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
“Upon a small bowlder, under the natural archway formed by the breaking
of the large rock, small depressions were found which had been used as
mortars for grinding and mixing the colors. These depressions average
2 inches in diameter and about 1 inch in depth. Traces of color still
remain, mixed with a thin layer of a shining substance resembling a
coating of varnish and of flinty hardness. This coating is so thin that
it can not be removed with a steel instrument, and appears to have
become a part of the rock itself.
“From the animals depicted upon the ceiling it seems that both beaver
and deer were found in the country, and as the beaver tail and the hoofs
of deer and antelope are boiled to procure glue, it is probable that the
tribe which made these pictographs was as far advanced in respect to the
making of glue and preparing of paints as most other tribes throughout
the United States.
“Examination shows that the dull red color is red ocher, found in
various places in the valley, while the yellow was an ocherous clay,
also found there. The white color was probably obtained there, and
is evidently earthy, though of what nature can only be surmised, not
sufficient being obtainable from the rock picture to make satisfactory
analysis with the blow-pipe. The composition of the black is not known,
unless it was made by mixing clay and powdered charcoal. The latter is a
preparation common at this day among other tribes.
“An immense granite bowlder, about 20 feet in thickness and 30 in
length, is so broken that a lower quarter is removed, leaving a large
square passageway through its entire diameter almost northwest and
southeast. Upon the western wall of this passageway is a collection of
the colored sketches of which Fig. 983 is a reduced copy. The entire
face of the rock upon which the pictograph occurs measures about 12 or
15 feet in width and 8 in height. The largest human figure measures 6
feet in height, from the end of the toes to the top of the head, the
others being in proportion as represented.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Petroglyph at Tule river, California.]
“Upon the ceiling are a number of well executed drawings of the beaver,
bear, centipede (Fig. 12), and bald eagle (Fig. 13). Many of the other
forms indicated appear to represent some variety of insects, several of
which are drawn with exaggerated antennæ, as in Fig. 14. It is curious
to note the gradual blending of forms, as, for instance, that of the
bear with those resembling the human figure, often found among the
Shoshonean types in Arizona and New Mexico, some of which are described
and figured infra.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Petroglyph at Tule river, California.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Petroglyph at Tule river, California.]
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