Games. Dice made of beaver teeth or woodchuck teeth, such as were found in the Thompson River region,[310] but which were not found in the shell heaps of the Lower Fraser, or in fact, in any of those of the coast of Washington or British Columbia, were absent among our finds in this region although a beaver tooth was seen in the cremation rectangle No. 21 (16) near the mouth of the Naches River.
A number of small tubes, made of bone which may have been used in gambling, were found here. Four of them, about 42 mm. long and 9 mm. in diameter, with the ends ground squarely across, but with the edges somewhat rounded possibly by wear, were found in the east northeastern part of the bottom of grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide on the north side of the Naches River about half a mile above its mouth. Fig. 97 shows one of two other bone tubes of similar size and shape, the ends ground somewhat more perfectly flat, which were found in grave No. 1, in the rock-slide on the north side of the Yakima Ridge to the southeast of the Yakima River. Another bone tube from this same grave (Fig. 98) is 43 mm. long and 12 mm. in diameter, and the ends are ground off flat. This bears nine about equi-distant incised lines, which run around it in such a way that the lower end of each line is on the opposite side of the bone from its upper end. It is charred. Such bone tubes were found at Lytton,[311] in pouches in the graves, in other parts of the Thompson River region[312] to the north and in the shell heaps of the Lower Fraser River[313] to the west. In the Nez Perce region dice and gaming pieces were commonly made of bone.[314] Cylindrical sections of the long bone of the deer were used in gambling,[315] and whistles were made of the long bones of the sand hill crane.[316]
Fig. 97 (202-8150). Bone Tube. From grave No. 1, in a rock-slide of the Yakima Ridge. ½ nat. size.
Fig. 98 (202-8151). Bone Tube, bearing Incised Lines, Charred. From grave No. 1 in a rock-slide of the Yakima Ridge. ½ nat. size.
Fig. 99 (202-8166). Perforated Cylinder made of Steatite. From near centre of grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide near the mouth of Naches River. ½ nat. size.
Fig. 100. Tubular Pipe made of Steatite. From Yakima Indians. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44506, 6-7. Original Catalogue No. 215 in the collection of Mr. McCandless.)
The perforated cylinder shown in Fig. 99, made of serpentine is 44 mm. long and 8 mm. in diameter, rounded at the edges and was found in about the centre of grave No. 10 (5). There are five small pits about equi-distant from each other around this cylinder near the top, and four near the bottom. There are two transverse incised lines just below the five pits, and there is an incision about 12 mm. above the bottom of the specimen, below which the diameter is perhaps half a mm. greater than at the top. Near the middle of the object it is pierced by a hole which tapers from each end. While this object also may have been used in gambling, it seems possible that it may be an amulet.Narcotics. Pipes of seven distinct types were found in this region; a tube, a simple bowl, a disk with both bowl and stem made in the periphery, an elbow form, a modern inlaid pipe similar to the typical form of the catlinite pipe of the Plains, a tomahawk-pipe in stone, and a pipe carved in the art of the North Pacific coast.
Fig. 101. Tubular Pipe made of Green Stone with Stem. From Lemhi River, Idaho. (Reproduced from p. 342, Vol. II, Lewis and Clark. Bowl about 2-½ inches long.)
