  Under this head pictographs already known may be divided into those relating to— 1. Mythic personages. 2. Shamanism. 3. Dances and ceremonies. 4. Mortuary practices. 5. Charms and fetiches. MYTHIC PERSONAGES.Reference may be made to the considerable number of pictographs of this character in Schoolcraft, more particularly in his first volume; also to the Walum-Olum or Bark-Record of the Lenni-Lenape, which was published in Beach’s “Indian Miscellany,” Albany, 1877; and since in The LenÂpÉ and their Legends: By Dr. D. G. Brinton. Several examples are also to be found in other parts of the present paper. Some forms of the Thunder-Bird are here presented, as follows: Fig. 104.—Thunder-Bird. Dakota. Fig. 105.—Thunder-bird. Dakota. Figures 104 and 105 are forms of the thunder-bird found in 1883 among the Dakotas near Fort Snelling, drawn and interpreted by themselves. They are both winged and have waving lines extending from the mouth downward, signifying lightning. It is noticeable that Figure 105 placed vertically, then appearing roughly as an upright human figure, is almost identically the same as some of the Ojibwa meda or spirit figures represented in Schoolcraft, and also on a bark Ojibwa record in the possession of the writer. Figure 106 is another and more cursive form of the thunder-bird obtained at the same place and time as those immediately preceding. It is wingless, and, with changed position or point of view, would suggest a headless human figure. Fig. 106.—Thunder-Bird. Wingless. Dakota. The blue thunder-bird, Figure 107, with red breast and tail, is a copy of one worked in beads, found at Mendota, Minnesota. At that place stories were told of several Indians who had presentiments that the thunder-bird was coming to kill them, when they would so state the case to their friends that they might retire to a place of safety, while the victim of superstition would go out to an elevated point of land or upon the prairie to await his expected doom. Fig. 107.—Thunder-bird. Dakota. Frequently, no doubt on account of the isolated and elevated position of the person in a thunder storm, accidents of this kind do occur, thus giving notoriety to the presentiment above mentioned. A still different form of the Dakota thunder-bird is reproduced in Mrs. Eastman’s Dahcotah, op. cit., page 262. See also page 181 supra. Figure 108 is “Skam-son,” the thunder-bird, a tattoo mark copied from the back of an Indian belonging to the Laskeek village of the Haida tribe, Queen Charlotte’s Island, by Mr. James G. Swan. Fig. 108.—Thunder-bird. Haida. Figure 109 is a Twana thunder-bird, as reported by Rev. M. Eells in Bull. U.S. Geol. and Geog. Survey, III, p. 112. Fig. 109.—Thunder-bird. Twana. There is at Eneti, on the reservation [Washington Territory], an irregular basaltic rock, about 3 feet by 3 feet and 4 inches, and a foot and a half high. On one side there has been hammered a face, said to be the representation of the face of the thunder bird, which could also cause storms. The two eyes are about 6 inches in diameter and 4 inches apart and the nose about 9 inches long. It is said to have been made by some man a long time ago, who felt very badly, and went and sat on the rock, and with another stone hammered out the eyes and nose. For a long time they believed that if the rock was shaken it would cause rain, probably because the thunder bird was angry. Graphic representations of Atotarko and of the Great Heads are shown in Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith’s Myths of the Iroquois, in the Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Mythic Personages are also presented in aboriginal drawing by Mr. Charles G. Leland in his work, the Algonquin Legends of New England, etc. Boston, 1884. SHAMANISM.The term Shamanism is a corrupted form of the Sanscrit word for ascetic. Its original application was to the religion of certain tribes of northern Asia, but in general it expresses the worship of spirits with magic arts and fetich-practices. The Shaman or priest pretends to control by incantations and ceremonies the evil spirits to whom death, sickness, and other misfortunes are ascribed. This form or stage of religion Many instances of the “Making Medicine” are shown in the Dakota Winter Counts; also graphic expressions regarding magic. Especial reference may be made to American-Horse’s count for the years 1824-’25 and 1843-’44, in the Corbusier Winter Counts. Figure 110 was copied from a piece of walrus ivory in the museum of the Alaska Commercial Company, of San Francisco, California, by Dr. Hoffman, and the interpretation is as obtained from an Alaskan native. 