Piegan Blackfeet Pipe Lighter

Description

The object pictured here is an elaborate pipe lighter which belonged to a Piegan man who was said to be "afraid of iron." Apparently he shunned the use of the fire steels brought in by traders and used this device instead. A small wooden stick was inserted into the hollow end of the rod or cane and kindled, presumably from a fire or glowing coal. The pipe was lighted from this. The opposite end of the painted rod is decorated with feathers, cloth strips, and bells-perhaps the bells the owner received in trade from Maximilian for a necklace of scented roots. A woodcut of the pipe lighter appeared as an illustration in Travels in the Interior of North America.