In the absence of a knowledge of the metals, the ingenuity of man contrives to fashion from the different varieties of stone, from the tusks and bones of animals, and the harder kinds of wood, such rude implements as his necessities demand, and such ornaments as his fancy suggests. And even among nations who have a limited knowledge of the metals, we find these characteristic implements of a ruder state still adhered to. In Mexico and Peru, where the use of most of the metals, except iron, was well understood, the stone axe and flint-tipped arrow and lance were in common use, at the period of the discovery. The early explorers found all the American nations, from the squalid Esquimaux, who struck the morse with a lance pointed with its own tusks, to the haughty Aztec, rivalling in his barbaric splendor the magnificence of the East, in possession of them. We are not surprised, therefore, at their occurrence in the mounds. We find them with the original and with the recent deposits, and the plough turns them up to light on every hand. And so striking is the resemblance between them all, that we are almost ready to conclude they were the productions of the same people. This conclusion would be irresistible, did we not know that the wants of man have ever been the same, and have always suggested like forms to his implements, and similar modes of using them. The polished instrument with which the pioneer of civilization prostrates the forest, has its type in the stone axe of the Indian which his plough the next day exposes to his curious gaze. In the barrows of Denmark and Siberia, in the tumuli on the plains of Marathon, and even under the shadow of the pyramids themselves, the explorer finds relics, almost identical with those disclosed from the mounds, and closely resembling each other in material, form, and workmanship. We have consequently little whereby to distinguish the remains of the mound-builders, so far as their mere implements of stone are concerned, except the position in which they are found, and the not entirely imaginary superiority of their workmanship, from those of the succeeding races. We have, however, in the different varieties of stone of which they are composed, the evidences of a more extended intercourse than we are justified in ascribing to the more recent tribes.
The articles composed of stone and bone have a great variety of forms, which were probably suggested by the purposes for which they were designed. They will be classified, so far as their purposes seem apparent. p211
SPEAR OR LANCE HEADS.—Great numbers of flint points are found which, it is clear from their size and form, could not have been used for tipping arrows.
Fig. 99 presents several of these, greatly reduced from the original size. Nos. 1 and 2 were designed to be lashed to shafts, previously drilled or split to receive them. There are others, however, the manner of using which is not so Fig. 100. obvious. No. 3 is an example. It measures eleven inches in length by two and a half in its greatest breadth. It has been suggested that it was fastened at right angles to a handle and used as a sort of battle-axe. In one of the mounds already several times referred to (page 149) were found, amongst large quantities of fragments, several perfect specimens of rather remarkable character; one of which, beautifully worked from milky quartz, is herewith presented of half size (Fig. 100). The difficulty of accounting for the manner in which they were used is scarcely less than in the instance last mentioned. It has been suggested that they were perhaps designed to be used in the construction of swords, or offensive weapons, on the plan of those made by the ancient Mexicans. These were formed by slitting a cane or other slender piece of tough wood, and inserting blades of stone, usually slips of obsidian, upon either side. These were retained in their place by firmly lashing the separated wood together, and filling the cavities with some hard variety of gum.133 The implement was wielded with both hands, and, with its sharp serrated edges, constituted a very formidable p212 weapon. This notion is favored by the order in which some of the specimens, near the edges and least disturbed portions of the altar, were found.
Some spear-points of obsidian have been found, which, judging from the fragments, must have been of large dimensions. The ready fracture of this mineral, upon exposure to strong heat, has been exceedingly unfavorable to the recovery entire of any articles composed of it. This is the more to be regretted, from the fact that it is believed to be found in place only in Mexico and the volcanic regions of the South-west, and a comparison of the articles found here with those of the same material obtained from that direction, might serve to throw some degree of light upon the origin and connections of the race of the mounds. A further notice will be taken of the mineral when we come to speak of the minerals and fossils found in the mounds.