1, 2. The Shaman’s summer habitations, trees growing in the vicinity. 3. The Shaman, who is represented in the act of holding one of his “demons.” These “evil spirits” are considered as under the control of the Shaman, who employs them to drive other “evil beings” out of the bodies of sick men. 4. The demon or aid. 5. The same Shaman exorcising the demons causing the sickness. 6, 7. Sick men, who have been under treatment, and from whose bodies the “evil beings” or sickness has been expelled. 8. Two “evil spirits” which have left the bodies of Nos. 6 and 7. Fig. 111 represents a record of a Shamanistic nature, and was copied by Dr. Hoffman from an ivory bow in the museum of the Alaska Commercial Company in 1882. The interpretation was also obtained at the same time from an Alaskan native, with text in the Kiatexamut dialect of the Innuit language. The rod of the bow upon which the characters occur is here represented in three sections, A, B, and C. A bears the beginning of the narrative, extending over only one-half of the length of the rod. The course of the inscription is then continued on the adjacent side of the rod at the middle, and reading in both directions (section B and C), towards the two files of approaching animals. B and C occupy the whole of one side. The following is the explanation of the characters. A. No. 1. Baidarka or skin boat resting on poles. The original text above mentioned with interlinear translation, is as follows: Nu-num´-cu-a u-xlÁ-qa, pi-cÚ-qi-a kÚ da ku-lÚ-ni, ka-xÁ-qa-luk´. DANCES AND CEREMONIES.Plate LXXXI exhibits drawings of various masks used in dancing, the characters of which were obtained by Mr. G. K. Gilbert from rocks at Oakley Springs, and were explained to him by Tubi, the chief of the Oraibi Pueblos. They probably are in imitation of masks, as used by the Moki, ZuÑi, and Rio Grande Pueblos. Many examples of masks, dance ornaments, and fetiches used in ceremonies are reported and illustrated in the several papers of Messrs. Cushing, Holmes, and Stevenson in the Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Paintings or drawings of many of them have been found on pottery, on shells, and on rocks. In this connection the following extract from a letter dated Port Townsend, Washington, June 1, 1883, from Mr. James G. Swan, will be acceptable: “You may remember my calling your attention about a year since to the fact that a gentleman who had been employed on a preliminary survey for the Mexican National Construction Company had called on me and was astonished at the striking similarity between the wooden-carved images of the Haida Indians and the terra-cotta images he had found in the railroad excavations in Mexico. “I have long entertained the belief that the coast tribes originated among the Aztecs, and have made it a subject of careful study for many years. I received unexpected aid by the plates in Habel’s Investigations in Central and South America. I have shown them to Indians of various coast tribes at various times, and they all recognize certain of those pictures. No. 1, Plate 1, represents a priest cutting off the head of his victim with his stone knife. They recognize this, because they always cut off the heads of their enemies slain in battle; they never scalp. The bird of the sun is recognized by all who have seen the picture as the thunder bird of the coast tribes. But the most singular evidence I have seen is in Cushing’s description of the ZuÑi Indian, as published in the Century Magazine. The Haidas recognize the scenes, particularly the masquerade scenes in the February [1883] number, as similar to their own tomanawos ceremonies. I have had at least a dozen “These Indians know nothing, and recognize nothing in the Hebrew or Egyptian, the Chinese or Japanese pictures, but when I show them any Central or South American scenes, if they do not understand them they recognize that they are ‘their people.’” According to Stephen Powers (in Contrib. to N. A. Ethnol. III, p. 140), there is at the head of Potter Valley, California, “a singular knoll of red earth which the TÁtu or Huchnom believe to have furnished the material for the creation of the original coyote-man. They mix this red earth into their acorn bread, and employ it for painting their bodies on divers mystic occasions.” Mr. Powers supposed this to be a ceremonial performance, but having found the custom to extend to other tribes he was induced to believe the statements of the Indians “that it made the bread sweeter and go further.” See also the mnemonic devices relative to Songs, page 82, and to Traditions, page 84; also page 237. Plate LXXXII represents stone heaps surmounted by buffalo skulls found near the junction of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers by Prince Maximilian zu Wied, and described in his Reise in das Innere Nord-America. Coblenz, 1841, II, p. 435. Atlas plate 29. The description by him, as translated in the London edition, is as follows: “From the highest points of this ridge of hills, curious signals are perceived at certain distances from one another, consisting of large stones and granite blocks, piled up by the Assiniboins, on the summits of each of which are placed Buffalo skulls, and which were erected by the Indians, as alleged, for the purpose of attracting the Bison herds, and to have a successful hunt.” This objective monument is to be compared with the pictographs above, “making buffalo medicine,” frequent in the Dakota Winter Counts. Descriptions of ceremonies in medicine lodges and in the initiation of candidates to secret associations have been published with and without illustrations. The most striking of these are graphic ceremonial charts made by the Indians themselves. Figure 38, on page 86, is connected with this subject, as is also No. 7 of Figure 122, page 205. A good illustration is to be found in Mrs. Eastman’s Dahcotah, or Life and Legends of the Sioux, page 206. Sketches, with descriptions of drawings used in the ceremonials of the ZuÑi and Navajo, have been made by Messrs. Cushing and Stevenson and Dr. Matthews, but cannot be published here. Figure 111a was drawn and interpreted by Naumoff, a Kadiak native, in San Francisco, California, in 1882. It represents the ground plan of a Shaman’s lodge with the Shaman curing a sick man. The following is the explanation: Fig. 111a. Shaman’s lodge. Alaska. No. 1. The entrance to the lodge. No. 2. The fire place. No. 3. A. vertical piece of wood upon which is placed a cross-piece, upon each end of which is a lamp. No. 4. The musicians seated upon the raised seats furnishing drumming and music to the movements of the Shaman during his incantations in exorcising the “evil spirit” supposed to have possession of the patient. No. 5. Visitors and friends of the afflicted seated around the walls of the lodge. No. 6. The Shaman represented in making his incantations. No. 7. The patient seated upon the floor of the lodge. No. 8. Represents the Shaman in another stage of the ceremonies, driving out of the patient the “evil being.” No. 9. Another figure of the patient; from his head is seen to issue a line connecting it with No. 10. No. 10. The “evil spirit” causing the sickness. No. 11. The Shaman in the act of driving the “evil being” out of the room. In his hands are sacred objects, his personal fetish, in which the power lies. No. 12. The flying “evil one.” Nos. 13, 14. Are assistants to the Shaman, stationed at the entrance to hit and hasten the departure of the evil being. A chart of this character appears to have been seen among the natives of New Holland by Mr. James Manning, but not copied or fully described in his Notes on the Aborigines of New Holland (Jour. of Royal Society, New South Wales, Vol. XVI, p. 167). He mentions it in connection with a corrobery or solemn religious ceremony among adults, as follows: “It has for its form the most curious painting upon a sheet of bark, done in various colors of red, yellow, and white ochre, which is exhibited by the priest.” Such objects would be highly important for comparison, and their existence being known they should be sought for. MORTUARY PRACTICES.Several devices indicating death are presented under other headings of this paper. See, for example, page 103 and the illustrations in connection with the text. According to Powers, “A Yokaia widow’s style of mourning is peculiar. In addition to the usual evidences of grief she mingles the ashes of her dead husband with pitch, making a white tar or unguent, with which she smears a band about 2 inches wide all around the edge of the hair (which is previously cut off close to the head), so that at a little distance she appears to be wearing a white chaplet.” (See Contrib. to N. A. Ethnol., III, p. 166.) Mr. Dorsey reports that mud is used by a mourner in the sacred-bag war party among the Osages. Many objective modes of showing mourning by styles of paint and markings are known, the significance of which are apparent when discovered in pictographs. Figure 112 is copied from a piece of ivory in the museum of the Alaska Commercial Company, San Francisco, California, and was interpreted by an Alaskan native in San Francisco in 1882. Fig. 112.