The power of determining the authorship of pictographs made on materials other than rocks, by means of their general style and type, can be estimated by a comparison of those of the Abnaki, Ojibwa, Dakota, Haida, Innuit, Shoshoni, Moki, etc., presented in various parts of this paper.
Fig. 1257.—Typical character. Guiana.
Everard F. im Thurn (k), in reference to Fig. 1257, remarks:
Wherever a peculiar, complex, and not very obvious figure occurs in many examples it is legitimate to assume that this had some ulterior object and meaning. Now this figure, occurring in the shallow engravings of Guiana, is of such kind. It is not a figure which an Indian would be likely to invent in an idle moment even once, for such a man very seldom, probably never, except in these particular figures, has been known to draw straight lines. Moreover, even if it were a figure that one Indian might idly invent, it is certainly highly improbable that this would be copied by many other Indians in various places. And, lastly, a figure strikingly like the one in question, if, indeed, it is not identical, occurs in certain Mexican picture writings. For example, in the Mexican MSS. [reproduced in Kingsborough, op. cit., I, from Sir Thomas Bodley’s MSS., pp. 22, 23, and from the Selden MSS., also in the Bodleian, p. 3] several figures occur so like that of the shallow engravings of Guiana that there can be but little doubt of their connection. The recurrence of this peculiar figure in these writings is surely sufficient evidence of the fact that they are not without intention. If it were possible to obtain a clue to the meaning of the Mexican figures it might serve as a key to decipher the hieroglyphic writings of Guiana.
With regard to the study of the individual characters themselves to identify the delineators of pictographs, the various considerations of fauna, religion, customs, tribal signs, indeed most of the headings of this paper, will be applicable.
It is convenient to divide this chapter into: 1. Marked characters of known significance. 2. Distinctive costumes, weapons, and ornaments. 3. Ambiguous characters, with ascertained meaning.
SECTION 1.
MARKED CHARACTERS OF KNOWN SIGNIFICANCE.
It is obvious that before attempting the interpretation of pictographs concerning which no direct information is to be obtained, there should be a collection, as complete as possible, of known characters, in order that through them the unknown may be learned. When any considerable number of objects in a pictograph are actually known the remainder may be ascertained by the context, the relation, and the position of the several designs, and sometimes by the recognized principles of the art.
The present writer has been engaged, therefore, for a considerable time in collating a large number of characters in a card-catalogue arranged primarily by similarity in forms, and in attaching to each character any significance ascertained or suggested. As before explained, the interpretation upon which reliance is mainly based is that which has been made known by direct information from Indians who themselves were actually makers of pictographs at the time of giving the interpretation. Apart from the comparisons obtained by this collation, the only mode of ascertaining the meaning of the characters, in other words, the only key yet discovered, is in the study of the gesture sign included in many of them.
A spiral line frequently seen in petroglyphs is explained by the Dakota to be a snail shell, and, furthermore, this device is seen in Pl. XX, and fully described in that connection as used in the recording and computation of time.
The limits of this paper do not allow of presenting a complete list of the characters in the pictographs which have become known. But some of the characters in the petroglyphs, Figs. 1258, 1259, and 1260, which are not discussed under various headings, supra, should be explained. The following is a selection of those which were interpreted to Mr. Gilbert.
The left hand device of Fig. 1258 is an inclosure, or pen, in which ceremonial dances are performed. That on the right is a headdress used in ceremonial dances.
Compare the drawing from Fairy Rocks, N. S., Fig. 549.
Fig. 1259.—Frames and arrows. Moki.
Fig. 1259 gives sketches of the frames or sticks used in carrying wood on the back; also shows different forms of arrows.
Fig. 1260.—Blossoms. Moki.
Fig. 1260 represents the blossoms of melons, squashes.
The appearance of objects showing the influence of European civilization and christianization should always be carefully noted. An instance where an object of that character is found among a multitude of others not liable to such suspicion is in the heart surmounted by a cross, in the upper line of Fig. 437. This suggests missionary teaching and corresponding date.
Maximilian of Wied (g) says:
Another mode of painting their robes by the Dakotas is to represent the number of valuable presents they have made. By these presents, which are often of great value, they acquire reputation and respect among their countrymen. On such robes we observed long red figures with a black circle at the termination placed close to each other in transverse rows; they represent whips, indicating the number of horses given, because the whip belonging to the horse is always bestowed with the animal. Red or dark-blue transverse figures indicate cloth or blankets given; parallel transverse stripes represent firearms, the outlines of which are pretty correctly drawn.