A tubular pipe made of steatite is shown in Fig. 100. It was collected by Mr. Frank N. McCandless from the Yakima Indians. Mr. McCandless says the stone differs from that found at the head of Wenatchee Lake, which is sometimes used for pipes in this region. This pipe is No. 215 in his collection deposited in the Ferry Museum in the City Hall at Tacoma. It is 51 mm. long and the bowl has been broken off irregularly, about half of it apparently having been broken away. The bowl flares rather more abruptly than is the case in the pipes usually found either in this region or that of the Thompson River. In this respect it resembles the tubular pipes made of steatite, found on the coast of British Columbia.[317] In outline, it is nearly straight, while most pipes of this type have bowls convexly curved in a form characteristic of the type found in the interior of British Columbia and of Washington. The bowl has been gouged out. There is a ridge or ring around the pipe where the bowl meets the stem. Oblique incisions slanting downward from left to right, at an angle of about 45°, mark this ridge, making it suggest a twisted cord. The end of the stem is similarly marked. These lines are again mentioned under art on p. 125. The stem expands from the ridge to the end. The outline of the stem is rather straight or slightly concave, while most pipes of this type have more slender or nearly cylindrical stems. The interior of the stem was apparently formed by whittling. The pipe is stained by tobacco which suggests that while it may be old, it has nevertheless been recently smoked.[318] In the Nez Perce region to the east the earliest form of pipe, according to Spinden, was doubtless the straight tubular type.[319] One of the pipes figured by him has a flange for a mouthpiece similar to those found in the Thompson River region, and this flange is perforated near one end. This particular type of pipe is also found in Oregon.[320] A pipe of this type, but which much more nearly resembles the typical form of tubular pipe of this region, especially the shorter specimens, is reproduced in Fig. 101 from Lewis and Clark.[321] This specimen which is made of green stone and has a stem, was seen among the Shoshone Indians at the headwaters of the Lemhi River, Idaho, by Lewis, August thirteenth, 1805. It marks the eastern limits of the occurrence of this type of pipe, so far as I am aware at present, the short forms having been found at Fulford Harbor, North Saanich, Sidney[322] and Port Hammond,[323] on the southern coast of British Columbia, Damon[324] on the coast of Washington, Lytton[325] in the interior of British Columbia, Umatilla[326] and Blalock Island,[327] near Umatilla, both in the interior of Washington. In the Journal for Tuesday, August 13, 1805, Lewis refers to this pipe, as follows:—"the chief then lit his pipe at the fire kindled in this little magic circle ... pointed the stem to the four cardinal points of the heavens first beginning at the East and ending with the North. He now presented the pipe to me, as if desirous that I should smoke, but when I reached my hand to receive it, he drew it back and repeated the same c[e]remony three times, after which he pointed the stem first to the heavens then to the center of the magic circle smoked himself with three whifs and held the pipe until I took as many as I thought proper; he then held it to each of the white persons and then gave it to be consumed by his warriors. This pipe was made of a dense semi-transparent green stone very highly polished about 2-½ inches long and of an oval figure, the bowl being in the same direction with the stem. A small piece of birned clay is placed in the bottom of the bowl to seperate the tobacco from the end of the stem and is of an irregularly rounded figure not fitting the tube perfectly close in order that the smoke may pass. This is the form of the pipe. Their tobacco is of the same kind of that used by the Minnetares Mandans and Ricares of the Missouri. The Shoshonees do not cultivate this plant, but obtain it from the Rocky mountain Indians and some of the bands of their own nation who live further south."[328]
Mr. James Teit informs me that a flange like the end of a spool at the mouth of the stem of a tubular pipe, makes it of a type which seems to him peculiarly characteristic of the Thompson River region. In some cases this peculiarity is carried over into the stems of pipes of the modern or elbow type, which have wooden stems, as is shown in Fig. 102. Mr. Teit has never seen or heard of tubular pipes from the Thompson River region with holes through the flanges. It seems possible that the hole in such specimens as one from Umatilla, Oregon,[329] may have been made for the attachment of ornaments or symbolic material such as feathers or for a cleaner. Ornaments were sometimes attached to pipes of the elbow type in the Thompson River region. This was done by tying in a hole bored through the hatchet-shaped piece underneath the shank close to the elbow. Pipes of the simple bowl type often had an extension at the foot of the bowl, sometimes perforated, to which ornaments could be attached. On the other hand, the hole may have been to facilitate attaching the pipe to its wooden stem. The pipes that have been perforated through the flange,[330] however, seem to have too small a bore for a wooden stem; yet, a pipe of this type with a wooden stem has been shown in Fig. 101. One reason given Mr. Teit by the Indians for the making of the flange or other thickening at the mouth of the pipe stem was to prevent the string used in attaching the pipe to the wooden stem slipping off. According to all of them, wooden stems were always used with tubular pipes as with elbow and simple bowl pipes; for a person cannot smoke any kind of stone pipe more than a few draws before it becomes too hot for the lips. To Mr. Teit's mind, no matter how small the bore of the pipe, a regular stem must have been used for smoking.
