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
These two kinds of engravings may, for the sake of convenience,
be distinguished as “deep” and “shallow,” respectively, according
as the figures are deeply cut into the rock or are merely scratched
on the surface. The former vary from one-eighth to one-half of an
inch, or even more, in depth; the latter are of quite inconsiderable
depth. This difference probably corresponds with a difference in the
means by which they were produced. The deep engravings seem cut into
the rock with an edged tool, probably of stone; the shallow figures
were apparently formed by long continued friction with stones and
moist sand. The two kinds seem never to occur in the same place or
even near to each other; in fact, a distinct line may almost be
drawn between the districts in which the deep and shallow kinds
occur, respectively; the deep form occurs at several spots on the
Mazeruni, Essequibo, Ireng, Cotinga, Potaro, and Berbice rivers. The
shallow form has as yet only been reported from the Corentyn river
and its tributaries, where, however, examples occur in considerable
abundance. But the two kinds differ not only in the depth of
incision, in the apparent mode of their production, and in the place
of their occurrence, but also--and this is the chief difference
between the two--in the figures represented.
Fig. 106 is a typical example of the shallow carvings.
[Illustration: FIG. 106.--Shallow carvings in Guiana.]
Fig. 1104, infra, is a similar example of the deep carvings.
The shallow engravings seem always to occur on comparatively
large and more or less smooth surfaces of rock, and rarely, if
ever, as the deep figures, on detached blocks of rock, piled
one on the other. The shallow figures, too, are generally much
larger, always combinations of straight or curved lines in figures
much more elaborate than those in the deep engravings; and these
shallow pictures always represent not animals, but greater or less
variations of the figure which has been described. Lastly, though I
am not certain that much significance can be attributed to this, all
the examples that I have seen face more or less accurately eastward.
The deep engravings, on the other hand, consist not of a single
figure but of a greater or less number of rude drawings. * * * These
depict the human form, monkeys, snakes, and other animals, and also
very simple combinations of two or three straight or curved lines
in a pattern, and occasionally more elaborate combinations. The
individual figures are small, averaging from 12 to 18 inches in
height, but a considerable number are generally represented in a
group.
Some of the best examples of this latter kind are at Warrapoota
cataracts, about six days’ journey up the Essequibo.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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