—Votive offering. Alaska. No. 1. Is a votive offering or “Shaman stick,” erected to the memory of one departed. The “bird” carvings are considered typical of “good spirits,” and the above was erected by the remorse-stricken individual, No. 3, who had killed the person shown in No. 2. No. 2. The headless body represents the man who was killed. In this respect the Ojibwa manner of drawing a person “killed” is similar. No. 3. The individual who killed No. 2, and who erected the “grave-post” or “sacred stick.” The arm is thrown earthward, resembling the Blackfeet and Dakota gesture for “kill.” The following is the text in AÍgalÚxamut: Nu-nÁ-mu-quk´ Á-x’l-xik´ aÍ-ba-li to-qgÚ-qlu gÚ nÚ-hu tcuk nac-quÍ That portion of the Kauvuya tribe of Indians in Southern California known as the Playsanos, or lowlanders, formerly inscribed characters upon the gravestones of their dead, relating to the pursuits or good qualities of the deceased. Dr. W. J. Hoffman obtained several pieces or slabs of finely-grained sandstone near Los Angeles, California, during the summer of 1884, which had been used for this purpose. Upon these were the drawings, in incised lines, of the Fin-back whale, with figures of men pursuing them with harpoons. Around the etchings were close parallel lines with cross lines similar to the drawings made on ivory by the southern Innuit of Alaska. GRAVE-POSTS.Figures 113 and 114 were procured from a native Alaskan, by Dr. Hoffman in 1882, and explained to him to be drawings made upon grave-posts. Drawings similar to these are made on slabs of wood by devoted friends, or relatives, to present and perpetuate the good qualities of a deceased native. The occupation is usually referred to, as well as articles of importance of which the departed one was the possessor. Fig. 113.—Grave-post. Alaska. Figure 113 refers to a hunter, as land animals are shown as the chief pursuit. The following is the explanation of the characters: 1. The baidarka, or boat, holding two persons; the occupants are shown, as are also the paddles, which project below the horizontal body of the vessel. 2. A rack for drying skins and fish. A pole is added above it, from which are seen floating streamers of calico or cloth. 3. A fox. 4. A land otter. 5. The hunter’s summer habitations. These are temporary dwellings and usually constructed at a distance from home. This also indicates the profession of a skin-hunter, as the permanent lodges, indicated as winter houses, i. e., with round or dome-like roof, are located near the sea-shore, and summer houses are only needed when at some distance from home, where a considerable length of time is spent. Fig. 114.—Grave-post. Alaska. The following is the explanation of Figure 114. It is another design for a grave-post, but refers to a fisherman: 1. The double-seated baidarka, or skin canoe. 2. A bow used in shooting seal and other marine animals. 3. A seal. 4. A whale. The summer lodge is absent in this, as the fisherman did not leave the sea-shore in the pursuit of game on land. Figure 115 is a native drawing of a village and neighboring burial-ground, prepared by an Alaskan native in imitation of originals seen by him among the natives of the mainland of Alaska, especially the AigalÚqamut. Carvings are generally on walrus ivory; sometimes on wooden slats. In the figure, No. 7 is a representation of a grave-post in position, bearing an inscription similar in general character to those in the last two preceding figures. Fig. 115.—Village and burial-grounds. Alaska. The details are explained as follows: No. 1, 2, 3, 4. Various styles of habitations, representing a settlement. 5. An elevated structure used for the storage of food. 6. A box with wrappings, containing the corpse of a child. The small lines, with ball attached, are ornamented appendages consisting of strips of cloth or skin, with charms, or, sometimes, tassels. 