Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

Transcriber's Note

Italics are indicated by _underscores_, and superscript by caret signs, e. g. Oheno^npa, 38^{mm}. Individual letters in square brackets were inverted in the printed text.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION--BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.

PICTOGRAPHS
OF THE
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

A PRELIMINARY PAPER.

BY
GARRICK MALLERY.

CONTENTS.

Page.
List of illustrations 7

Introductory 13

Distribution of petroglyphs in North America 19
Northeastern rock-carvings 19
Rock-carvings in Pennsylvania 20
in Ohio 21
in West Virginia 22
in the Southern States 22
in Iowa 23
in Minnesota 23
in Wyoming and Idaho 24
in Nevada 24
in Oregon and Washington Territory 25
in Utah 26
in Colorado 27
in New Mexico 28
in Arizona 28
in California 30
in Colored pictographs on rocks 33

Foreign petroglyphs 38
Petroglyphs in South America 38
in British Guiana 40
in Brazil 44
Pictographs in Peru 45

Objects represented in pictographs 46

Instruments used in pictography 48
Instruments for carving 48
for drawing 48
for painting 48
for tattooing 49

Colors and methods of application 50
In the United States 50
In British Guiana 53
Significance of colors 53

Materials upon which pictographs are made 58
Natural objects 58
Bone 59
Living tree 59
Wood 59
Bark 59
Skins 60
Feathers 60
Gourds 60
Horse-hair 60
Shells, including wampum 60
Earth and sand 60

The human person 61
Paint on the human person 61
Tattooing 63
Tattoo marks of the Haida Indians 66
Tattooing in the Pacific Islands 73
Artificial objects 78

Mnemonic 79
The quipu of the Peruvians 79
Notched sticks 81
Order of songs 82
Traditions 84
Treaties 86
War 87
Time 88
The Dakota Winter Counts 89
The Corbusier Winter Counts 127

Notification 147
Notice of departure and direction 147
condition 152
Warning and guidance 155
Charts of geographic features 157
Claim or demand 159
Messages and communications 160
Record of expedition 164

Totemic 165
Tribal designations 165
Gentile or clan designations 167
Personal designations 168
Insignia or tokens of authority 168
Personal name 169
An Ogalala roster 174
Red-Cloud’s census 176
Property marks 182
Status of the individual 183
Signs of particular achievements 183

Religious 188
Mythic personages 188
Shamanism 190
Dances and ceremonies 194
Mortuary practices 197
Grave-posts 198
Charms and fetiches 201

Customs 203
Associations 203
Daily life and habits 205

Tribal history 207

Biographic 208
Continuous record of events in life 208
Particular exploits and events 214

Ideographs 219
Abstract ideas 219
Symbolism 221

Identification of the pictographers 224
General style or type 225
Presence of characteristic objects 230

Modes of interpretation 233
Homomorphs and symmorphs 239

Conventionalizing 244

Errors and frauds 247

Suggestions to collaborators 254

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE Page.

I.--Colored pictographs in Santa Barbara County, California 34
II.--Colored pictographs in Santa Barbara County, California 35
III.--New Zealand tattooed heads 76
IV.--Ojibwa Meda song 82
V.--Penn wampum belt 87
VI.--Winter count on buffalo robe 89
VII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1786-’87 to 1792-’93 100
VIII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1793-’94 to 1799-1800 101
IX.--Dakota winter counts: for 1800-’01 to 1802-’03 103
X.--Dakota winter counts: for 1803-’04 to 1805-’06 104
XI.--Dakota winter counts: for 1806-’07 to 1808-’09 105
XII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1809-’10 to 1811-’12 106
XIII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1812-’13 to 1814-’15 108
XIV.--Dakota winter counts: for 1815-’16 to 1817-’18 109
XV.--Dakota winter counts: for 1818-’19 to 1820-’21 110
XVI.--Dakota winter counts: for 1821-’22 to 1823-’24 111
XVII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1824-’25 to 1826-’27 113
XVIII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1827-’28 to 1829-’30 114
XIX.--Dakota winter counts: for 1830-’31 to 1832-’33 115
XX.--Dakota winter counts: for 1833-’34 to 1835-’36 116
XXI.--Dakota winter counts: for 1836-’37 to 1838-’39 117
XXII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1839-’40 to 1841-’42 117
XXIII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1842-’43 to 1844-’45 118
XXIV.--Dakota winter counts: for 1845-’46 to 1847-’48 119
XXV.--Dakota winter counts: for 1848-’49 to 1850-’51 120
XXVI.--Dakota winter counts: for 1851-’52 to 1853-’54 120
XXVII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1854-’55 to 1856-’57 121
XXVIII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1857-’58 to 1859-’60 122
XXIX.--Dakota winter counts: for 1860-’61 to 1862-’63 123
XXX.--Dakota winter counts: for 1863-’64 to 1865-’66 124
XXXI.--Dakota winter counts: for 1866-’67 to 1868-’69 125
XXXII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1869-’70 to 1870-’71 126
XXXIII.--Dakota winter counts: for 1871-’72 to 1876-’77 127
XXXIV.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1775-’76 to 1780-’81 130
XXXV.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1781-’82 to 1786-’87 131
XXXVI.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1787-’88 to 1792-’93 132
XXXVII.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1793-’94 to 1798-’99 133
XXXVIII.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1799-1800 to 1804-’05 134
XXXIX.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1805-’06 to 1810-’11 134
XL.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1811-’12 to 1816-’17 135
XLI.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1817-’18 to 1822-’23 136
XLII.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1823-’24 to 1828-’29 137
XLIII.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1829-’30 to 1834-’35 138
XLIV.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1835-’36 to 1840-’41 139
XLV.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1841-’42 to 1846-’47 140
XLVI.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1847-’48 to 1852-’53 142
XLVII.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1853-’54 to 1858-’59 143
XLVIII.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1859-’60 to 1864-’65 143
XLIX.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1865-’66 to 1870-’71 144
L.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1871-’72 to 1876-’77 145
LI.--Corbusier winter counts: for 1877-’78 to 1878-’79 146
LII.--An Ogalala roster: Big-Road and band 174
LIII.--An Ogalala roster: Low-Dog and band 174
LIV.--An Ogalala roster: The Bear Spares-him and band 174
LV.--An Ogalala roster: Has a War-club and band 174
LVI.--An Ogalala roster: Wall-Dog and band 174
LVII.--An Ogalala roster: Iron-Crow and band 174
LVIII.--An Ogalala roster: Little-Hawk and band 174
LIX.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Cloud’s band 176
LX.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Cloud’s band 176
LXI.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Cloud’s band 176
LXII.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Cloud’s band 176
LXIII.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Cloud’s band 176
LXIV.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Cloud’s band 176
LXV.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Cloud’s band 176
LXVI.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Cloud’s band 176
LXVII.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Shirt’s band 176
LXVIII.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Shirt’s band 176
LXIX.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Shirt’s band 176
LXX.--Red-Cloud’s census: Black-Deer’s band 176
LXXI.--Red-Cloud’s census: Black-Deer’s band 176
LXXII.--Red-Cloud’s census: Black-Deer’s band 176
LXXIII.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Hawk’s band 176
LXXIV.--Red-Cloud’s census: Red-Hawk’s hand 176
LXXV.--Red-Cloud’s census: High-Wolf’s band 176
LXXVI.--Red-Cloud’s census: High-Wolf’s band 176
LXXVII.--Red-Cloud’s census: Gun’s band 176
LXXVIII.--Red-Cloud’s census: Gun’s band 176
LXXIX.--Red-Cloud’s census: Second Black-Deer’s band 176
LXXX.--Rock Painting in Azuza Cañon, California 156
LXXXI.--Moki masks etched on rocks. Arizona 194
LXXXII.--Buffalo-head monument 195
LXXXIII.--Ojibwa grave-posts 199

FIGURE 1.--Petroglyphs at Oakley Springs, Arizona 30
2.--Deep carvings in Guiana 42
3.--Shallow carvings in Guiana 43
4.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Beaver 47
5.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Bear 47
6.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Mountain sheep 47
7.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Three Wolf heads 47
8.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Three Jackass rabbits 47
9.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Cotton-tail rabbit 47
10.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Bear tracks 47
11.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Eagle 47
12.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Eagle tails 47
13.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Turkey tail 47
14.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Horned toads 47
15.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Lizards 47
16.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Butterfly 47
17.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Snakes 47
18.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Rattlesnake 47
19.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Deer track 47
20.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Three Bird tracks 47
21.--Rock etchings at Oakley Springs, Arizona: Bitterns 47
22.--Bronze head from the necropolis of Marzabotto, Italy 62
23.--Fragment of bowl from Troja 63
24.--Haida totem post, Queen Charlotte’s Island 68
25.--Haida man, tattooed 69
26.--Haida woman, tattooed 69
27.--Haida woman, tattooed 70
28.--Haida man, tattooed 70
29.--Skulpin (right leg of Fig. 26) 71
30.--Frog (left leg of Fig. 26) 71
31.--Cod (breast of Fig. 25) 71
32.--Squid (Octopus), (thighs of Fig. 25) 71
33.--Wolf, enlarged (back of Fig. 28) 71
34.--Tattoo designs on bone, from New Zealand 74
35.--New Zealand tattooed head and chin mark 75
36.--New Zealand tattooed woman 75
37.--Australian grave and carved trees 76
38.--Osage chart 86
39.--Device denoting succession of time. Dakota 88
40.--Device denoting succession of time. Dakota 89
41.--Measles or Smallpox. Dakota 110
42.--Meteor. Dakota 111
43.--River freshet. Dakota 113
44.--Meteoric shower. Dakota 116
45.--The-Teal-broke-his-leg. Dakota 119
46.--Magic Arrow. Dakota 141
47.--Notice of hunt. Alaska 147
48.--Notice of departure. Alaska 148
49.--Notice of hunt. Alaska 149
50.--Notice of direction. Alaska 149
51.--Notice of direction. Alaska 150
52.--Notice of direction. Alaska 150
53.--Notice of distress. Alaska 152
54.--Notice of departure and refuge. Alaska 152
55.--Notice of departure to relieve distress. Alaska 153
56.--Ammunition wanted. Alaska 154
57.--Assistance wanted in hunt. Alaska 154
58.--Starving hunters. Alaska 154
59.--Starving hunters. Alaska 155
60.--Lean Wolf’s map. Hidatsa 158
61.--Letter to “Little-man” from his father. Cheyenne 160
62.--Drawing of smoke signal. Alaska 161
63.--Tesuque Diplomatic Packet 162
64.--Tesuque Diplomatic Packet 162
65.--Tesuque Diplomatic Packet 162
66.--Tesuque Diplomatic Packet 163
67.--Tesuque Diplomatic Packet 163
68.--Dakota pictograph: for Kaiowa 165
69.--Dakota pictograph: for Arikara 166
70.--Dakota pictograph: for Omaha 166
71.--Dakota pictograph: for Pawnee 166
72.--Dakota pictograph: for Assiniboine 166
73.--Dakota pictograph: for Gros Ventre 166
74.--Lean-Wolf as “Partisan” 168
75.--Two-Strike as “Partisan” 169
76.--Lean-Wolf (personal name) 172
77.--Pointer. Dakota 172
78.--Shadow. Dakota 173
79.--Loud-Talker. Dakota 173
80.--Boat Paddle. Arikara 182
81.--African property mark 182
82.--Hidatsa feather marks: First to strike enemy 184
83.--Hidatsa feather marks: Second to strike enemy 184
84.--Hidatsa feather marks: Third to strike enemy 184
85.--Hidatsa feather marks: Fourth to strike enemy 184
86.--Hidatsa feather marks: Wounded by an enemy 184
87.--Hidatsa feather marks: Killed a woman 184
88.--Dakota feather marks: Killed an enemy 185
89.--Dakota feather marks: Cut throat and scalped 185
90.--Dakota feather marks: Cut enemy’s throat 185
91.--Dakota feather marks: Third to strike 185
92.--Dakota feather marks: Fourth to strike 185
93.--Dakota feather marks: Fifth to strike 185
94.--Dakota feather marks: Many wounds 185
95.--Successful defense. Hidatsa, etc. 186
96.--Two successful defenses. Hidatsa, etc. 186
97.--Captured a horse. Hidatsa, etc. 186
98.--First to strike an enemy. Hidatsa 187
99.--Second to strike an enemy. Hidatsa 187
100.--Third to strike an enemy. Hidatsa 187
101.--Fourth to strike an enemy. Hidatsa 187
102.--Fifth to strike an enemy. Arikara 187
