Pipes and smoking customs of the American aborigines, based on material in the U.S. National Museum / by Joseph D. McGuire.

  • McGuire, Joseph D. (Joseph Deakins), 1842-1916.
Date:
[1899]
    Fig. 49. STONE UUN-SHAPED BOWL. Cumberland County, Tennessee. Cat. No. 20129, U.S.N.M. Col- leeteil by Lorenzo A. Stratton. shape to many of the earthenware pots of the natives. Pipes of this type vary both in size and exterior form, probably as much as do those of any type found on the continent. Some appear to have been made from natural water-washed peb- bles from the streams, and are without any evidence of artificial finish other than that of bowl and stem holes at right angles to each other; others are elab- orate imitations of nearly the shape of Greek vases, having at times elaborate figures carved upon their surfaces. The stem holes are usually simple per- forations made to intersect the wall of the bowl at its base, though at times upon the surface of the bowl the stem hole is in a slight shoulder project- ing from the bowl as though for ornament, but it may well be intended to furnish a better socket for a stem, these being probably much more recent pro- ductions than those of simpler form. Fig. 50, from Bloomfield, New York, collected by Col. E. Jewett, is made from serpentine, and is 24 inches long; in outline it is similar to the elongated tubular pipes so widely distributed throughout the United States. In this instance, however, the stem is at right angles to the bow], the exterior surface is smoothed almost to a polish, though the interior shows the process of enlargement by gouging, so com- monly noticed in tubular pipes. At the base of this bowl there is a diagonally bored hole, which perfo- rated the specimen, coming out at the end of the cone. This hole is intended evidently for the attachment of a string, as is the case with so many of the pipes found in countries where deep snows lie. The edges of the bowl and also of the base of this couoidal specimen are notched, the bowl with twenty, and the base with eight incisions. A knife blade, however, fits exactly from one notch across to another, both at top and bot- tom, which would indicate that they were intended rather as ornamentation than as scores, such as were at times kept upon the handles of tomahawks and pipe stems. There are upon the surface of this pipe some finely scratched lines, which, owing to erosion or weathering, are so nearly obliterated as to prevent tracing them with exactness, though they appear orig- inally to have been pictographic. There is a pipe of this type in the Smithsonian collection upon which the only visible work of human hands consists of a small hole bored through the shell of a hollow concretion. It has, how- ever, in all probability been employed as a pipe, as it is badly cracked from heat. Fig. 50. STONE BOWL WITH THONG HOLE. Bloomfield, New York. Cat.No.6198, U.S.N.M. Col- looted by K. Jewett.
    A similar concretion (Cat. No. 130978, U.S.N.M.) was found in a mound in Mason County, West Virginia, by Mr. R. W. Mercer, which is 4 inches high with a width of 2£ inches, yellow in color, the stem being a hole one-eightli of an inch in diameter, broken through the shell midway of the natural bowl cavity. As demonstrating that this type of pipe was used quite recently, reference may be made to a specimen which was found in Hakleman’s shell heap, near Bainbridge, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in Con roy Township, on the Susquehanna River, close to two trade pipes of English make. Rev. W. M. Beauchamp refers to a bowl pipe from Madison County, New York, having two stem holes, and Prof. G. 11. Perkins illustrates another from near Swanton, Vermont.1 Schoolcraft illustrates one of these bowl pipes, which is said to come from an ancient aboriginal grave in Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie, upon which a lizard has been carved in relief, with legs spread out to assist in climbing the bowl, above which the head extends on the far side from the stem, facing the smoker, the tail being continued under the bowl. The whole is skillfully executed.2 A pipe in every way answering the description of the one referred to by Schoolcraft, and probably identical with it, is in the collection of Mr. A. E. Douglass, of New York. A large specimen of what appears to be intended for a pipe of this type (fig. 51) is composed of quite a hard, imperfectly crystallized quartzite. It was found in Franklin County, Indiana, and was col- lected by Dr. R. Haymond. It is inches long, with a greatest diameter of 2i inches. There is upon the lower part of this barrel- shaped object an incipient stem. The exterior surface is completed and ground evenly, though not finely, except at the top and bottom of the bowl, which yet remains rough, as left by the hammer marks. On top of ihe bowl there is a slight depression begun by pecking, as though intended for the reception of the drill point. Though unfinished, this specimen is of more than passing interest, showing as it does the process of manufacture of objects of hard stone. Fig. 52 is a light green serpentine bowl from Accotink, Virginia, col- lected by Mr. «J. I). Lucas, it is 3A inches high, with a greatest diam- eter of 1^ inches, of cylindrical cross section. The bowl is 2 inches deep and five-eighths of an inch in diameter at the surface, having been drilled with a solid point and not subsequently enlarged, as is the 'The Calumet iu the Champlain Valley, The Popular Science Monthly, December, 1893, p.240. 'North American Indian Tribes, Pt. 4, p. 111. Franklin County, In- diana. Cat. No. 11934, U.S.N.M. Col- leeted by R. Haymond.
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    Fig. 53. RECTANGULAR STONE PIPE. Sterling, Connecticut. Cat. No. 17949, U.S.N.M. Collected by J.H. Clark. bowl pipe is found in Iroquoian territory on tbe north, through the Algonquin on the south, into the southern Iroquoians. It should be remembered that this area corresponds, reasonably, with the territory influenced by French trade before the advent of the English. The territory also is in the line of travel from the St. Lawrence to the Ohio. The writer is un- able to determine how far the urn type of pipe has been governed by European influences. Its contour is similar to that of pottery bowls from Tennessee, specimens of which are in the U. S. National Museum collection. Fig. 53 is a rectangular steatite bowl from Sterling, Connecticut, collected by Mr. J. H. Clark. It is 2^ inches high, 1£ inches long from front to back, though only five-eighths of an inch from side to side. The incised three- sided groove shown in the figure is on both sides, and there can be no doubt was intended for the purpose of inlaying with metal or shell, probably the former. The markings radiating from the groove only appear on one side of the bowl. There is a hole bored through the base of this specimen from side to side, evidently intended to receive a string which would be attached to the stem. It appears to the writer that pipes with holes for attaching bowl and stem, or for whatever purpose the hole was intended, are much more common in the North than in the South, which may be because of the greater liability to loss in the snow than in the grass or among leaves. A pipe, however, some- what similar in general characteristics to this, in the collection of the University of Pennsyl- vania, is said to have come from North Carolina, though in place of the hole for the string there is a small knob on its base, as though intended for a similar purpose. Fiii'. 54, from Middleboro, Massachusetts, col- lected by Mr. S. H. Sylvester, is made of a steel- gray serpentine, and is apparently not alone intended to show the lizard crawling over the convex side of the bowl, but an incision on each side of the lower point would indicate an inten- tion to convey the idea of some animal’s head and mouth as well. The sharp edges of the lizard s body, legs, and head indicate the use of a metal tool in cutting the stone. Though the design is apparently of that character which is common among Indian pipes, the shape of the bowl cavity is quite unusual, being square, an uncommon circumstance, though elliptical openings are not rare. Fig. 54. ANIMAL PIPE. Middleboro, Massachusetts. Cat. No. 6552.U.S.N.M. Colleute*! by S. H. Sylvester.
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