Fig. 102. Pipe made of Steatite used by the Thompson River Indians at Spences Bridge in 1895. About ½ nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch by Mr. James Teit.)
Fig. 103. Form of the Flange-Shaped Mouth of the Bowl of some Thompson River Indian Pipes. About ½ nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch by Mr. James Teit.)
Some tubular pipes are said to have had a flange around the mouth of the bowl, similar to that on elbow pipes as in Fig. 103; but this flange meets the body of the bowl with an even curve. Mr. Teit does not distinctly remember having seen such flanged tubular pipe bowls among the Thompson River Indians who gave him this information, but he saw one specimen at least, of the elbow type with flanged bowl. He further states that to his knowledge there is only one part of the country where the semi-transparent green steatite is obtained; that is, on the west side of the Fraser River, over twenty miles north of Lytton, which as is well known is at the mouth of the Thompson River. This stone, when polished and used, takes on a much darker hue than its original color. The fire may be seen through the stone of the pipes when smoked in the dark. The bluish gray steatite is the most commonly employed and it turns black when polished and used. The Thompson River Indians can usually tell from what part of the country the stone comes of which any particular pipe is made.
The tubular form of pipe is remembered by the old Indians to have been in use in the Thompson River region, although not so common as the simple pipe bowls and elbow pipes, and one was seen in use in eastern Washington as late as 1896.[331] On the other hand, no simple pipe bowls known to be such, or elbow pipes have been seen among archaeological finds. The bowl and elbow pipes are affiliated with forms found farther east. This fact suggests that the tubular pipe was supplanted recently by bowl and elbow forms brought in from the southeast, or at least from the east. The westward movement of tribes due to the encroachment of our settlements may have brought them, or some of them, and they may be patterned after pipes seen in the hands of fur traders and their Indian employees. The tubular pipe made of steatite, shown in Fig. 104, was purchased from Mr. W. Z. York of Old Yakima (Old Town), who secured it from Shaw-wa-way, an Indian known as "Young Chief Aleck," who lives on a ranch three miles south of Old Yakima. This Indian is known to have frequently visited the Okanogon region and it is possible that he secured the pipe, decorated as it is, or got the idea for this particular sort of decoration from that region. This is suggested by the fact that this particular kind of decoration is common, especially on more recent ornaments, in the Thompson River region, the people of which in turn frequently visited the Okanogon country. The bowl of the pipe is cut squarely across at the end where the outer edge has been rounded. It is of the typical shape of this form of pipes, and has been hollowed out by gouging contra-screw-wise. It meets the stem abruptly and the latter is slightly larger than the base of the bowl, so that it seems to be separated from it. The stem is very short and cylindrical and the end is cut squarely off; but it is bevelled on each side so that about one third of the end is left and the bevelled surfaces extend over half the length of the stem. This beveling may have been to form the mouthpiece; but it seems more likely that the pipe had a long stem similar to those found in the Thompson River region.[332] This seems to have been broken off obliquely near the bowl, then cut squarely across, and the other side bevelled to give bilateral symmetry because one of these bevelled surfaces appears as if it had been broken and then only slightly smoothed; both of these surfaces and the square end of the stem seem to have been more recently cut than the rest of the pipe. These three surfaces seem less polished and as if they were made with a steel knife. The bore of the stem measures 5 mm. in diameter. A portion of the bowl is decorated by incised lines into which red paint has been daubed, suggesting that it was recently applied; while the design itself, which is further described on p. 131 under the section of art, is of figures which suggest that it was made lately. Possibly the pipe is old, but was recently broken and decorated with the incised design and paint.
