154 



NATURE 



{June 15, 1876 



ence equal to that between Greenwich and Montpellier in 

 the south of France — a difference which might possibly 

 arise from extraordinary and diverse ocean-currents — 

 but to such a supposition current charts give no sup- 

 port. The publication might be rendered even still more 

 useful by including among the means those of the 

 maxima and minima of temperature, and those at the 

 hours of 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. for pressure and temperature 

 at all the stations, and by indicating on the map the whole 

 of the stations from which observations are given in each 

 year's publication. 



AMERICAN-INDIAN STONE TUBES AND 

 TOBACCO-PIPES 



TPVURING the summer of 1873, I found a single speci- 

 -*-^ men of a stone tube, that had been split throughout its 

 entire length, as seen in Fig. i. Since then, I have had 

 an opportunity of examining several specimens found in 

 New Jersey, and fortunately found two in the locality of 

 my principal labours, in gathering up the scattered relics 

 of the aborigines. 



Fij^. I is made of beautiful veined green and black slate, 

 is six and one-eighth inches in length, slightly oval, and has 

 been highly polished. The bore, which is exactly half-an- 

 inch in diameter, is circular, uniform and direct. The drill- 

 ing has evidently been accomplished by the use of a reed 

 with sand and water, and the circular striae are visible 

 throughout the length of the perforation. This drilling 

 is the more interesting from the fact, that the work, com- 

 menced at one end, has been continued to the other, and 

 not from either end to the middle, which latter method 

 (and much the more common one) produces an hour-glass 

 contraction at the point of juncture of the two drillings 

 Six or seven inches, however, was not the maximum depth 

 atiempted at drilling in one direction. Prof Wyman, in 

 " Fifth Report of the Peabody Museum of Archseology," 



Fig. I. — One-half natural size. 



p. 13, describes " a cylindrical tube of soap-stone, twenty- 

 two inches long and two inches in diameter, tapering 

 somewhat at either end. This had been drilled from op- 

 posite ends, but the two perforations not coinciding, they 

 passed by each other, the bores communicating laterally." 

 We have in this implement, therefore, a single bore at 

 least twelve inches long ; which is probably the maximum 

 length, for it is difficult to conceive of a stone to be of 

 greater length than two feet, being of any use.' This is 

 about the maximum of the non-perforated cylindrical 

 stones called pestles ; but which probably bad oti-er 

 uses than that name implies. 



Fig. 2, represents a quite common form of ornamental 

 stone implement, but which, unfortunately, are seldom 

 found except in very fragmentary condition. This speci- 

 men measures six and seven-eighths inches in length, by 

 eight inches, lacking three-sixteenths, in breadth. The 

 mineral is a soft sandstone, smoothed but not polished, 

 and free from all attempt at ornamentation. Such speci- 

 mens, when of less dimensions, have ordinarily been 

 classed as badges of authority, gorgets, or if narrower, as 

 double-edged axes, which could never have been their use, 

 considering the soft material of which they are invariably 



^ Mr. Evans, in his "Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain," re- 

 marks that ■' the lubes of steatite one foot in length, found in some of the 

 mmor mounds of the Ohio Valley, must probably have been bored with 

 metal" This depends altogether upon their age. New Jersey specimens 

 oi tubes have been found of nearly that length, which undoubteOly were 

 made before the introduction of metal. 



made. As the perforation of this specimen exceeds in 

 length that of the preceding, I am led to consider this 

 simply as a " winged " tube, and to have had a use iden- 

 tical with such as above described (Fig. i). While cylin- 

 drical tubes, plain or onamented, are quite abundant in 



Fig. 2. — One-fifth natural size. 



the southern and western states, these winged tubes appear 

 to replace them in the northern and middle states. 



Figs. 3 and 4 represent two specimens of tubes, that 

 are of much interest, in that, while of the same general 

 character as the preceding, they have not been bored ; but 

 are made of clay which has been moulded when soft, 

 about a straight cylinder, presumably cf wood, and then 

 baked very hard. The exposure to fire would necessarily 

 char, if not consume, the encased wood, and so leave a 

 perforation in the clay when baked. This tube has then 

 been brought to its present shaoe by scraping, and the 

 ornamentation lastly carved upon it. In both specimens, 

 the projective figure has been broken off, but the remain- 

 ing fragment in Fig. 3 suggests the figure of a mammal, 

 and that of Fig. 4 possibly a human head. On the tube, 

 Fig. 3, will be noticed fi^e short parallel lines. Such rows 



flti. 3. — One-third natural size. 



of short deeply engraved lines are very characteristic of 

 the relics found in New Jersey (see figure of Marriage 

 Emblem in Nature, vol. xi., p. 436), and are probably 

 record marks, but of what, on an implement like this, it 

 is difficult to conjecture. The general shape of these 

 tubes, and their diameters render it quite certain that they 

 are not simply the stems of clay smoking- pi pes. 



These two specimens were found in the same grave, 

 associated with the ordinary weapons of the aborigines ; 

 axes, spears, and arrow-points. 



Fig. 5 represents a stone tube of a pattern quite differ- 

 ent from any of the preceding. It is made of very solt 

 soap-stone, is quite smooth, and accurately outlined. It 

 is four and three-fourths inches in length ; one and one- 

 fourth inches in width at the broad, trumpet- mouthed 

 end, and half-an-inch in diameter, where broken. The 



Fig. 4. — One-third natural size. 



perforation is one-fourth of an inch in diameter, and of 

 uniform size throughout. Such trumpet-shaped speci- 

 mens occur elsewhere. Prof. Jeffries Wyman describes one 

 in the Report above quoted, same page. He writes : " A 

 fragment of another tubular instrument of the same ma- 



