  Pictographs in the writer’s possession, to be classed under this very general heading, in addition to those that are more intimately connected with other headings, and therefore arranged in other parts of this paper, may be divided into those relating to Associations and those exhibiting details of daily life and habits. ASSOCIATIONS.It is well known that voluntary associations, generally of a religious character, have existed among the Indians, the members of which are designated by special paintings and marks entirely distinct from those relating to their clan-totems and name-totems. This topic requires too minute details to be entered upon in this paper after the space taken by other divisions. That it may become a feature in the interpretation of pictographs is shown by the following account: Dr. W. J. Hoffman obtained a copy of drawings on a pipe-stem, which had been made and used by Ottawa Indians. Both of the flat surfaces bore incisions of figures, which are represented in Figure 120. On each side are four spaces, upon each of which are various characters, three spaces on one side being reserved for the delineation of human figures, each having diverging lines from the head upward, denoting their social status as chiefs or warriors and medicine-men. Upon the space nearest the mouth is the drawing of a fire, the flames passing upward from the horizontal surface beneath them. The blue cross-bands are raised portions of the wood (ash) of which the pipe-stem is made; these show peculiarly shaped openings which pass entirely through the stem, though not interfering with the tube necessary for the passage of the smoke. This indicates considerable mechanical skill. Upon each side of the stem are spaces corresponding in length and position to those upon the opposite side. In the lower space of the stem is a drawing of a bear, indicating that the two persons in the corresponding space on the opposite side belong to the Bear gens. The next upper figure is that of a beaver, showing the three human figures to belong to the Beaver gens, while the next to this, the eagle, indicates the opposite persons to be members of the Eagle gens. The upper figure is that of a lodge, the lodge containing a council fire, shown on the opposite side. The signification of the whole is that two members of the Bear gens, three members of the Beaver gens, and three members of the Eagle gens have united and constitute a society living in one lodge, around one fire, and smoke through the same pipe. DAILY LIFE AND HABITS.Examples of daily life and habits are given in Figures 121 and 122: Fig. 121.—Walrus hunter. Alaska. Figure 121 represents an Alaskan native in the water killing a walrus. The illustration was obtained from a slab of walrus ivory in the museum of the Alaska Commercial Company, of San Francisco, California, and interpreted by a native. The carving, Figure 122, made of a piece of walrus tusk, was copied from the original in the museum of the Alaska Commercial Company, San Francisco, California, during the summer of 1882. Interpretations were verified by Naumoff, a Kadiak half-breed, in San Francisco at the time. The special purport of some of the characters and etchings is not apparent. In No. 1 is a native whose left hand is resting against the house, while the right hangs toward the ground. The character to his right represents a “Shaman stick” surmounted by the emblem of a bird, a “good spirit,” in memory of some departed friend. It was suggested that the grave stick had been erected to the memory of his wife. No. 2. Represents a reindeer, but the special import in this drawing is unknown. No. 3. Signifies that one man, the recorder, shot and killed another with an arrow. No. 4. Denotes that the narrator has made trading expeditions with a dog-sledge. No. 5. Is a sail-boat, although the elevated paddle signifies that that was the manner in which the voyage was best made. No. 6. A dog-sled, with the animal hitched up for a journey. The radiating lines in the upper left hand corner, over the head of the man, is a representation of the sun. No. 7. A sacred lodge. The four figures at the outer corners of the square represent the young men placed on guard, armed with bows and arrows, to keep away those not members of the band, who are depicted as holding a dance. The small square in the center of the lodge represents the fire-place. The angular lines extending from the right side of the lodge to the vertical partition line are an outline of the subterranean entrance to the lodge. No. 8. A pine tree, upon which a porcupine is crawling upward. No. 9. A pine tree, from which a bird (woodpecker) is extracting larvÆ for food. No. 10. A bear. No. 11. The recorder in his boat, holding aloft his double-bladed paddle to drive fish into a net. No. 12. An assistant fisherman driving fish into the net. No. 13. The net. The figure over the man (No. 12) represents a whale, with harpoon and line attached, caught by the narrator. It will be understood that all personal customs, such, for instance, as the peculiar arrangement of hair in any tribe, are embodied in their pictorial designation by other tribes and perhaps by themselves. See in this connection, page 230. Among the many customs susceptible of graphic portrayal which do not happen to be illustrated in this paper, an example may be given in the mode in several tribes (e. g., Apache, Muskoki, Dakota and Miztec), of punishing the infidelity of wives, namely, by cutting off the nose. The picture of a noseless woman would, therefore, when made by those tribes, have distinct meaning. The unfaithful wife mentioned on page 134 is drawn with a nose, but in her case the greater punishment of death was inflicted. |
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