NELSON] 



MODE OF PREPARING TOBACCO 



271 



TOBACCO a:n^d smoking 



METHODS OF USING TOBACCO 



Tobacco was first introduced among the Alaskan Eskimo from Asia, 

 by way of Bering strait, by their Siberian neighbors, and by the same 

 route came the pipes witli cylindrical bowls and wide rims, similar to 

 those used in eastern Asia. 



Tobacco is used in different forms by both sexes; the women usually 

 chew it or take it in the form of snuff, but rarely smoke it; the men 

 use it in all these ways. The tobacco now used by these people is 

 obtained from the traders, and is usually in the form of the natural leaf, 

 tied in small bunches called "hands." 



For chewing, the tobacco is cut into shreds on small boards which 

 are usually merely plain tablets from a few inches to a foot or more 

 in diameter, but they 

 are sometimes orna- 

 mented with an incised 

 pattern. When the 

 tobacco has been cut 

 sufQciently fine it is 

 mixed with ashes ob- 

 tained from tree fun- 

 gus and kneaded and 

 rolled into rounded 

 pellets or quids, often 

 being chewed a little 

 by the women in order 

 to incorporate the 

 ashes more thorough- 

 ly. The tree fungus 

 from which the ashes 

 are made forms a regular article of trade with the Tinne of the inte- 

 rior, who bring it to the coast every summer and sell it to the Eskimo. 

 Figure 93 represents a specimen of this tree fungus, which was obtained 

 at St 3Iichael from a trading party of the Yukon Tinne. Figure 118 

 illustrates one of the tobacco boards. 



It is common when traveling among these people to see the women 

 engaged in cutting up tobacco, kneading it with ashes, or chewing it 

 into quids in order to supply their husbands or other male relatives 

 with a stock for use on the ensuing day. From four to eight of the 

 pellets are prepared at one time; these are packed in little boxes ready 

 for use. 



The men do not usually chew the quids, but hold them in the cheek, 

 and rarely expectorate the juice. After holding a quid in his mouth 

 for some time, if the chewer wishes to rest, eat, or drink, he takes it 

 out, and after rolling it into a little ball, places it behind his right ear, 

 where it remains until again needed. 



Fig. 93 — Fungus used for making ashes to mix with tobacco. 