ARROW-POINTS.—Arrow-points are abundant throughout the West, especially in the valleys where the mounds occur; but although frequently found, they are not plentiful in the mounds themselves. They are much less numerous than the lance-heads just noticed. Sketches of a number, exhibiting their predominant forms, are given in the engraving. It will be noticed that they possess a great diversity of form. Some are barbed and have a serrated edge quite as sharp and ragged as the edge of a saw; some are so chipped that the line of their edges forms a large angle to their planes, as if to give them a revolving or tearing motion; and others are narrow and pointed, as if particularly designed for penetrating deeply. If anything were to be gained by it, a classification of these relics might be attempted. We might designate those having serrated edges and barbs, as the war-arrow, intended not only to penetrate the flesh, but retain their hold and rankle and fester in the wound; those destitute of this feature, as the peace-arrow, or hunter-arrow.
Many, as has already been remarked, and as will be perceived from the p213 engravings, are delicately wrought, and from the richest materials within the reach of their makers. From one of the mounds in that, by this time, familiar locality, Mound City, (see page 149,) were taken a number of beautiful ones of transparent or hyaline quartz, which, from the brilliant play of colors upon their fractured surfaces, are real gems. It is not likely that these, and some others of like delicate material, were used for ordinary purposes, but rather for display and ornament.134 From the same mound were also taken one or two arrow-points of obsidian.
Arrow-points, differing from each other only in the variety of stone of which they are composed, are discovered in all quarters of the globe. They have been found in the Scythian tumuli of Siberia, in the tombs of Egypt,135 upon the plains of Greece;136 and in the rude monuments of ancient Scandinavia. But whether obtained from Asia, from Europe, Africa, or America, they are almost identical in form and workmanship, and might readily be mistaken for the productions of the same people. Their prevalence seems to mark that stage of man’s progress which the antiquaries of the north of Europe have denominated the “stone age,” and which was followed by the “age of bronze,” and the “age of iron.” The manufacture of these arrow-points involves no inconsiderable degree of skill, as will be very apparent to any one who has the curiosity to attempt an imitation from the raw material. It has hence been inferred that it was anciently an art, like that of the potter, assigned to a class of armorers or makers of arrow-heads, whose skill was the result of long experience in the manufacture.
Arrow and lance heads, and cutting implements of the numerous varieties of quartz, embracing every shade of color and degree of transparency, from the dull blue of the ordinary hornstone to the brilliant opalescence of the chalcedonic varieties, are frequent in the mounds. Some are worked with great skill from pure, limpid crystals of quartz, others from crystals of manganesan garnet, and others still from obsidian (the itzli of the Mexicans, and gallinazo stone of the Peruvians). It is a singular fact, however, that few weapons of stone or other materials are discovered in the sepulchral mounds; most of the remains found with the skeletons are such evidently as were deemed ornamental, or recognised as badges of distinction. Some of the altar or sacrificial mounds, on the other hand, have the deposits within them almost entirely made up of finished arrow and spear points, intermixed with masses of the unmanufactured material. From one altar were taken several bushels of finely worked lance-heads of milky quartz, nearly all of which had been broken up by the action of fire. (See page 149.) In another mound, an excavation six feet long and four broad disclosed upwards of six hundred spear-heads or discs of hornstone, rudely p214 blocked out, and the deposit extended indefinitely on every side. (See page 158.) Some of these are represented in the accompanying engraving. They are necessarily much reduced. The originals are about six inches long and four broad, and weigh not far from two pounds each. Some specimens from this deposit are nearly round, but most are of the shape of those here figured. We are wholly at a loss respecting their purposes, unless they were designed to be worked into the more elaborate implements to which allusion has been made, and were thus roughly blocked out for greater ease of transportation from the quarries. With these relics, were found several large nodules of similar material, from which portions had been chipped off, exposing a nucleus, around which the accretion seems to have taken place. These nodules are covered to the depth of half an inch, with a calcario-silicious deposit, white, and of great hardness. Such nodules are found in the secondary limestone formations.
