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Ch. 11: Amber, Malachite, Serpentine, Bowenite, Williamsite, ... Catlinite, etc.

Ch. 11: Amber, Malachite, Serpentine, Bowenite, Williamsite, ... Catlinite, etc. Page of 364 Ch. 11: Amber, Malachite, Serpentine, Bowenite, Williamsite, ... Catlinite, etc. Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
UNITED STATES, CANADA AND MEXICO                        200
period."1 On the other hand, Edwin A. Barber, who has re­viewed the subject very thoroughly, believes that the stone of Coteau des Prairies and the adjacent territory must have been employed by native sculptors for several centuries at least, and in all probability for a much longer period.2 Catlin, who studied the subject with much care, has published numerous drawings of the red pipes. These are shown in Thomas Don­aldson's very elaborate memoir,3 and bear testimony to the skill and patience of their makers, who in most cases possessed no other implements than the knives and files obtained from the traders. The cylindrical or conical cavities in the bowl and
CATLINITE
neck of these pipes are drilled with a hard stick and sharp sand and water. It has been suggested that the manufacture of stone pipes, necessarily a painful and tedious labor, may have formed a branch of aboriginal industry, and that in ancient times the skilful pipe-carver may have occupied among the Indians a rank equal to that of the experienced sculptor in our days. Even among modern Indians, pipemakers have sometimes been met with. Thus Dr. Kohl speaks of an Ojibway pipemaker whom he met near Lake Superior. "There are persons among
1  Am. J. Sci. II., Vol. 43, p. 19, Jan., 1867.
2  Catlinite, Its Antiquity as a Material for Tobacco Pipes. Am. Nat., Vol. 17, p. 745, July, 1883.
3  Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1885, part 2.
Ch. 11: Amber, Malachite, Serpentine, Bowenite, Williamsite, ... Catlinite, etc. Page of 364 Ch. 11: Amber, Malachite, Serpentine, Bowenite, Williamsite, ... Catlinite, etc.
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