There are two large private collections of pipes in America. Mr. John A. Beck of Pittsburg owns about eighteen hundred pipes of various kinds from the United States and Canada. Mr. George A. West reports that there are six hundred in his possession. Pipes, from their very nature, were probably more highly prized among our aborigines than any other articles. The pipe was sacred, and it was not until Europeans, with their superior civilization, took up the smoking custom, that it became a habit and totally lost its original significance. It is quite likely that pipes were more generally exchanged among tribes than other artifacts. Possibly, one should except copper, but I am not even sure of that. We find Northern forms South, Eastern types West, and a general indication that aboriginal barter or trade in pipes was extensive. [Illustration: FIG. 428. (S. about 1–2.) Pipes from North Dakota mounds. Explorations of Henry Montgomery. (_a_) Pipe-bowl of catlinite. (_b_) Piece of catlinite pipe-bowl which had been cut off before burial. (_c_) Catlinite pipe, 2¼ inches in length. (_d_) Large bowl of catlinite pipe, 10¼ inches long; from Ramsey County. (_e_) Catlinite pipe-bowl found with the piece of pipe shown in (_b_). (_f_) Pipe-bowl made from deer antler; length, about 4 inches. (_g_) Clay pipe, bent; length, 5 inches; found in burial-pit in Benson County. (_h_) Catlinite pipe-bowl, 1½ inches long. (_i_) Straight bowl of clay pipe; length, 2¾ inches; found in burial-pit in Ramsey County. (See Fig. 429.) ] [Illustration: FIG. 429. (S. about 1–2.) Pipes from North Dakota mounds. Described under Fig. 428. (_American Anthropologist_, vol. 8, no. 4, plate 33.) ] _The Classification of Pipes_ No one save Mr. J. D. McGuire has attempted to group these objects. In his classification, Mr. McGuire presented four plates in which he showed the distribution of fifteen types of pipes. I have followed his numbers, but instead of presenting a map, have named states or localities, from which these were taken. 1. Curved-base mound pipe. Mississippi Valley, north of the Ohio and west of Pennsylvania. Also the Great Lakes basin. 2. Heavy bird or animal pipe. South of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi. 3. Tubular pipe. East of the Mississippi, and from central Ohio east. Throughout the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast. 4. Iroquoian clay pipe. New England to New York; Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia. 5. Iroquoian grotesque bird-pipe. The same region. Also eastern Canada. 6. Iroquoian rectangular pipe. Eastern Canada and New York. 7. Disc or jewsharp pipe. Mississippi Valley, central portion. 8. Biconical pipe. Southern Mississippi Valley, east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio. Also Ohio and Michigan. 9. Micmac, keel-base pipes. The St. Lawrence basin.