Several localities are known from which the material may have been obtained. One of these, named “Flint Ridge,” exists in the counties of Muskingum and Licking, in Ohio. It extends for many miles, and countless pits are to be observed throughout its entire length, from which the stone was taken. These excavations are often ten or fourteen feet deep, and occupy acres in extent. It is possible that the late, as well as the more remote races worked these quarries. Like the red pipe-stone quarry of the Coteau des Prairies, this locality may have been the resort of numerous tribes,—a neutral ground, where the war-hatchet for the time was buried, and all rivalries and animosities forgotten.
KNIVES AND OTHER CUTTING INSTRUMENTS.—Knives of flint and obsidian have been taken from several of the mounds. Some are identical with those of Mexico, most if not all of which were made of obsidian. That material, as also some varieties of flint, breaks with a very clear, conchoidal fracture. With skill and experience in the art, the mound-builders, as well as the Mexicans, succeeded in striking off thin, narrow slips, with edges sharp as razors. Clavigero states that so skilful were the Mexicans in the manufacture of obsidian knives, that a single workman could produce a hundred per hour. These answered many of the purposes for which the more delicate cutting instruments of the present day are used, such as shaving, and incising in surgical operations, not to mention the part which they p215 performed in the bloody observances of the Aztec ritual. Several knives of this description are represented in the following engraving, which also exhibits the absolute identity which sometimes exists between the remains of widely-separated people, and how, almost as it were by instinct, men hit upon common methods of meeting their wants.
No. 1 is of flint from a Scandinavian barrow; No. 2 is of hornstone from a mound in Ohio; and No. 3 is obsidian from the pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico. Some of these are not less than six inches in length and three-fourths of an inch in breadth; others are not more than two inches long, and of exceeding delicacy. Besides these, and constituting a much larger class, are found cutting implements chipped with great neatness, so as to produce as clear and smooth a cutting edge as practicable. In shape they somewhat resemble an old-fashioned table-knife. Some are composed of the beautiful hyaline before mentioned, others of obsidian. Some irregular chips of flint have been found, with one or more sharp edges, which, it is presumed, were used for like purposes.
There is another variety of cutting instrument which it may not be out of place to notice here. These consist of hard compact minerals, worked into a chisel shape. Some have a very sharp, smooth edge, and form quite a good substitute for metal. Engravings of two, of full size, are herewith presented. They are formed of very compact nodules of brown hematite, which have been ground into form and polished with great labor. They have a submetallic lustre, and very nearly the specific gravity of iron. A file produces a scarcely perceptible impression upon their rounded surfaces. Another variety is occasionally found in p216 Fig. 107. the Eastern States, of which Fig. 107 is an example. They are sometimes composed of slate, and are of various sizes, often measuring five or six inches in length. They are very well adapted for flaying animals, and other analogous purposes.
AXES.—The remark made in respect to the occurrence of the arrow-points, is equally true of the ancient axes. Although abundant in the valleys occupied by the mound-builders, they are not frequent in the mounds themselves. Those taken from the tumuli do not, however, differ materially from others found scattered over the surface of the earth from the St. Lawrence to Panama and the hills of Chili. They all have the same general features, and vary only in their materials and the style of their workmanship. Some of those found in the mounds and elsewhere at the West, are wrought with great skill, and from rare and beautiful materials, usually of the granitic or sienitic series of minerals. Amongst the Mexicans and Peruvians, axes of obsidian, and of basalt, greenstone, etc., were retained in common use, long after the discovery of the art of hardening copper.
The form of these relics seems to have been determined entirely by the manner in which they were designed to be used. Those intended for deadening trees or as war axes, have grooves for the adjustment of handles. There are many which are destitute of this feature, and which were probably designed to be used as chisels or gouges. Examples are given of each of these classes.
Fig. 108 is a fine specimen of the ancient axe. It was found within the large enclosure on Paint creek, noticed on page 58, and is regarded as a genuine relic of the mound-builders. Its form is almost identical with that of the forest axe of the present day. It is made of a very compact greenstone, and measures eight inches in length by five inches and a half in its greatest breadth, and weighs eight pounds. The marks of the pointed instrument with which it was chipped into form, are still discernible, notwithstanding the long use to which it has evidently been subjected.
