ANCIENT ABORIGINAL TRADE IN NORTH AMERICA. 391 



out exceptiou, to the Nortli American fauna ; and there is, moreover, 

 the greatest probability that the sculptures in question were made in or 

 near the present State of Ohio, where, in corroboration of the last sup- 

 position, a few unfinished specimens have occurred among the complete 

 articles. The discovery of the manati-figures, however, is in so far of 

 interest as it indicates a communication between the ancient inhabitants 

 of Ohio and those of the Floridian coast-region. 



It was formerly believed most of these pipes were composed of a kind 

 of porphyry; but since their transfer to the Blackmore Museum, they 

 were carefully examined and partly analysed by Professor A. H. Church, 

 who found them to consist of softer materials.* Nevertheless, they 

 constitute the most remarkable class of Indian products of art thus far 

 discovered, for some of them are so skilfully executed that a modern 

 artist, notwithstanding his far superior instruments, would find no little 

 difliiculty in reproducing them. The manufacture of stone pipes, neces- 

 sarily a painful and tedious labor, therefore may have formed a branch 

 of aboriginal industry, and the skilful pipe-carver probably occupied 

 among the former Indians a rank equal to that of the experienced 

 sculptor in our time. Even among modern Indians pipe-makers some- 

 times have been met. Thus, Dr. Wilson mentions an old Ojibway In- 

 dian, whose name is Fabahmesad, or the " Flier," but who, from his 

 skill in making pipes, is more commonly known as Pwahr/uncl-a — " he 

 makes pipes."t Kohl, also, speaks of an Ojibway pipe-maker whom he 

 met on Lake Superior. "There are persons among them," he says, 

 " who possess particular skill in the carving of pipes, and make it their 

 l^rofession, or at least the means of gaining in part their livelihood. I 

 made the acquaintance of such afaiseur de calumet, and visited him 

 occasionally. He inlaid his pipes very tastefully with figures of stars 

 and flowers of black and white stones. But his work proceeded very 

 slowly, and he sold his pipes at high prices, from four to five dollars 

 apiece. Yet the Indians sometimes pay much higher prices." | 



In addition to the articles thus far enumerated, others may have been 

 manufactured more or less extensively by way of trade ; but, in default 

 of corroborating data, we must rest satisfied with the supposition that 

 such was the case. European archreologists, in estimating the condi- 

 tions of prehistoric races of the Old World, have derived much aid from 

 inquiries into the modes of life among still-existing primitive popula- 

 tions of foreign i^arts. The same system may be applied in antiquarian 

 researches relative to North America, where the customs and manners 

 of the yet lingering aboriginal population can be brought into requisi- 

 tion for elucidating the past. Thus, some statements made by Mr. 

 James G. Swan, in a recent work on the Makah Indians of Cape Flat- 

 tery, (published by the Smithsonian Institute,) are of great interest in 



* Clinrch, in "Flint Chips," p. 414. 



t Wilson, Prehistoric Man, Loud., 18G2, Vol. II, p. 15. 



t Kohl, Kitschi-Gami, Vol. II, p. 82. 



