EARTHENWARE OF THE NEW YORK ABORIGINES II3 



brought Lane home, he could not at that time have showed us Eng- 

 lishmen the virtues of that precious herb.' English pipes of the 

 17th and 1 8th centuries, were used in trade or as presents to the 

 Indians, and in speaking of New York examples there will be occa- 

 sion to quote Mr Barber again. 



The oldest pipes found in New York are of stone^ the Iroquois 

 clay pipes succeeding these early examples, and being followed 

 b}^ those of red pipe stone and some of the fine grained slates. In 

 1643 Roger Williams said, ' Sometimes they make such great pipes, 

 both of wood and stone, that they are two feet long, with men and 

 beasts carved, so big or massive, that a man may be hurt mortally 

 by one of them, but these commonly came from the Mauguawogs, 

 or the mien-eaters, three or four hundred miles from us.' His ac- 

 count sounds like pipes of stone, but he probably never saw a 

 Mohawk Indian or his pipe. 



Capt. John Smith described the Susquehanna Indians, who were 

 kindred to the Iroquois, and we get the same impression of stone 

 pipes, though he does not call them such. He tells of ' his tobacco 

 pipe, three quarters of a yard long, prettily carved with a bird or 

 beare, a deare, or some such device at the great end, sufficient to 

 beate out the brains of a man.' In both these cases we would sup- 

 pose a large stone bowl intended, with a wooden pipe stem inserted, 

 as in the modern pipe of peace. Wood also said that the Nar- 

 ragansetts made large stone pipes, which they sold to other nations. 

 It will suffice to say that such pipes were not made in New York at 

 the time of the Dutch colonization, nor were they then apparently 

 used there, except very rarely. 



The usages connected with tobacco are of great interest. It was 

 an acceptable offering to spirits of every kind, and a little bag of it 

 is attached to a large wooden mask lying before the writer, to keep 

 the spirit of the mask in a peaceful mood. It allayed storms, and 

 was grateful to the thunders. It was always used at the burning 

 of the white dog^ and was indispensable at councils of peace or war. 

 In digging ginseng a little of it was scattered over the first plant 

 found, which was then left unharmed. How largely it entered into 

 Indian life may be seen in old chronicles, or even on a reservation 

 now. 



