AMERICAN ABORIGINAL PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS. 625 



was a bifurt-ated implement tbr()Ui;h which smoke was takeu by the 

 nostrils, an implement probably used ofteuer in the nature of a snuf- 

 fing tube. One of the chief objects of smoking by the natives through- 

 out the ( 'Ontinent was to produce an intoxication, ecstasy, or delirium 

 to the smoker. The names by which tobacco is known in all modern 

 languages appears to be derived either from the American name, 

 "tobacco,'' or from what appears to be a French or Brazilian name of 

 the i^lant, "petun.'' 



The profits in Maryland and \^irginia on the growth of tobacco were 

 so great during the early period of the English settlements in those 

 colonies as to cause it to be grown to the exclusion of necessary vege- 

 tables, the natural result of which on more than one occasion brought 

 about famine and consequent suffering. 



Tlie Spanish were the first to use tobacco, then the French, though 

 np to the time of Ealeigh's expedition it does not seem to have become 

 a popular weed. After the return to England of the latter expedition, 

 Thomas Hariot, who was a noted botanist and had been sent to America 

 by Kaleigh in 1585. reported tobacco as being a plant which preserved 

 the bodies of the natives in health, and that they were not acquainted 

 with many diseases with which the English were afflicted; certainly a 

 powerful argument in favor of the nse of a drng at a period when 

 Europe was constantly being visited with Asiatic cholera, a pestilence 

 greatly and deservedly dreaded owing to its ravages. 



The nse and abuse of tobacco became of such enormous proportions 

 that both church and state felt called njion to curtail its use and culti- 

 vation by every means in their power from fear, ai)i«ireutly, that the 

 injurious effects of the use of the plant might effect not only the bodies 

 of the citizens but the revenues of the state as well. To the fathers 

 of the church the use of tobacco appeared to savor of idolatry and its 

 suppression was suggested. King James I wrote his famous "coun- 

 terblaste to tobacco ;" restrictive laws were passed concerning its use; 

 enormous taxes were imposed upon its importation. Popes Urban VIII 

 and Innocent IX issued decrees against its use and Sultan Amuret IV 

 declared smoking a crime punishable with death. Beyond enhancing 

 its value, no effect appears to have been had beyond increasing its 

 use. 



In time the value of tobacco was equal, weight for weight, with silver, 

 -and the size of the pipe diminished accordingly in Europe, and its effect 

 was apparently felt in America as well. 



The mixtures of other plants by the Indians with tobacco has been 

 designated kinnikineck, though this term does not appear to be con- 

 fined to any specific mixture; the word, however, is commonly employed 

 by the Indians of a large portion of the Continent, and by whites as 

 well. 



Pipes, in which tobacco and other herbs have been smoked, are found 

 scattered practically over the whole continent of iNlorth America, the 

 NAT MUS 1)7 40 



