HOLMES] EARTHENWARE TOBACCO PIPES •iO 



There is probably- no good reason to question tlie general l)elief tliat 

 the pipe Avas in use in America on the arrival of Europeans. Speci- 

 mens are found in such varied situations and. besides, the shapes 

 are so highly differentiated that any other conclusion must needs be 

 supported by strong evidence. The simplest form of the pipe is a 

 straight tube, found only now and then in the East, but the pi'evailing 

 form on the Pacific coast. In the northeastern states the fundamental 

 shape is a nearly jjlain bent tube slightly enlarged at the bowl end, 

 represented in the most elementary form Yty the pipes of the Chesa- 

 peake province, and apjjearing in more elaborate shapes in the 

 Iroquoian region in Pennsylvania and New York. The short, wide- 

 bowled, bent trumpet of the South Appalachian province is a local 

 development of the same general type, and the clumsy, massive, l)ent 

 tube of the Gulf and Middle Mississippi states is a still more marked 

 variant. The monitor and platform shapes of the Central states depart 

 widoh' from the simple tube, and no end of curious modifications of 

 form come from changes in the relative proportions and positions of 



Fig. 29 — Range in form of tobacco pipes. 



stem and bowl, and especially from the addition of plastic life forms 

 in almost infinite variety. A synopsis of the range of form from the 

 straight tube to the platform with discoid bowl is given in figure 

 29. It is remarkable that the great Ohio Valley province and the 

 Middle South, furnishing stone pipes of the highest grade, yield few 

 and rude pipes of clay. Pipes were smoked with or without stems of 

 other material. Illustrations and descriptions of type specimens will 

 be given as the various groups of ware to which they belong are pre- 

 sented. A comprehensive work on American tobacco pipes has Ijeen 

 published recently })y the National Museum." 



MATERIALS 



Cl.\y 



Clay suited to the manufacture of the plain earthenware of the 

 aborigines is widel\' distributed over the country, and it is not likely 

 that any extended region is without a plentiful supply. The clay 

 used was often impure, and in many cases was probably obtained from 



a McGuire, J. D., Pipes and smoliing customs, Report of the United States National Museum, 1897. 



