The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1896-11-04
A UNIQUE PIPE.
Whssh II the Result of South African
Inventive Genius.

whssh IL the Result of South African
Inventive Genius.
The Kaffirs of South Africa are in
many ways a remarkable people, but
perhaps the most singular thing about
them is their mode of smoking, and es-
pecially their pipes. The ordinary KAT
fir pipe is sufficiently formidable at
fair. 1t is almost as big and heavy as
the knob kerry" or war club, which
it often considerably resembles ia
form; at a pinch it would make for
midable weapon in the hands of its mus
cular owner. But 1t isn't every Kaffir
who can afford an ornate pipe of this
description, and every Kaffir must
smoke-so he thinks. Curiously
enough, the poorest man smokes the
biggest pipe-the biggest, indeed, on
the face of the earth, for it is nothing
less than the earth itself. / don't sup
pose that he is so conceited, though the
Kaffirs have plenty of conceit, as to inn
agine that he Gowns the EARTH" but he
does use it for tobacco pipe-and this
is how he does it:
u
of tobacco, but has no regulation pipe.
Shall he forego his smoke? Not he;
necessity is certainly the mother of
invention in this case. He first pours
a little water on the ground and makes
a sort of mud pie. He then takes linn
Der twig and bends it into the shape of
bow; this he buries in the mud in such
a way that both ends protrude little
at the surface He then waits awhile
for the mud to harden. He doesn't
mind waiting, for Kaffir has lots of
time, and it isn't necessary to wait long,
for the hot tropical sun bakes the clay
very quickly. When he considers that
the pie is ''done to turn" he pulls out
the twig, which, of course, leaves a
| curved hole through the clay. At one
end he scoops out sort of bowl, in
which he places his tobacco. AT the
other end he fastens little mound to
serve as mouthpiece; it looks more
| like the opening of a small ant hill
than anything else. European, prob
ably, wouldn't relish a mouthpiece of
mud-he couldn't use it, anyhow, for
his nose would be too much in the way,
but Kaffir doesn't stick at trifles, and
he has no nose to speak of. So he
| drops live coal on the tobacco in the
bowl, lies fiat on the ground. applies
his thick lips to the orifice and sucks
away-drawing in vast quantities of
| the rankest, vilest smoke that ever
made human being gasp and choke.
For it is not enough that his tobacco
is the coarsest and strongest and in
every way the worst that the soil of
this planet produces; mere tobacco
isn't potent enough to satisfy KAT
fir, though single Whit of il
would PROSTATE the most accomplished
European smoker. So he mixes with it
liberal quantity of "dagha," kind
of hemp with intoxicating qualities
similar to those of hashish. This is a
drug powerful enough to paralyze even
a South African, and by the time his
pipe is finished the smoker frequently
falls in fit. In many cases he be-
comes quite insensible, and for long
time lies like a log; indeed-so PERM
cious is the stuff-he sometimes never
arouses. But lives are cheap in Africa:
what does it matter, one Kaffir more or
less? just where the pleasure comes in
q civilized man is at a loss to discover:
but no amount of argument can wean
the South African savage from his to-
bacco and 'dagha. "-Washington Star.