103.--Struck four enemies. Hidatsa 187
104.--Thunder bird. Dakota 188
105.--Thunder bird. Dakota 188
106.--Thunder bird (wingless). Dakota 189
107.--Thunder bird (in beads). Dakota 189
108.--Thunder bird. Haida 190
109.--Thunder bird. Twana 190
110.--Ivory record, Shaman exorcising demon. Alaska 191
111.--Ivory record, Supplication for success. Alaska 192
111_a_.--Shaman’s Lodge. Alaska 196
112.--Alaska votive offering 197
113.--Alaska grave-post 198
114.--Alaska grave-post 199
115.--Alaska village and burial grounds 199
116.--New Zealand grave effigy 200
117.--New Zealand grave-post 201
118.--New Zealand house posts 201
119.--Mdewakantawan fetich 202
120.--Ottawa pipe-stem 204
121.--Walrus hunter. Alaska 205
122.--Alaska carving with records 205
123.--Origin of Brulé. Dakota 207
124.--Running Antelope: Killed one Arikara 208
125.--Running Antelope: Shot and scalped an Arikara 209
126.--Running Antelope: Shot an Arikara 209
127.--Running Antelope: Killed two warriors 210
128.--Running Antelope: Killed ten men and three women 210
129.--Running Antelope: Killed two chiefs 211
130.--Running Antelope: Killed one Arikara 211
131.--Running Antelope: Killed one Arikara 212
132.--Running Antelope: Killed two Arikara hunters 212
133.--Running Antelope: Killed five Arikara 213
134.--Running Antelope: Killed an Arikara 213
135.--Record of hunt. Alaska 214
136.--Shoshoni horse raid 215
137.--Drawing on buffalo shoulder-blade. Camanche 216
138.--Cross-Bear’s death 217
139.--Bark record from Red Lake, Minnesota 218
140.--Sign for pipe. Dakota 219
141.--Plenty buffalo meat. Dakota 219
142.--Plenty buffalo meat. Dakota 220
143.--Pictograph for Trade. Dakota 220
144.--Starvation. Dakota 220
145.--Starvation. Ottawa and Pottawatomi 221
146.--Pain. Died of “Whistle.” Dakota 221
147.--Example of Algonkian petroglyphs, from Millsborough,
Pennsylvania 224
148.--Example of Algonkian petroglyphs, from Hamilton Farm,
West Virginia 225
149.--Example of Algonkian petroglyphs, from Safe Harbor,
Pennsylvania 226
150.--Example of Western Algonkian petroglyphs, from Wyoming 227
151.--Example of Shoshonian petroglyphs, from Idaho 228
152.--Example of Shoshonian petroglyphs, from Idaho 229
153.--Example of Shoshonian petroglyphs, from Utah 230
154.--Example of Shoshonian rock painting, from Utah 230
155.--Rock painting, from Tule River, California 235
156.--Sacred inclosure from Arizona. Moki 237
157.--Ceremonial head-dress. Moki 237
158.--Houses. Moki 237
159.--Burden-sticks. Moki 238
160.--Arrows. Moki 238
161.--Blossoms. Moki 238
162.--Lightning. Moki 238
163.--Clouds. Moki 238
164.--Clouds with rain. Moki 238
165.--Stars, Moki 238
166.--Sun. Moki 239
167.--Sunrise. Moki, 239
168.--Drawing of Dakota lodges, by Hidatsa 240
169.--Drawing of earth lodges, by Hidatsa 240
170.--Drawing of white man’s house, by Hidatsa 240
171.--Hidatsati, the home of the Hidatsa 240
172.--Horses and man. Arikara 240
173.--Dead man. Arikara 240
174.--Second to strike enemy. Hidatsa 240
175.--Third to strike enemy. Hidatsa 240
176.--Scalp taken. Hidatsa 240
177.--Enemy struck and gun captured. Hidatsa 240
178.--Mendota drawing. Dakota 241
179.--Symbol of war. Dakota 241
180.--Captives. Dakota 242
181.--Circle of men. Dakota 242
182.--Shooting from river banks. Dakota 242
183.--Panther. Haida 242
184.--Wolf head. Haida 243
185.--Drawings on an African knife 243
186.--Conventional characters: Men. Arikara 244
187.--Conventional characters: Man. Innuit 244
188.--Conventional characters: Dead man. Satsika 244
189.--Conventional characters: Man addressed. Innuit 244
190.--Conventional characters: Man. Innuit 244
191.--Conventional characters: Man. From Tule River, California 244
192.--Conventional characters: Man. From Tule River, California 244
193.--Conventional characters: Disabled man. Ojibwa 244
194.--Conventional characters: Shaman. Innuit 245
195.--Conventional characters: Supplication. Innuit 245
196.--Conventional characters: Man. Ojibwa 245
197.--Conventional characters: Spiritually enlightened man. Ojibwa 245
198.--Conventional characters: A wabeno. Ojibwa 245
199.--Conventional characters: An evil Meda. Ojibwa 245
200.--Conventional characters: A Meda. Ojibwa 245
201.--Conventional characters: Man. Hidatsa 245
202.--Conventional characters: Headless body. Ojibwa 245
203.--Conventional characters: Headless body. Ojibwa 245
204.--Conventional characters: Man. Moki 245
205.--Conventional characters: Man. From Siberia 245
206.--Conventional characters: Superior knowledge. Ojibwa 246
207.--Conventional characters: An American. Ojibwa 246
208.--Specimen of imitated pictograph 249
209.--Symbols of cross 252

