The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-25
THEY ARE FOND OF THE WEED,
Indians All Smoke From Their Early
Childhood.

Childhood.
From the Washington Evening Star.
When Sir Walter Raleigh, in whose debt
| all smokers must everlastingiy remain,
was surprised one morning by his servant,
who found him smoking pipe. and think
ing that he was on fire, threw a bucket
of water over him, he inaugurated that
discomfort which, it is said, all users of
the weed must undergo by way of pre-
liminary training; yet, oddly enough, in
the home of tobacco among the Indian
tribes, no such preliminaries are under
gone by neophytes. 1t is no unusual thing
to see an Indian mother smoking a cigar
ette and occasionally allowing her child,
still in arms, to take a puff or two. The
average Indian commences to smoke when
he Is less than year old, and continues
the practice until he dies; but he seldom
smokes to excess, and he can hardly be
said to smoke regularly in the way that
we do. A report by the Smithsonian In
stitution, now in press, contains some in
formation on the subject of smoking
among the Indians, which is of interest.
The Indians do not regard tobacco as
we do, nor do they use 1t in the same way
While there is a social side to their smok-
ing, the principal use of the leaf is cere-
so with them, and even now, when the
native preparations are largely replaced
by the cheaper and more convenient sup
ply at the traders stores, the old religious
feeling is still there. There IS something
| about tobacco which turns the mind of
| the smoker into contemplatve moods, the
| savage mind not less than the mind of the
poet.
The Indian will buy whatever he needs
when he has money-sugar coffee, calico
or what not-but he cannot bring himself
| to buy tobacco; he cannot profane the "sa-
cred soother" by buying 1t as he would
| horse. Yet q smoke is an indispensable
part of every transaction, whether it be a
| religious ceremony, declaration of war
| or the purchase of a yard of calico. The
| traders have come to recognize this, and
in every store there is little tin basin
on the counter land generally nailed to it,,
| containing tobacco, cigarette papers and
matches which are freely used by all
Corners Even the worst beats" are
sensitive to any remark about their use
of this free tobacco, and any allusion to
1t will drive them out of the place and
keep them away for days.
In its present forms tobacco has far out
grown the early preparations. Originally
the leaf was merely dried and crumbled in
the hands, and the native tobaccos still
in use by the Indians are prepared in this
simple way to-day. In the early part of
| the seventeenth century the Virginia to-
bacco was imported into England in the
leaf and was rubbed small for use in
pipe but the Spanish tobacco came in the
form of tightly rolled balls, nearly the size
of a mans head. This tobacco was cut
into small pieces on a maple block, and,
the pipes being filled, were lighted with
embers from a fire of juniper wood, taken
from chatting dish with silver tongs. This
paraphernalia was an indispensable part
of a smokers outfit.
Among the Indian tribes of the north
west where the tobacco plant is not
Indigenous, various preparations took its
place before the advent of the traders.
Among these were the leaves Of the su-
mac, which were dried for use and after
ward, when needed, were crumbled I'm the
hands. Much more prevalent, however,
was the use of the bark of the red osier,
known among frontiersmen as kiilginik
or kinnlklnik, which name is said to have
been derived from the language Of the Da-
kota. This matedial is the thin, semi
transparent bark or inner skin of the
young shoots, which are available so long
as they retain their red outer skin.
For long time after Ii Introduction into
Europe tobacco was smoked only in pipes
as IL is now among the northwestern In
dams Oddly enough, the early European
pipes closely resemble the present Indian
forms, being short and straight in the
stem, and higher and narrower in the
bowl than the pipes of to-day. The In
dams much prefer their own pipes, II they
can get them but pipes Of native manu-
facture are now seldom found in use, al
though numbers Of fine specimens can be
seen in the museums The favorite ma
terial was catlinite, or red pipestone; and
although this material is found only near
the present town Of Pipestone, Mimi, so
highly esteemed was IL that Il passed by
barter from tribe to tribe, and has been
found over I 900 miles from the place where
II was quarried. When iirst taken out this
stone Is soft and easily carved; afterward
IL becomes quite hard and takes on fine
polish. Sometimes the bows OF these pipes
were inlad with tin or lead. forming elab-
crate and beautiful designs.
In social or in ceremonial smoking the
pipe IS never actually pat into the mouth,
. but D. pressed between the lips and the
mouthpiece remains day. In taking the
smoke the lips are slightly parted az the
corners OF the mouth, and the air which
is sucked ln mixes with the smoke and Is
drawn into the lungs. To be perfectly au
falt thls must boz done with considerable
nolsoi according to Indian onQuetto, such