Another writer says of the pipes of the Indians of North America:
"Great variety of form and material distinguishes the pipes of the modern Indians; arising in part from the local facilities they possess for a suitable material from which to construct them; and in part also from the special style of art and decoration which has become the traditional usage of the tribes. The favorite red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies, has been generally sought after, both from its easiness of working and the beauty of its appearance. A pipe of this favorite and beautiful material, found on the shores of Lake Simcoe, and now in my possession, measures five inches and three-quarters in length, and nearly four inches in greatest breadth, yet the capacity of the bowl hollowed in it for the reception of tobacco is even less than in the smallest of the "Elfin Pipes." In contrast to this, a modern Winnebago pipe recently acquired by me, made of the same red pipe-stone, inlaid with lead, and executed with ingenious skill, has a bowl of large dimensions illustrative of Indian smoking usages modified by the influence of the white man. From the red pipe-stone, as well as from the lime stone and other harder rocks, the Chippeways, the Winnebagos, and the Sioux, frequently make a peculiar class of pipes, inlaid with lead.
"The Chincok and Puget Sound Indians, who evince little taste in comparison with the tribes surrounding them, in ornamenting their persons or their warlike and domestic implements, commonly use wooden pipes. Sometimes these are elaborately carved, but most frequently they are rudely and hastily made for immediate use; and even among these remote tribes of the flat head Indians, the common clay pipe of the fur trader begins to supersede such native arts. Among the Assinaboin Indians a material is used in pipe manufacture altogether peculiar to them. It is a fine marble, much too hard to admit of minute carving, but taking a high polish. This is cut into pipes of graceful form, and made so extremely thin, as to be almost transparent, so that when lighted the glowing tobacco shines through, and presents a singular appearance when in use at night or in a dark lodge. Another favorite material employed by the Assinaboin Indians is a coarse species of jasper also too hard to admit of elaborate ornamentation."
This also is cut into various simple but tasteful designs, executed chiefly by the slow and laborious process of rubbing it down with other stones. The choice of the material for fashioning the favorite pipe is by no means invariably guided by the facilities which the location of the tribe affords. A suitable stone for such a purpose will be picked up and carried hundreds of miles. Mr. Kane informs me that, in coming down the Athabaska River, when drawing near its source in the Rocky Mountains, he observed his Assinaboin guides select the favorite bluish jasper from among the water-worn stones in the bed of the river, to carry home for the purpose of pipe manufacture, although they were then fully five hundred miles from their lodges. Such a traditional adherence to a choice of material peculiar to a remote source, may frequently prove of considerable value as a clue to former migrations of the tribes. Both the Cree and the Winnebago Indians carve pipes in stone of a form now more frequently met with in the Indian curiosity stores of Canada and the States than any other specimens of native carving. The tube, cut at a sharp right angle with the cylindrical bowl of the pipe, is ornamented with a thin vandyked ridge, generally perforated with a row of holes, and standing up somewhat like the dorsal fin of a fish. The Winnebagos also manufacture pipes of the same form, but of a smaller size, in lead, with considerable skill.
Among the Cree Indians a double pipe is occasionally in use, consisting of a bowl carved out of stone without much attempt at ornament, but with perforations on two sides, so that two smokers can insert their pipe-stems at once, and enjoy the same supply of tobacco. It does not appear, however, that any special significance is attached to this singular fancy. The Saultaux Indians, a branch of the great Algonquin nation, also carve their pipes out of a black stone found in their country, and evince considerable skill in the execution of their elaborate details. But the most remarkable of all the specimens of pipe sculpture executed by the Indians of the north-west are those carved by the Bobeen, or Big-lip Indians,—so called from the singular deformity they produce by inserting a piece of wood into a slit made in the lower lip.
The Bobeen Indians are found along the Pacific coast, about latitude 54°, 40', and extend from the borders of the Russian dominions eastward nearly to Frazer River. The pipes of the Bobeen, and also of the Clalam Indians, occupying the neighboring Vancouver's Island, are carved with the utmost elaborateness and in the most singular and grotesque devices, from a soft blue clay-stone or slate. Their form is in part determined by the material, which is only procurable in thin slabs, so that the sculptures, wrought on both sides, present a sort of double bas-relief. From this, singular and grotesque groups are carved without any apparent reference to the final destination of the whole as a pipe. The lower side is generally a straight line, and in the specimens I have examined they measure from two or three to fifteen inches long; so that in these the pipe-stem is included. A small hollow is carved out of some protruding ornament to serve as the bowl of the pipe, and from the further end a perforation is drilled to connect with this. The only addition made to it when in use is the insertion of a quill or straw as a mouth-piece. The Indians have both war and peace pipes.
A War Pipe.
The War pipe is a true tomahawk of ordinary size with a perforated handle the tobacco being placed in the receptacle above the hatchet the handle serving as a pipe-stem and used for either pipe or tomahawk. Many varieties of Indian Pipes have been found not only in the Western and Southern mounds but in Mexico and Central America. Fine specimens are found in Florida and some elaborately carved have been unearthed in Virginia. Wilson says of the pipes used by the Indians: "The pipe stem is one of the characteristics of modern race, if not distinctive of the Northern tribes of Indians." In alluding to the pipes more particularly he says: