AMERICAN ABORIGINAL PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS. 567 



Lewis and Clarke, iu 1804, iu tlieir expedition up the IMissouii after 

 the acquisitiou of Louisiaua, record a peculiar custom among- the Sho- 

 shones, who take ofl' their moccasins before smoking with strangers.^ 

 These oflicers were the first ones who presented the fiag as an emblem 

 of peace to this tribe.' The leaders of this expedition in their journey 

 up the IMissouri smoked the pipe of peace with the Tetons (Sioux), and 

 in describing the pipe raised on forked sticks, say: "The down of 

 swan Avas scattered under it. They first pointed the pipe toward 

 heaven aiul then to the four quarters of the globe, then to the earth, 

 made a short speech, lighted the pipe, and presented it to us."^ They 

 feasted with the Indians and describe their meals, which were scant at 

 times, though dog api^ears to have been a popular and common dish 

 during a great jjart of the journey. 



Sir John Franklin, on a journey to the Polar Sea in 1820, refers to 

 the Cree customs being similar to those recounted of them by Lewis 

 and Clarke, though he says the bearberry was mixed with tobacco; 

 the one smoking passing the pipe to his left-hand neighbor, and when it 

 reached Franklin and his interpreter who were seated at the door, they 

 were requested to keep the head of the calumet within the threshold.^ 



John I). Hunter, who lived numy years as a prisoner among the 

 Kickapoo who had captured him, and who subsequently lived with the 

 Kansas and the Osages, refers to the men often amusing themselves 

 by "making bowls and pipes of clay for their individual use, which are 

 burned."^ "The eldest person always enters a council lodge first, and 

 is followed by the other counselors much according to seniority in the 

 most perfect order. They then seat themselves cross-legged on mats, 

 which are arranged circularly around the lodge for the purpose. The 

 chief then lights tiie national pipe, takes three whiSs, passes it after 

 smoking to the next greatest person present, and then it is passed 

 around in the midst of the most perfect silence.'"^ If embassies 

 arrive they are given the most honorable position in the lodge, and 

 after the ceremony of smoking they unfold their mission." 



The Eev. J. Owen Dorsey records an act of worshii) among the Sioux 

 which, he says, is of daily occurrence when one is about to smoke his 

 pipe. "He looks to the sky and says 'Wakanta, here is tobacco,' 

 Then he putts a mouthful of smoke up to the sky, after which he smokes 

 as he pleases." They also make ofterings of tobacco by throwing a 

 small (quantity in the fire." Mr. Dorsey refers to the Shoshoni chief 

 with whom Cai)tain Lewis smoked, lighting his pipe of transi)arent 



' Expeditiou to the Rocky Mouutaius, I, p. 364, Philadelphia, 1814. 



- Id.-m, p. 365. - Idem, p. 84. 



^John Franklin, Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea in the 

 years 1820, 1821, 1822, p. 68, Philadelphia, 1824. 



'Manners and Customs of Several Indian Tribes located west of the Mississippi, 

 p. 98, Philadelphia, 1823. 



« Idem, p. 320. " Idem, p. 326. 



*A Study of Siouan Cults, Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 

 1894, p. 425. 



