THE CEREMONIAL USE OF TOBACCO. 175 



much might be said ; but leaving this for the present, I desire to 

 call attention to a phase of the subject which has received but lit- 

 tle attention, namely, the ceremonial use of tobacco by the natives 

 of America. 



Since the world-wide diffusion of the tobacco habit, its earliest, 

 and perhaps original, use has been in a great measure overlooked. 

 With the aborigines of America, smoking and its kindred prac- 

 tices were not mere sensual gratifications, but tobacco was re- 

 garded as an herb of peculiar and mysterious sanctity, and its use 

 was deeply and intimately interwoven with native rites and cere- 

 monies. With reasonable certainty the pipe may be considered 

 as an implement the use of which was originally confined to the 

 priest, medicine-man, or sorcerer, in whose hands it was a means 

 of communication between savage man and the unseen spirits 

 with which his universal doctrine of animism invested every ob- 

 ject that came under his observation. Similar to this use of the 

 pipe was its employment in the treatment of disease, which in 

 savage philosophy is always thought to be the work of evil spirits. 

 Tobacco was also regarded as an offering of peculiar acceptability 

 to the unknown powers in whose hands the Indian conceived his 

 fate for good or ill to lie ; hence it is observed to figure promi- 

 nently in ceremonies as incense, and as material for sacrifice. It 

 will be my task to collect here some of the many observations of 

 travelers, and of students of Indian custom and belief, which illus- 

 trate these remarks. 



Embalmed in poetry and frequently described in prose, per- 

 haps the most familiar example of the ceremonial employment of 

 tobacco is the use of the calumet, or peace pipe. In its pungent 

 fumes agreements were made binding, enmity was disarmed. It 

 was at once the implement of Indian diplomacy, the universally 

 recognized emblem of friendship, the flag of truce used in ap- 

 proaching strange or hostile tribes, the seal of solemn compacts. 

 Upon its use was founded the widely diffused calumet dance, a per- 

 formance reserved for occasions when it was desired to express spe- 

 cial friendship. Like many other usages connected with the pipe, 

 the calumet, with the traditions which surround it, have survived 

 to the present day. In many parts of Canada and the western 

 United States the visitor to the Indian villages is still expected to 

 present pipes and tobacco as evidences of amity and good will. 



There were other sacred pipes besides the calumet, and these 

 were called into requisition on every possible occasion — in the 

 election of chiefs, in the ceremony of adoption into the tribe, at 

 the beginning of a hunt, on going to war, at the end of the har- 

 vest, and in innumerable other acts of Indian life, both public and 

 private, as well as in many dances and festivals. Tobacco, in 

 short, was intimately connected with the entire social and reli- 



