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
Dr. Hoffman reports the following additional localities in Santa Barbara
and Los Angeles counties. Fifteen miles west of Santa Barbara, on the
northern summit of the Santa Ynez range, and near the San Marcos pass,
is a group of paintings in red and black. Fig. 20 resembles a portion of
a checker-board in the arrangement of squares.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Petroglyph near San Marcos pass,
California.]
Serpentine and zigzag lines occur, as also curved lines with serrations
on the concave sides; figures of the sun; short lines and groups of
short parallel lines, and figures representing types of insect forms
also appear, as shown in Figs. 21 and 22.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Petroglyphs near San Marcos pass, California.]
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Petroglyphs near San Marcos pass, California.]
These paintings are in a cavity near the base of an immense bowlder,
over 20 feet in height. A short distance from this is a flat granitic
bowlder, containing twenty-one mortar holes, which had evidently
been used by visiting Indians during the acorn season. Oaks are very
abundant, and their fruit formed one of the sources of subsistence.
Three miles west-northwest of this locality, in the valley near the base
of the mountain, are indistinct figures in faded red, painted upon a
large rock. The characters appear similar, in general, to those above
mentioned.
Forty-three miles west of Santa Barbara, in the Najowe valley, is a
promontory, at the base of which is a large shallow cavern, the opening
being smaller than the interior, upon the roof and back of which are
many designs, some of which are reproduced in Fig. 23, of forms similar
to those observed at San Marcos pass. Several characters appear to have
been drawn at a later date than others, such as horned cattle, etc. The
black used was a manganese compound, while the red pigments consist
of ferruginous clays, abundant at numerous localities in the mountain
canyons.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.]
Some of the human figures are drawn with the hands and arms in the
attitude of making the gestures for _surprise_ or _astonishment_, and
_negation_, as in Fig. 24.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.]
The characters in Fig. 25 resemble forms which occur at Tulare valley,
and in Owens valley, respectively, and insect forms also occur as in
Fig. 26.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Petroglyphs, Najowe valley, California.]
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.]
Other designs abounding at this locality are shown in Figs. 27 and 28.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.]
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Petroglyphs in Najowe valley, California.]
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