TThe implements used in smoking tobacco, from the rude pipe of the Indian to the elaborate hookah of the Turk, show a far greater variety than even the various species of the tobacco plant. The instruments used by the Indians for inhaling the tobacco smoke were no less wonderful to Europeans than the plant itself.
The implements used in smoking tobacco, from the rude pipe of the Indian to the elaborate hookah of the Turk, show a far greater variety than even the various species of the tobacco plant. The instruments used by the Indians for inhaling the tobacco smoke were no less wonderful to Europeans than the plant itself.
The rude mode of inhaling the smoke and the intoxication produced by its fumes suggested to the Spaniards a better method of "taking tobacco." Hariot, however, found clay pipes in use by the Indians of Virginia, which though having no resemblance to the smoking implements discovered by Columbus, seem to have afforded a model for those afterward manufactured by the Virginia colony. The sailors of Columbus seemed to have first discovered cigar, rather than pipe-smoking, inasmuch as the simple method used by the natives, consisted of a leaf of maize, which enwrapped a few leaves of the plant.
The next instruments discovered in use among the Indians were straight, hollow reeds and forked canes. Their mode of use was to place a few leaves upon coals of fire and by placing the forked end in the nostrils and the other upon the smoking leaves, to inhale the smoke until they were stupified or drunken with the fumes. Their object in inhaling the fumes of tobacco seemed to be to produce intoxication and insensibility rather than a mode of enjoyment, although the enjoyment with them consisted of seeing the most remarkable visions when stupefied by its fumes. Such were themodes of smoking among the Indians when Columbus planted the banner of Spain in America.
A writer inThe Tobacco Planthas given a very interesting description of Indian pipes in use among the natives of both North and South America. He says:
"In the tumuli or Indian grave mounds of the Ohio and Scioto valleys, large quantities of pipes have been found, bearing traces of Indian ingenuity. That their burial mounds are of great antiquity, is proved by the fact that trees several centuries old are to be found growing upon them. About twenty-five years ago, two distinguished archeologists Squier and Davis—made extensive exploration of these mounds, the results of which were published in an elaborate memoir by the Smithsonian Institution. The mounds indicate that an immense amount of labor has been expended upon them, as the earthworks and mounds may be counted by thousands, requiring either long time or an immense population; and there is much probability in the supposition of Sir John Lubbock that these parts of America were once inhabited by a numerous and agricultural population. It may be asked, have the races who erected these extensive mounds become extinct, or do they exist in the poor uncivilized tribes of Indians whom Europeans found inhabiting the river valleys of Ohio and Illinois? Many of these mounds are in the form of serpents and symbolic figures, and were evidently related to the sacrificial worship of the mound builders."
Squier and Davis are of the opinion that:—
"The mound builders were inveterate smokers, if the great numbers of pipes discovered in the mounds be admitted as evidence of the fact. These constitute not only a numerous, but a singularly interesting class of remains. In their construction the skill of the maker seems to have been exhausted. Their general form, which may be regarded as the primitive form of the implement, is well exhibited in the accompanying sketch. They are always carved from a single piece, and consist of a flat carved bore of variable length and width, with the bowl rising from the centre of the convex side. From one of the ends, and communicating with the hollow of the bowl, is drilled a small hole, which answers the purpose of a tube; the corresponding opposite division being left for the manifest purpose of holding the implement to the mouth.
Indian Pipe.
Indian Pipe.
"The specimen here represented is finely carved from abeautiful variety of brown porphyry, granulated with various-colored materials, the whole much changed by the action of fire, and somewhat resembling porcelain. It is intensely hard, and successfully resists the edge of the finest-tempered knife. The length of the base is five inches; breadth of the same one inch and a-quarter. The bowl is one inch and a-quarter high, slightly tapering upwards, but flaring near the top. The hollow of the bowl is six-tenths of an inch in diameter. The perforation answering to the tube is one-sixth of an inch in diameter, which is about the usual size. This circumstance places it beyond doubt that the mouth was applied directly to the implement, without the intervention of a tube of wood or metal."
This is an account of a simple pipe, with a small bowl; but most of the pipes found in the mounds are highly ornamented with elaborate workmanship, representing animals such as the beaver, otter, bear, wolf, panther, raccoon, squirrel, wild-cat, manotee, eagle, hawk, heron, swallow, paroquet, etc. One of the most interesting of the spirited sculptures of animal forms to be found on the mound pipes, is the representation of the Lamantin, or Manotee, a cetacean found only in tropical waters, and the nearest place which they at present frequent is the coast of Florida—at least a thousand miles away. According to Sir John Lubbock, these are no rude sculptures, for the characteristics of the animal are all distinctly marked, rendering its recognition complete. Many modern Indians are possessed of a wonderful aptitude for sculpture, and they appear to gladly exchange their work for the necessaries of life.
