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 — John Shaqi
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
One of the most extensive records, and probably also the most
elaborately drawn, is situated in the Carisa Plain, near Señor Oreña’s
ranch, sixty or seventy miles due north of Santa Barbara. The most
conspicuous figure is that of the sun, resembling a face, with
ornamental appendages at the cardinal points, and bearing striking
resemblance to some Moki marks and pictographic work. Serpentine lines
and numerous anomalous forms also abound.
Four miles northeast of Santa Barbara, near the residence of Mr.
Stevens, is an isolated sandstone bowlder measuring about twenty feet
high and thirty feet in diameter, upon the western side of which is
a slight cavity bearing figures corresponding in general form to
others in this county. The gesture for _negation_ again appears in the
attitude of the human figures.
Half a mile farther east, on Dr. Coe’s farm, is another smaller
bowlder, in a cavity of which some portions of human figures are shown.
Parts of the drawings have disappeared through disintegration of the
rock, which is called “Pulpit Rock,” on account of the shape of the
cavity, its position at the side of the narrow valley, and the echo
observed upon speaking a little above the ordinary tone of voice.
Painted rocks also occur in the Azuza Cañon, about thirty miles
northeast of Los Angeles, of which illustrations are given in Plate
LXXX, described on p. 156.
Dr. Hoffman also found other paintings in the valley of the South Fork
of the Tule River, in addition to those discovered in 1882, and given
in Figure 155, p. 235. The forms are those of large insects, and of the
bear, beaver, centipede, bald eagle, etc.
Upon the eastern slope of an isolated peak between Porterville and
Visalia, several miles east of the stage road, are pictographs in red
and black. These are chiefly drawings of the deer, bear, and other
animals and forms not yet determined.
Just previous to his departure from the Santa Barbara region, Dr.
Hoffman was informed of the existence of eight or nine painted records
in that neighborhood, which up to that time had been observed only by
a few sheep-herders and hunters.
Other important localities showing colored etchings, and other
painted figures, are at San Diego, California; at Oneida, Idaho; in
Temple Creek Cañon, southeastern Utah, and in the Cañon de Chelly,
northwestern New Mexico.
FOREIGN PETROGLYPHS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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