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:—
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.”
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.”