It may be desirable also to note, to avoid misconception, that where, throughout this work, mention is made of particulars under the headings of customs, religion, etc., which might be made the subject of graphic illustration in pictographs, and for that reason should be known as preliminary to the attempted interpretation of the latter, the suggestion is not given as a mere hypothesis. Such objective marks and conceptions of the character indicated which can readily be made objective, are in fact frequently found in pictographs and have been understood by means of the preliminary information to which reference is made. When interpretations obtained through this line of study are properly verified, they can take places in the card catalogue little inferior to those of interpretations derived directly from aboriginal pictographers.
The interpretation by means of gesture-signs has already been discussed, Chap. XVIII, Sec. 4.
Capt. Carver (b) describes how an Ojibwa drew the emblem of his own tribe as a deer, a Sioux as a man dressed in skins, an Englishman as a human figure with a hat on his head, and a Frenchman as a man with a handkerchief tied around his head.
In this connection is the quotation from the Historical Collections of Louisiana, Part III, 1851, p. 124, describing a pictograph, as follows: “There were two figures of men without heads, and some entire. The first denoted the dead and the second the prisoners. One of my conductors told me on this occasion that when there are any French among either, they set their arms akimbo, or their hands upon their hips, to distinguish them from the savages, whom they represent with their arms hanging down. This distinction is not purely arbitrary; it proceeds from these people having observed that the French often put themselves in this posture, which is not used among them.”
It is also said suggestively, by C. H. Read (f) in Jour. of the Anthrop. Inst. of Gr. Br. and I., that in the carvings of the West African negroes, the typical white man is constantly figured with a brandy bottle in one hand and a large glass in the other.
Fig. 1261.—Moki characters. The following is the explanation:
a. A beaver.
b. A bear.
c. A mountain sheep (Ovis montana).
d. Three wolf heads.
e. Three jackass rabbits.
f. Cottontail rabbit.
g. Bear tracks.
h. An eagle.
i. Eagle tails.
j. A turkey tail.
k. Horned toads (Phryosoma sp. ?).
l. Lizards.
m. A butterfly.
n. Snakes.
o. A rattlesnake.
p. Deer track.
q. Three bird tracks.
r. Bitterns (wading birds).
Instructive particulars regarding pictographs may be discovered in the delineation of the fauna in reference to its present or former habitat in the region where the representation of it is found.
As an example of the number and kind of animals pictured as well as of their mode of representation, the foregoing Fig. 1261, comprising many of the Moki inscriptions at Oakley Springs, Arizona, is presented by Mr. G. K. Gilbert. These were selected by him from a large number of etchings for the purpose of obtaining the explanation, and they were explained to him by Tubi, an Oraibi chief living at Oraibi, one of the Moki villages.
Fig. 1262.—Mantis. Kejimkoojik.
The large object in Fig. 1262, scratched on the Kejimkoojik rocks, Nova Scotia, is probably intended for a mantis or “rear-horse,” but strongly reminds the observer of the monkey forms in the petroglyphs of Central and South America.
Fig. 1263.—Animal forms. Sonora.
Ten Kate (b) shows in Fig. 1263 those animal forms which were not obliterated from the face of the rock of El-Sauce, Sonora; they were very nearly in the order in which they are represented. The fish at the upper right hand is 20 centimeters long.
SECTION 2.
DISTINCTIVE COSTUMES, WEAPONS, AND ORNAMENTS.
On examining the relics of ancient peoples or their modern representatives, the instruments and arms accompanying them and the clothing upon them mark the social status of the individual. In the social life of past generations, and still to-day, certain garments with their adjuncts indicate certain functions. The lawyer, the mechanic, the priest, and the soldier are easily recognizable. These garments do not only give general indications, but minute details, so in looking upon a certain soldier it is known what country he serves, how many men are under his orders, and how many chiefs are above him. It is known if he marches on horseback or afoot, if he handles the rifle or the saber, works the cannon, designs fortifications, or builds bridges. Also, by looking on his decorated breast, it is shown if he has made campaigns and participated in historic battles, and whether or not he has gained distinction. This is told by the color, cut, and ornaments of his clothes and by the weapon he bears. Some details are also furnished by the cut of the hair, and even the style of foot-gear. The above remarks apply to the highest civilization, but all kinds of personal and class designations by means of distinctive costumes, weapons, and adornments were and still are most apparent and important among the less cultured peoples.