The material most prized for the purpose of pipe-making is the beautiful red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies, which is an indurated aluminous stone, highly colored with red oxide of iron. It is frequently called "Catlinite," out of compliment to George Catlin, the distinguished collector of Indian traditions, who claims to be the first European thatever visited the Red Pipe-stone Quarry, which is situated amongst the upper waters of Missouri. Catlin gives the following legend as the Indian version of the birth of the mysterious red pipe:—
"The Great Spirit, at an ancient period, here called together the Indian warriors, and standing on the precipice of the red pipe-stone rock, broke from its wall a piece, and made a huge pipe by turning it in his hand, which he smoked over them, and to the north, the south, the east and the west; and told them that this stone was red, that it was their flesh, that they must use it for their pipes of peace, that it belonged to them all, and that the war club and the scalping knife must not be raised on its ground. At the last whiff of his pipe his head went into a great cloud, and the whole surface of the rock for several miles was melted and glazed. Two great ovens were opened beneath, and two women, guardian spirits of the place, entered them in a blaze of fire, and they are heard there yet, answering to the invocations of the priests and medicine-men."
At the pipe-stone quarry there is a row of five huge, granite boulders, which the Indians regard with great reverence, and when they visit the spot to secure some red stone to make pipes, they seek to propitiate the guardian spirits by throwing plugs of Tobacco to them. Some admirable pieces of pipe-sculpture are produced by the Boheen Indians, who are found on the coast of the Pacific to the south of the Russians. These pipes are made from a soft blue clay stone which is found only in slabs, and the sculptures are wrought on both sides, the pipes being generally covered with singular groups of human and animal forms, grotesquely intermingled.
The Chippewas are also celebrated for their pipes, which are cut out of a close-grained stone of a dark color; and Professor Wilson, of Toronto, states that Pobahmesad, or the Flier, one of the famed pipe-sculptors, resides on the Great Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. The old Chippewa has never deviated from the faith of his fathers, as he still adheres to all their rites and ceremonies. He uses the red pipe-stone and other materials in the production of his pipes, which are ingenious specimens of sculpture. The calumet, or pipe ofpeace, is still an object of special reverence with the Indian tribes, and the pipe-stem is ornamented with six or eight eagle's feathers. Each tribe has an official who takes charge of the calumet, which he keeps rolled up in a bearskin robe; and it's never exposed to view or used, except when the chief enters into a treaty with some neighboring chief. On these occasions the pipe is taken out of its covering by the Indian dignitary, ready charged with the "holy weed," when it is smoked by all the chiefs, each one taking only a single breath of smoke, which is regarded as implementing the treaty. The pipe is then rolled up in its robe of fur, and stowed away in the lodge of its keeper until it is again required. The war pipe is simply a tomahawk, with a perforated handle communicating with the bowl, which is opposite the sharp edge of the weapon. When the Indians joined the British as allies during the American war, they had to be supplied with iron tomahawks of the native pattern, before they could enter the field as allies.
Sculptured Pipe.
Sculptured Pipe.
Many tribes of Indians use herbs of various kinds to mix with tobacco to reduce its strength, as they are in the habit of exhaling the smoke from the nostrils, and not from the mouth. By the adoption of this means a much smaller quantity of tobacco suffices to produce the soothing influence on the nervous system so well known to votaries of the weed.
Longfellow, in his great Indian epic of the Song of Hiawatha, has portrayed with graphic power in pleasing verse the mysterious legends describing the birth or institution of the peace-pipe by Gitche Manito, "The Master of Life;" and a few extracts from "Hiawatha" may be interesting to illustratethe deep significance of the ideas which the Indian holds regarding his relations to the Great Spirit of the Universe, and of the esteem with which he views the peace-pipe, which in the words of Catlin "has shed its thrilling fumes over the land, and soothed the fury of the relentless savage."
Longfellow, in the opening of his poem, says:—
Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,Who have faith in God and Nature,Who believe that in all agesEvery human heart is human,That in even savage bosomsThere are longings, yearnings, strivings,For the good they comprehend not,That the feeble hands and helpless,Groping blindly in the darkness,Touch God's right hand in that darknessAnd are lifted up and strengthened;—Listen to this simple story,To the song of Hiawatha.
He then describes the making of the pipe from the great Red Pipe-Stone Quarry, as follows:—
"On the Mountains of the Prairie,On the great Red Pipe-Stone Quarry,Gitche Manito, the mighty,He the Master of Life, descending,On the red crags of the quarryStood erect, and called the nations,Called the tribes of men together.From his foot-prints flowed a river,Leaped into the light of morning,O'er the precipice plunging downwardGleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet.And the Spirit stooping earthward,With his finger on the meadowTraced a winding pathway for it,Saying to it, 'Run in this way!'"From the red stone of the quarryWith his hand he broke a fragment,Moulded it into a pipe-head,Shaped and fashioned it with figures;From the margin of the riverTook a long reed for a pipe-stem,With its dark green leaves upon it;Filled the pipe with bark of willow;With the bark of the red willow;Breathed upon the neighboring forest,Made its great boughs chafe together,Till in flame they burst and kindled;And erect upon the mountains,Gitche Manito, the mighty,Smoked the calumet, the Peace-Pipe,As a signal to the nations."
"On the Mountains of the Prairie,On the great Red Pipe-Stone Quarry,Gitche Manito, the mighty,He the Master of Life, descending,On the red crags of the quarryStood erect, and called the nations,Called the tribes of men together.From his foot-prints flowed a river,Leaped into the light of morning,O'er the precipice plunging downwardGleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet.And the Spirit stooping earthward,With his finger on the meadowTraced a winding pathway for it,Saying to it, 'Run in this way!'
