128 CHIPPEWA PIPES. 



peace, is still an object of special reference with the Indian 

 tribes, and the pipe-stem is ornamented with six or eight eagle's 



SCULPTURED PIPE. 



feathers. Each tribe has an official who takes charge of the 

 calumet, which he keeps rolled up in a bearskin robe ; and 

 it's never exposed to view or used, except when the chief 

 enters into a treaty with some neighboring chief. On these 

 occasions the pipe is taken out of its covering by the Indian 

 dignitary, ready charged with the " holy weed," when it is 

 smoked by all the chiefs, each one taking only a single breath 

 of smoke, which is regarded as implementing the treaty. 

 The pipe is then rolled up in its robe of fur, and stowed 

 away in the lodge of its keeper until it is again required. 

 The war pipe is simply a tomahawk, with a perforated handle 

 communicating with the bowl, which is opposite the sharp 

 edge of the weapon. When the Indians joined the British 

 as allies during the American war, they had to be supplied 

 with iron tomahawks of the native pattern, before they 

 could enter the field, as allies. 



Many tribes of Indians use herbs of various kinds to mix 

 with tobacco to reduce its strength, as they are in the habit 

 of exhaling the smoke from the nostrils, and not from the 

 mouth. By the adoption of this means a much smaller 

 quantity of tobacco suffices to produce the soothing influence 

 on the nervous system so well known to votaries of the weed. 



Longfellow, in his great Indian epic of the Song of Hiawa- 

 tha, has portrayed with graphic power in pleasing verse the 

 mysterious legends describing the birth or institution of the 

 peace-pipe by Gitche Manito, " The Master of Life ; " and a 

 few extracts from " Hiawatha " may be interesting to illus- 



