Arizona republican., 1899-05-15
THE INDIAN SMOKERS
Tobacco Used Before inc
 Days Of Raleigh.
Smoking Was a Religious Rlfe-En- dispenSable 10 EVeiY TTanSaC- fiOn-N Native Substitutes for inc weed-7hG Original KiIIikinIk

found him smoking, and. thinking that I he was on fire. threw bucket of water over him. he inaugurated that disc2In-
 fort which it is said all users of the weed must undergo by way Of preIlm- mary training; yet eddy enough, n the home of tobacco, among the lndlah | tribes. no such prelimin2rIes are ul- dargone joy neophytes. IL is no Un-
 usual thing to see an Indian mother smoking a cigarette and occasionally | allowing her child, still in a-nls, to take a puff or two. The average In dian commences to smoke when he IS
 less than year old and he continues
 the practice until he dies, but he sel-
 dom smokes to excess, and he can
 hardly be said to sncke regularly, ln
 the way that we do.
 Raleigh little dreamed of the far reaching consequences to follow his use of tobacco, and he had but faint l idea of the great obligation under
 which he was placing all later ages CT mankind by the introduction Of the
 queens herb" But little over three 1 centuries have elapsed since that day when he took an involuntary cold bath, | yet We have drifted so far from that | time that it might be interesting tb | hark back and see what the Indians, ! the original users Cf the divine weed, i have done with 1t.
 1 The Indians do not regard tObacc5
 as we do nor do they use 1t in the same
 way. W Whi,e there is a social side to | their smoking the principal use of the | leaf is ceremonial and religious. l. has always been. 50 with ;hen, and even now, when the native prepara-
 tiOns are largely replaced by the 1 cheaper and mere convenient supply | at traders stores, the old religious | feeling is still there. There is some l thing about tobacco which turns the
 mind of the smoker into contempla- 1 tive moods, the savage mind net less
 than the mind of the poet Could we | procure them doubtless we could find 1 Indian equivalents for the song Of i Aldrich to his pipe:
 ! The curling Wreaths like turbans seem
 Of silent slaves that come and go
 Or Viziers, packed with craft and crime.
 l Whom 1 oehcad from time tc time, | With pipe-stem, at sing.e blow. i And now and then 2 lingering cloud
 Takes gracious form at my desire, i And at my side my lady stands
 UnWinds her veil with snowy hands ! 4 shad0Wy shape, q breath of fire. Oh. LoveI ii you were only here,
 Beside me in this mellow light. l Though all the bitter winds sbOld blew.
 And all the ways be chcked with snow, 'TW0ald be a true Arabian night There is nc one thing so freely given from friend to friend as tobacco. Per hips this arises partly from the con vivial nature Of the practice. perhaps
 from scme bit of that divipn quality
 Of which the poets sing. Certain it is that back in is prehistoric home it ex- ercised the same mellowing and s1ften- ing influence that has come to be as i soc1ated with it among us. The In- dian will buy whatever he needs when
 he has mOney-sUgar, coffee, calico. or
 what nct-bHt he cannot bring himself to buy tobacco; he cannot profane the
 'sacrcd sOOthe:" by buying it as he would horse. Yet a smoke is an in- disDensab.e part of every transaction, 1 whether it he a religious ceremony, 9 declaration cf WIT, CT the purchase Of a yard Of calico. The traders have come to recognize this and in every store there is a little tin basin On the counter (and generally nailed to i0 containing tobacco, cigarette papers. and matches, which are freely used by all corners. Even the worst beats are sensitive tc any remark about their use Of this free tobacco. and any aIlu- sion to it vii drive them out of the place and keep them away for days
 In it's present form tobacco has far OCtgrCVn the early preparations. Originally the leaf was merely dried and crumDled in the hands. and the native tobacccs still in use by the h. dians arc prepared in this simple way today ii the early part of the seven toe1th century the Virginia tobacco was imported into England in the leaf and was rubbed small for use in a pipe. but the Spanish tobacco came in the form Of tightly rOlIad balls. nearly the
 size Cf a mans head. This tobacco rA as cut into small pieces on maple block, and the pipes, being filled, were lighted with embers from fire Of juniper wood, taken from chafng dish with silver tOngs. This para
 phernalia was an indispensable part of a smokers outfit.
 Among the Indian tribes cf the northwest, where the tobacco plant is not indigenous, various preparations tcOk it's place before the advent of the traders. Among these were the leaves of the sumach. which were dried for use and afterward when needed were crUm0led in the hands. Much mere prevalent. however. was the use of the
 bark Of the red osier. known among frCntiersmen as killikinik or kinnik- ink which name is said to have been derived from the language of the Da- kota. This material is the thin semi transparent bark or inner skin of the young shoots, which are available so long as they retain their ced outer skin.
 In the preparation cf killikinik the bark was peeled and dried for future use. Although smoked al all times, 1t was considered best in winter To pre- pare it, the curly shavings are laid on 9 piece of board and with the left hand passed under the blade Of 9 large knife which is worked up and down after the manner of a fodder cutter In using the material at the nresant day tn-n