"From the red stone of the quarryWith his hand he broke a fragment,Moulded it into a pipe-head,Shaped and fashioned it with figures;From the margin of the riverTook a long reed for a pipe-stem,With its dark green leaves upon it;Filled the pipe with bark of willow;With the bark of the red willow;Breathed upon the neighboring forest,Made its great boughs chafe together,Till in flame they burst and kindled;And erect upon the mountains,Gitche Manito, the mighty,Smoked the calumet, the Peace-Pipe,As a signal to the nations."
Pipe of Peace.
Pipe of Peace.
The next verses describe the assembling of the nations at the call of Gitche Manito, who proceeds to speak to his children words of wisdom and announces that he:
"'Will send a prophet to you,A Deliverer of the nations,Who shall guide you and shall teach you,Who shall toil and suffer with you.So you listen to his counsels,You will multiply and prosper;If his warnings pass unheeded,You will fade away and perish!"'Bathe now in the stream before you,Wash the war-paint from your faces,Wash the blood-stains from your fingers,Bury your war-clubs and your weapons,Break the red stone from this quarry,Mould and make it into Peace-Pipes,Take the reeds that grow beside you,Deck them with your highest feathers,Smoke the calumet together,And as brothers live henceforward!'*****"And in silence all the warriorsBroke the red stone of the quarry,Smoothed and formed it into Peace-Pipes,Broke the long reeds by the river,Decked them with their brightest feathers,And departed each one homeward,While the Master of Life, ascendingThrough the opening of cloud curtains,Through the doorways of the heavens,Vanished from before their faces,In the smoke that rolled around him,The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe!"
"'Will send a prophet to you,A Deliverer of the nations,Who shall guide you and shall teach you,Who shall toil and suffer with you.So you listen to his counsels,You will multiply and prosper;If his warnings pass unheeded,You will fade away and perish!
"'Bathe now in the stream before you,Wash the war-paint from your faces,Wash the blood-stains from your fingers,Bury your war-clubs and your weapons,Break the red stone from this quarry,Mould and make it into Peace-Pipes,Take the reeds that grow beside you,Deck them with your highest feathers,Smoke the calumet together,And as brothers live henceforward!'
*****
"And in silence all the warriorsBroke the red stone of the quarry,Smoothed and formed it into Peace-Pipes,Broke the long reeds by the river,Decked them with their brightest feathers,And departed each one homeward,While the Master of Life, ascendingThrough the opening of cloud curtains,Through the doorways of the heavens,Vanished from before their faces,In the smoke that rolled around him,The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe!"
Along the northern parts of America, are to be found the Esquimaux population, estimated to number about 60,000.
They are votaries of the weed, making their pipes either out of driftwood, or of the bones of animals they have used for food.
Tobacco is found growing along the whole western sea-board of South America until we reach the northern boundaries of Patagonia. Far inland on the banks of the Amazon, Rio Niger, and other great rivers, the weed has been found in luxurious abundance, with a delightful fragrance.
Stephens, in his "Travels in Central America," says that "the ladies of Central America generally smoke—the married using tobacco, and the unmarried, cigars formed of selected tobacco rolled in paper or rice straw. Every gentleman carries in his pocket a silver case, with a long string of cotton, steel and flint, and one of the offices of gallantry is to strike a light. By doing it well, he may help to kindle a flame in a lady's heart; at all events, to do it bunglingly would be ill-bred. I will not express my sentiments on smoking as a custom for the sex. I have recollections of beauteous lips profaned. Nevertheless, even in this I have seen a lady show her prettiness and refinement, barely touching the straw on her lips, as it were kissing it gently and taking it away. When a gentleman asks a lady for a light, she always removes the cigar from her lips."
A Model Cigar.
A Model Cigar.
The Rev. Canon Kingsley, in his fascinating novel of "Westward Ho!" has some quaint remarks on the methodof smoking described by Lionel Wafer, surgeon to Dampier, which are well worth quoting. He says,
"When they, (the Darien Indians,) will deliberate on war or policy, they sit round in the hut of the chief; where being placed, enter to them a small boy with a cigarro of the bigness of a rolling-pin, and puffs the smoke thereof into the face of each warrior, from the eldest to the youngest; while they, putting their hands funnel-wise round their mouths, draw into the sinuosities of the brain that more than Delphic vapor of prophecy; which boy presently falls down in a swoon, and being dragged out by the heels and laid by to sober, enter another to puff at the sacred cigarro, till he is dragged out likewise, and so on till the Tobacco is finished, and the seed of wisdom has sprouted in every soul into the tree of meditation, bearing the flower of eloquence, and in due time the fruit of valiant action."
Tobacco in the form of cigarettes, is extensively used by the inhabitants of Nicaragua, Guiana, and the dwellers on the banks of the Orinoco, and the use of the weed is not confined to the male sex, but is freely used both by the female and juvenile portions of the community. Mr. Squier, in his "Travels in Nicaragua," states that the dress of the young urchins consists mainly of a straw hat and a cigar—the cigar when not in use being stuck behind the ear, in the manner in which our clerks place their pens. The natives of Guiana use a tube or pipe not unlike a cheroot, made from the rind of the fruit of a species of palm. This curious pipe is called a "Winna,"and the hollow is filled with tobacco, the smoking of which affords much enjoyment to the denizens of the swampy regions of Guiana.
