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 accompanying rock picture is found on the eastern shore of Sproat
lake, near its southern outlet. Sproat lake lies about 10 kilometers
north of the upper end of the Alberni fiord, which cuts deep into the
interior of Vancouver island. In former times this region was the
territory of the Hōpetschisāth, a tribe of the Nootka or Aht, who even
now have a village some miles below the lake, at the entrance of Stamp
river into the main river. That tribe, according to the statement of
some of its older members, was a branch of the Kowitchin, who occupy
the east side of Vancouver island, some kilometers northeast of the
upper end of Alberni fiord. At that time the Ts’ēschāáth, another
tribe of the Nootka, are said to have ascended the fiord and mixed
with the Hōpetschisāth. The present inhabitants of the region know
nothing concerning the origin of the rock picture. According to their
legend, the rock on which it is carved was once the house of Kwótiath.
Kwótiath is the wandering divinity in Nootka mythology, and corresponds
approximately to the raven of the Tlinkit and Haida, the Qäls of the
Kowitchin. The picture is found on a perpendicular rock wall about
7 meters high, which drops directly into the lake, so that it was
necessary to make the copy while standing in the water. The rock is
traversed in the middle by a broad cleft, narrowing below, from which
blocks have fallen out which bore part of the drawing. To the north and
south of the rock wall the shore rises gently, but rocky portions are
found everywhere. The lines of the drawing are flat grooves, about two
or three fingers’ breadth, and in many places are so weathered as to be
hardly recognizable. They have been scraped into the rock probably by
the points of sticks rubbing moist sand against it. No marks of blows
of any kind are found. The figures are here given in the same relative
position in which they are found on the rock, except that the upper one
on the right hand is at a distance from all the others, at the southern
end of the rock. The objects represented are evidently fishes or marine
monsters. The middle figure to the left of the cleft may be a manned
boat, the fore part of which is probably destroyed.
Dr. Boas says that the copy as found in the Verhandlungen is incorrect.
The design on the right hand is reversed and is now corrected.
Mr. G. M. Sproat (_a_) mentions this petroglyph:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account