SMOKING IN ALASKA. 



through it. Nothing can be more binding than smoking the 

 pipe of peace and is considered by them to be an inviolable 

 pledge. There is no custom more uniformly in constant use 

 amongst the poor Indians than that of smoking nor any more 

 highly valued. His pipe is his constant companion through 

 life his messenger of peace; he pledges his friends through 

 its stem and its bowl, and when its care-drowning fumes 

 cease to flow, it takes a place with him in his solitary grave 

 with his tomahawk and war-club companions to his long- 

 fancied 'happy hunting grounds." 3 



From specimens of clay pipes found at the South from 

 Virginia to Florida it would seem that the Indians had a 

 great variety of pipes some of which were beautifully carved 

 while others are perfectly plain. Many of them however are 

 of rude workmanship and might have been fashioned by 

 some of the tribe unacquainted with pipe-making. 



Dall gives the following account of smoking among the 

 natives of Alaska : 



"We broke camp about five o'clock in the morning. 

 Nothing occurred to break the monotony of constant steady 

 plodding. Two Indians in the bow of the boat would 

 row until tired, and then we would stop for a few minutes to 

 rest, and let them smoke. The last operation takes less than 

 a minute ; their pipes are so constructed as to hold but a very 

 small pinch of tobacco. The bowl, with ears for tying it to 

 the stem is generally cast out of lead. Sometimes it is made 

 of soft stone, bone or even hard wood. The stem is made of 

 two pieces of wood hollowed on one side, and bound to the 

 bowl and each other by a narrow strip of deerskin. In 

 smoking the economical Indian generally cuts up a little 

 birch wood, or the inner bark of the poplar, and mixes it 

 with his tobacco. A few reindeer hairs pulled from his 

 paska, are rolled into a little ball, and placed in the bottom 

 of the bowl to prevent the contents from being drawn into 

 the stem. A pinch of- tobacco cut as fine as snuff is inserted 

 and two or three whiffs are afforded by it. 



The smoke is inhaled into the lungs, producing a momen- 

 tary stupor and the operation is over. A fungus which 

 grows on decayed birch trees, or tinder manufactured from 

 the down of the poplar rubbed up with charcoal is used with 

 flint and steel for obtaining a light. Matches are highly 