The fragment of a sculptured tubular pipe made of steatite shown in Fig. 105 is apparently about half of the original object. It was found in an Indian grave about a quarter of a mile from the bank of the Yakima River at a point about nine miles above its mouth, in August 1902, by Mr. W. F. Sonderman of Kennewick. Mr. Sonderman's collection from the immediate vicinity contained glass beads, a metallic handle and buttons, as well as chipped points. As the contents of the three graves from which he obtained this collection, during the construction of an irrigation canal were mixed, it seems that this pipe may belong to the same period as that of the glass beads and other objects of European manufacture and consequently may be modern, although it may be an old specimen, deposited in a modern grave. The general form of the pipe was thought to be that of a cone. The portion towards the front of the carving, however, is somewhat longer than that towards the rear, and the back is nearly flat, although this may be caused simply by the carving. The bore is somewhat smaller at the mouth of the bowl than lower down. It was apparently gouged out. Some traces of dirt, perhaps the remains of the material smoked in the pipe may be seen towards its larger opening. The carving, which represents a human form, is further described under the section of art on p. 135. As the tubular form of pipe seems to be common to this region, as well as to the Thompson River region, further north, it would seem that this specimen may be a variation from the type or merely one of these pipes made by an artist. It may be that such sculptured forms of this type of pipe may not be found in the Thompson River region, and that the carving of tubular pipes in this way may be characteristic of the Yakima region, although the style of art suggests that found in the Thompson River region and more especially in the Lillooet Valley.
Fig. 104 (202-8122). Tubular Pipe made of Steatite. From an Indian living three miles south of Old Yakima. ½ nat. size. (Collected by Mr. York.)
Fig. 105 (202-8120). Fragment of a Sculptured Tubular Pipe made of Steatite. From near Kennewick. ½ nat. size. (Collected by Mr. W. F. Sonderman.)
Fig. 106 (202-8396). Pipe made of Limestone. From near the head of Priest Rapids. ½ nat. size. (Collected and presented by Mrs. J. B. Davidson.)
Fig. 107 (20.0 1470). Pipe made of Sandstone. From the Snake River Indians. ½ nat. size. (Collected and presented by Mr. Owen.)
Fig. 108. Pipe made of Blue Stone. From the Yakima Valley, ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 41503, 6-4. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)
Fig. 109. Pipe made of Stone. From the Yakima Valley. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44503, 6-4. Original catalogue No. 155 in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)
Only one specimen of the second or simple bowl type was seen by us in the whole region. It is shown in Fig. 106, and was found near the head of Priest Rapids by a boy from whom Mrs. J. B. Davidson obtained it for her collection. She afterwards presented it to our expedition. It is made of schistose rock, apparently limestone, of gray color with lighter veins. The object is oval in section, slightly longer than it is wide, and a little wider than it is thick being 32 mm. long, 29 mm. wide, and 15 mm. thick. If slightly flatter, this pipe would resemble in shape the third type. The inside of the bowl which was apparently gouged out, is 13 mm. in diameter; while the opening for the stem seems to have been drilled. This opening is 7 mm. in diameter. The rim of the bowl is flattened, and this flat surface resembles that of the part of a hammerstone used for pecking. This style of pipe somewhat resembles some of the pipes used by the Thompson River Indians of the present day and together with elbow pipes, supplemented the tubular pipe in that region. This suggests them to be more modern than the tubular pipes in this region where also they are not as numerous. The type is not found among the archaeological remains in the Thompson region, but Mr. Teit sent one simple bowl pipe to the Museum from a very old grave at Spuzzum besides two from the Thompson Indians.[333] The absence of this form of pipe among archaeological specimens from the areas to the north and west suggests that the culture of this region is somewhat more closely related to that further east than are the cultures of the areas further north and west. The pipe is ornamented with a circle and dot design again mentioned under the section of art on p. 131.[334]
