AMERICAN ABORIGINAL PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS. 587 



smoke in the same manner that we do, but some of the tribes use the 

 same pipes as tlie Eskimo and swallow the smoke. This kind of a 

 pipe has a wooden stem 12 inches long- slightly curved upward; the 

 bowl is well represented by half of a reel for winding sewing cotton 

 ui)on, and the hole in the pipe is about the same as that in the spool." 



Fig. 188. 



ESKIMO PIPE. 

 After Gporge Gilibs. Sniithsimian Report, ISISR, p. S9J. 



The pipe is of the shape shown in fig. 188. " The bowl is made of metal. 

 They do not smoke i)iire tobacco in it, but mix it with the scrapings of 

 willow." ' 



The curves of i)ipes of this type vary greatly, depending in a great 

 measure upon the locality where found, the bowls at times being of 

 stone and the sizes of the stems increase as the Siberian coast is ap- 

 proached. Exami)les in the U. S. iSTational Museum may be seen with 

 less curve than has the one here ilUistrated, or with even more curve 

 than fig. 189, which is an Eskimo pipe collected at Nome Island, 

 Alaska, by I'rof. I. C. Eussell, It is of wood, its length being 7h inches, 

 or sitting up, about 7 inches, and, as with all pipes of extreme North- 

 western America, the 

 stems are so con- 

 structed as best to 

 allow the owner to col- 

 lect the nicotine or 

 juices of the j)lant 

 smoked. This i»ipe, 

 while not so heavy and 

 thick in the stem as 

 many from the Russian 

 possessions, resembles 

 the latter greatly and 

 is presumably copied 

 from the Russian tyjie. 

 The bottom olitlie stem has a small opening like a trapdoor, which can 

 be closed at ])leasure while in general use. The stem is loosely packed 

 with some absorbent. This in turn is taken out by opening the plate 

 or trapdoor and either smoked or eaten, a practice customary with the 

 Eskimo. These stems are made of wood scraped to a thickness of from 



Fig. 189. 



RUSSIAN TYPE OF E.SKIMO PIPE. 



Nome Island, Alaska. 



C.it. No. l.';3437, U.S.N.M. Coll.-it.Ml by I. C. Russell. 



1 Smithsonian Report, 1866, p. 324. 



