INDIAN PIPES. 



31 



variable, and very much the subject of individual 

 taste. Some are excessively rude, but most are formed 

 with great labour from the finest materials within 

 reach. Along the Mississippi and among the tribes to 

 the westward of that river, the material most valued 

 for the purpose was, and still is, the red pipe-stone of 

 the Coteau des Prairies, a beautiful mineral resembling 

 steatite, easily worked, and capable of a high finish. 

 The spot whence it is obtained, and which is certainly 

 one of the most interesting mineral localities of the 

 whole country, is regarded with superstitious veneration 

 by the Indians. It is esteemed to be under the special 

 protection of the Great Spirit, and is connected with 

 many of their most singular traditions. Until very 

 recently it was the common resort of the tribes, where 

 animosities and rivalries were forgotten, and where the 

 most embittered foes met each other on terms of amity. 

 In carving pipes from this material they expended 

 their utmost skill, and we may regard them as the 

 chefs cVoeuvre of modern Indian art. The following- 



engraving, from originals, will exhibit their predomi- 

 nant form, which, it will be observed, is radically dif- 

 ferent from that of the mound pipes. The larger of 