Specimens of the third or disk-shaped type are shown in Figs. 107, 108 and 109. The first, made of sandstone, is from the Snake River Indians, was a part of Mr. D. W. Owen's collection, and was presented by him to our expedition. It is nearly of the form of a disk but has slightly bulging sides, 52 mm. long, 49 mm. wide, and 19 mm. thick. The mouth of the bowl is 13 mm. in diameter; while the opening for the stem, at right angles to it, is 9 mm. in diameter. The convex appearance of the sides or ends of the disk is due to the beveling of these surfaces near their edges. On each of these sides is an incised design. These are again mentioned under the section of art on p. 125. The second specimen, shown in Fig. 108, is oval in outline with slightly convex sides. The object is made of blue stone and was found in the Yakima Valley. It is about 52 mm. long, 41 mm. wide, and 19 mm. thick. Parallel scratches on the surface suggest that it was brought into shape by grinding with a piece of sandstone, although these marks may be interpreted as those made with a file. The opening in the bowl tapers evenly towards its base, from one of the longer edges of the discoid; while the somewhat longer drilling for the stem from one of the shorter edges of the disk, at right angles to the bore of the bowl, is of nearly the same diameter throughout. The specimen is in the collection of Mr. Louis O. Janeck of North Yakima.[335] The third specimen of this type which is shown in Fig. 109 is No. 155 in the collection of Mr. Janeck, and was also found in the Yakima Valley. It is made of stone resembling quartzite in appearance and is of a waxy, yellowish brown color. It is nearly circular in outline, almost flat on the rim, and the sides are somewhat convex. It is 45 mm. long by 40 mm. wide and 19 mm. thick. The bore of the bowl is 16 mm. in diameter at the mouth, and is somewhat larger than that of the stem, which is 10 mm. in diameter at its end, and at right angles to the bowl. Each bore tapers from its outer opening to the point of juncture. In the Nez Perce region to the east near Asotin city, this disk-shaped type of pipe is found.[336] Mr. Fay Cooper Cole of the Field Museum of Natural History believes the Tlingit have a variation of this type of pipe and that it is also found in California. Its occurrence in Oregon is mentioned by Moorehead.[337]
The fourth or rectangular bowl type is shown in Figs. 110, 111 and 112. The first shows the axis of the bowl and that of the stein, at nearly, if not exactly, a right angle. The specimen is in the collection of Mr. York, and is made of soft grit or sandstone. The outer opening of the bowl is somewhat larger than that of the stem. There was a band around the bowl, made up of a single thickness of thread which is not shown in the figure.
Fig. 110. Pipe made of Soft Sandstone. Locality Unknown. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr. York.)
Fig. 111. Pipe made of Steatite. Locality Unknown. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr. York.)
Fig. 112. Pipe made of Soft Sandstone. Locality Unknown. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr. York.)
The second of these specimens, shown in Fig. 111, is a simple elbow pipe with the angle between the axis of the bowl and the stem, slightly greater than 90 degrees. It is also in the collection of Mr. York and is made of steatite, which he calls Wenatchee pipe stone. The outer opening of the bowl is slightly larger than that of the stem. The third specimen, shown in Fig. 112, is also of the simple elbow type and the axis of the bowl is nearly at right angles to that of the stem. It is in the collection of Mr. York, and is made of soft grit or sandstone of a yellowish gray color. In the Thompson River region to the north, according to Mr. Teit, there seems to be little doubt but that the tubular pipe has been supplanted by the simple bowl and elbow types.[338] This change may have been brought about by the copying of the early trader's pipes but Mr. Teit believes it more likely to have come from influence from the southeast, passed from tribe to tribe about the same time as the advent of the horse or a little later. The Thompson River Indians tell him that the tubular pipe continued to be the one in common use as long as native tobacco only was used, but after the introduction of manufactured tobacco the elbow type came to be exclusively used because very much better adapted for holding the latter kind of tobacco. In the Nez Perce region to the east, pipes with rectangular bowls were found.[339] One of these bowls has an incised design representing a tomahawk, which with the character of other incisions on it suggest that it is modern. Only two finds of elbow pipes have been reported on the coast. These,[340] which were of fragments, were said by Mr. Edmond Croft to have been found by him in a shell heap near Markham on Grey's Harbor, Washington. They are made of fine-grained sandstone of a gray color. Both were apparently intended to be used with a wooden stem and one of them has a ventral mid-rib from the mouth of the stem nearly to the base of the bowl which reminds one somewhat of a similar appendage on the pipe from the Yakima Valley shown in Fig. 113 and one from the Thompson Indians.[341] My supposition has been that they reached the coast recently from this general region possibly by way of the Columbia or were taken there by employees of the fur companies in early historic times.