The American Indians seldom clothed themselves, except in very cold weather, save for purposes of ornament. They habitually wore no other garment than the breech-cloth, but in their ceremonies and social dances they bedecked themselves with full and elaborate costumes, often regulated with special punctilio for the occasion. The boreal tribes, such as the Alaskan, Athapascan, and Chippewayan, who were obliged to protect themselves for a large part of the year by furs and skins, developed characteristic forms of dress which in pictography take the place occupied by painting and tattooing among tribes where the person was more habitually exposed. Among the southern tribes there was need of protection against the rays of the sun, as in Mexico, where cotton and other fibers were used. In general some of the forms of wearing apparel, if only varieties in the make of moccasins or sandals, designated the tribe of the wearers, and therefore often became adopted as pictorial signs. Ceremonial clothing is often elaborately decorated with beads, porcupine quills, claws and teeth of animals, shells, and feathers. Many of these garments are further ornamented with paintings of a totemic or mythologic character, or bear the insignia of the wearer’s rank and social status. Metal ornaments, such as armlets, bracelets, anklets, earrings and bells, were also worn, the material and quantity being in accordance with the wearer’s ability and pecuniary condition. Upon both social and ceremonial occasions the headgear displayed eagle feathers and the plumes of other species of birds, and tufts of hair dyed in red or other colors. Necklaces were made of claws, shells, deer and antelope hoofs, the teeth of various animals, snake-skins, and even human fingers.
Immediately following are some of the Dakota designations in the particulars mentioned:
Fig. 1264.—Shield. Red Cloud’s Census. The shield here is without device, though frequently one is painted on the war shields. Such painting may be the pictograph of the gens or of the personal designation, or may show the marks of rank.
Fig. 1265.—Wahacanka, Shield. The Oglala Roster. The marks or bearings on the shield probably are personal and similar to those commonly called heraldic, but in this drawing are too minute for accurate blazonry.
Fig. 1266.—Black-Shield “says his prayers” (in the interpreter’s phrase; that is, he performed the rites elsewhere explained); and takes the war-path to avenge the death of two of his sons who had been killed by the Crows. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1859-’60.
Fig. 1267.—Eagle-Feather. Red-Cloud’s Census. This is probably the same name as translated Lone-Feather in the following figure, in which the feather also comes from an eagle’s tail:
Fig. 1268.—Lone-Feather said his prayers and took the warpath to avenge the death of some relatives. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1842-’43.
Fig. 1269.—Feathers. Red-Cloud’s Census. This figure and the next refer to some special ornamentation.
Fig. 1270.—Feathers. Red-Cloud’s Census.
Fig. 1271.—Bone-Necklace. Red-Cloud’s Census. This figure and the three following show special kinds of neck ornaments.
Fig. 1272—Beads. Red-Cloud’s Census.
Fig. 1273.—Stone-Necklace. Red-Cloud’s Census.
Fig. 1274.—Feather-Necklace. Red-Cloud’s Census.
Fig. 1275.—Wolf-Robe was killed by the Pawnees. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1850-’51.
He is killed and scalped while wearing a robe of wolf-skin.
Fig. 1276.—Wears-the-Bonnet. Red-Cloud’s Census. This is the ornamented war bonnet of the Dakotas.
Fig. 1277.—Garter. Red-Cloud’s Census.
Fig. 1278.—Wicanapsu-owin, Wears-human-fingers as earrings. The Oglala Roster.
The place for the fingers to be worn is indicated by the line terminating in a loop.
The Indian accumulated no wealth except in things useful during his life. His ornaments were made from shells which in their natural shape are innumerable; from the skins of animals which require only skill to take and dress them; and from stone and copper, demanding only strength to procure and transport them. The value of an Indian ornament is in the skill, care and patience required in making it. Thus the wampum-bead became of intrinsic value, similar in that to gold and silver in civilization; the stone carefully wrought into the fashion of a pipe became the emblem of authority and the instrument of worship; and copper, slowly and toilfully delved and fashioned with the rudest of tools and appliances, became almost a fetich of superstition. So likewise the quill of the porcupine, worked into a design in embroidery with the most exquisite care, was an ornament fit for warriors and chiefs. But on the cradle or basket-nest for the expected or new-born child, upon the gown or woman’s dress of the favorite daughter, and upon the moccasins and trappings for the growing son, hand and head and heart were employed for months and even years.
