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
TRIBAL HISTORY.
It is very difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish in pictographs,
or, indeed, orally, between historical and traditional accounts
obtained from Indians, so that this heading may be connected with
one before presented, having relation to Traditions as mnemonically
pictured. See page 84.
The Walum-Olum, or Bark Record of the Lenni-Lenapè, before mentioned,
as also some of Schoolcraft’s pictographic illustrations, may be, in
accordance with the judgment of the reader, more or less properly
connected with history. The Dakota Winter Counts, including the
Corbusier Winter Counts, in the present paper, while having their
chief value as calendars, contain some material that is absolute
and veritable tribal history, though seldom of more than local and
transient interest. An example from Battiste Good’s count for the year
1862-’63, is given in addition, explaining the origin of the title
“Brulé” Dakota.
He calls the year “The-people-were-burnt winter,” and adds:
They were living somewhere east of their present country, when a
prairie fire destroyed their entire village. Many of their children
and a man and his wife, who were on foot some distance away from the
village, were burned to death. Many of their horses were also burned to
death. All the people that could get to a long lake which was near by
saved themselves by jumping into it. Many of these were badly burned
about the thighs and legs, and this circumstance gave rise to the name,
_si-can gu_, translated as Burnt Thigh, and Brulé, by which they have
since been known. Battiste Good’s character for the year is here given
as Figure 123.
[Illustration: FIG. 123.--Origin of Brulé. Dakota.]
This is of later date than the mythical times, even among Indians, and,
being verified as it is, must be accepted as historical.
BIOGRAPHIC.
The pictographs under this head that have come to the writer’s notice
have been grouped as, _First_, a continuous account of the chief events
in the life of the subject of the sketch; _Second_, separate accounts
of some particular exploit or event in the life of the person referred
to. Pictographs of both of these descriptions are very common.
CONTINUOUS RECORD OF EVENTS IN LIFE.
An example of a continuous record is the following “autobiography” of
Running-Antelope:
The accompanying illustrations, Figures 124 to 134 are copied from a
record of eleven drawings prepared by Running-Antelope, chief of the
Uncpapa Dakota, at Grand River, Dakota, in 1873. The sketches were
painted in a large drawing-book by means of water colors, and were made
for Dr. W. J. Hoffman, to whom the following interpretations were given
by the artist:
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