574 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



of tlie romance of the Indian is eouuected with this pipe stone, sup- 

 posed to have been presented to him by the Manito, and to have also 

 sacred, vahiable, and mysterious properties, its significance of peace 

 or war all being themes fruitful of praise of this handsome stone, which 

 certainly answers admirably for pipe material; though it is highly 

 probable that this i)eculiar significance of the red and white color 

 standing for peace or war was a modern attribute attached to the pipe 

 because of the colors of the French and English fiags. Longfellow, 

 in the song of Hiawatha, draws a pretty picture of the quarry, of the 

 pi[)e, its stem, and the material smoked: 



On the Mountains of the Prairie, 

 On the yreat Red Pipe-stone; Quarry, 

 Gitche Manito, the mighty, 



From the red stone of the quarry 

 With his hand ho Ijroke a fragment, 

 Moulded it into a pipe-head. 

 Shaped and fashioned it with tigiires* 

 From the margin of the river 

 Took a long reed for a pijie-stem. 

 With its dark green leaves upon it; 

 Filled the pipe with bark of willow. 

 With the bark of the red willow ; 



# * * # * 



Break the red stone from this quarry, 

 Mould and make it into Peace-Pipes, 

 Take the reeds that grow beside you. 

 Deck them with your brightest feathers, 

 Smoke the Calumet together. 

 And as Itrothers live henceforward ! 



The process of making pipes by the Sioux is thus described by Mr. 

 Charles H. Bennett, of Pipestone City, Minnesota, as quoted by Dr. E, 

 A. Barber: "A piece of the rock is selected from the best portion of 

 the vein, and the Indian sculptor, with an old piece of lioop iron, or a 

 broken knife blade which he has picked up, fashions the block rougldy 

 into the desired form. Tben slowly and tediously, with the same tools, 

 he bores out the bowl and the hole in the stem before carving the 

 exterior, so that if in the process of boring the stem should be split no 

 labor would be lost. After this is accomi)lished he shapes the surface 

 into any design which he may have in view. This work often occu- 

 pies weeks before it is completed, after which the carving is polished 

 by rubbing it with grease or oils in the palms of the hands."' 



Dr. Barber refers to catlinite being found at several places in Dakota, 

 Minnesota, and Wisconsin.'^ 



Catlin supposed the red steatite or pipe stone to be all traceable to 



' E. A. Barber, Catlinite, American Naturalist, July, 1883, p. 750. 

 2 Idem, p. 763. 