ON THE PICTOGRAPHS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

BY GARRICK MALLERY.

INTRODUCTORY.

A pictograph is a writing by picture. It conveys and records an idea or occurrence by graphic means without the use of words or letters. The execution of the pictures of which it is composed often exhibits the first crude efforts of graphic art, and their study in that relation is of value. When pictures are employed as writing the conception intended to be presented is generally analyzed, and only its most essential points are indicated, with the result that the characters when frequently repeated become conventional, and in their later forms cease to be recognizable as objective portraitures. This exhibition of conventionalizing also has its own import in the history of art.

Pictographs are considered in the present paper chiefly in reference to their significance as one form of thought-writing directly addressed to the sight, gesture-language being the other and probably earlier form. So far as they are true ideographs they are the permanent, direct, visible expression of ideas of which gesture-language gives the transient expression. When adopted for syllabaries or alphabets, which is known to be the historical course of evolution in that regard, they have ceased to be the direct and have become the indirect expression of the ideas framed in oral speech. The writing common in civilization records sounds directly, not primarily thoughts, the latter having first been translated into sounds. The trace of pictographs in the latter use shows the earlier and predominant conceptions.

The importance of the study of pictographs depends upon their examination as a phase in the evolution of human culture, or as containing valuable information to be ascertained by interpretation.

The invention of alphabetic writing being by general admission the great step marking the change from barbarism into civilization, the history of its earlier development must be valuable. It is inferred from internal evidence that picture-writing preceded and originated the graphic systems of Egypt, Nineveh, and China, but in North America its use is still modern and current. It can be studied there, without any requirement of inference or hypothesis, in actual existence as applied to records and communications. Furthermore, its transition into signs of sound is apparent in the Aztec and the Maya characters, in which stage it was only arrested by foreign conquest. The earliest lessons of the birth and growth of culture in this most important branch of investigation can therefore be best learned from the Western Hemisphere. In this connection it may be noticed that picture-writing is found in sustained vigor on the same continent where sign-language has prevailed or continued in active operation to an extent unknown in other parts of the world. These modes of expression, _i. e._, transient and permanent idea-writing, are so correlated in their origin and development that neither can be studied with advantage to the exclusion of the other.

The limits assigned to this paper allow only of its comprehending the Indians north of Mexico, except as the pictographs of other peoples are introduced for comparison. Among these no discovery has yet been made of any of the several devices, such as the rebus, or the initial, adopted elsewhere, by which the element of sound apart from significance has been introduced.

The first stage of picture-writing as recognized among the Egyptians was the representation of a material object in such style or connection as determined it not to be a mere portraiture of that object, but figurative of some other object or person. This stage is abundantly exhibited among the Indians. Indeed, their personal and tribal names thus objectively represented constitute the largest part of their picture-writing so far thoroughly understood.

The second step gained by the Egyptians was when the picture became used as a symbol of some quality or characteristic. It can be readily seen how a hawk with bright eye and lofty flight might be selected as a symbol of divinity and royalty, and that the crocodile should denote darkness, while a slightly further step in metaphysical symbolism made the ostrich feather, from the equality of its filaments, typical of truth. It is evident from examples given in the present paper that the North American tribes at the time of the Columbian discovery had entered upon this second step of picture-writing, though with marked inequality between tribes and regions in advance therein. None of them appear to have reached such proficiency in the expression of connected ideas by picture as is shown in the sign-language existing among some of them, in which even conjunctions and prepositions are indicated. Still many truly ideographic pictures are known.

A consideration relative to the antiquity of mystic symbolism, and its position in the several culture-periods, arises in this connection. It appears to have been an outgrowth of human thought, perhaps in the nature of an excrescence, useful for a time, but abandoned after a certain stage of advancement.

A criticism has been made on the whole subject of pictography by Dr. Richard Andree, who, in his work, Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche, Stuttgart, 1878, has described and figured a large number of examples of petroglyphs, a name given by him to rock-drawings and adopted by the present writer. His view appears to be that these figures are frequently the idle marks which, among civilized people, boys or ignorant persons cut with their pen-knives on the desks and walls of school-rooms, or scrawl on the walls of lanes and retired places. From this criticism, however, Dr. Andree carefully excludes the pictographs of the North American Indians, his conclusion being that those found in other parts of the world generally occupy a transition stage lower than that conceded for the Indians. It is possible that significance may yet be ascertained in many of the characters found in other regions, and perhaps this may be aided by the study of those in North America; but no doubt should exist that the latter have purpose and meaning. Any attempt at the relegation of such pictographs as are described in the present paper, and have been the subject of the study of the present writer, to any trivial origin can be met by a thorough knowledge of the labor and pains which were necessary in the production of some of the petroglyphs described.

All criticism in question with regard to the actual significance of North American pictographs is still better met by their practical use by historic Indians for important purposes, as important to them as the art of writing, of which the present paper presents a large number of conclusive examples. It is also known that when they now make pictographs it is generally done with intention and significance.

Even when this work is undertaken to supply the demand for painted robes as articles of trade it is a serious manufacture, though sometimes imitative in character and not intrinsically significant. All other instances known in which pictures are made without original design, as indicated under the several classifications of this paper, are when they are purely ornamental; but in such cases they are often elaborate and artistic, never the idle scrawls above mentioned. A main object of this paper is to call attention to the subject in other parts of the world, and to ascertain whether the practice of pictography does not still exist in some corresponding manner beyond what is now published.

A general deduction made after several years of study of pictographs of all kinds found among the North American Indians is that they exhibit very little trace of mysticism or of esotericism in any form. They are objective representations, and cannot be treated as ciphers or cryptographs in any attempt at their interpretation. A knowledge of the customs, costumes, including arrangement of hair, paint, and all tribal designations, and of their histories and traditions is essential to the understanding of their drawings, for which reason some of those particulars known to have influenced pictography are set forth in this paper, and others are suggested which possibly had a similar influence.

Comparatively few of their picture signs have become merely conventional. A still smaller proportion are either symbolical or emblematic, but some of these are noted. By far the larger part of them are merely mnemonic records and are treated of in connection with material objects formerly and, perhaps, still used mnemonically.

It is believed that the interpretation of the ancient forms is to be obtained, if at all, not by the discovery of any hermeneutic key, but by an understanding of the modern forms, some of which fortunately can be interpreted by living men; and when this is not the case the more recent forms can be made intelligible at least in part by thorough knowledge of the historic tribes, including their sociology, philosophy, and arts, such as is now becoming acquired, and of their sign-language.

