The Mound-Builders

Chapter VII: Tobacco Pipes and Smoking Customs

CHAPTER VII TOBACCO PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS Primitive smoking a ceremonial procedure-Smoking customs of the American Indians-Calumets and the calumet ceremony-The Mound-builder smoking complex-Distribution and types of tobacco pipes--Pipes as votive and sacrificial offerings. T OBACCO pipes, in common with most artifacts of the Mound-builders, present both utility and resthetic aspects . The resthetic interest, however, both artistic and ceremonial, greatly exceeds the utility, and is so important as to justify extended discussion in this special chapter, notwithstanding the attention already given to pipe design and manufacture as a Mound-builder art and industry. PRIMITIVE SMOKING A CEREMONIAL PROCEDURE While in a sense the highly ornate pipes of the mound-building peoples served a utility purpose, it is probable that the everyday pipe of the confirmed smoker is to be found in the plainer, less pretentious stone pipes of rather frequent occurrence and that other ordinary pipes were made of wood or even from the prosaic corncob. The abundant occurrence of pipes and the occasional finding of tobacco itself within the ancient mounds and habitation sites are conclusive evidences that their builders were strongly addicted to the use of the weed. As is so often true of archreological evidence, however, the interpretation of these pipes and other items entering into the tobaccousing complex of the Mound-builders is dependent in great part on comparison and analogy with historic peoples-in this instance with their relatives the American Indians. It is well known that tobacco-smoking as practiced by the American Indians under normal conditions partakes strongly of the cere152 TOBACCO PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS 153 monial, and analogy doubtless may extend the concept to the mound-building peoples of prehistoric times. The use of tobacco has been alternately lauded and condemned , and it is not yet accepted in every quarter as an unalloyed blessing notwithstanding the recent great extension of sentiment in its favor. Nevertheless no other trait of the American aborigines has evoked more human interest or figured more prominently in literature. As a result, the use of the plant by the native Americans, from the days of discovery to the present, is well known and fully recorded in studies and reports of ethnologists and other observers. In the interest of understanding and appreciation of tobacco and its use by the mound-building peoples a brief digest of this information is essential. Present-day use of tobacco, particularly in America, is very largely a utility trait. It is true that a certain amount of sentiment and social amenity attaches to smoking, and tobacco pipes and other media for using tobacco afford something of an opportunity for artistic expression; but in the main the trait finds its justification in the quest for enjoyment and in the stimulation or sedative effect accruing to the smoker. With the American Indian, however, though these utility considerations were factors in the use of tobacco, they were overshadowed by its ceremonial significance and the artistic development which invariably accompanies the ceremonial. Keeping in mind the characteristic phlegmatic temperament of the native American race, it would be difficult to picture either the historic Indian or the prehistoric builder of mounds as voicing the sensuous utterance of Kingsley's character in Westward Ho! or enthusing over the more delicate tribute to tobacco contained in Ingersoll's Christmas Sermon. SMOKING CUSTOMS OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS Among the native American tribes of historic record tobaccosmoking was practiced as a medicinal agency and was supposed to be endowed with most potent curative powers. It was 154 THE MOUND-BUILDERS in ceremonial proceedings, however, such as councils and treaty-making, whether with other tribes or with whites, that the practice was of greatest significance. No important undertaking could be launched and no peace effected without the smoking of the calumet. The ceremonial burning or smoking of tobacco was a sacrifice to idols after the manner of offering incense; priests smoked tobacco and inhaled the fumes in FIG. 89. CONICAL AND ELBOW TYPES OF PIPES These simple forms are characteristic of a wide area of the mound region, particularly with the simpler cultures of aborigines. Scale, 3/4. preparation for receiving oracles and messages from the spirit world; and the narcotic properties of the weed were made use of for inducing sleep. Socially, the burning or smoking of tobacco and the offering of facilities for so doing were regarded as the highest compliment that...