Mr. Cooke, in "The Seven Sisters of Sleep," states that a tube much resembling the "Winna" of Guiana was some years ago to be met with in the Tobacconists' Shops in London. The Indian dwelling in the dense forests in the region of Orinoco has found that tobacco is an excellent solace to relieve the monotony of his life; he uses it "not only to procure an afternoon nap, but also to induce a state of quiescence which they call dreaming with their eyes open." We find from voyagers up the Amazon, that smoking prevails not merely amongst the natives inhabiting the regions which skirt that great river, but also amongst the people on the banks of its numerous tributaries. Mr. Bates the distinguished Naturalist, when making researches far up one of the tributaries of the Amazon, found tobacco extensively cultivated, and some distinguished makers of cigarettes. One maker, Joan Trinidade, was noted for his Tobacco and Tauri cigarettes. This cigar is so named from the bark in which the tobacco is rolled. Some of the tribes inhabiting the district of the lower Amazon indulge in snuff-taking. This snuff is not made from tobacco, it is the produce of a plant of the leguminous order, the seeds being carefully collected and thoroughly dried in the sun before they are pounded in a mortar, when the powder is ready for use. The snuff-making season is quite an event in a Brazilian village, the week or so during which it lasts forming a kind of religious festival mingled with a good deal of indulgence of fermented liquors, chiefly of native origin.
Humboldt, when traveling in South America, found in use among the Ottomac Indians a powder called Niopo, or "Indian snuff." Niopo is a powerful stimulant, a small portion of it producing violent sneezing in persons unaccustomed to its use. Father Gumilla says:—"This diabolical powder of the Ottomacs, furnished by an adolescent tobacco plant, intoxicates them through the nostrils, deprives them ofreason for some hours, and renders them furious in battle." Humboldt, however, has shown that this stimulating snuff is not the product of the tobacco plant, but of a species of acacia, Niopo being made from the pods of the plant after they have undergone a process of fermentation. Captain Burton, when traveling in the Highlands of Brazil, found the tobacco plant growing spontaneously, which made him conclude that it is indigenous to Brazil. He found the "Aromatic Brazilian" a kind of tobacco with thin leaves and a pink flower, which is "much admired in the United States, and there found to lose its aroma after the second year." It is usually asserted that the tobacco grown in Brazil contains only two per cent. of nicotine, but Captain Burton is disposed to doubt this, as he states that some varieties of the "holy herb" grown at Sa'a' Paulo and Nimos suggests a larger proportion. In the small towns in the Highlands of Brazil, Captain Burton found that excellent cigars, better than many "Havannas," were retailed at a halfpenny each. In La Plata, Paraguay, and other countries to the south of Brazil, nearly every person smokes, and an American traveler quoted by Mr. Cooke states that women and girls above thirteen years of age use the weed in the form of quids. A magnificent Hebe, arrayed in satin and flashing in diamonds, "puts you back with one delicate hand, while with the fair taper fingers of the other she takes the tobacco out of her mouth previous to your saluting her." A European visiting Paraguay for the first time is rather astonished at the conduct of the fair beauty, but such is the force of custom that the squeamishness of the new-comer is soon overcome, when he finds that he has to kiss every lady to whom he is introduced; and the traveler says that "one half of those you meet are really tempting enough to render you reckless of consequences."
Smoking is practised by the natives of Patagonia, who are a tall and muscular class of men, though not such giants as represented by the early voyagers. Hutchinson, in a valuable paper on the Indians of South America has an account of the Pehuenches, one of the principal tribes of Patagonia,in which he states that
"their chief indulgence is smoking. The native pipes are fabricated out of a piece of stone, fashioned into the shape of a bowl, into which is inserted a long brass tube. The latter is obtained by barter at Bohia Blanca. The tobacco in the bowl being lighted, each man of a party takes a suck at the pipe in his turn."
Tilston, who witnessed the operation, describes it as a most ludicrous one.
"The smoker gives a pull at the pipe, gulping in a quantity of Tobacco vapour, the cubic measurement of which my informant would be afraid to guess at. All the muscles of the body seem in a temporary convulsion whilst it is being taken in, and the neighbour to whom the pipe is transferred follows suit by inhaling as if he were trying to swallow down brass tube, bowl, Tobacco, fire, and all. Meanwhile, there issues from the nose and mouth of the previous smoker such a cumulus of cloud as for a few seconds to render his face quite invisible."
Tobacco is more used in Chili than in the other countries on the Pacific side of South America; this is owing to the extensive use of the leaves of the Cocoa plant as a narcotic by the natives of Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia.
South Americans smoking.
South Americans smoking.
We refrain from enlarging on the nature and use of this narcotic, as on some future occasion we may take an opportunity of making some observations on Cocoa, which according to Jonson, holds an undisputed sway over some seven or eight millions of the inhabitants of South America. The Indians formerly inhabiting the high table-lands of what is now called Peru and Bolivia appear prior to the invasion ofthe Spaniards to have been much further advanced in civilization than the races occupying the other portions of South America; and there is a strong probability that they are of a different origin from the races occupying Chili, Patagonia, Brazil, and the great district washed by the waters of the West Indian Sea. Science as yet cannot give anything like an accurate idea of the time man has existed in these widely-diversified countries, but we cannot go wrong in accepting the statement of Darwin, who observes that
"we must admit that man has inhabited South America for an immensely long period, inasmuch as any change in climate, effected by the elevation of the land must have been extremely gradual."