7. Grave-post, bearing rude illustrations of the weapons or implements used by a person during his life. 8. A grave scaffold, containing adult. Besides the ornamental appendages, as in the preceding, there is a “Shaman stick” erected over the box containing the corpse as a mark of good wishes of a sorrowing survivor. See object No. 1, in Figure 112. The following extract from Schoolcraft (Hist. Indian Tribes of the United States, 1851, Vol. I, p. 356, Fig. 46) relates to the burial posts used by the Sioux and Chippewas. Plate LXXXIII is after the illustration given by this author in connection with the account quoted: Among the Sioux and Western Chippewas, after the body has been wrapped in its best clothes and ornaments, it is then placed on a scafford, or in a tree, where it remains until the flesh is entirely decayed; after which the bones are buried, and the grave-posts fixed. At the head of the grave a tabular piece of cedar, or other wood, called the adjedatig, is set. This grave-board contains the symbolic or representative figure which records, if it be a warrior, his totem; that is to say, the symbol of his family, or surname, and such arithmetical or other devices as serve to denote how many times the deceased has been in war parties, and how many scalps he had taken The following quotations and illustrations are taken from Dr. Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s New Zealand, before cited. That author says on page 437 et seq.: The carved Maori-figures, which are met with on the road, are the memorials of chiefs, who, while journeying to the restorative baths of Rotorua, succumbed to their ills on the road. Some of the figures are decked out with pieces of clothing or kerchiefs; and the most remarkable feature in them is the close imitation of the tattooing of the deceased, by which the Maoris are able to recognize for whom the monument has been erected. Certain lines are peculiar to the tribe, others to the family, and again others to the individual. A close imitation of the tattooing of the face, therefore, is to the Maori the same as to us a photographic likeness; it does not require any description of name. A representation of one of these carved posts is given in Figure 116. Fig. 116.—New Zealand grave effigy. Another carved post of like character is represented in Figure 117, concerning which the same author says, page 338: Fig. 117.—New Zealand grave-post. “Beside my tent, at Tahuahu, on the right bank of the Mangapu, there stood an odd half decomposed figure carved of wood; it was designated to me by the natives as a Tiki, marking the tomb of a chief.” The same author states, page 423: “The dwellings of the chiefs at Ohinemutu are surrounded with inclosures of pole-fences; and the Whares and Wharepunis, some of them exhibiting very fine specimens of the Maori order of architecture, are ornamented with grotesque wood-carvings. The annexed wood-cut [here reproduced as Figure 118] is intended as an illustration of some of them. The gable figure, with the lizard having six feet and two heads, is very remarkable. The human figures are not idols, but are intended to represent departed sires of the present generation.” CHARMS AND FETICHES.The use of objects as charms and fetiches is well known. Their graphic representation is not so well understood, although in the attempted interpretation of pictographs it is to be supposed that objects Figure 119, drawn by the Dakota Indians near Fort Snelling, Minnesota, exhibits the use for a fetichistic purpose of an instrument which is usually included among war clubs, though this particular object is more adapted to defense than to offense. Fig. 119.—Mdewakantawan Fetich. The head of the fetich is a grooved stone hammer of moderate size, measuring from an inch and a half to as much as 5 inches in length. A withe is tied about the middle of the hammer in the groove provided for the purpose, having a handle of from 2 to 4 feet in length. The latter is frequently wrapped with buckskin or raw-hide to strengthen it, as well as for ornamental purposes. Feathers attached bear mnemonic marks or designs, indicating marks of distinction, perhaps fetichistic devices not understood. These objects are believed to possess the peculiar charm of warding off an enemy’s missiles when held upright before the body. In the pictograph made by the Dakota Indian, the manner of holding it, as well as the act of shooting an arrow by an enemy, is shown with considerable clearness. The interpretation was explained by the draftsman himself. Properties are attributed to this instrument similar to those of the small bags prepared by the Shaman, which are carried suspended from the neck by means of string or buckskin cords. Subject-matter connected with this heading appears in several parts of this paper, e. g., Figure 46, on page 141, and the characters for 1824-’25 on plate XLII. |
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