Nov. 13, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
775 
An Eskimo Pipe. 
In these days when the Arctic regions are so 
much in the public eye, anything about the North 
possesses an unusual interest. We hear now, 
and are likely to hear much about the Eskimo, 
people whose ways of life while familiar enough 
to the ethnologist are much less so to the man 
on the street. 
Not so many years ago these Eskimo were 
genuinely primitive, capturing their food—the 
wild creatures of their wilderness—by means 
of primitive weapons—made largely of stone or 
bone—lances, harpoons, bows and arrows, fish¬ 
ing tackle, and by various traps. Now, like all 
the other wild people of the globe, they have 
been corrupted and of late years demand in 
trade breechloading rifles of modern type. They 
wish also rum and tobacco. This last is one of 
a pipe would not last long, and we may pre¬ 
sume that a very few draws would exhaust it. 
The smoke was of course taken into the lungs. 
Below will be seen an engraving of a 
large and handsomely carved Eskimo pipe of 
walrus ivory from Northwestern Alaska. On 
each side of the pipe, that is to say on four 
more or less long flat surfaces, are pictured 
scenes from the daily life of the Eskimo. Of 
these the two sides on the right hand of the 
pipe, as it is held in position for smoking, ap¬ 
pear to represent the period of cold weather, 
later autumn, winter and early spring, while 
those on the left hand side of the pipe repre¬ 
sent the summer life of the Eskimo. 
Taking up first the upper row of sketches 
which we suppose depict summer life, and read¬ 
ing from the pipe bowl toward the mouth piece, 
we see a couple of birds, one standing and one 
umiak removed from the water as usual and 
turned upside down and resting on a raised 
scaffold. Further along toward the mouthpiece 
seem to be fishing weirs, at which men are at 
work, and still further toward the mouthpiece 
half a dozen persons are indulging in a dance. 
The figure of a dog and three birds end up the 
scene. 
The right hand side of the stem represents 
a number of the land hunting and trapping 
operations of the Eskimo. Close to the mouth¬ 
piece on the upper section is a drying pole from 
which hang pieces of meat or fish. A bird is 
perched on one of the uprights supporting the 
pole. Further along are three winter houses 
with persons busy about them. Then come the 
two trees, which may be a line of division rep¬ 
resenting a change of scene, and beyond the 
trees are the head and horns of a caribou, a 
WALRUS TUSK PIPE—LEFT AND RIGHT HAND VIEWS. 
their especial needs. They smoke and chew it, 
and men, women and children alike are devoted 
to its use. 
The pipes used by the Eskimo are quite dif¬ 
ferent from those of any other North American 
race, and in the shape of the bowl more re¬ 
semble the opium pipes used by the Chinese than 
anything else. The old pipes were very small 
in the amount of tobacco that they would hold, 
for in former days tobacco was extremely scarce 
and in its use was most carefully husbanded. 
There was, therefore, a wide flaring margin to 
the pipe to catch any grains of tobacco that 
might be spilled in filling it; then there was a 
hollow which would hold a pinch of tobacco 
half as large as an ordinary pea and a rather 
wide hole passing down through the base of 
the bowl which fitted into the pipe stem. The 
bowl of the pipe was of ivory, stone, brass or 
copper. The pipe stem was curved and had a 
mouthpiece. It is said that the small hole run¬ 
ning down through the base of the bowl and 
into the pipe stem was usually plugged with 
caribou hair to save any grains of tobacco that 
might otherwise have passed down through this 
aperture and so be lost. The smoking of such 
flying; a dog following a woman who is carry¬ 
ing water toward the summer house, in which 
there is a fire and three individuals. Before the 
house stands a pole on which are hanging fish. 
A woman with an axe or maul seems to be 
breaking up a piece of drift wood. Three per¬ 
sons are fishing with hook and line, but in the 
etching the fish are giants compared with those 
actually caught in this manner by the Eskimo. 
Next we see a great blackfish which has been 
struck by a harpoon, and at the end of the line 
attached to the harpoon is a “dan” or float made 
of an inflated seal skin. Before the blackfish is 
a boat in which stands a person about to throw 
another harpoon and holding the float in the 
hand. Then comes an umiak in which are four 
persons, three of them paddling hard to over¬ 
take a great spouting whale that is swimming 
away, while a man standing in the bow is ready 
to throw the lance. 
On the lower section of the left side of the 
pipe stem is shown a group of walruses being 
attacked by two parties, each of five men in 
two umiaks. In each case the bowman is about 
to throw a lance and holds in the other hand 
a dan or float. On the shore is a skin boat, or 
man with a bow shooting at a flying goose, and 
a caribou and young being shot at by another 
person. Another tree is followed by a caribou 
lying down and another standing, while three 
more caribou of different ages and sex are run¬ 
ning toward two men armed with bow and 
lance, while over the caribou are six geese in 
flight. On the lower section of the same side 
are represented different animals—a fox, a wolf 
and a bear. Then there is a tree, a weasel and 
three traps sprung and each containing a small 
animal. Beyond them a caribou is being shot 
by a man, while still further along three me* 
are dragging home the carcass of a bull caribou 
over the snow toward three winter houses near 
which stand a tree and toward which a woman 
is bringing water. 
The pipe has every appearance of age and 
long use. The ivory is yellow and cracked and 
checked in many places. » 
The Eskimo are known to be extremely skill¬ 
ful in the representation of scenes and objects, 
while the Indians of Queen Charlotte’s Sound 
and generally all the natives of the Northwest 
coast of America ar.e famous for their carving 
in wood and in a black slate. 
