remarkable pipe was found many
years ago near Fort Atkinson, Jefferson County, Wisconsin, and is
now in a private collection in the State of New Hampshire. It is a
calumet but not of the Siouan type. The writer is informed that this
specimen is unpolished, but has the appearance of great age,
contains no metal tool-marks, and shows much use.”
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 499. (S. 1–1.) Collection of Professor W. C. Mills, Columbus,
Ohio.
]
“Bragg’s collection of pipes, now in the British Museum, made from all
parts of the world, and his books relating to tobacco, the former
consisting of 13,000 specimens and the latter of 500 volumes, was as
rich as it was curious, and has probably never been equaled. The
medicinal and imaginary properties attaching to tobacco have been marked
among the American Indians to no greater extent than in Europe. Rembert
Dodoens in 1578 said ‘the perfume of dryed leaves, he sayd he layde upon
quick coles taken in the mouth through the pipe of a funnel or tunnel,
helpeth such as are troubled with shortness of winde and fetch their
breath thicke and often.’”[17]
In 1901 Professor W. C. Mills explored the Adena Mound near Chillicothe
for the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society. One of the
skeletons, aside from having arrow-heads, knives, pearl and bone beads
and other relics, had near the left hand the beautiful effigy pipe shown
in Fig. 499. I present front and side views of this pipe, and quote from
Professor Mills’s Report as follows:—
“This pipe is eight inches in length, and is composed of clay,
resembling the fire-clay found in Scioto County, which is further south
but in the same valley. The pipe is tubular in form, the hole extending
the entire length of the body; the large opening is between the feet,
having a hole five eighths inch in diameter. Within an inch of the top
of the head it begins to narrow down to a very small aperture one eighth
inch in diameter. The mouthpiece formed a part of the head-dress of the
image. The front part of the pipe is of a light gray in color while the
back part is of a brick red. The specimen is covered with a deposit of
iron ore; this appears in small blotches over the entire surface of the
specimen, the one side of the face and body being more densely covered
with it than the other parts of the pipe.
“The effigy represents the human form in the nude state with the
exception of the covering around the loins; this covering extends round
the body and is tied in the back; the ends of the covering hang down and
serve as ornaments. On the front of this covering is a serpentine or
scroll-like ornamentation. From the lobe of each ear is hung an ear
ornament which is quite large in proportion to the ear, and resembles
very much the button-shaped copper ornaments which are so frequently
found in the mounds of the Scioto Valley.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 500. (_S. 1–1._)
_Frog pipe, from Tennessee, and rectangular pipe, from Georgia. Both
of fine sandstone. From the collection of F. P. Graves, Doe Run,
Saint Francois County, Missouri._
]