The manner in which these instruments are mounted is apparent enough from their construction, and could hardly be mistaken even though the explanation were not furnished by the practice of the tribes still retaining their use.137 A tough withe, or green slip of wood of proper size was bent into the groove and encircled the axe; the ends were then firmly bound together with ligatures of hide or other material. p217 Still further to fasten and render the instrument firm and immovable in the handle, it was wedged on the inner edge, which usually was slightly hollowed for that purpose.
It is clear, from the weight of many of these axes, that they were designed to be wielded with both hands. Some weigh not less than fourteen pounds, but most range from six to ten. The average weight of the ordinary wood-axe of the present day, is about six pounds.
Engravings of a number of axes analogous to that above described, but less symmetrical in form, are herewith presented, Fig. 109. The smaller varieties were probably designed for war-axes or hatchets. They weigh from one to two and three pounds, and frequently have rounded heads, as if to serve the double purpose of hatchet and club. Occasionally one is found with a double blade, as shown in No. 1 of the engraving.
Fig. 113. The Hand-axes are destitute of grooves, and, as already observed, seem designed to be used as chisels or gouges. They are more numerous than the other variety, and are of all sizes, from two inches to a foot in length. Some, like Fig. 110, are nearly cylindrical; others, like Fig. 111, are gouge-shaped. Fig. 110 is remarkable as being the only specimen of this kind of axe recovered from the mounds, under such circumstances as to establish conclusively that it pertained to the builders. It is composed of greenstone, and the marks of the tool, by which it was pecked into shape, are distinctly visible upon it. The subjoined engraving (Fig. 112) presents examples of a number p218 of these axes. No. 3 is composed of tough sienite, is finely worked, and highly polished. No. 4 is of a species of variegated slate, and was found near Middletown, Connecticut.138 Nos. 1 and 2 are miscellaneous examples; both are composed of greenstone. This form of the stone axe is not peculiar to America. Numbers, differing only in material, are found in almost all parts of the globe. Fig. 113 represents two, composed of flint, which were brought from Denmark, by the late J. F. WOODSIDE, Esq., U. S. Consul at Copenhagen, and are now in possession of his family, at Chillicothe, Ohio. They were obtained from a Scandinavian barrow. No. 1 seems to have been simply chipped into shape, and never used; No. 2, on the other hand, is well polished, and has evidently seen much use. Except in respect to material, they are undistinguishable from thousands found in the United States.
It will be observed that the various kinds of axes above described, are imperforate. A few implements have however been discovered, which are generally called hatchets, and which have holes for the reception of handles. Examples p219 are given, Fig. 114. It is clear nevertheless, both from their form and material, that they were not designed for use. They may be regarded as having been intended simply for ornament or display. No. 1 is composed of a beautiful talcose slate of a greenish brown color, slightly veined with dark lines. It measures six inches in length, is two inches and a half broad at the centre, and five inches between the tips.
No. 4 was found in South Carolina, and is composed of a dark steatite. The others were found in Mississippi, and are for the most part composed of soft and easily-worked stone.139
Fig. 115 is of similar material with No. 1, Fig. 114, is highly polished, and measures six inches in length. The hole is half an inch in diameter at one end, but less at the other.140
Fig. 116 is an example of a kind of hammer or club-head of stone. It weighs about two pounds. Articles of this kind are not frequent; and none have been found in the mounds. It is probable that a withe was passed around the groove in the middle, and the ends firmly bound together. By this means the implement might be very efficiently used as a hammer or war-club. Spherical stones are often found, weighing from half a pound to two pounds. The manner in which they were used is, no doubt, correctly explained by Lewis and Clarke: Fig. 118. “The Shoshonee Indians use an instrument which was formerly employed among the Chippeways, and called by them pogamoggon. It consists of a handle, twenty-two inches long, made of wood, covered with leather, about the size of a whip-handle. At one end is a thong two inches in length, which is tied to a stone weighing two pounds, enclosed in a cover of leather. At the other end is a loop of the same material, which is passed around the wrist to secure the implement, with which they strike a powerful blow.” It is probable that the pear-shaped stones represented in the above engraving, Fig. 117, were used in like manner. Carver describes a weapon, in use by the tribes beyond the Mississippi river, which consisted of a curiously wrought stone, enclosed in leather as above, and fastened, like the slung-shot of the present day, to a thong, a yard p220 and a half long, which was also wound around the wrist. These weapons were often used in battle.
