Stone the custom of smoking was with the native Ameri cans not merely the indulgence of an artificial appetite, but a ceremonial observance associated with the most solemn transactions of religions and social life, they expended a corresponding degree of labor and skill in the manufacture of their pipes. These were often of earthenware, but the most valued were of stone. Fragments of such are turned up by the plough in almost all parts of the United States. They are usually of soft stone, as steatite (pi 6, figs. 37, 39), serpentine, slate, or fine-grained sandstone; some are of oolite, gneiss, or mica slate; while the most val ued are of the catlinite or red pipestone from the celebrated Coteau des Prairies, Minnesota.
There is no special form which can be considered typical of the indus try of the Northern Atlantic coast. That, however, which is represented on our Plate (fig. 41) is the most prevalent in that locality. Both bowl and base are frequently ornamented with figures in relief representing some animal. In finish the simplest patterns have frequently as much polish and symmetry as the most elaborately carved and otherwise embel lished specimens.
The pipes of the North Atlantic area impress the observer with the belief that they were manufactured by the persons who used them, each artificer carrying out his own design; but pipes of the Southern seaboard occur in more regular patterns, and evidently were carved by those who made their preparation a regular occupation. We know also from old records that the natives of the upland regions manufactured them in quantities and traded them to adjoining tribes. The Cherokees were especially celebrated for their skill. Many of their stone pipes are large, sometimes weighing two or three pounds each, and elaborately orna mented with figures of birds, quadrupeds, men, and women ingeniously carved on the bowl and the base. (See Vol. I. pl. 38.) Not rarely these groupings are quite obscene, which is an exception in North American aboriginal art, however common in that of South America.
The stone pipes of the Haidah Indians (Kolushes) of British Columbia and Vancouver Island have a strong individuality. They are of a firm black slate which takes a high polish, and they are carved in complex and elaborate details, imitating some animate object. Pipes of this unmis takable material and make have been found in the Mississippi Valley and as far to the east as the States of New Jersey and Delaware. This
fact is but one of many illustrating the extent of the aboriginal com merce of the country.
The stone smoking-pipes from the mounds of the Ohio Valley are most interesting. Their characteristic form is shown on our Plate (jig. 40). The receptacle for the tobacco is on the middle of a base about three inches in length, one end of which forms a handle, while a drilled hole in the other end communicates with the bowl. The head of the carved figure, if the pipe bears one, is turned toward the drilled end. From the size of the hole, it is probable that the pipe was smoked without the use of a stein. The bowl is frequently cut into fairly life-like images of birds and other animals. From their supposed resemblance to the shape of the war-ships so called, they are sometimes spoken of as "monitor" pipes.
Idols and of birds, quadrupeds, and other animals are common on the stone pipes of the Mound-builders. Separate images which we might suppose to be idols or amulets are, however, rare. They have been found in New Jersey, rudely representing the human head. Others, somewhat better worked, but still extremely rude, repre senting the human figure male or female, have been exhumed from ancient graves in Georgia and Tennessee. One such from the former State is shown in Figure 32 (pl. 6), from Col. Jones's work.
The statement, often repeated, that the Indian tribes of the Atlantic States were not idol-worshippers, is not literally true, as they carved images from wood and stone, and also moulded them iu clay, and attached to these objects sacred associations.
Tablds and Inscribed stones, regular in shape, with carved designs, have been reported from many sections of the United States. Some of the best specimens are from the Ohio mounds. Their use is uncertain: some competent archreologists regard them as stamps for impressing the design in color on skins, etc.
Several of these tablets, containing elaborate designs or what look like alphabetic characters, have been brought to public notice. All such may be regarded as fraudulent, the general culture of the ancient tribes not admitting of either of these products.
A typical example of an authentic tablet exhumed by the Rev. J. C. Maclean in Southern Ohio is exhibited on our Plate (fig-. 33).