AMERICAN ABOKIGINAL PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS. 383 



The writer is inclined to class this tube among the pipes, though he 

 does so with some doubt. It should not, however, be confounded with 

 those carefully polished implements having thin walls bored by means 

 of tubular drills to within one-half or one-fourth of an inch of the end, 

 which are flat, and have one-eighth-inch holes bored through them, and 

 which were probably intended to be used as horns, as they certainly 

 answer that purpose perfectly, giving as they do a strong, clear note. 

 The surfaces of these tubes are finished to a high polish and appear to 

 the writer to be due to the use of tools of civilized men. There is a 

 striking similarity in the mouthpiece of this tube and the specimen 

 figured from the ancient ruin of Sikyatki. 



Fig. 14 is '-a tube of copper collected by Prof. E. B. Andrews on Mr. 

 George Connett's land, on Wolf Plain, Ohio, which was found with 

 human remains. Professor Putnam describes it as being made of sheet 

 copper hammered 

 over wood, a little 

 Uole one-eighth of an 

 inch in diameter be- 

 ing cut or i)unched 

 to one side of the 

 center of the mouth- 

 piece. The tube, he 

 says, is 5i inches 

 long and three- 

 fourths of an inch 



in diameter in the circular part and 2 inches at the flattened end." 

 Professor Putnam calls attention to the possibility of this class of 

 implements being intended for pipes. Tubes found in the collection 

 of the U. S. National Museum intended as horns or pipes vary all the 

 way from 2 inches to 10 inches in length, with a diameter of from 

 one-half an inch to 2 inches. Usually they are made of stone, though 

 tubes of pottery are not unknown. The Indian was as a rule skillful 

 in selecting material for pipes, the larger proportion of which were 

 made from chlorite or steatite, though sandstone, quartzite, and other 

 minerals equally unsuited for x)ipe making are encountered at times. 

 The cross section of the tubular pipe varies between a flattened ellip- 

 soid and a circle. They are conoidal in their longer diameter, having 

 usually a large bowl gradually decreasing in size to the mouthpiece. 

 While it may reasonably be inferred that the original i^ipe was a reed, 

 or hollow bone, or a piece of wood split and scooped out, or possibly a 

 horn, there is no doubt that everything capable of holding tobacco has 

 at one time or another been used by American Indians for smoking, 

 instances being known where birch bark, lobster claws, and, most 

 inappropriate of all, stone coal has served for pipe making. 



Fig. 15 IS a pipe made from the metatarsal bone of a deer, than which 

 it were difficult to imagine a more primitive production. It has a length 

 of 7 inches. One end of the bone has been hammered ofl', while the 



Fig. 14. 

 COPPER TUBE. 

 Mound Wolfe Plaiu, Ohio. 



i.i, Peabodv Museum. CoUeite.l bv E. H. .An.lrews. 