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 rudelyand 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."
"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 rudelyand 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 inuse, 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.
A War Pipe.
The War pipe is a true tomahawk of ordinary size with a perforated handle the tobacco being placed in the receptacleabove 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:
"Specimens of another class of clay pipes of a larger size, and with a tube of such length as obviously to be designed for use without the addition of a "pipe-stem,"
most of the ancient clay pipes that have been discovered are stated to have the same form; and this, it may be noted, bears so near a resemblance to that of the red clay pipe used in modern Turkey, with the cherry-tree pipe stem, that it might be supposed to have furnished the model.
The bowls of this class of ancient clay pipes are not of the miniature proportions which induce a comparison between those of Canada and the early examples found in Britain; neither do the stone pipe-heads of the mound-builders suggest by the size of the bowl either the self-denying economy of the ancient smoker, or his practice of the modern Indian mode of exhaling the fumes of the tobacco, by which so small a quantity suffices to produce the full narcotic effects of the favorite weed. They would rather seem to confirm the indications derived from the other sources, of an essential difference between the ancient smoking usages of Central America and of the mound-builders, and those which arestill maintained in their primeval integrity among the Indians of the North West.
Of the mound-builders Foster says:
"The mound-builders were well aware of the narcotic properties of tobacco, a plant which indigenous to America, and which since the discovery of the western continent has been domesticated in every region of the earth where the soil and climate are favorable to its cultivation. No habit at this day, it may be said, is more universal or more difficult to eradicate than that of smoking. With the mound-builder tobacco was the greatest of luxuries; his solace in his hours of relaxations, and the choicest offering he could dedicate to the Great Spirit. Upon his pipe he lavished all the skill he possessed, in the lapidary's art.
"From the red stone of the quarryWith his hand he broke a fragmentMoulded it into a pipe headShaped and fashioned it with figures."
Many of these pipes are sculptured from the most obdurate stones and display great delicacy of workmanship. The features of animals are so truthfully cut that often there is no difficulty in their identification, and even the plumage of birds is delineated by curved or straight lines which show a close adherence to nature. The bowl and stem piece wrought from a single block, are as accurately drilled as they could be at this day, by the lapidary's art. Both the War pipe and Peace pipe are the most sacred and the most highly valued of all the various kinds.
Peace Pipe.
Peace Pipe.
"The calumet, or pipe of peace, ornamented with the war eagles quill, is a sacred pipe, and never used on any other occasion than that of peace making, when the chief brings it into treaty, and unfolding the many bandages which are carefully kept around it, has it ready to be mutually smoked by the chiefs, after the terms of the treaty are agreed upon, as the means of solemnizing it; which is done by passing the sacred stem to each chief, who draws one breath of smoke onlythrough it. Nothing can be more binding than smoking the pipe of peace and is considered by them to be an inviolable pledge. There is no custom more uniformly in constant use amongst the poor Indians than that of smoking nor any more highly valued. His pipe is his constant companion through life—his messenger of peace; he pledges his friends through its stem and its bowl, and when its care-drowning fumes cease to flow, it takes a place with him in his solitary grave with his tomahawk and war-club companions to his long-fancied 'happy hunting grounds.'"
From specimens of clay pipes found at the South from Virginia to Florida it would seem that the Indians had a great variety of pipes some of which were beautifully carved while others are perfectly plain. Many of them however are of rude workmanship and might have been fashioned by some of the tribe unacquainted with pipe-making.
Dall gives the following account of smoking among the natives of Alaska:
We broke camp about five o'clock in the morning. Nothing occurred to break the monotony of constant steady plodding. Two Indians in the bow of the boat would row until tired, and then we would stop for a few minutes to rest, and let them smoke. The last operation takes less than a minute; their pipes are so constructed as to hold but a very small pinch of tobacco. The bowl, with ears for tying it to the stem is generally cast out of lead. Sometimes it is made of soft stone, bone or even hard wood. The stem is made of two pieces of wood hollowed on one side, and bound to the bowl and each other by a narrow strip of deerskin. In smoking the economical Indian generally cuts up a little birch wood, or the inner bark of the poplar, and mixes it with his tobacco. A few reindeer hairs pulled from his paska, are rolled into a little ball, and placed in the bottom of the bowl to prevent the contents from being drawn into the stem. A pinch of tobacco cut as fine as snuff is inserted and two or three whiffs are afforded by it.
The smoke is inhaled into the lungs, producing a momentary stupor and the operation is over. A fungus which grows on decayed birch trees, or tinder manufactured from the down of the poplar rubbed up with charcoal is used with flint and steel for obtaining a light. Matches are highlyvalued and readily purchased. The effect of the Circassian tobacco on the lungs is extremely bad, and among those tribes who use it many die from asthma and congestion of the lungs. This is principally due to the saltpetre with which it is impregnated. The Indian pipe is copied from the Eskimo, as the latter were the first to obtain and use tobacco. Many of the tribes call it by the Eskimo name.
