430 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. (Vor. XXXIV. 
In à 
Report of the United States National Museum, 1897. 
monograph of 282 pages Mr. Joseph D. McGuire describes “ Ameri- 
can aboriginal pipes and smoking customs." Two hundred and 
thirty-nine figures in the text and four plates illustrate the various 
types of pipes and their distribution over the American continent. 
The custom of smoking prevailed in the New World for centuries 
before the arrival of the whites. The pipes used were of an endless 
variety of substances, shaped in as many forms as there were mate- 
rials. The straight tube was the most primitive form and was the 
only one common to the whole continent. Mr. McGuire's conclusions 
are too extended for presentation in a brief review, yet it is worthy 
of note that he regards many types as modern — produced subse- 
quent to the time of the discovery. For example, * The disk pipe, 
usually found in the states of Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, with 
specimens from Ontario, are of mound type, though their outline is 
so similar to the jew's-harp as to raise suspicion that such an in- 
strument furnished the model for the pipe." “ The Iroquoian pipes 
found along the river St. Lawrence and in the neighborhood of the 
Great Lakes may be said to vary one from the other more than 
pipes found in the eastern United States. . . . These pipes 
with but slight doubt show that their period is subsequent to the 
arrival of the French.” “The form called the Delaware pipe 
appears to be of totemic character, is carved with considerable 
skill, and impresses one as being of recent origin, and made with 
modern metal tools." Even the skillfully shaped mound pipes are 
believed to have been made with metal tools obtained from the 
early French traders and voyageurs. 
“Te Pito Te Henua, known as Rapa Nui: commonly called 
Easter Island, South Pacific Ocean," is the title of a belated 
article by Geo. H. Cooke, surgeon, U. S. N. The island lies 2.100 
west of the South American coast and 1.100 east of Pitcairn Island, 
the nearest inhabited land. In 1:886 the population had been re- 
duced from several thousand to 155 natives. The mental and 
physical characters of the people are described, a vocabulary of 
three pages is furnished, and some account is given of their villages 
and habitations. "The remarkable ruins of the island were reported 
upon by W. J. Thomson, U. S. N., in the U. S. National Museum 
Report for 1889. Dr. Cooke alludes to the belief among the pres- 
ent inhabitants that their own ancestors carved the megalithic 
monuments, 
