Picture-Writing of the American Indians: Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1888-89, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1893, pages 3-822Mallery, Garrick
History
Picture-Writing of the American Indians: Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1888-89, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1893, pages 3-822
Mallery, Garrick
Picture-writing, Indian
Last November my attention was called to some rock sculptures
located about 2-1/2 miles northwest from Trempealeau, Wisconsin.
There is at the point in question an exposed ledge of the Potsdam
sandstone extending nearly one-eighth of a mile along the east side
of the lower mouth of the Trempealeau river, now known as the bay.
Near its north end there is a projection extending out about 7 feet
from the top of the ledge and overhanging the base about 10 feet.
The base of the ledge is 40 feet back from the shore, and the top of
the cliff at this point is 30 feet above the water. On the face of
the projection, and near the top, are the sculpture figures referred
to.
The characters designated _a_ _a_ are two so-called canoes,
somewhat crescent-shaped, but with some variation in outline; _b_
has the same form, but the additional upright portion overlaps it;
_c_ and _d_ are also of the same form as _a_, but _c_ is cut in the
bottom of _d_; _e_ probably represents a fort, and its length is
18-1/2 inches; _f_ is a nondescript, and it partly overlaps _d_;
_g_ is a nondescript four-legged animal, its length in a straight
line from the end of the nose to the tip of the tail being 10-1/2
inches; _h_ may be intended to represent a foot, but possibly it may
be a hand; it is 7-1/2 inches in length; _i_ is an outspread hand, a
little over 13 inches long; _j_ undoubtedly represents a foot and is
4-1/2 inches long; _k_ _k_ are of the same class as _a_.
The figures are not mere outlines, but intaglio, varying in depth from
a quarter of an inch to fully 1 inch. Although the surface of the rock
is rough the intaglios were rubbed perfectly smooth after they had been
engraved by pecking or cutting.
WYOMING.
Several pictographs in Wyoming are described by Capt. William A. Jones,
U. S. Army (_a_). They are reproduced here as Figs. 93, 94, and 95.
Fig. 93, found in the Wind river valley, Wyoming, was interpreted by
members of a Shoshoni and Banak delegation to Washington in 1880 as “an
Indian killed another.” The latter is very roughly delineated in the
horizontal figure, but is also represented by the line under the hand of
the upright figure, meaning the same dead person. At the right is the
scalp taken and the two feathers showing the dead warrior’s rank. The
arm nearest the prostrate foe shows the gesture for killed; concept, to
put down, flat.
[Illustration: FIG. 93.--Petroglyph in Wind river valley, Wyoming.]
The same gesture appears in Fig. 94, from the same authority and
locality. The scalp is here held forth, and the numeral (1) is indicated
by the lowest stroke.
[Illustration: FIG. 94.--Petroglyph in Wind river valley, Wyoming.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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