PESTLES.—A large number of implements have been discovered, which have evidently been used for pounding and reducing maize. Fig. 118 presents examples. These weigh generally not more than four or five pounds, though some are much heavier. Occasionally they are elaborately worked, but most are rude. None of these have been found in the mounds. Similar articles were in common use among the modern Indians. Rude mortars of various dimensions, composed of stone, were also frequent.
IMPLEMENTS OF BONE.—Pointed or sharpened bones of the deer and elk have been obtained from the ancient deposits in the mounds. Several are here represented, Fig. 119. They are reduced with entire regularity; and some of them, notwithstanding their decay, evince that they were originally highly polished. Nos. 1 and 3 were obtained from a mound in Cincinnati, and are evidently formed from the tibia of the elk.141
No. 2 was taken, together with several others, from a mound near Chillicothe, (see page 178,) and measures eight inches in length. It is formed from the ulna of the deer.
Some very delicate awl-shaped instruments have been found in the mounds, of which the above are full-sized sketches. They have been burned, and it is p221 impossible to tell of what description of bone they are made. They are as compact as ivory. Judging from the abundance of fragments, a considerable deposit must have been made where they were found. None were recovered entire; pieces were nevertheless found three inches in length. Some have round and tapering, others flat and chisel-shaped points; resembling in this, as in other respects, the different varieties of awls in use at the present day. They were probably used for similar purposes as needles and bodkins.142
Many implements made of elk and deer horns, and of the bones of the buffalo, have been found with the recent deposits in the mounds. These are all exceedingly rude.
DISCOIDAL STONES.—A few singular discs of stone have been discovered in the mounds, which seem related to a very numerous class of relics found scattered over the surface, from the valley of the Ohio to Peru. Those from the mounds will claim our first attention. Fig. 121, Numbers 3 and 5, are examples. They were taken, in connection with numerous other remains, from a mound numbered 1 within the great enclosure on the North fork of Paint creek. (See Plate X, p222 and also page 157). They are simple discs, (cut from plates of stone,) perfectly circular, but of variable thickness. The largest measures three inches and three fourths in diameter, by one inch and one tenth in thickness; the smallest, two and eight tenths, by nine tenths. They are of all intermediate sizes; a few have their edges slightly convex, but most are perfectly plane. Those first found by individuals residing in the vicinity, were called “weights,” from their resemblance to the iron weights in common use. They are made of a very dense ferruginous stone, of a black or dark brown ground, thickly interspersed with minute and brilliant specks of yellow mica; it receives a remarkably high polish, displaying the mica flakes with great beauty. The material was, not inaptly, termed “gold stone” by the persons who first discovered it. Several delicately carved articles of this material have been taken from the same locality; but it is a singular fact, that none have been found except in this particular mound. Judging from the accounts of others, and the number of fragments of these discs disclosed upon a full investigation of the mound, the deposit must have been very considerable; probably not less than thirty or forty were originally placed there.
It has been suggested that these stones were used in certain games, analogous to those known to have been practised by the North American tribes. The perfect polish of the edges of some of them weighs against this conclusion. They are certainly enigmatical in their purposes.
The numerous class of discoidal stones already referred to, as being in some degree related to those above described, are composed of a large variety of hard materials,—granite, porphyry, greenstone, jasper, quartz, etc.
