bill, toes pointing behind
as well as before, that it represents a toucan, which, if true, would
make it a most interesting specimen. But cautious scholars conclude that
the "figure is not of sufficient distinctness to identify the original
that was before the artist's mind." And therefore it is not wise to make
this specimen the subject of a far-reaching speculation.<93>

It may be of interest to inquire whether the Indians made pipes as
tastefully ornamented as those we have described. We should notice that
all the pipes here described are from one very limited locality in Ohio,
and that is the valley of the Scioto, the same section of country where
were found the great inclosures of a mathematical shape. We have no
reason for supposing that the Mound Builders generally throughout the
Mississippi Valley had this artistic skill. We have seen nowhere
any thing to show a superiority for them in this respect. Whatever
conclusion can be drawn from those pipes, applies only to the tribe in
the Scioto Valley. It is believed they do constitute a peculiar class
by themselves. As works of art, there are but few aboriginal relics of
North American origin their equal.<94>

We would also refer to the fact that most of these specimens were
obtained from one altar-mound.<95> We do not know what ceremonies
were performed around this altar, but if it were a place of burial or
cremation, they might have been the obsequies of some distinguished
maker of pipes. That such a person would be the recipient of honor, is
not singular, for "the manufacture of stone pipes, necessarily a painful
and tedious labor, may have formed a branch of aboriginal industry, and
the skillful pipe carver probably occupied among the former Indians a
rank equal to that of the experienced sculptor in our times." Among the
Ojibway Indians, we are told, are persons who possess peculiar skill
in the carving of pipes, and make it their profession, or at least the
means of gaining, in part, their livelihood. One "inlaid his pipes very
tastefully with figures of stars, and flowers of black and white stones.
But his work proceeded very slowly, and he sold his pipes at high
prices."<96> So we see how cautious we must be about drawing inferences
from this peculiar class of pipes found in one limited locality.

The knowledge of how to manufacture pottery is justly regarded as a
turning point in the advance of primitive man along the weary road that
brings him at last