The Kutchin and Eastern Finneh were modeled after the clay pipes of the Hudson Bay Company, but they also carve very pretty ones out of birch knots and the root of the wild rose-bush. The Chukchees use a pipe similar to those of the Eskimo, but with a much larger and shorter stem. This stem is hollow, and is filled with fine birch shavings. After smoking for some months these shavings impregnated with the oil of tobacco, are taken out through an opening in the lower part of the stem and smoked over. The Hudson Baymen make passable pipe-stems by taking a straight-grained piece of willow or spruce without knots, and cutting through the outer layers of bark and wood. This stick is heated in the ashes and by twisting the end in contrary directions the heart-wood may be gradually drawn out, leaving a hollow tube.
The Kutchin make pretty pipe-stems out of goose-quills wound about with porcupine-quills. It is the custom in the English forts to make every Indian who comes to trade, a present of a clay pipe filled with tobacco. We were provided with cheap brown ones, with wooden stems, which were much liked by the natives, and it is probable that small brier-wood pipes, which are not liable to break, would form an acceptable addition to any stock of trading goods". The Tchuktchi of north-eastern Asia are devoted worshipers of tobacco, and is one of the chief articles of trade with them. Their pipes are large, much larger at the stem than the bowl. In smoking, they swallow the fumes of the tobacco which causes intoxication for a time. "The desire to procure a few of its narcotic leaves induces the American Esquimaux fromthe Ice Cape to Bristol Bay, to send their produce from hand to hand as far as the Guosden Islands in Behrings Straits, where it is bartered for the tobacco of the Tchuktchi, and there again principally resort to the fair of Ostrownoje to purchase tobacco from the Russians. Generally the Tchuktchi receive from the Americans as money skins for half a pond, or eighteen pounds of tobacco leaves as they afterwards sell to the Russians for two ponds of tobacco of the same quality.
A Tchuktchi Pipe.
A Tchuktchi Pipe.
The Russians also are great lovers of the weed. A writer says:—
"Everybody smokes, men, women, and children. They smoke Turkish tobacco, rolled in silk paper—seldom cigars or pipes. These rolls are called parporos. The ladies almost all smoke, but they smoke the small, delicate sizes of parporos, while the gentlemen smoke larger ones. Always at morning, noon and night, comes the inevitable box of parporos, and everybody at the table smokes and drinks their coffee at the same time. On the cars are fixed little cups for cigar ashes in every seat. Ladies frequently take out their part parporos, and hand them to the gentlemen with a pretty invitation to smoke. Instead of having a smoking car as we do, they have a car for those who are so 'pokey' as not to smoke."
Throughout the German States the custom of smoking is universal and tobacco enters largely into their list of expenditures. A writer says of smoking in Austria:—
"We have been rather surprised to find so few persons smoking pipes in Austria. Indeed, a pipe is seldom seen except among the laboring classes. The most favorite mode of using the weed here is in cigarettes, almost every gentleman being provided with a silver box, in which they have Turkish tobacco and small slips of paper, with mucilage on them ready for rolling. They make them as they use them, and are very expert in the handling of the tobacco. Thechewing of tobacco is universally repudiated, being regarded as the height of vulgarity. The Turkish tobacco is of fine flavor, and commands high prices. It is very much in appearance like the fine cut chewing tobacco so extensively used at home."
The cigars made by the Austrian Government, which are the only description to be had are very inferior, and it is not to be wondered that the cigarette is so generally used in preference.
The smoking of cigarettes by the ladies is quite common, especially among the higher classes. In no part of the world is smoking so common as in South America; here all classes and all ages use the weed. Smoking is encouraged in the family and the children are early taught the custom. A traveler who has observed this custom more particularly than any other, says of the use of tobacco in Peru:—
"Scarcely in any regions of the world is smoking so common as in Peru. The rich as well as the poor, the old man as well as the boy, the master as well as the servant, the lady as well as the negroes who wait on her, the young maiden as well as the mother—all smoke and never cease smoking, except when eating, or sleeping, or in church. Social distinctions are as numerous and as marked in Peru as anywhere else, and there is the most exclusive pride of color and of blood. But differences of color and of rank are wholly disregarded when a light for a cigar is requested, a favor which it is not considered a liberty to ask, and which it would be deemed a gross act of incivility to refuse. It is chiefly cigarritos which are smoked."The cigarrito, as is well known, is tobacco cut fine and dexterously wrapped in moist maize leaves, in paper, or in straw. Only the laborers on the plantations smoke small clay pipes. Dearer than the cigarritos are the cigars, which are not inferior to the best Havanna. Everywhere are met the cigarrito-twisters. Cleverly though they manipulate, cleanliness is not their besetting weakness. But in Peru, and in other parts of South America, cleanliness is not held in more esteem than in Portugal and Spain."
"Scarcely in any regions of the world is smoking so common as in Peru. The rich as well as the poor, the old man as well as the boy, the master as well as the servant, the lady as well as the negroes who wait on her, the young maiden as well as the mother—all smoke and never cease smoking, except when eating, or sleeping, or in church. Social distinctions are as numerous and as marked in Peru as anywhere else, and there is the most exclusive pride of color and of blood. But differences of color and of rank are wholly disregarded when a light for a cigar is requested, a favor which it is not considered a liberty to ask, and which it would be deemed a gross act of incivility to refuse. It is chiefly cigarritos which are smoked.
