332 NARCOTIC USAGES AND SUPERSTITIONS 



Kane informs me that, in coming down the Athabaska River, when 

 drawing near its source in the Rocky Mountains, he observed his 

 Assinaboin guides select the favourite blueish jasper from among the 

 water worn stones in the bed of the river, to carry home for the pur- 

 pose of pipe manufacture, although they were then fully five hundred 

 miles from their lodges. Such a traditional adherence to a choice of 

 material peculiar to a remote source, may frequently prove of con- 

 siderable value as a clue to former migrations of the tribe. 



Both the Cree and the "Winnebago Indians carve pipes in stone, of 

 a form now more frequently met with in the Indian curiosity stores 

 of Canada and the States than any other specimens of native carving. 

 The tube, cut at a sharp right angle with the cylindrical bowl of the 

 pipe, is ornamented with a thin van dyked ridge, generally perforated 

 with a row of holes, and standing up somewhat like the dorsal fin of 

 a fish. The Winuebagos also manufacture pipes of the same form, 

 but of a smaller size, in lead with considerable skill. 



Among the Cree Indians a double pipe is occasionally in use, con- 

 sisting of a bowl carved out of stone without much attempt at orna" 

 ment, but with perforations on two sides, so that two smokers can 

 insert their pipe-stems at once, and enjoy the same supply of tobacco 

 It does not appear, however, that any special significance is attached 

 to this singular fancy. The Saultaux Indians, a branch of the great 

 Algonquin nation, also carve their pipes out of a black stone, found 

 in their country, and evince considerable skill in the execution of 

 their elaborate details. In the curious collection of pipes now 

 in the possession of Gr. "W. Allan, Esq., and including those obtained 

 by Mr. Kane among the Indians of the north-west, are two Chippe- 

 way pipes carved by the Indians bordering on Lake Superior, out of 

 a dark close-grained stone, easily wrought and admitting of con- 

 siderable minuteness of detail. One of these, (Plate II. Fig. 2,) 

 measuring six and a half inches long, consists of a quadrangular 

 tube, from which rises the bowl in the shape of a human head, of 

 very sphynx-like aspect ; and with white beads inserted for the eyes ; 

 behind this an Indian seated on the ground holds his hands to each 

 side of the head, (colossal in proportion to him,) in front is another 

 Indian seated on a chair, and before him stands a third figure neatly 

 carved out of the red pipe stone, while between them is a miniature 

 barrel cut from a white stone found chiefly on St. Joseph's Island. 

 All the figures are well proportioned and carved with considerable 

 minuteness of detail. Some of the details in this example — the 

 chair and the barrel, — are obviously borrowed from European models, 