The Dakotan bride, swayed by the yearning of expectant maternity, perhaps also by ambition to excel in the sole permitted mode of its display, adorned her lodge with ornamented cradles, each new one becoming in design more beautiful and intricate than the last, until her yearning was answered, when the cradles not needed were exchanged for horses and ornaments, which became the endowment of the new-born child.
Some note should be made of the sense of correspondence and contrast of colors which the Dakota, at least, exhibits; the rules which he originates and observes forming that which is called artistic taste. The Indian’s use of colors corresponds more nearly than that of most barbarians with that common in high civilization, except that he perceives so little distinction between blue and green that but one name generally suffices for both colors. It is remarkable that among the wilder and plains tribes of Dakotas dead colors in beads are preferred and arranged with good effect, and that among these, specially, the use of neutral tints is common. Probably both of these results were produced from the old and exclusive employment of clays for pigments—clays of almost all colors and shades being found in the country over which the Dakotas roamed.
The peculiarities of dress or undress would seem to have first struck the people of the eastern hemisphere as well adapted to pictorial representation. Singularly enough to modern ideas, the braccÆ or trousers were to the Romans the symbol of barbarism, whereas now the absence of the garments, called even “indispensable,” has the same significance. Maj. C. R. Conder (d) gives this good lesson literally “a propos de bottes:”
A curious peculiarity of dress also serves to indicate the racial connection. In Cappadocia and in Anatolia the monuments represent figures with a boot or shoe curled up in front. An Assyrian representation of an Armenian merchant shows the same boot. Sir C. Wilson first compared it with the boot now worn by the peasantry of Asia Minor. Perrot compares it with the cavalry boot worn in Syria and with what we call a Turkish slipper. The Etruscans wore a similar shoe called calceus repandus by the Romans. On the monuments at Karnak the Hittites are represented wearing the same shoe, and although it is not of necessity a mark of race, it is still curious that this curly-toed boot was common to the various Turanian peoples of Syria, Asia Minor, Armenia, and Italy.
Schoolcraft (t) gives the characters on the left hand of Fig. 1279 as two Ojibwa war clubs, and the right-hand character in the same figure is represented in a Wyoming petroglyph as a bow.
Many other weapons distinctive to their draughtsmen are shown in this paper.
Fig. 1280. Australian wommeras and clubs.
It may be well to insert here Fig. 1280, showing the wommeras and clubs of the Australians, taken from Curr (d), not only on account of their forms but of the pictorial designs on some of them, which should be compared with those of the Moki and other Indian tribes.
A large number of pictographic figures distinguishing bodies of Indians by different mode of head dress have already been given. Some additional detail may be added about the Absaroka who have in this regard been imitated by the Hidatsa and Arikara.
They wear horse hair taken from the tail, attached to the back of their heads and allowed to hang down their backs. It is arranged in eight or ten strands, each about as thick as a finger and laid parallel with spaces between them of the width of a single strand. Pine gum is then mixed with red ocher or vermilion and by means of other hair, or fibers of any kind laid crosswise, the strands are secured and around each intersection of hair a ball of gum is plastered to hold it in place, secured to the real growth of hair on the back of the head. About four inches further down a similar row of gum balls and cross strings is placed, and so on down to the end. The Indians frequently incorporate the false hair with their own so as to lengthen the latter without any marked evidence of the deception. Nevertheless the transverse fastenings with their gum attachments are present. In picture-writing this is shown upon the figure of a man by parallel lines drawn downward from the back of the head, intersected by cross lines, the whole appearing like small squares or a piece of net. See Figs. 484 and 485, supra.
A quaint account of social designation by the arrangement of the hair among the Northeastern Algonquins is recorded in the Jesuit Relations of 1639, pp. 44-5:
When a girl or woman favors some one who seeks her, she cuts the hair in the fashion adopted by the maidens of France, hanging over the forehead, which is an ugly style as well in this country as in France; St. Paul forbidding women to show their hair. The women here wear their hair in bunches at the back of the head, in the form of a truss, which they decorate with beads when they have them. If, after marrying some one, a woman leaves him without cause, or if, being promised and having accepted some present, she fails to keep her word, the presumptive husband sometimes cuts her hair, which renders her very despicable and prevents her from getting another spouse.
