138 P JPE OF THE BOBEEN INDIANS. 



use, consisting of a bowl carved out of stone without much 

 attempt at ornament, but with perforations on two sides, so 

 that two smokers can insert their pipe-stems at once, and 

 enjoy the same supply of tobacco. It does not appear, how- 

 ever, that any special significance is attached to this singular 

 fancy. The Saultaux Indians, a branch of the great Algon- 

 quin nation, also carve their pipes out of a black stone found 

 in their country, and evince considerable skill in the execu- 

 tion of their elaborate details. But the most remarkable of 

 all the specimens of pipe sculpture executed by the Indians 

 of the north-west are those carved by the Bobeen, or Big-lip 

 Indians, so called from the singular deformity they produce 

 by inserting a piece of wood into a slit made in the 

 lower lip. 



The Bobeen Indians are found along the Pacific coast, 

 about latitude 54, 40', and extend from the borders of the 

 Russian dominions eastward nearly to Frazer River. The 

 pipes of the Bobeen, and also of the Clalam Indians, occu- 

 pying the neighboring Vancouver's Island, are carved with 

 the utmost elaborateness and in the most singular and gro- 

 tesque devices, from a soft blue clay-stone or slate. Their 

 form is in part determined by the material, which is only 

 procurable in thin slabs, so that the sculptures, wrought on 

 both sides, present a sort of double bas-relief. From this, 

 singular and grotesque groups are carved without any appa- 

 rent reference to the final destination of the who! - as a pipe. 

 The lower side is generally a straight line, and in the speci- 

 mens I have examined they measure from two or three to 

 fifteen inches long; so that in these the pipe-stem is included. 

 A small hollow is carved out of some protruding ornament 

 to serve as the bowl of the pipe, and from the further end a 

 perforation is drilled to connect with this. The only addition 

 made to it when in use is the insertion of a quill or straw as 

 a mouth-piece. The Indians have both war and peace 

 pipes. 



The War pipe is a true tomahawk of ordinary size with a 

 perforated handle the tobacco being placed in the receptacle 