It is not believed that any considerable information of value in an historical point of view will be obtained directly from the interpretation of the pictographs in North America. The only pictures which can be of great antiquity are rock-carvings and those in shell or similar substances resisting the action of time, which have been or may be found in mounds. The greater part of those already known are simply peckings, etchings, or paintings delineating natural objects, very often animals, and illustrate the beginning of pictorial art. It is, however, probable that others were intended to commemorate events or to represent ideas entertained by their authors, but the events which to them were of moment are of little importance as history. They referred generally to some insignificant fight or some season of plenty or of famine, or to other circumstances the evident consequence of which has long ceased.

While, however, it is not supposed that old inscriptions exist directly recording substantively important events, it is hoped that some materials for history can be gathered from the characters in a manner similar to the triumph of comparative philology in resurrecting the life-history and culture of the ancient Aryans. The significance of the characters being granted, they exhibit what chiefly interested their authors, and those particulars may be of anthropologic consequence. The study has so far advanced that, independent of the significance of individual characters, several distinct types of execution are noted which may be expected to disclose data regarding priscan habitat and migration. In this connection it may be mentioned that recent discoveries render it probable that some of the pictographs were intended as guide-marks to point out trails, springs, and fords, and some others are supposed to indicate at least the locality of mounds and graves, and possibly to record specific statements concerning them. A comparison of typical forms may also usefully be made with the objects of art now exhumed in large numbers from the mounds.

Ample evidence exists that many of the pictographs, both ancient and modern, are connected with the mythology and religious practices of their makers. The interpretations obtained during the present year of some of those among the Moki, Zuñi, and Navajo, throw new and strong light on this subject. It is regretted that the most valuable and novel part of this information cannot be included in the present paper, as it is in the possession of the Bureau of Ethnology in a shape not yet arranged for publication, or forms part of the forthcoming volume of the Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington, which may not be anticipated.

The following general remarks of Schoolcraft, Vol. I, p. 351, are of some value, though they apply with any accuracy only to the Ojibwa and are tinctured with a fondness for the mysterious:

For their pictographic devices the North American Indians have two
terms, namely, _Kekeewin_, or such things as are generally understood
by the tribe; and _Kekeenowin_, or teachings of the _medas_ or
priests, _jossakeeds_ or prophets. The knowledge of the latter is
chiefly confined to persons who are versed in their system of magic
medicine, or their religion, and may be deemed hieratic. The former
consists of the common figurative signs, such as are employed at
places of sepulture, or by hunting or traveling parties. It is also
employed in the _muzzinábiks_, or rock-writings. Many of the figures
are common to both, and are seen in the drawings generally; but it
is to be understood that this results from the figure-alphabet being
precisely the same in both, while the devices of the nugamoons, or
medicine, wabino, hunting, and war songs, are known solely to the
initiates who have learned them, and who always pay high to the
native professors for this knowledge.

It must, however, be admitted, as above suggested, that many of the pictographs found are not of the historic or mythologic significance once supposed. For instance, the examination of the rock carvings in several parts of the country has shown that some of them were mere records of the visits of individuals to important springs or to fords on regularly established trails. In this respect there seems to have been, in the intention of the Indians, very much the same spirit as induces the civilized man to record his initials upon objects in the neighborhood of places of general resort. At Oakley Springs, Arizona Territory, totemic marks have been found, evidently made by the same individual at successive visits, showing that on the number of occasions indicated he had passed by those springs, probably camping there, and such record was the habit of the neighboring Indians at that time. The same repetition of totemic names has been found in great numbers in the pipestone quarries of Dakota, and also at some old fords in West Virginia. But these totemic marks are so designed and executed as to have intrinsic significance and value, wholly different in this respect from vulgar names in alphabetic form. It should also be remembered that mere _graffiti_ are recognized as of value by the historian, the anthropologist, and the artist.

One very marked peculiarity of the drawings of the Indians is that within each particular system, such as may be called a tribal system, of pictography, every Indian draws in precisely the same manner. The figures of a man, of a horse, and of every other object delineated, are made by every one who attempts to make any such figure with all the identity of which their mechanical skill is capable, thus showing their conception and motive to be the same.

The intention of the present work is not to present at this time a view of the whole subject of pictography, though the writer has been preparing materials with a reference to that more ambitious project. The paper is limited to the presentation of the most important known pictographs of the North American Indians, with such classification as has been found convenient to the writer, and, for that reason, may be so to collaborators. The scheme of the paper has been to give very simply one or more examples, with illustrations, in connection with each one of the headings or titles of the classifications designated. This plan has involved a considerable amount of cross reference, because, in many cases, a character, or a group of characters, could be considered with reference to a number of noticeable characteristics, and it was a question of choice under which one of the headings it should be presented, involving reference to it from the other divisions of the paper. An amount of space disproportionate to the mere subdivision of Time under the class of Mnemonics, is occupied by the Dakota Winter Counts, but it is not believed that any apology is necessary for their full presentation, as they not only exhibit the device mentioned in reference to their use as calendars, but furnish a repertory for all points connected with the graphic portrayal of ideas.

Attention is invited to the employment of the heraldic scheme of designating colors by lines, dots, etc., in those instances in the illustrations where color appeared to have significance, while it was not practicable to produce the coloration of the originals. In many cases, however, the figures are too minute to permit the successful use of that scheme, and the text must be referred to for explanation.

Thanks are due and rendered for valuable assistance to correspondents and especially to officers of the Bureau of Ethnology and the United States Geological Survey, whose names are generally mentioned in connection with their several contributions. Acknowledgment is also made now and throughout the paper to Dr. W. J. Hoffman who has officially assisted the present writer during several years by researches in the field, and by drawing nearly all the illustrations presented.

DISTRIBUTION OF PETROGLYPHS IN NORTH AMERICA.

Etchings or paintings on rocks in North America are distributed generally.

They are found throughout the extent of the continent, on bowlders formed by the sea waves or polished by ice of the glacial epoch; on the faces of rock ledges adjoining streams; on the high walls of cañons and cliffs; on the sides and roofs of caves; in short, wherever smooth surfaces of rock appear. Drawings have also been discovered on stones deposited in mounds and caves. Yet while these records are so frequent, there are localities to be distinguished in which they are especially abundant and noticeable. Also they differ markedly in character of execution and apparent subject-matter.

