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
The deities upon which the most worship is bestowed, if, indeed,
any particular one is nameable, are Tunkan (Inyan) the Stone God and
Wakinyan, the Thunder Bird. The latter, as being the main god of
war, receives constant worship and sacrifices; whilst the adoration
of the former is an every-day affair. The Tunkan, the Dakotas say,
is the god that dwells in stones or rocks, and is the oldest god. If
asked why it is considered the oldest, they will tell you because it
is the hardest.
Mr. Charles Hallock, on the authority of Capt. Ed. Hunter, First
Cavalry, U. S. A., furnishes the following information respecting the
Assiniboin, Montana, rock pictures, which shows the reverence of these
Indians for the petroglyphs even when in ruins:
Some of the rocks of the sculptured cliff cleaved off and
tumbled to the ground, whereupon the Indians assembled in force,
stuck up a pole, hung up some buffalo heads and dried meat, had a
song and dance, and carefully covered the detached fragments (which
were sculptured or painted) with cotton cloth and blankets. Jim
Brown, a scout, told Capt. Hunter that the Indians assembled at this
station at stated times to hold religious ceremonies. The pictures
are drawn on the smooth face of an outcrop or rocky projection.
Marcano (_a_) gives an account in which superstition is mixed with
historic tradition. It is translated as follows:
The legend of the Tamanaques, transmitted by Father Gili, has
also been invoked in favor of an ancient civilization. According
to the beliefs of this nation, there took place in days of old a
general inundation, which recalls the age of the great waters of
the Mexicans, during which the scattered waves beat against the
Encaramada. All the Tamanaques were drowned except one man and one
woman, who fled to the mountain of Tamacu or Tamanácu, situated
on the banks of Asiveru (Cuchivero). They threw above their heads
the fruits of the palm tree, Mauritia, and saw arising from their
kernels the men and women who repeopled the earth. It was during
this inundation that Amalavica, the creator of mankind, arrived on
a bark and carved the inscription of Tepumereme. Amalavica remained
long among the Tamanaques, and dwelt in Amalavica-Jeutitpe (house).
After putting everything in order he set sail and returned “to
the other shore,” whence he had come. “Did you perchance meet him
there?” said an Indian to Father Gili, after relating to him this
story. In this connection Humboldt recalls that in Mexico, too, the
monk Sahagun was asked whether he came from the other shore, whither
Quetzalcoatl had retired.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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