"The cigarrito, as is well known, is tobacco cut fine and dexterously wrapped in moist maize leaves, in paper, or in straw. Only the laborers on the plantations smoke small clay pipes. Dearer than the cigarritos are the cigars, which are not inferior to the best Havanna. Everywhere are met the cigarrito-twisters. Cleverly though they manipulate, cleanliness is not their besetting weakness. But in Peru, and in other parts of South America, cleanliness is not held in more esteem than in Portugal and Spain."
The Turks have long been noted as among the largest consumers of tobacco as well as using the most magnificent of smoking implements. The hookah is in all respects the most expensive and elaborate machine (for so it may be called)used for smoking tobacco. A traveler gives the following graphic description of smoking among them:
Turk Smoking.
Turk Smoking.
"As each man smokes only out of his own pipe, it is not surprising that this instrument is an indispensable accompaniment of every person of rank. Men of the higher classes keep two or three servants to attend to their pipes. While one looks after things at home, the other has to accompany his master in his walks and rides. The long stem is on such occasions packed in a finely embroidered cloth cover, while the bowl, tobacco, and other accessories are carried by the servant in a pouch at his side. A stranger in Constantinople will often regard with curiosity and surprise, a proud Osmanli on foot or horseback, followed by an attendant who, through the long, carefully-packed instrument which he carries, gives one the idea that he is a weapon-bearer of some heroic period following his lord to some dangerous rendezvous. So are the times altered. What the armor-bearer was for the warlike races of old, such is the tchbukdi for their degenerate descendants."To smoke from sixty to eighty pipes a day is by nomeans uncommon; for whatever be the business, no matter how serious, in which the Turk is engaged, he must smoke at it. In the divan, where the grandees of the empire consult together on the most delicate affairs of State, the question was once mooted whether the tchbukdes should not be excluded from such debates as were of a strictly private nature. There was a great diversity of opinion on the subject. Politics and reason were on opposite sides. At last it was decided that they would not disgrace an ancient national usage, but would allow the harmless attendants to enter the council-room every now and then to change the pipes. In Turkey, pipes and tobacco afford means of distinguishing not only the different classes of the community, but even the several graduates of rank in the same class. A mushir (marshal) would find it derogatory to his dignity to smoke out of a stem less than two yards in length. The artisan or official of a lower rank, would consider it highly unbecoming on his part to use one which exceeded the proper proportions of his class. A superior stretches his pipe before him to his inferior; while the latter must hold his modestly on one side, only allowing the end of the mouth-piece to peep out of his closed fist."The pasha has the right to puff out his smoke before him like a steam engine, while his inferiors are only allowed to breathe forth a light curl of smoke, and that must be let off backwards. Not to smoke at all in the presence of a superior, is held the most delicate homage which can be paid him. A son, for instance, acts in this manner in the presence of his father, and only such a one is considered to be well brought up who declines to smoke even after his father has repeatedly invited him to do so. The fair sex in the East is scarcely less addicted to the use of this weed."The girl of twelve years old smokes a cigarette of the thickness of pack-thread. When she has attained her fourteenth or fifteenth year, and is already marriageable, she is allowed to indulge her penchant at will, which is forbidden when younger. After this age the diameter of the cigarette increases year by year; and when a lady has reached the mature age of twenty-four, no one sees anything remarkable in her smoking a modest little chibouque as she sits on the lower divan of the harem. Elderly matrons—and in Turkey every lady is an elderly matron in her fortieth year—are passionately devoted to this enjoyment. The pipe-bowls and stems always remain of the size appropriated by etiquette tothe use of the harem; but the strongest and most pungent sorts of tobacco are not unseldom smoked, until the mouth, which, according to the assurance of the poet, in the bloom of its youth breathed forth ambergiris and musk, in its fortieth year acquires so strong a smell that the lady can be scented from a distance."Like their lords, the hanyrus of rank have also their tchbukdes, of course of their own sex, who accompany them when out walking or on a visit. In this case, however, the cover in which the pipe-stem is made, not of cloth, but of silk. The habit of refreshing oneself with a pipe on some elevated spot which commands a fine view, is common to both sexes. Men can indulge this taste whenever their fancy may suggest, but ladies only in retired spots; for, whenever a Turkish fair one removes the yas mak (veil) from her lips, as she does to smoke, all around her must be harem (sacred)."Sometimes an eunuch stands guard at a little distance off, and if a stranger of the male sex approaches, gives a signal; the pipe is held aside, while the mouth is kept covered by the veil, until the unexpected Acteon has passed by. But where the pipe plays the most important part is in the bath. It is well known that the Turkish ladies are accustomed to frequent the hommams assiduously, and to remain there for hours together. They enter the bath about eight o'clock in the morning; take their midday meal there, and return home between three and four in the afternoon. During these hours of leisure, the most agreeable in a Mohammedan woman's life, the pipe is their constant resource. In the middle of the warmest room is a round terrace-like elevation, called Gobek-tosh."Here are clustered old and young, the snow white daughters of Circassia and the coal-black beauties of Soudan, and beguile the hours with never ending gossip, while around them rise the dense fumes of their pipes. Now one of the elders of the party tells a story, now a learned lady holds a discourse on religion, or extols the beauty and virtue of 'Aisha Fatima.'"