An obvious division can be made between characters etched or pecked and those painted without incision. This division in execution coincides to a certain extent with geographic areas. So far as ascertained, painted characters prevail perhaps exclusively throughout Southern California, west and southwest of the Sierra Nevada. Pictures, either painted or incised, are found in perhaps equal frequency in the area extending eastward from the Colorado River to Georgia, northward into West Virginia, and in general along the course of the Mississippi River. In some cases the glyphs are both incised and painted. The remaining parts of the United States show rock-etchings almost exclusive of paintings.

It is proposed with the accumulation of information to portray the localities of these records upon a chart accompanied by a full descriptive text. In such chart will be designated their relative frequency, size, height, position, color, age, and other particulars regarded as important. With such chart and list the classification and determination now merely indicated may become thorough.

In the present paper a few only of the more important localities will be mentioned; generally those which are referred to under several appropriate heads in various parts of the paper. Notices of some of these have been published; but many of them are publicly mentioned for the first time in this paper, knowledge respecting them having been obtained by the personal researches of the officers of the Bureau of Ethnology, or by their correspondents.

NORTHEASTERN ROCK CARVINGS.

A large number of known and described pictographs on rocks occur in that portion of the United States and Canada at one time in the possession of the several tribes constituting the Algonkian linguistic stock. This is particularly noticeable throughout the country of the great lakes, and the Northern, Middle, and New England States.

The voluminous discussion upon the Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, inscription, renders it impossible wholly to neglect it.

The following description, taken from Schoolcraft’s History, Condition, and Prospect of the Indian Tribes of the United States, Vol. IV, p. 119, which is accompanied with a plate, is, however, sufficient. It is merely a type of Algonkin rock-carving, not so interesting as many others:

The ancient inscription on a bowlder of greenstone rock lying in
the margin of the Assonet, or Taunton River, in the area of ancient
Vinland, was noticed by the New England colonists so early as 1680,
when Dr. Danforth made a drawing of it. This outline, together with
several subsequent copies of it, at different eras, reaching to 1830,
all differing considerably in their details, but preserving a certain
general resemblance, is presented in the Antiquatés Americanes
[_sic_] (Tab. XI, XII) and referred to the same era of Scandinavian
discovery. The imperfections of the drawings (including that executed
under the auspices of the Rhode Island Historical Society, in 1830,
Tab. XII) and the recognition of some characters bearing more or less
resemblance to antique Roman letters and figures, may be considered
to have misled Mr. Magnusen in his interpretation of it. From
whatever cause, nothing could, it would seem, have been wider from
the purport and true interpretation of it. It is of purely Indian
origin, and is executed in the peculiar symbolic character of the
Kekeewin.

ROCK CARVINGS IN PENNSYLVANIA.

Many of the rocks along the river courses in Northern and Western Pennsylvania bear traces of carvings, though, on account of the character of the geological formations, some of these records are almost, if not entirely, obliterated.

Mr. P. W. Shafer published in a historical map of Pennsylvania, in 1875, several groups of pictographs. (They had before appeared in a rude and crowded form in the Transactions of the Anthropological Institute of New York, N. Y., 1871-’72, p. 66, Figs. 25, 26, where the localities are mentioned as “Big” and “Little” Indian Rocks, respectively.) One of these is situated on the Susquehanna River, below the dam at Safe Harbor, and clearly shows its Algonkin origin. The characters are nearly all either animals or various forms of the human body. Birds, bird-tracks, and serpents also occur. A part of this pictograph is presented below, Figure 149, page 226.

On the same chart a group of pictures is also given, copied from the originals on the Allegheny River, in Venango County, 5 miles south of Franklin. There are but six characters furnished in this instance, three of which are variations of the human form, while the others are undetermined.

Mr. J. Sutton Wall, of Monongahela City, describes in correspondence a rock bearing pictographs opposite the town of Millsborough, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. This rock is about 390 feet above the level of Monongahela River, and belongs to the Waynesburg stratum of sandstone. It is detached, and rests somewhat below its true horizon. It is about 6 feet in thickness, and has vertical sides; only two figures are carved on the sides, the inscriptions being on the top, and are now considerably worn. Mr. Wall mentions the outlines of animals and some other figures, formed by grooves or channels cut from an inch to a mere trace in depth. No indications of tool marks were discovered. It is presented below as Figure 147, page 224.

The resemblance between this record and the drawings on Dighton Rock is to be noted, as well as that between both of them and some in Ohio.

Mr. J. Sutton Wall also contributes a group of etchings on what is known as the “Geneva Picture Rock,” in the Monongahela Valley, near Geneva. These are foot-prints and other characters similar to those mentioned from Hamilton Farm, West Virginia, which are shown in Figure 148, page 225.

Schoolcraft (Vol. IV, pp. 172, 173, Pll. 17, 18), describes also, presenting plates, a pictograph on the Allegheny River as follows:

One of the most often noticed of these inscriptions exists on the
left bank of this river [the Allegheny], about six miles below
Franklin (the ancient Venango), Pennsylvania. It is a prominent
point of rocks, around which the river deflects, rendering this
point a very conspicuous object. * The rock, which has been lodged
here in some geological convulsion, is a species of hard sandstone,
about twenty-two feet in length by fourteen in breadth. It has an
inclination to the horizon of about fifty degrees. During freshets
it is nearly overflown. The inscription is made upon the inclined
face of the rock. The present inhabitants in the country call it
the ‘Indian God.’ It is only in low stages of water that it can be
examined. Captain Eastman has succeeded, by wading into the water,
in making a perfect copy of this ancient record, rejecting from its
borders the interpolations of modern names put there by boatmen,
to whom it is known as a point of landing. The inscription itself
appears distinctly to record, in symbols, the triumphs in hunting and
war.

ROCK CARVINGS IN OHIO.

In the Final Report of the Ohio State Board of Centennial Managers, Columbus, 1877, many localities showing rock carvings are noted. The most important (besides those mentioned below) are as follows: Newark, Licking County, where human hands, many varieties of bird tracks, and a cross are noticed. Independence, Cuyahoga County, showing human hands and feet and serpents. Amherst, Lorain County, presenting similar objects. Wellsville, Columbiana County, where the characters are more elaborate and varied.

