"The calumet, or pipe of peace, ornamented with the war eagles quill, is a sacred pipe, and never used on any other occasion than that of peace making, when the chief brings it into treaty, and unfolding the many bandages which are carefully kept around it, has it ready to be mutually smoked by the chiefs, after the terms of the treaty are agreed upon, as the means of solemnizing it; which is done by passing the sacred stem to each chief, who draws one breath of smoke only through it. Nothing can be more binding than smoking the pipe of peace and is considered by them to be an inviolable pledge. There is no custom more uniformly in constant use amongst the poor Indians than that of smoking nor any more highly valued. His pipe is his constant companion through life--his messenger of peace; he pledges his friends through its stem and its bowl, and when its care-drowning fumes cease to flow, it takes a place with him in his solitary grave with his tomahawk and war-club companions to his long-fancied 'happy hunting grounds.'" From specimens of clay pipes found at the South from Virginia to Florida it would seem that the Indians had a great variety of pipes some of which were beautifully carved while others are perfectly plain. Many of them however are of rude workmanship and might have been fashioned by some of the tribe unacquainted with pipe-making. Dall gives the following account of smoking among the natives of Alaska: We broke camp about five o'clock in the morning. Nothing occurred to break the monotony of constant steady plodding. Two Indians in the bow of the boat would row until tired, and then we would stop for a few minutes to rest, and let them smoke. The last operation takes less than a minute; their pipes are so constructed as to hold but a very small pinch of tobacco. The bowl, with ears for tying it to the stem is generally cast out of lead. Sometimes it is made of soft stone, bone or even hard wood. The stem is made of two pieces of wood hollowed on one side, and bound to the bowl and each other by a narrow strip of deerskin. In smoking the economical Indian generally cuts up a little birch wood, or the inner bark of the poplar, and mixes it with his tobacco. A few reindeer hairs pulled from his paska, are rolled into a little ball, and placed in the bottom of the bowl to prevent the contents from being drawn into the stem. A pinch of tobacco cut as fine as snuff is inserted and two or three whiffs are afforded by it.