466 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



tlie stem; and near tlie center where the stem or handle pierces the 

 head another point projects forward a considerable length, which serves 

 to thrust with, like a spear or pike pole. The tomahawk is likewise 

 ornamented with feathers and paintings disposed and variegated in 

 many forms, according to the o(;casion and end for which it is used, and 

 on it they keep journals of their marches and most important and noted 

 occurrences in a kind of hieroglyphs."' 



The description of Kogers would therefore indicate that the tonui- 

 hawk pipe was not in general use ten years prior to the Revolution but 

 about contemporaneous with the war of the Revo- 

 lution. 



Fig. 86, from Minniwaukan or Devils Lake, Dakota, 

 collected by Maj. Paul Beckwith, United States Indian 

 Agent, presents the tomahawk pipe with the spear- 

 shaped blade. The ornamentation of this blade is quite 

 gracefully arranged by incisions in the metal in conven- 

 tional star and crescent-like figures and notches on the 

 upper angles of the spear and around the edges of the 

 eye. The bowl, while longer, is less ornamental than 

 that of the preceding figure. This type is commonly 

 attributed to the French, but with little apparent au- 

 thority, though the presumption may well be correct, 

 for we know that pipes, from their shape and ornamen- 

 tation, were attributable to their proper tribe, and it is 

 most natural that English and French should have 

 armed their allies in such a manner as to render them 

 easily distinguishable from their enemies. Had the 

 tomahawk pipe been employed in Rogers's time he 

 would scarcely have failed to notice-it, one would think, 

 though. Col. A. Lane Fox, quoted by Stevens, says, that 

 "during the American war the English were compelled 

 to make iron tomahawks after the native pattern with 

 a pipe bowl opposite the blade of the weapon, before 

 the Indians could be efficiently armed as allies."^ This would probably 

 identify sufficiently the time when these weapons came into general use 

 as about the beginning of the Revolution. They have been referred 

 to as instruments "resembling a little axe with which the Indians crush 

 the heads of their enemies, which they smoke, and on the handle of which 

 they keep a register of their victories." ^ 



Closely allied to the last specimen is one (fig. 87) collected among the 

 Kiowa by Mr. James Mooney. Though the head is only 6f inches long, 



Fig. 87. 

 FRENCH TYPE OF TOM- 

 AHAWK PIPE. 



Kiowa Indians. 



Cat. No. 153013, U.S.N. M. 

 Collected bv James Mooney. 



'Robert Rogers, A Concise Account of North America, p. 226, London, 1722. 



2 Edward T. Stevens, Flint Chips, p. 526, London, 1870, ciuoting Col. A. Lane Fox. 

 Primitive Warfare, Journal of the Royal United Service Institute, XI, p. 617. 



•'John Filson, Ilistoirc do K<ntiicke, nonvelle Colonic a rOiiogt de h\ Yirginie, p. 97, 

 note, Paris, 1785, translated from English by M. I'arrand- 



J 



