BULL. 30] 



SMOK SMOKING 



603 



on the Columbia in E. Washington. 

 He was born about 1815 or 1820, 

 and in his boyhood frequented a 

 neighboring Catholic mission, from 

 which he evidently derived some of his 

 ceremonial ideas. He distinguished him- 

 self as a warrior, and began to preach 

 about the year 1850. Somewhat later, 

 in consequence of a quarrel with a rival 

 chief, he left home secretly and absented 

 himself for a long time, wandering as 

 far s. as INIexico and returning overland 

 through Nevada to the Columbia. On 

 being questioned he declared that he had 

 been to the spirit world and had been 

 sent back to deliver a message to the 

 Indian race. This message, like that of 

 other aboriginal prophets, was, briefly, 

 that the Indians must return to their 

 primitive mode of life, refuse the teach- 

 ings or the things of the white man, and 

 in all their actions be guided by the will 

 of the Indian God as revealed in dreams 

 to Smohalla and his priests. The doc- 

 trine found many adherents. Chief Joseph 

 and his Nez Perces being among the 

 most devoted believers. Smohalla has 

 recently died, but, in spite of occasional 

 friction with agency officials, the ' ' Dream- 

 ers," as they are popularly called, main- 

 tain their religious organization, with 

 periodical gatherings and an elaborate 

 ceremony. SeeMoonev, GhostDance Re- 

 ligion, 14th Rep. B. A. E., 1896. (j. M.) 



Smok (Smok). A Squawmish village 

 communitv on the left bank of Squaw- 

 misht r., Brit. Col.— Hill-Tout in Rep. 

 Brit. A. A. S., 474, 1900. 



Smoking. For more than a century 

 after the discovery of America nearly 

 all the early voyagers remarked on a 

 curious practice, described as "a fumi- 

 gation of a peculiar kind," that they 

 found prevailing in some form almost 

 everywhere in North America. It is 

 narrated that " the Spaniards were hon- 

 ored as though they had been deities." 

 Cortes is reported to have been received 

 with incense, and it was said by one chron- 

 icler that he was "met by persons carry- 

 ing vessels with lighted coals to fumigate 

 him." The nati\es were said to burn in- 

 cense to or to fumigate their idols, and the 

 priests to "prepare themselves by smok- 

 ing to receive the devil's oracles." These 

 and many similar expressions indicate 

 that the practice of smoking was not 

 understood by Europeans. The cigar or 

 the cigarette was used throughout Span- 

 ish America. Montezuma and other 

 chiefs of Mexico were said "to com- 

 pose themselves to sleep by smoking." 

 Alarcon, in 1540, found the natives on 

 the lower Colorado using "small reeds 

 for making perfume," likening them to 

 "the Indian iohagos of New Spain." 

 Jacques Cartier found the practice of 



smoking to prevail on the lower St Law- 

 rence. Champlain refers to the native 

 assemblies as taJxtgiea. Hariot says the 

 natives took the fumes of smoke as a 

 cure for disease, and that they knew 

 nothing of many ailments "wherewith 

 we in England are oftentimes afflicted." 

 Tobacco or some mixture thereof was 

 invariably smoked in councils with the 

 whites and on other solemn occasions. 



No important undertaking was entered 

 upon without deliberation and discus- 

 sion in a solemn council at which the 

 pipe was smoked by all present. The 

 remarkable similarity in smoking cus- 

 toms throughout the continent proves 

 the great antiquity of the practice. The 

 custom of offering incense was not re- 

 stricted to men, for women also, in cer- 

 tain localities, are said to have offered 

 incense to 



idols. It was m,~^ ^^ 



not necessa- y^s^ jS.-^ 

 rily a reli- 

 gious act; it I }| ,, jjfVv 4i 

 was o])served 

 as a com- 

 pliment to 

 "lords and 

 ambassa- 

 dors." The 

 women of 

 Cartagena, 

 we are told, 

 about 1750, could offer no higher courtesy 

 to a person than to light his tobacco for 

 him. The Hopi, in their ceremonies, 

 offer smoke to their sacred images, and 

 the ceremonies of the pipe are observed 

 with great decorum; the head chief is 

 attended by an assistant of nearly equal 

 rank, who ceremoniously lights the pipe, 

 and with certain formalities and set 

 words hands it to the chief, who blows 



FLORIDA INDIAN SMOKING (de Brt) 



