28 



TOBACCO IN AMERICA. 



impaired the contour in some degree. The knots 

 observable at the top of the forehead and behind the 

 ears, may represent the way in which the hair was 

 wound." The workmanship of this head is unsurpassed 

 by any specimen of ancient American art which had 

 fallen under the notice of Messrs. Squier and Davis in 

 their researches, " not excepting the best productions 

 of Mexico and Peru." 



The Lamantin, Manitns, or Sea-cow, from the pecu- 

 liarity of its form, was well adapted to the shape of the 



old Indian pipe. The fact 

 of this creature being thus 

 represented, as it is pecu- 

 liar to tropical America, 

 at a distance of a thousand 

 miles from the home of the 

 mound -builders, is a proof of a system of intercourse, 

 most probably by barter, kept up by the Indians 

 throughout the continent ; and thus, so apparently 

 insignificant a relic as an old Indian pipe-stem affords 

 us an important trait in their past history, which the 

 ethnologist will know how to value. 



The beaver is given with characteristic fidelity in 

 another pipe; and the reader will observe that all 



these decorations are made 

 to face the smoker, and in- 

 crease his pleasure as he 

 indulges in the weed ; and 

 not for the ostentatious display of a showy pipe as 

 among "civilized" moderns. 