Mr. James W. Ward describes in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of New York, Vol. I, 1871-’72, pp. 57-64, Figs. 14-22, some sculptured rocks. They are reported as occurring near Barnesville, Belmont County, and consist chiefly of the tracks of birds and animals. Serpentine forms also occur, together with concentric rings. The author also quotes Mr. William A. Adams as describing, in a letter to Professor Silliman in 1842, some figures on the surface of a sandstone rock, lying on the bank of the Muskingum River. These figures are mentioned as being engraved in the rock and consist of tracks of the turkey, and of man.

ROCK CARVINGS IN WEST VIRGINIA.

Mr. P. W. Norris, of the Bureau of Ethnology, reports that he found numerous localities along the Kanawha River, West Virginia, bearing pictographs. Rock etchings are numerous upon smooth rocks, covered during high water, at the prominent fords of the river, as well as in the niches or long shallow caves high in the rocky cliffs of this region. Although rude representations of men, animals, and some deemed symbolic characters were found, none were observed superior to, or essentially differing from, those of modern Indians.

Mr. John Haywood mentions (The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, Nashville, 1823, pp. 332, 333) rock etchings four miles below the Burning Spring, near the mouth of Campbell’s Creek, Kanawha County, West Virginia. These consist of forms of various animals, as the deer, buffalo, fox, hare; of fish of various kinds; “infants scalped and scalps alone,” and men of natural size. The rock is said to be in the Kanawha River, near its northern shore, accessible only at low water, and then only by boat.

On the rocky walls of Little Coal River, near the mouth of Big Horse Creek, are cliffs upon which are many carvings. One of these measures 8 feet in length and 5 feet in height, and consists of a dense mass of characters.

About 2 miles above Mount Pleasant, Mason County, West Virginia, on the north side of the Kanawha River, are numbers of characters, apparently totemic. These are at the foot of the hills flanking the river.

On the cliffs near the mouth of the Kanawha River, opposite Mount Carbon, Nicholas County, West Virginia, are numerous pictographs. These appear to be cut into the sandstone rock.

See also page 225, Figure 148.

ROCK CARVINGS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

Charles C. Jones, jr., in his Antiquities of the Southern Indians, etc., New York, 1873, pp. 62, 63, gives some general remarks upon the pictographs of the southern Indians, as follows:

In painting and rock writing the efforts of the Southern Indians
were confined to the fanciful and profuse ornamentation of their
own persons with various colors, in which red, yellow, and black
predominated, and to marks, signs, and figures depicted on skins and
scratched on wood, the shoulder blade of a buffalo, or on stone.
The smooth bark of a standing tree or the face of a rock was used
to commemorate some feat of arms, to indicate the direction and
strength of a military expedition, or the solemnization of a treaty
of peace. High up the perpendicular sides of mountain gorges, and
at points apparently inaccessible save to the fowls of the air,
are seen representations of the sun and moon, accompanied by rude
characters, the significance of which is frequently unknown to the
present observer. The motive which incited to the execution of work
so perilous was, doubtless, religious in its character, and directly
connected with the worship of the sun and his pale consort of the
night.

The same author, page 377, particularly describes and illustrates one in Georgia, as follows:

In Forsyth County, Georgia, is a carved or incised bowlder of
fine-grained granite, about 9 feet long, 4 feet 6 inches high, and 3
feet broad at its widest point. The figures are cut in the bowlder
from one-half to three-fourths of an inch deep. * It is generally
believed that they are the work of the Cherokees.

These figures are chiefly circles, both plain, nucleated, and concentric, sometimes two or more being joined by straight lines, forming what is now known as the “spectacle-shaped” figure.

Dr. M. F. Stephenson mentions, in Geology and Mineralogy of Georgia, Atlanta, 1871, p. 199, sculptures of human feet, various animals, bear tracks, etc., in Enchanted Mountain, Union County, Georgia. The whole number of etchings is reported as one hundred and forty-six.

ROCK CARVINGS IN IOWA.

Mr. P. W. Norris found numerous caves on the banks of the Mississippi River, in Northeastern Iowa, 4 miles south of New Albion, containing incised pictographs. Fifteen miles south of this locality paintings occur on the cliffs.

ROCK CARVINGS IN MINNESOTA.

Mr. P. W. Norris has discovered large numbers of pecked totemic characters on the horizontal face of the ledges of rock at Pipe Stone Quarry, Minnesota, of which he has presented copies. The custom prevailed, it is stated, for each Indian who gathered stone (Catlinite) for pipes to inscribe his totem upon the rock before venturing to quarry upon this ground. Some of the cliffs in the immediate vicinity were of too hard a nature to admit of pecking or scratching, and upon these the characters were placed in colors.

ROCK CARVINGS IN WYOMING AND IN IDAHO.

A number of pictographs in Wyoming are described in the report on Northwestern Wyoming, including Yellowstone National Park, by Capt. William A. Jones, U. S. A., Washington, 1875, p. 268 _et seq._, Figures 50 to 53 in that work. The last three in order of these figures are reproduced in Sign Language among North American Indians, in the First Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, pages 378 and 379, to show their connection with gesture signs. The most important one was discovered on Little Popo-Agie, Northwestern Wyoming, by members of Captain Jones’s party in 1873. The etchings are upon a nearly vertical wall of the yellow sandstone in the rear of Murphy’s ranch, and appear to be of some antiquity.

Further remarks, with specimens of the figures, are presented in this paper as Figure 150, on page 227.

Dr. William H. Corbusier, U. S. Army, in a letter to the writer, mentions the discovery of rock etchings on a sandstone rock near the headwaters of Sage Creek, in the vicinity of Fort Washakie, Wyoming. Dr. Corbusier remarks that neither the Shoshoni nor the Arapaho Indians know who made the etchings. The two chief figures appear to be those of the human form, with the hands and arms partly uplifted, the whole being surrounded above and on either side by an irregular line.

The method of grouping, together with various accompanying appendages, as irregular lines, spirals, etc., observed in Dr. Corbusier’s drawing, show great similarity to the Algonkin type, and resemble some etchings found near the Wind River Mountains, which were the work of Blackfeet (Satsika) Indians, who, in comparatively recent times, occupied portions of the country in question, and probably also etched the designs near Fort Washakie.

A number of examples from Idaho appear _infra_, pages 228 and 229.

ROCK CARVINGS IN NEVADA.

At the lower extremity of Pyramid Lake, Nevada, pictographs have been found by members of the United States Geological Survey, though no accurate reproductions are available. These characters are mentioned as incised upon the surface of basalt rocks.

