82 . SIE DANIEL WILSON 



glowing tobacco presents a singular appearance in a dark lodge. Another favourite stone 

 is a coarse species of jasper, also too hard for any elaborate ornamentation. But the choice 

 of materials is by no means limited to those of the locality of the tribe. I have already 

 referred to my Indian guides carrying away with them pieces of the pipe-stone rock on 

 Neepigou river ; and Paul Kane, the artist, during his travels, when on Athabaska River, 

 near its source in the Eocky Mountains, observed his Assiuiboiu guides select a favourite 

 bluish jasper from among the water-worn stones in the bed of the river, to carry home for 

 the purpose of pipe manufacture, although they were then fully five hundred miles from 

 their lodges. 



The favourite material of the Chippewas was a dark, close-grained schist obtained at 

 some points on Lake Huron. It is easily carved, and many of their pipes are decorated 

 with groups of human figures and animals, executed with much spirit. Pabahmesad, an 

 old Chippewa pipe-maker of unusual skill, pursued his craft on Great Manitoulin Island, 

 on Lake Huron, in comparatively recent years. The peciiliar style of his iugeuious 

 carvings may be detected on pipes recovered from widely scattered localities, for his 

 fame as a pipe-sculptor was great. He w^as generally known among his i^eople as 

 Pivahgmieka, the pipe-maker. He obtained his materials from the favourite resorts of 

 different tribes, using the black pipestone of Lake Huron, the white pipestonc procured 

 on St. Joseph's Island, and the catlinite or red pipestone of the Couteau des Prairies. 

 But the most A^aried and elaborate in device of all the peculiar native types of pipe 

 sculpture are those executed by the Chimpseyau or Babeeu and the Clalam Indians, of 

 VancouA'er Island and the neighbouring shores along Charlotte Sound. They are carved 

 out of a soft blue claystone or slate, from which also bowls, platters, and other utensils 

 are made, decorated with native legendary symbols and other devices. But the most elabo- 

 rate carving is reserved for their pipes, which are not less varied and fanciful in design than 

 the details of Norman ecclesiastical sculpture. The same easily carved claystone is in 

 great request among the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands for their idols, 

 and for ornamental gorgets and utensils of various kinds. Thus the available materials 

 of different localities are seen to modify the forms alike of implements, weapons, and 

 articles designed for personal ornament or domestic use ; and were sought for and trans- 

 ported to many distant points, with the same object as the tin and copper which played 

 so important a part in the commercial exchanges of nations at the dawn of civilization. 



In regions where flint or horustoue is not available, the quartzite appears to have 

 been most commonly resorted to. I have in my possession some spear heads measuring 

 from seven to nine inches long, which w^ere dug up on an old Indian trail at Point Oken, 

 lying to the north of Lake St. John, Quebec ; and implements of the like material are 

 common throughout eastern Canada. The same widely diffused material was no less freely 

 resorted to by the tribes on the Pacific coast. The arrow-heads found throughout the 

 Salish country of southern British Columbia are chiefly formed of quartzite, though chert 

 is also used. The quartzite occurs in so many localities that it is difficult to trace its 

 special source. But near the east end of Marble Canon, and at the Big Eock Slide, 

 about six miles above Spence's Bridge, on Thompson Eiver, chips occur in considerable 

 quantities, suggestive of one of the chosen localities resorted to for quarrying and 

 manufacture. Dr. Dawson informs me, as the result of his own personal observations, 

 that trade between the coast and interior tribes of British Columbia was formerly chiefly 



