AMERICAN ABORIGINAL PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS. 543 



Fig. 166. 



GREAT PIPE. 



KeDtucky. 



Cast, Cat. No. 21-291, U.S.N. M. Collected by H. A. Ward. 



stein does not enter at the back of the object. There is in the U. S. 

 National Museum a cast of a somewhat similar pipe from Mississippi, 

 and yet another in the Douglass collection. 



One of the most elaborately ornate pipes known (fig. 1G7) is from 

 Lexington, Kentncky, 

 collected by Mr. J. 

 Peter, which is 10 

 inches in its greatest 

 length, 9 inches high, 

 and 2.^ inches wide, the 

 bowl being 1^ inches in 

 diameter, while that of 

 the stem, which is un- 

 der the bird's tail, has 

 a diameter of only 

 three- fourths of an 

 inch. The bowl and 

 stem are at right 

 angles to each other, 

 having been bored by 

 means of solid drill points. This pipe represents a bird sitting in an 

 erect position, with its eyes, wings, and tail feathers conventionally 

 carved into the green steatite of which the pipe is made. Reverse 



this, however, with the 

 bowl upon a flat sur- 

 face and the bird on its 

 back, and the specimen 

 becomes a rude but 

 very distinct carving 

 of a human head and 

 neck, and, though the 

 ornamentation of this 

 specimen is rudely con- 

 ventional, it so dis- 

 tinctly represents a 

 white man's conception 

 of the treatment as to 

 almost preclude other 

 hypothesis. This be- 

 lief is strengthened by 

 a coin or medal of silver 

 struck off during the 

 Commonwealth, which, when held erect, represented the head of Crom- 

 well, and being turned upside down, showed a caricature of someone 

 else of the period. While the Commonwealth would suggest a date 

 about 1649-1G59, the pipe might be of any period thereafter. ISTot- 



Fifr. 167. 



GREAT PIPE REPRESENTING MAN AND BIRD. 



Lexington, Kentucky. 



Cat. Xo. 1668T, U.S.N.M. Collected by J. Peter. 