There is a differentiation of this usage among the Pueblos generally, who, when accurate and particular in delineation, designate the women of that tribe by a huge coil of hair over either ear. This custom prevails also among the CoyotÈro Apaches, the women wearing the hair in a coil to denote a virgin, while the coil is absent in the case of a married woman.
Regarding the apparent subject matter of pictographs an obvious distinction may be made between hunting and land scenes such as would be familiar to interior tribes and those showing fishing and aquatic habits common to seaboard and lacustrine peoples. Similar and more perspicuous modes of discrimination are available. The general scope of known history, traditions, and myths may also serve in identification. Known habits and fashions of existing or historically-known tribes have the same application, e.g., the portrayal on a drawing of a human face of labrets or nose rings limits the artist to defined regions, and then other considerations may further specify the work.
When the specific pictorial style of distinctive peoples is ascertained its appearance on rocks may give evidence of their habitat and migrations, and on the other hand their authorship of the petroglyphs being received as a working hypothesis, the latter may be confirmed and the characters interpreted through the known practices and habits of the postulated authors.
SECTION 3.
AMBIGUOUS CHARACTERS WITH ASCERTAINED MEANING.
Under this heading specimens of the card catalogue before mentioned are presented. The characters would not probably be recognized for the objects they are intended to represent and many of them might be mistaken for attempts to delineate other objects. A much larger number of similar delineations are to be found under other headings in this work, especially in Chap. XIII on Totems, titles, and names.
Prof. C. Thomas (c) gives a, b, c, and d, in Fig. 1281 as representing the turtle.
That they do so is shown by the head of the animal, e, taken from the Cortesian Codex. This is one of the many examples in which the significance of drawings can be ascertained from a series of conventionalized forms. Other instances are given in the present paper, and more in the works of Mr. W. H. Holmes, published in several of the Annual Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology.
Fig. 1282.—Armadillo. Yucatan.
Fig. 1282 is given in the last cited volume and page as the symbol of the armadillo of Yucatan.
Fig. 1283.—Dakota drawings.
The drawings of which Fig. 1283 presents copies were made by Dakota tribesmen: a, fox; b, black fox; c, wolf; d, black deer; e, beaver; f, spotted horse; g, porcupine; h, white hawk; i, bald eagle; k, crow; l, swallow; m and n, war bonnet; o, leggins; p, gun; q, pipe.
Fig. 1284.—Ojibwa drawings.
The characters in Fig. 1284 are Ojibwa drawings. With the exception of the last one they are copies of selected sketches made by Gaga Sindebi at White Earth, Minn., in 1891, as parts of a Mide' song.
a, a wolf. The dark chest markings and the large tail are in imitation of those parts of the timber wolf. The coyote is not now found in the region where the author of the song lives; but is more particularly a prairie animal.
b, a wolf. The pronounced jaw indicates his carnivorous nature.
c, a badger. Although the form resembles that of the bear the difference is shown by the darkened body to imitate the gray fur.
d, a bear.
e, a bear. This style of drawing is not common, it being rather short and stout, while the legs and ears are unusually pronounced.
f, the figure of a bear manido, to which is attached a feather denoting the mythic character of the animal.
g, the figure represents a “lean bear,” as is specified by the appearance of the ribs showing his lean condition.
h, a lizard. The ribs are ridges, which are found upon some forms of Siredon, one species of which occurs in the ponds and small lakes of Minnesota.
i, a toad.
k, a raccoon. The bands of color are indicated in the drawing.
l, a porcupine. Resembles some forms of the sacred bear manido as the latter is sometimes drawn.
m, the crane. The three round spots over the head represent three songs sung by the mide' to the crane manido.
n, the thunder-bird or eagle, having four heads. This character appears to be unique, as it has at no time been noticed upon any of the numerous mide' records in the possession of the Bureau of Ethnology.
o, the character represents a man using the rattle, as in the ceremony of incantation. The projections above the head denote his superior powers.
p, a mide', holding in his right hand a bear’s paw medicine bag, and in his left hand an arrow. The character resembles similar drawings to denote vessels in which herbs are boiled and from the top of which vapor is issuing.
q, a mide' medicine sack. The character appears like similar drawings of the otter; in the present instance, however, the ornamentation upon the skin shows it to be not a living animal.
r, a beaver’s tail, from Schoolcraft (y). Many other illustrations of this general nature are given by Mr. Schoolcraft, nearly all colored according to his fancy.