They are of all sizes from two to six inches in diameter, and of variable thickness, seldom, however, less than an inch and a half. Some have concave sides, often perforated; others are solid or lenticular in shape, with oblique margins. Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 6, represent four varieties.
The sketches and accompanying sections will give a good idea of their character. Nos. 1 and 2 are the predominant forms, with sides more or less concave, and centre perforated. Many of this kind are marked with radiating lines, resembling bird tracks, as exhibited in No. 1. Occasionally both surfaces are thus marked. Some of those possessing concave sides are imperforate. No. 4 constitutes the simplest form, and approaches nearest to those found in the mounds; a very few are observed of the form represented by No. 6.
By far the larger proportion of these relics are worked with great symmetry, and are well polished; some, however, of manifestly similar purpose, are quite rude in workmanship and of coarse materials. None have been discovered in the mounds examined by the authors; and it is doubtful whether any have been found in them elsewhere, except with the recent deposits. We may safely set them down as of comparatively modern origin. It is known that, among the Indian tribes on the Ohio, and along the Gulf, such stones were in common use, in certain favorite games. Beyond the Mississippi their use is still retained. They display considerable skill, but undoubtedly fall within the capabilities of a very rude people. Their shape is that most easily obtained by attrition or grinding with other stones. p223 Adair describes them, and the game in which they were used, and remarks that they were “from time immemorial rubbed smooth on the rocks, and with prodigious labor,” and furthermore were so highly valued, “that they were kept with the strictest religious care from one generation to another, and were exempted from being buried with the dead.”
It is a singular fact that similar stones are found in Denmark, and Molina describes them as numerous in Chili. We may conclude that they everywhere had much the same use.143 p224
RINGS.—Among the implements maybe classed certain small grooved rings, beautifully worked from stone and bone. Some are composed of the micaceous stone, of which the mound discs already described are made, and are carved with the utmost delicacy, and highly polished. They measure about two inches and three fourths in diameter, and the thickness of the periphery is half an inch. They are deeply grooved upon the outer edge, and are pierced by eight small holes, at equal distances from each other, all radiating from the centre. Similar rings, of smaller size, have been found, cut from bone. They are pierced in the same manner with those above described. It is suggested that they formed part of a drilling apparatus, something like the “bow and drill” of the present day. Several of larger size than those here noticed were found, some years since, in a mound at Cincinnati. A variety of relics are found which resemble paint-mullers. Some of these are composed of brown hematite, and are very symmetrical in figure.
TUBES.—Not among the least remarkable and interesting relics, obtained from the mounds, are the stone tubes, of which several examples are given in the subjoined engraving, Fig. 122. They are all carved from fine-grained materials susceptible of receiving a polish and of being made ornamental, as well as useful. The finest specimen yet discovered, and which can scarcely be surpassed in the delicacy of its workmanship, was found in a mound in the immediate vicinity of Chillicothe. No. 1 is a greatly reduced sketch. It is composed of a compact variety of slate; the ground is brownish or leaden green, interstratified with veins of pure black, of variable thickness, from a line to the fourth of an inch. These, when worked obliquely to their planes, are decidedly ornamental. This stone cuts with great clearness, and receives a fine though not glaring polish. The tube under notice is thirteen inches long, by one and one tenth in diameter; one end swells slightly, and the other terminates in a broad, flattened, triangular mouth-piece, (so called for lack of a better designation,) of fine proportions, which is carved with mathematical precision. It is drilled throughout; the bore is seven tenths of an inch in diameter at the cylindrical end of the tube, and retains that p225 calibre until it reaches the point where the cylinder subsides into the mouth-piece, when it contracts gradually to one tenth of an inch at the end. The inner surface of the tube is perfectly smooth, till within a short distance of the point of contraction. For the remaining distance the circular striæ, formed by the drill in boring, are distinctly marked. The mound in which this relic was found is sepulchral in its character, and the burial had been made by fire. One end of the tube is somewhat discolored by the heat to which it was exposed. The carving, in this instance, is very fine, and much superior to anything of which the Indians of this day are known to be capable.