"As each man smokes only out of his own pipe, it is not surprising that this instrument is an indispensable accompaniment of every person of rank. Men of the higher classes keep two or three servants to attend to their pipes. While one looks after things at home, the other has to accompany his master in his walks and rides. The long stem is on such occasions packed in a finely embroidered cloth cover, while the bowl, tobacco, and other accessories are carried by the servant in a pouch at his side. A stranger in Constantinople will often regard with curiosity and surprise, a proud Osmanli on foot or horseback, followed by an attendant who, through the long, carefully-packed instrument which he carries, gives one the idea that he is a weapon-bearer of some heroic period following his lord to some dangerous rendezvous. So are the times altered. What the armor-bearer was for the warlike races of old, such is the tchbukdi for their degenerate descendants.
"To smoke from sixty to eighty pipes a day is by nomeans uncommon; for whatever be the business, no matter how serious, in which the Turk is engaged, he must smoke at it. In the divan, where the grandees of the empire consult together on the most delicate affairs of State, the question was once mooted whether the tchbukdes should not be excluded from such debates as were of a strictly private nature. There was a great diversity of opinion on the subject. Politics and reason were on opposite sides. At last it was decided that they would not disgrace an ancient national usage, but would allow the harmless attendants to enter the council-room every now and then to change the pipes. In Turkey, pipes and tobacco afford means of distinguishing not only the different classes of the community, but even the several graduates of rank in the same class. A mushir (marshal) would find it derogatory to his dignity to smoke out of a stem less than two yards in length. The artisan or official of a lower rank, would consider it highly unbecoming on his part to use one which exceeded the proper proportions of his class. A superior stretches his pipe before him to his inferior; while the latter must hold his modestly on one side, only allowing the end of the mouth-piece to peep out of his closed fist.
"The pasha has the right to puff out his smoke before him like a steam engine, while his inferiors are only allowed to breathe forth a light curl of smoke, and that must be let off backwards. Not to smoke at all in the presence of a superior, is held the most delicate homage which can be paid him. A son, for instance, acts in this manner in the presence of his father, and only such a one is considered to be well brought up who declines to smoke even after his father has repeatedly invited him to do so. The fair sex in the East is scarcely less addicted to the use of this weed.
"The girl of twelve years old smokes a cigarette of the thickness of pack-thread. When she has attained her fourteenth or fifteenth year, and is already marriageable, she is allowed to indulge her penchant at will, which is forbidden when younger. After this age the diameter of the cigarette increases year by year; and when a lady has reached the mature age of twenty-four, no one sees anything remarkable in her smoking a modest little chibouque as she sits on the lower divan of the harem. Elderly matrons—and in Turkey every lady is an elderly matron in her fortieth year—are passionately devoted to this enjoyment. The pipe-bowls and stems always remain of the size appropriated by etiquette tothe use of the harem; but the strongest and most pungent sorts of tobacco are not unseldom smoked, until the mouth, which, according to the assurance of the poet, in the bloom of its youth breathed forth ambergiris and musk, in its fortieth year acquires so strong a smell that the lady can be scented from a distance.
"Like their lords, the hanyrus of rank have also their tchbukdes, of course of their own sex, who accompany them when out walking or on a visit. In this case, however, the cover in which the pipe-stem is made, not of cloth, but of silk. The habit of refreshing oneself with a pipe on some elevated spot which commands a fine view, is common to both sexes. Men can indulge this taste whenever their fancy may suggest, but ladies only in retired spots; for, whenever a Turkish fair one removes the yas mak (veil) from her lips, as she does to smoke, all around her must be harem (sacred).
"Sometimes an eunuch stands guard at a little distance off, and if a stranger of the male sex approaches, gives a signal; the pipe is held aside, while the mouth is kept covered by the veil, until the unexpected Acteon has passed by. But where the pipe plays the most important part is in the bath. It is well known that the Turkish ladies are accustomed to frequent the hommams assiduously, and to remain there for hours together. They enter the bath about eight o'clock in the morning; take their midday meal there, and return home between three and four in the afternoon. During these hours of leisure, the most agreeable in a Mohammedan woman's life, the pipe is their constant resource. In the middle of the warmest room is a round terrace-like elevation, called Gobek-tosh.
"Here are clustered old and young, the snow white daughters of Circassia and the coal-black beauties of Soudan, and beguile the hours with never ending gossip, while around them rise the dense fumes of their pipes. Now one of the elders of the party tells a story, now a learned lady holds a discourse on religion, or extols the beauty and virtue of 'Aisha Fatima.'"
The Fairy, or Dane's pipe is the most ancient form of the tobacco pipe used in Great Britain and of about the same size as the "Elfin pipes" of the Scottish peasantry. A great variety of pipes both in form and size have been found in the British Islands some of which are of ancient origin bearing dates prior to the Seventeenth Century. Some ofthese ancient pipes are formed of very fine clay and although they held but a small quantity of tobacco were doubtless considered to be fine specimens in their time.
The manufacture of pipes commenced soon after the custom of using tobacco had become fashionable and soon after the Virginians commenced its cultivation. Fairholt says: