AMERICAN ABORIGINAL PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS. 401 



aryued that tlie Datives possesseil superior capacity in manufacturiug 

 tbeiii '? The characteristics of the etclied totemic figures are not iu 

 accord with the pipe carvings. The one shows gross ignorance of out- 

 line, the other tlie skill of an artist, Bartrani refers to "the skin of a 

 wild-cat or young tiger laid at the king's feet with the great or royal 

 pipe, beautifully adorned. The skin," he says, "is usually of the animals 

 of the king's family or tribe, as the wild cat, otter, or bear, rattlesnake, 

 etc."i 



The last pipe referred to is related to a well-defined tyi)e of rectangu- 

 lar pipes, which, except that they are found too far to the south, would 

 well answer to a des(;ription of the pipes to which John Smith referred 

 as being "three quarters of a yard long, prettily carved with a bird, a 

 bear, a deer, or some such device at the great end," and " sufficient 

 to beat out the brains of a man."'^ Strachey refers to them as being 

 sufficient to beat out the "braynes of a horse." ^ Baguall, Powell, and 

 Todkill increase the length of this pipe to 3 feet.'* 



EARLY REFERENCES TO THE USE OF TOBACCO. 



Prescott says, " Tobacco was among the products of Peru, yet the 

 Peruvians differed from every other nation to whom it was known, by 

 using it only for medicinal purposes in the fn-ni of snuff'." "^ 



The Inca Garcillasco de la Yega does not appear to refer to smoking, 

 but only to the using of snuff". ^ 



"Tabaco," according to Oviedo, "was a certain instrument of wood 

 or cane made in the manner of the Greek r,of which the Indians accom- 

 modate the two upper canes to the openings of the nose for the inhal- 

 ing of the smoke of a plant which they call Cohiba or Cojiba," which is 

 also called to-day by the name of that instrument." 



He, like others, says their " fumigation " was for the purpose of get- 

 ting intoxicated. 



Dr. A. Ernst concludes, after a most careful consideration of the 

 text, that Oviedo never saw an Indian using the little implement he 

 describes, and shows that "taboca" is the correct name for an imple- 

 ment which is still used by several tribes in South America. It is 

 made of one of the long bones of the tapir, through which the Muras 

 and Mauhos of the Amazon reciprocally blow into each other's nos- 

 trils the parica. Another exj)lanatiou agrees with Las Casas; that 



1 William Bartram, Travels througli North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and 

 West Florida. Dublin, 1793. 



-Captain .John Smith in Virginia, p. 54, in Arber's edition of Smith's Works. 



'William Strachey, Historie of Travaillo into Virginia, 1()12, j). 40 (Hakluyt 

 Society). 



•*W. Siumionds, The Discoveries and Accidents with the First Suiii)ly iu Virginia, 

 1612-1624, iu Arber's edition of Smith's Works. 



'^History of Couquest of Peru, I, p. 140, Philadelphia, 1860. 



"The Royal Commentaries of Peru, p. 120, Loudon, 161H. 



'Oviedo, Historie General e Natural de las Indias, I, ]»]ate i, fig. 7, Madriii, 1855, 

 from Salamanca edtion of 1535-1547. 

 NAT MUS 1)7 26 