No. 2 is a sketch of another tube, also found in one of the sepulchral mounds near Chillicothe (see page 164). It is made of different material, less beautiful and more destructible than the one just described,—a variety of limestone. It measures but six inches in length by three fourths of an inch in diameter; the bore is half an inch in diameter. The surface is much decomposed; the spots which have resisted corrosion are polished to the highest degree. The inner surface is smooth, and retains a uniform calibre to within a short distance of the reduced end, where it contracts, exhibiting the circular striæ before noticed. A qualification of the remark respecting the calibre is perhaps necessary: at a point one inch and a half from the smaller end is an offset in the bore. Whether this is the result of accident or design, it is not undertaken to say; probably the former, as the feature has not been observed in any others which have fallen under notice. As these tubes have been regarded with considerable interest, it is deemed proper to note every circumstance respecting them, even though not considered of much importance by the investigators themselves.
Fig. 123 represents a tube of somewhat different character.144 It is carved from a dark, compact steatite, and measures ten inches in length by two inches in diameter at the larger, and one inch and a third at the smaller end. The bore is proportioned to the diameter, and is one and one tenth, and six tenths of an inch at the ends, respectively. Upon one side, as if to serve the double purpose of handle and ornament, is carved in high relief the figure of an owl, attached with its back to the tube. This carving is remarkably bold and spirited, and represents the bird with its claws contracted and drawn up, and head and beak elevated as if in an p226 attitude of defence and defiance. The action is very fine, but is imperfectly conveyed by the engraving. The implement weighs little less than four pounds. It was found in a mound on the Catawba river, Chester district, South Carolina.
Fig. 124 is a tube of similar material with that last described.145 It is six inches long; its greatest and least diameters being one inch and a quarter, and one inch and a half respectively, with a proportionate bore. At a point about three inches from the larger end, is an oval hole or stop. It was found while ploughing, near Marietta, Ohio.
It has been suggested that the last two articles were designed as wind instruments. It is very certain that the skill of the present day succeeds in producing very indifferent music from them. Either the art of playing upon them has sadly deteriorated, or the musical taste of the makers was not regulated by existing standards. It has further been suggested that tubes of the character of those first described were designed as auxiliary to the eye in making distant observations.146 If it were deemed necessary to attempt an explanation of the probable purposes of every relic discovered, a conjecture, at least, might be based upon the peculiar mouth-pieces which many of these tubes possess,—namely, that they were used as pipes for smoking purposes. The furthest advance towards designating their purposes, which it is here ventured to make, is to class them amongst implements.147 p227
There is another variety of tubes, which it may not be improper to notice in this connection, though partaking rather of the character of ornaments than implements. Fig. 125, No. 1, represents one of these. It is in the form of a triangular prism, with sides slightly concave and angles rounded. It is three inches in length by one and three tenths in diameter at the ends, and is perforated longitudinally; the bore is half an inch in diameter. It is of the same variety of stone as the large tube first described, and of similar workmanship. No. 2 is, however, the prevailing form of articles of this description. It is a hollow cylinder, a little over four inches in length, swelling gently from the ends to the centre, where it measures an inch and a quarter in diameter; calibre, half an inch; material as above. Both these articles are highly polished. It is possible that they were worn as amulets, or as simple ornaments. This notion is favored by the fact, that none have been discovered which are not made of rare and beautiful stones.
