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
Upon the Enchanted Mountain in Union County, cut in plutonic rock,
are the tracks of men, women, children, deer, bears, bisons, turkeys
and terrapins, and the outlines of a snake, of two deer, and of a
human hand. These sculptures--so far as they have been ascertained
and counted--number one hundred and thirty-six. The most extravagant
among them is that known as the footprint of the “Great Warrior.”
It measures eighteen inches in length, and has six toes. The other
human tracks and those of the animals are delineated with commendable
fidelity. * * *
Most of them present the appearance of the natural tread of the
animal in plastic clay. * * * These _intaglios_ closely resemble
those described by Mr. Ward [Jour. Anthrop. Inst. of N. Y., No.
1, 57 _et seq._], as existing upon the upheaved strata of coarse
carboniferous grit in Belmont County, Ohio, near the town of
Barnesville.
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 Figure 1, page 30 _ante._ This suggests
missionary teaching.
[Illustration:
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
]
The following is the explanation of the figures:
Fig. 4. A beaver.
5. A bear.
6. A mountain sheep (_Ovis montana_).
7. Three wolf heads.
8. Three Jackass rabbits.
9. Cottontail rabbit.
10. Bear tracks.
11. An eagle.
12. Eagle tails.
13. A turkey tail.
14. Horned toads (_Phryosoma_ sp.?).
15. Lizards.
16. A butterfly.
17. Snakes.
18. A rattlesnake.
19. Deer track.
20. Three Bird tracks.
21. Bitterns (wading birds).
INSTRUMENTS USED IN PICTOGRAPHY.
These are often of anthropologic interest. A few examples are given as
follows, though other descriptions appear elsewhere in this paper.
INSTRUMENTS FOR CARVING.
This includes etching, pecking, and scratching.
The Hidatsa, when carving upon stone or rocks, as well as upon pieces
of wood, use a sharply pointed piece of hard stone, usually a fragment
of quartz.
The bow-drill was an instrument largely used by the Innuit of Alaska in
carving bone and ivory. The present method of cutting figures and other
characters, to record events and personal exploits, consists in the use
of a small blade, thick, though sharply pointed, resembling a graver.
INSTRUMENTS FOR DRAWING.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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