hoffman] NATIVE TOBACCO 249 



Tbe orifice along the edge of the stem, from end to end, is made l>y 

 splitting oft' a piece half an inch or so in width, then cutting a crease 

 or groove along the main part to connect the two short transverse 

 burned holes which run into the main or original orifice, when the 

 detached piece is again carefully secured to the stem by gluing. After 

 tlie stem is completed and polished, or decorated by discoloration or by 

 burning, the union of the two pieces is extremely difficult to detect, if 

 it can be detected at all. Thus the smoke passes around the interior 

 through an orifice having four angles or turns. 



This is an example of only an ordinarily decorated stem. Sometimes 

 the manufacture of the stem is even more complicated by a greater 

 number of designs in carving, or the removal of certain portions, thus 

 increasing the turns and angles of the orifice through which the smoke 

 passes. 



Fig. 33— Inlaid atone pipe. 



Having had occasion to speak of pipes and the importance of cere- 

 monial smoking, it may not be inappropriate to treat more fully of the 

 subject of tobacco, as well as of the substitutes for tobacco and the 

 peculiar manner of using them. 



Since the introduction of manufactured tobacco, most Indians pur- 

 chase inferior grades of granular mixtures, they being the more readily 

 obtained. Plug tobacco is preferred when it can be procured, but this 

 is generally mixed by them with the native product. In former times 

 the leaves of the sumach (Rhus glabra Wood, and E. aromatica Ait) 

 were gathered and dried, being subsequently ground between the left 

 palin and the ball of the right thumb, the latter projecting beyond the 

 clinched list. Frequently, when the leaves were very dry, both palms 

 were employed to give a handful of leaves the primary crushing, the 

 hands being used as in the act of washing. This mixture contains a 

 large quantity of tannic acid, and its use generally produces brouchial 

 irritation. 



The substance generally employed by the Menomini for smoking, and 

 one found abundantly in many parts of the northern temperate por- 