The fifth type is illustrated by the specimen shown in Fig. 128. It is the only specimen of this type which I have seen from the region. It is now in the collection of Mrs. Jay Lynch at Fort Simcoe who obtained it from Chief Moses. It is made of black steatite which Mrs. Lynch calls Wenatchee pipe stone, inlaid with white metal and has a wooden stem. It is comparatively modern as is shown by the presence of inlaid white metal. The mouth of the bowl is 18 mm. in diameter, but tapers suddenly, the rest of the bowl cavity being nearly cylindrical. The opening for the wooden stem is 11 mm. in diameter, and also tapers suddenly to a nearly even bore. It is of the same form as many of the pipes made of red pipe stone (catlinite). This form of pipe is found throughout the Minnesota-Dakota region. This specimen, however, bears four carvings, which together with the inlaid white metal design are further mentioned under the section of art on pp. 118 and 135. It would seem that this type of pipe belongs to the region further east, and as no ancient pipe of this form has been found in this whole region, as well as from the fact that this specimen marks the most westerly occurrence of this form, so far as we know, we may conclude that it was introduced from the east in comparatively modern times. The type of carving, however, may be of more local origin. The bringing together of several animal forms may be associated with the idea of the totem poles found to the west; but no more so than the wooden pipe stems of the Plains which the general character of the carving more closely resembles.[342] In this connection, it may be well to remember that in the Nez Perce region, catlinite for pipes seems to have been acquired from the Plains tribes.[343] A pipe made from stone found in the Cascade Mountains of Washington, is in the collection of Mr. C. G. Ridout, of Chelan, Washington, who states that it has a representation of a bear and a man on the shaft back of the bowl.
A specimen of the sixth type is shown in Fig. 113. It is the only one of this style which I have seen in the whole region, and was obtained from a Yakima Indian. It is in the collection of Mr. McCandless. It is made of steatite, which Mr. McCandless calls "sandstone from the northern part of Wenatchee Lake." The form of the pipe seems to be a conventionalized tomahawk pipe. The bowl is circular in section and somewhat urn-shaped and rests upon the part that is drilled for the stem and which is rather square in cross section with slightly convex sides. Projecting from the lower part of this is the form which represents the tomahawk blade. It is wider at its convex edges than where it joins the base of the stem part. Its three edges are flat, and it is of about equal thickness throughout. The pipe is somewhat stained by tobacco. It seems likely that this was modelled after the metal hatchet, tomahawk or tomahawk pipe, introduced by the traders,[344] being a rather modern pipe, since such objects do not seem to have been used in early times in the great plateau region according to Lewis.[345]
The seventh type is illustrated in Fig. 127. The specimen is the only one of the style which I have seen from this whole region and so closely resembles in its carving the work of the Kwakiutl, Haida and Tsimshian Indians of the coast to the northwest, that I am inclined to believe it was brought in as a gift or by trade. The material is apparently soft slate, but is rather light in color, possibly having been burned. Its appearance suggests that it is the same as that used by the Haida Indians on the Queen Charlotte Islands, for the carving of such things as dishes, miniature totem poles, and pipes. The pipe is made up of carvings representing among other things a bird, a human form and a human face, which are more fully described under the section of art on p. 136. This specimen was found two feet deep in earth at one side of a grave in a little hillside on Toppenish Creek, four miles southeast of Fort Simcoe. Above the earth were rocks, and the grave was marked by a circle of stones. In the grave were found elk teeth, and a sea shell, filled with a blue powder, evidently paint, and covered with what appears to be gut or a bladder-like skin. What is described as a silver coin, afterwards lost, was found with this pipe. It is possible that it may have been a silver disk or medal. The bowl of the pipe, which was gouged out, is in the middle of the carving, and the tube for the reception of the stem projects from the end under the human form. The upper part of the human figure is broken off. A hole was drilled in the opposite end of the pipe through the lower part of the bird form, but if it had any connection with the bowl, this is not now discernible.[346] The specimen shown in Fig. 59 and considered as a mat presser reminds one of an unfinished pipe.