The most interesting of all the accounts regarding the pictographs of the North American Indians published before the last decade was contained in the works of Henry R. Schoolcraft, issued in 1853 and subsequent years, and the most frequently quoted part of his contributions on this subject describes the pictographs of the Ojibwa. He had special facilities for obtaining accurate information with regard to all matters relating to that tribe on account of his marriage to one of its women, a granddaughter of a celebrated chief, Waub-o-jeeg and daughter of a European named Johnson. She was educated in Ireland and had sufficient intelligence to understand and describe to her husband the points of interest relating to her tribe. The accounts given by Mr. Schoolcraft, with numerous illustrations, convey the impression that the Ojibwa were nearly as far advanced in hieroglyphic writing as the Egyptians before their pictorial representations had become syllabic. The general character of his voluminous publications has not been such as to assure modern critics of his accuracy, and the wonderful combination of minuteness and comprehensiveness attributed by him to the Ojibwa “hieroglyphs” has of late been generally regarded with suspicion. It was considered in the Bureau of Ethnology an important duty to ascertain how much of truth existed in these remarkable accounts, and for that purpose the writer, with Dr. Hoffman as assistant, examined the most favorable points in the present habitat of the tribe, namely, the northern regions of Minnesota and Wisconsin, to ascertain how much was yet to be discovered. The general results of the comparison of Schoolcraft’s statements with what is now found show that he told the truth in substance, but with much exaggeration and coloring. The word “coloring” is particularly appropriate, because in his copious illustrations various colors were used freely and with apparent significance, whereas, in fact, the general rule in regard to the birch-bark rolls was that they were never colored at all; indeed, the bark was not adapted to coloration. The metaphorical coloring was also flourished by him in a manner which seems absurd to any thorough student of the Indian philosophy and religions. Metaphysical concepts are attached by him to some of the devices which he calls “symbols,” which could never have been entertained by a people in the stage of culture of the Ojibwa. While some symbolism, in the wide sense of the term, may be perceived, iconography and ideography are more apparent. The largest part of the bark rolls and other pictographs of the Ojibwa obtained by the Bureau, relates to the ceremonies of the Midē' and of the shamanistic orders; another division refers to the Jessakid performances, which can be classed under the head of jugglery; and a third part embraces the more current and practical uses. Examples of all of these are given, infra.