512 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



tlnougli a period of years. In this publicatiou there are illustrations 

 of the objects discovered, and nothing is more striking than the i^ipes. 

 These are quite numerous, and represent not only man, but many of 

 the mammals, birds, and even reptiles, and, indeed, many of them are 

 executed with skill and striking artistic eflect, though there may be 

 room for doubt whether the figures represent as many diflerent species 

 as some have believed. In intricacy of design, in artistic concept, in 

 skill of execution, in truthfulness to nature, it must be admitted that 

 the work of the modern Indian on his pipe, when compared with that 

 of the mound-builder, would demonstrate that the historic Indian was 

 the eijual of the supposed earlier race. There is no doubt whatever 

 that pipe-carving constitutes the best examj)le of aboriginal art, though 

 how far it was influenced by the whites is a question subject to difler- 

 ence of opinion. In view of the fact, which is sustained by all writers, 

 colonial and modern, that to the whole Indian race the pipe was an 

 object used in religious functions, for medicinal puri)oses, in tribal 

 treaties, as well as upon all social occasions, it is natural to see artistic 

 influences developed in the pipe; this is more esi)ccially to be expected 

 when we know that the totem of clan or tribe ranked as high as any- 

 thing could in the Indian imagination. Yet it is quite another and 

 more doubtful proposition to attribute to the Indian the amount of 

 artistic skill evidenced in the forms of the mound pipes. These pipes 

 are composed of stones, the stem holes being extremely small and per- 

 fectly straight, and leave but little doubt that the x)ipes were smoked 

 without a stem other than that comprised in the stone itself. It will 

 be appreciated how numerous the totems of a tribe were when we com- 

 pare the known clans among pueblo tribes with the figures represented 

 npon the mound pipes, which were probably totemic. The animal 

 kingdom represented among the totems of these people includes the 

 ant, antelope, badger, bear, bluebird, bufl'alo, chaparal-cock, coyote, 

 crane, crow, deer, dove, duck, eagle, frog, goose, gopher, hawk, hum- 

 ming bird, lizard, martin, mole, mountain lion, parrot, snake, swallow, 

 turkey, and wolf, not to mention the many totems representing inani- 

 mate objects, such as arrows, axes, calabash, coral, corn, cottonwood, 

 earth, feather, flower, grass, ivy oak, piiion, shell, stone, tobacco, and 

 water willow.' 



The largest number of mound pipes ever discovered were found in a 

 mound near Chillicothe, Ohio, by Squier and Davis, designated by them 

 as Mound No. 8, where about two hundred were brought to light. This 

 mound is small in size, and exhibits in its structure nothing remarkable. 



"The bowls of most of the pipes are carved in miniature figures of 

 animals, birds, reptiles, etc. All of them are executed with strict fidel- 

 ity to nature and with exquisite skill. The otter is shown in charac- 

 teristic attitude, holding a fish in his mouth; the heron also holds a 

 fish, the hawk grasps a small bird in its talons, which it tears with its 



' F. W. Hodge, Pueblo Clan Names, American Anthropologist, October, 1896, p. 345. 



