THE CALUMET IN THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY. 239 



exercised his best skill and his most patient labor upon that 

 which he wrought. As Dr. Abbott, in Primitive Industry, well 

 says, " To know the whole history of tobacco, and the custom of 

 smoking and of the origin of the pipe, would be to solve many of 

 the most interesting problems of American ethnology." 



The beauty and variety of the pipes which have been found in 

 the Mississippi Valley are unequaled in specimens from any 



FIG. 2. 



FIG. 3. 



other part of the country, and because of this, and because these 

 pipes are so well known, the simpler forms of less favored locali- 

 ties have sometimes been too much overlooked. But the less 

 elaborate New England specimens are not without importance 

 because they have a place in the archaeology of the whole country. 



In beauty of material and in finish the pipes of the Champlain 

 Valley are quite equal to the best of the mound pipes, but in 

 elaborateness of form they are much inferior. So far as our an- 

 cient pipe-makers attempted the execution of any particular form, 

 they usually did very well that is, unless they destroyed all their 

 failures ; but they do not appear to have tried to fashion any very 

 difficult shapes, and very seldom attempted to imitate those ani- 

 mals which were common about them as did the Western tribes. 

 Inasmuch as no two of our pipes are the same in size or form, 

 there is no single type which represents this region. 



It is probable that the pipes which have been found in the 

 Champlain Valley were used and, unless obtained in trade or war, 

 made by Algonkins or Iroquois, for these tribes occupied the 

 region from no one knows how early times. Pipes, whether of 

 stone or earthenware, are very uncommon in the Champlain Val- 

 ley, though diligent search has brought to light a considerable 

 number. In the descriptions and illustrations which are here 

 presented it is the intention of the writer to give a tolerably com- 



