Pipes.
So much has been written concerning pipes that few references seem necessary, and none will be given except from Col. R. I. Dodge, who, after an experience of many years among the Plains Indians, says that the latter have different pipes for different occasions, as the medicine pipe, peace pipe, council pipe, and a pipe for common use. Each is sacred to its own purpose.[121]
Fig. 156.—Tube, hour-glass form.
In an article so highly prized by its owner, great pains would be expended to give an ornamental appearance to one which would be used on important ceremonial occasions; and it would be carved or worked in a manner gratifying to its maker or the one for whom it was intended. This fact, and the statement quoted above, will explain the great variety in form from a limited area. Still, in some sections of the country there are certain types that prevail, and may be in some cases peculiar to these localities; such, for instance, are the long stemmed pipes from western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
In many pipes of soft stone the bowl is gouged out instead of drilled.
Fig. 157.—Tube, cylindrical.
The pipes in the Bureau collection embrace the following classes:
A. Stem with an elliptical or somewhat triangular section; the bowl near one end, leaving a projection in front; stem hole in long end. The form is shown in [figure 158]. From Caldwell county, North Carolina there are two similar pipes of steatite. Another, from Preston county, West Virginia, differs only in having the stem hole in the short end.