386 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



inches long, with a diameter of 1^ inches at the mouth of the bowl, 

 which is circular in cross section, though ellii)tical at the middle, where 

 the greatest diameter is 1^ inches. The bowl and stem are, however, 

 not in the same plane, owing to having been drilled from opposite ends, 

 the perforations being intended to intersect about the middle, at which 

 point, as indicated in the figure, the wall has been perforated. Both 

 bowl and stem ojieniugs have been enlarged subsequent to drilling by 

 gouging. Into the stem a hollow bird bone, 1.^ inches long, fastened by 

 means of bitumen, served as a mouthpiece. The perforation of the wall 

 wouhl indicate that this was an unfinished article were it not for the 

 mouthpiece, which indicates that this hole in some way was artificially 

 closed, probably with the same bitumen with which the mouthpieces 

 were held in place. The lower hole is perforated from side to side, and 

 one would be inclined to suppose it was intended for the attachment of 

 a string so commonly observed in certain types were it not that this 

 appears to be a unique specimen among pipes of the type which belongs 



to those having a 

 straight hole from 

 end to end. This 

 lateral hole is a 

 natural cavity in 

 the stone, the edges 

 of which have been 

 smoothed in grind- 

 ing the surface. Its 

 discovery in the 

 blocking out of the 

 pipe, which was al- 

 ways done before boring the holes, has led to the curve in the specimen 

 being made in order to preserve the cavity, which was evidently 

 retained because of some superstition in connection with it, probably 

 attaching unusual properties to the pipe itself. The California pipes are 

 almost invariably elongated cones similar to the j)ipefrom Georgia (fig. 

 17) and range in length from 3 to 10 inches. They were ordinarily made 

 of serpentine, though specimens of talcose slate and steatite were found 

 at La Patera and at Dos Pueblos.' The tobacco pipes of the natives 

 of San Gabriel Mission, California, are said to have been made of reeds,^ 

 from which their conical stone pipes would be a natural development. 



Yenegas (about 1758), referring to stone tubes being employed by the 

 medicine men of California, says: "One mode was very remarkable, 

 and the good effect it sometimes produced heightened tlie reputation of 

 the physician. They applied to the suffering part of the patient's body 

 the chacuaco" (presumably the conventional tube) "or a tube formed out 

 of a very hard black stone. Through this they sometimes sucked and 



Fig. 18. 



STONE TUBE WITH BONK MOUTHPIECE. 



Santa Barbara, California. 



Cat. No. '20218, U.S.N.M. Collected by S. Bowers. 



' Report upon the U. 8. Geographical Surveys west of 100th Meridian, VII, Archfe- 

 ology, p. 126. 

 * Edward T. Stevens, Flint CUiips, p. 52.5, i[uotiiig California Farmer, May 11, 1860. 



