The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-11
INDIAN SMOKERS
WAYS.
TOBACCO USED BEFORE THE DAYS
OF RALEIGH.

dispensibIe 10 Every Transaction.
Native Substitutes for the Weed.
The Original Standardization
PipeS-smolSing as Il Ceremony.
From the New York Commercial-Adver-
user.
When Sir Walter Raleigh was surprised
one morning by his servant who found
hin smoking a pipe, and thinking that
he was on fire, threw a bucket of water
over him. he naugurated that dscom-
fort which it is said all users Of the weed
must undergo by way of preliminary
training; yet oddly enough. in the home Of
tobacco among the Indian tribes. no such
prelimnaries are undergone by neophytes
It Is no unusual thug 10 see an Indian
mother smoking a cigarette and occas-
ionally 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 he 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
Raleigh little dreamed Of the far-reach-
ing consequences TO follow his use of to-
baeco, and he had bat u ralnt idea of the
great obligation under which he was plac-
ing all later ages of mankind by the in
PRODUCTION of the queens herb" But
lttle over three centuries have elapsed
since that day when he took an nvolun-
tary cold bath. yet we have drifted so
far from that time that Il might be in
teresting to bark back and see what the
Indians, the original users of the divine
weed, have done with It.
The Indians do not regard tobacco as
we do nor do they use it In the same way.
While there Is a social side to their smok-
Ing the principal use of the leaf is cere-
monial and religious. 1t has ALWAYS been
so with them. and even now. when the ma
tive preparations are largely replaced by
the cheaper and more convenient supply
at traders stores The Old religious feel
Ing is stll there There is something
about tobacco which turns the mind of
the smoker into contempIative moods.
the savage mind not less than.the mind
OF tne poet Could we procure them doubt
less we could find Indian equivalents for
the song of Aldrich 10 his pipe:
The curling wreaths' like turbans seem
or silent slaves that come and go
or Niz'ers packed with craft and crime,
Whom l behead from time 70 time.
with pipe-stem. az a single blow,
AND now and then a lingering cloud
Iakes gracious form at my desire
ana at my side my lady stands
Cu"lnds her veil with snowy hands
A shadowy shape. a breath Of fire.
On, Love, If you We're only here,
Beside me in this mellow light
hougA all the bitter winds should blow,
Ana all the ways be choked with snow
Twould be a true Arabian night
There is no one thing so freely given
from friend to friend as tobacco. Perhaps
this arises partly from the convivial ma
lure 81 the practice perhaps from some
DIT OF that divine quality Of which the
poets sing, Certain il is that back in tts
prehistoric home it exercised the same
mellowins and softenng influence that
mas come 10 be associated with IL among
us The Indian viii buy whatvor he needs
WAen he has money-sugar. coffee. calico
or what not-but he cannot bring himself
10 BUY tobacco; he cannot profane the
sacred soother' by buying Il as he would
Il morse. Yet smoke is an Indispensable
part OF every transaction, whether it be
rehgious ceremony, a declaration of war.
or the purchase of a yard of calico The
tfaoers nave come to recognize this. and
IN every store there is q little tin basin an
the counter (and generally nailed 10 10
containing tobacco, cigarette papers. ana
Ihdtches' which are freely used by all
NN'iiNA .. Gfti lue worst beats are
sensitive TO any remark about their use Of
this free tobacco and any allusion 70 n
VIII drive them out of the place and Keen
them away for days.
In us present forms tobacco has far ont
grown the early preparations. Originally
the leaf was merely dried and crumblad in
the hands, and the native tobaccos stHI in
use by the Indians are prepared in mis-
s.'lpie 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 n
pipe, but the Spanish tobacco came In
the FORM OF tightly rolled balls, nearly tho
size Of a mans head. This tobacco was
cut into small pieces on maple block ana
the pipes, being filed, were lighted ryi,b
embers from fire of juniper wood. taken
from a chatting dish with silver tongs
ms parapnernalia was an indispensa-
Die part of a smokers outfit.
Among the Indian tribes Of tbe MAIL,
west, where the tobacco plant is NOT IN
digenous, various preparations took tie
pace before the advent of the traders.
Among these were the leaves of the sn-
mach, which were dried for use ana aftar
ward when needed were crumbled IN Tho
hands. Much more prevalent, HOY, ever
was the use or the bark of the red osier
known among frontlersmen as killikin.l,
or kinnikinik. which name is said to have
oeen derived from the language of the
Dakotas. This material is the thin semi
transparent bark or inner skin of the
youns shoots, which are available so long
as they retain their red outer skin.
In the preparation of killikinik the harls
was peeled and dried for future use. AL
though smoked at all times, il was consid-
cred best in winter. To prepare il. the
curly shavings are laid on piece of hoard
and with the left hand passed under The
blade Of a large knife which is worked no
ana down after the manner of a fodder
cutter. In using the material at the pres-
ent day two parts of the minced bark are
mixed with one part of plug tobacco sim
ilarly hashed, and only enough for Che
days use is prepared at one time.
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