Pictographs of the North American Indians. A preliminary paper: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 3-256Mallery, Garrick
History
Pictographs of the North American Indians. A preliminary paper: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 3-256
Mallery, Garrick
Haida Indians; Picture-writing, Indian; Tattooing
qlu-gú, i-nó-qtclu-gu; Ka-sá-ha-lik´ na-bŏn´ ca-gú-lŭk a-gú-nŭ-qua-qlu-hŭ’.
off, laid him down; Shaman stick bird to set (or place)
(buried) (offering) (wooden) on the top of
(over).
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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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