PIPES.—The mound-builders were inveterate smokers, if the great number of pipes discovered in the mounds be admitted as evidence of the fact. These constitute not only a numerous but a singularly interesting class of remains. In their construction, the skill of the makers seems to have been exhausted. Their general form, which may be regarded as the primitive form of the implement, is well exhibited in the accompanying sketch, Fig. 126. p228
They are always carved from a single piece, and consist of a flat curved base, of variable length and width, with the bowl rising from the centre of the convex side. From one of the ends, and communicating with the hollow of the bowl, is drilled a small hole, which answers the purpose of a tube; the corresponding opposite division being left for the manifest purpose of holding the implement to the mouth. The specimen above represented is finely carved from a beautiful variety of brown porphyry, granulated with variously colored materials,—the whole much changed by the action of fire, and somewhat resembling porcelain. It is intensely hard, and successfully resists the edge of the finest tempered knife. The length of the base is five inches, breadth of the same one inch and a quarter. The bowl is one inch and a quarter high, slightly tapering upwards, but flaring near the top. The hollow of the bowl is six tenths of an inch in diameter. The perforation answering to the tube is one sixth of an inch in diameter, which is about the usual size. This circumstance places it beyond doubt that the mouth was applied directly to the implement, without the intervention of a tube of wood or metal. It will be observed that it is ornamented with cup-shaped holes, an eighth of an inch broad and about the same depth. Seven of these are placed in a circle upon each side of the bowl, which has a line of them extending spirally around it.
Fig. 127 is another pipe of a coarse-grained granite. It was not found in the mounds, but was turned up by the plough, in the vicinity of one of the large enclosures on the banks of Paint creek. It is quite unlike those figured above in shape, and perhaps belonged to a later race.
Such is the general form of these implements. The largest proportion of those which have been found in the mounds, however, are of much more elaborate workmanship. Their character has been briefly noticed on a previous page. (See page 152.) They are sculptured into singular devices—figures of the human head, and of various beasts, birds, and reptiles. These figures are all executed in miniature, but with a strict fidelity to nature. The attitudes of the animals are characteristic; their very habits, in some cases, are indicated. Most are worked in porphyry; and all display a truthfulness, delicacy, and finish, which we are unprepared to look for, except among the remains of a people considerably advanced in the arts. Some of them represent animals peculiar to the lower latitudes. Indeed, so remarkable in many respects are they regarded, in their bearing upon some of the more important questions connected with American archæology, particularly the migrations of the race of the mounds, that their full consideration is reserved for another place. They will be noticed at length, in connection with similar remains, under the more appropriate head of “Sculptures.”
Besides these varieties of pipes, numerous others are found, most of which are probably referable to a comparatively recent era. They differ in style from those found in the mounds, and are for the greater part composed of steatites and other soft and easily worked varieties of stone. Some are of large size, and are boldly p229 though not in general elegantly sculptured. They will also be noticed under the same head with those last mentioned.
From the appearance of these relics it is fairly inferable that, among the mound-builders as among the tribes of North American Indians, the practice of smoking was very general if not universal. The conjecture that it was also more or less interwoven with their civil and religious observances, is not without its support. The use of tobacco was known to nearly all the American nations, and the pipe was their grand diplomatist. In making war and in concluding peace it performed an important part. Their deliberations, domestic as well as public, were conducted under its influences; and no treaty was ever made unsignalized by the passage of the calumet. The transfer of the pipe from the lips of one individual to those of another was the token of amity and friendship, a gage of honor with the chivalry of the forest which was seldom violated. In their religious ceremonies it was also introduced, with various degrees of solemnity. A substitute for tobacco was sometimes furnished in the tender bark of the young willow; other substitutes were found among the Northern tribes in the leaves and roots of various pungent herbs. The custom extended to Mexico, where however it does not seem to have been invested with any of those singular conventionalities observed in the higher latitudes. It prevailed in South America and in the Caribbean islands. The form of the Indian pipe of North America is extremely variable, and very much the subject of individual taste. Some are excessively rude, but most are formed with great labor 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 chef d’œuvres of modern Indian art. The following engraving, Fig. 128, from originals, will exhibit their predominant form, which it will be observed is radically different from that of the mound pipes. The larger of the two was once the favorite pipe of the eloquent KEOKUK, chief of the Sacs and Foxes, whose name occupies a conspicuous place in the Indian history of the North-west. These pipes were smoked with long tubes of wood, from twenty inches to three feet in length, fantastically ornamented with feathers and beads. p230