appendix: elephant pipes and inscribed tablets. 307 



interest. Frauds are so much more common with pipes than with 

 other articles, that it is no wonder men are suspicious; and, at the 

 same time, in the genuine work of a rude age resemblances are often 

 so doubtful as to render caution necessary. In the many spirited bird 

 and beast pipes I have figured, I should hardly wish to be pinned down 

 to a naturalist's exactness in identifying s]3ecimens, although a natur- 

 alist myself So far, I felt that Mr. Henshaw's paper was hkely to 

 guard against erroneous conclusions founded on doubtful premises. 

 But it is wrong to expect that in such work there will be complete rep- 

 resentation of anything, any more than when we work birds and beasts 

 with designs of a useful nature, or employ them in heraldry. There is 

 a stone pipe here which undoubtedly was made from a reminiscence 

 of the domestic cock — perhaps by an Onandaga of two centuries 

 since — but the only thing to make this certain is the cock's comb ; 

 that attracted the eye, and could be represented. The tail had to be 

 left off, and the body was more that of a woodpecker than anything 

 else. I do not, therefore, think the absence of tusks in your elephant 

 pipes anything of moment. It would have been quite enough had the 

 head and trunk been there. Neither, as a clergyman, could I suppose 

 the Rev. Mr. Gass to have countenanced any imposition — nor the 

 eminent society with which he is connected. But I have done archae- 

 ological work enough to know that some persons do not hesitate to 

 try to impose on clergymen, and that people who know better are 

 not above this. I have seen unblushing frauds in such unexpected 

 quarters that I always like to have the bottom facts in any unusual 

 find. The very best archreologists in the country are often imposed 

 upon, and, of course, to outsiders it seemed j^ossible that you might 

 have been deceived by unscrupulous persons. I am glad to find you 

 have so full and complete an answer ready. 



For a great many reasons, I have had no disposition to question the 

 genuineness of the find. Among these is my firm persuasion that the 

 mastod^on, or even the American elejjhant, has not been long extinct. 

 I see no reason, from geological facts and facts of natural history, to 

 remove him from the earth before man appeared upon it, although he 

 doubtless lived partially before man. . . . In a sense, I believe 

 that the Indians and Mound-builders were of one race, but it is in the 

 same way that we are one with the French and Germans. I have not 

 the slightest idea that the Mound-builders were ancestors of our pres- 

 ent Indians; I simply regard them as often having the same general 

 origin. Our finds here show no recent connection. 



The many friends of your Academy to you unknown will 

 be gratified to see your prompt action in this matter, for you have thus 

 done a duty not only to yourselves and one of your active members, 

 but to the scientific world at large at the same time. With thanks for 

 your courtesy and best wishes for your continued prosperity, I remain 



Yours truly, 



W. M. Beauchamp. 