On the western slope of Lone Butte, in the Carson Desert, Nevada, pictographs occur in considerable numbers. All of these appear to have been produced, on the faces of bowlders and rocks, by pecking and scratching with some hard mineral material like quartz. No copies have been obtained as yet.

Great numbers of incised characters of various kinds are found on the walls of rock flanking Walker River, near Walker Lake, Nevada. Waving lines, rings, and what appear to be vegetable forms are of frequent occurrence. The human form and footprints are also depicted.

Among the copies of pictographs obtained in various portions of the Northwestern States and Territories, by Mr. G. K. Gilbert, is one referred as to as being on a block of basalt at Reveillé, Nevada, and is mentioned as being Shinumo or Moki. This suggestion is evidently based upon the general resemblance to drawings found in Arizona, and known to have been made by the Moki Indians. The locality is within the territory of the Shoshonian linguistic division, and the etchings are in all probability the work of one or more of the numerous tribes comprised within that division.

ROCK CARVINGS IN OREGON AND IN WASHINGTON.

Numerous bowlders and rock escarpments at and near the Dalles of the Columbia River, Oregon, are covered with incised or pecked pictographs. Human figures occur, though characters of other forms predominate.

Mr. Albert S. Gatschet reports the discovery of rock etchings near Gaston, Oregon, in 1878, which are said to be near the ancient settlement of the Tuálati (or Atfálati) Indians, according to the statement of these people. These etchings are about 100 feet above the valley bottom, and occur on six rocks of soft sandstone, projecting from the grassy hillside of Patten’s Valley, opposite Darling Smith’s farm, and are surrounded with timber on two sides. The distance from Gaston is about 4 miles; from the old Tuálati settlement probably not more than 2-1/2 miles in an air-line.

This sandstone ledge extends for one-eighth of a mile horizontally along the hillside, upon the projecting portions of which the inscriptions are found. These rocks differ greatly in size, and slant forward so that the inscribed portions are exposed to the frequent rains of that region. The first rock, or that one nearest the mouth of the cañon, consists of horizontal zigzag lines, and a detached straight line, also horizontal. On another side of the same rock is a series of oblique parallel lines. Some of the most striking characters found upon other exposed portions of the rock appear to be human figures, _i. e._, circles to which radiating lines are attached, and bearing indications of eyes and mouth, long vertical lines running downward as if to represent the body, and terminating in a bifurcation, as if intended for legs, toes, etc. To the right of one figure is an arm and three-fingered hand (similar to some of the Moki characters), bent downward from the elbow, the humerus extending at a right angle from the body. Horizontal rows of short vertical lines are placed below and between some of the figures, probably numerical marks of some kind.

Other characters occur of various forms, the most striking being an arrow pointing upward, with two horizontal lines drawn across the shaft, vertical lines having short oblique lines attached thereto.

Mr. Gatschet, furthermore, remarks that the Tuálati attach a trivial story to the origin of these pictures, the substance of which is as follows: The Tillamuk warriors living on the Pacific coast were often at variance with the several Kalapuya tribes. One day, passing through Patten’s Valley to invade the country of the Tuálati, they inquired of a passing woman how far they were from their camp. The woman, desirous not to betray her own countrymen, said that they were yet at a distance of one (or two?) days’ travel. This made them reflect over the intended invasion, and holding a council they preferred to retire. In commemoration of this the inscription with its numeration marks, was incised by the Tuálati.

Capt. Charles Bendire, U. S. Army, states in a letter that Col. Henry C. Merriam, U. S. Army, discovered pictographs on a perpendicular cliff of granite at the lower end of Lake Chelan, lat. 48° N., near old Fort O’Kinakane, on the upper Columbia River. The etchings appear to have been made at widely different periods, and are evidently quite old. Those which appeared the earliest were from twenty-five to thirty feet above the present water level. Those appearing more recent are about ten feet above water level. The figures are in black and red colors, representing Indians with bows and arrows, elk, deer, bear, beaver, and fish. There are four or five rows of these figures, and quite a number in each row. The present native inhabitants know nothing whatever regarding the history of these paintings.

For another example of pictographs from Washington see Figure 109, p. 190.

ROCK CARVINGS IN UTAH.

A locality in the southern interior of Utah has been called Pictograph Rocks, on account of the numerous records of that character found there.

Mr. G. K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey, in 1875 collected a number of copies of inscriptions in Temple Creek Cañon, Southeastern Utah, accompanied by the following notes: “The drawings were found only on the northeast wall of the cañon, where it cuts the Vermillion cliff sandstone. The chief part are etched, apparently by pounding with a sharp point. The outline of a figure is usually more deeply cut than the body. Other marks are produced by rubbing or scraping, and still other by laying on colors. Some, not all, of the colors are accompanied by a rubbed appearance, as though the material had been a dry chalk.

“I could discover no tools at the foot of the wall, only fragments of pottery, flints, and a metate.

“Several fallen blocks of sandstone have rubbed depressions that may have been ground out in the sharpening of tools. There have been many dates of inscriptions, and each new generation has unscrupulously run its lines over the pictures already made. Upon the best protected surfaces, as well as the most exposed, there are drawings dimmed beyond restoration and others distinct. The period during which the work accumulated was longer by far than the time which has passed since the last. Some fallen blocks cover etchings on the wall, and are themselves etched.

“Colors are preserved only where there is almost complete shelter from rain. In two places the holes worn in the rock by swaying branches impinge on etchings, but the trees themselves have disappeared. Some etchings are left high and dry by a diminishing talus (15-20 feet), but I saw none partly buried by an increasing talus (except in the case of the fallen block already mentioned).

“The painted circles are exceedingly accurate, and it seems incredible that they were made without the use of a radius.”

In the collection contributed by Mr. Gilbert there are at least fifteen series or groups of figures, most of which consist of the human form (from the simplest to the most complex style of drawing), animals, either singly or in long files, as if driven, bird tracks, human feet and hands, etc. There are also circles, parallel lines, and waving or undulating lines, spots, and other unintelligible characters.

Mr. Gilbert also reports the discovery, in 1883, of a great number of pictographs, chiefly in color, though some are etched, in a cañon of the Book Cliff, containing Thompson’s spring, about 4 miles north of Thompson’s station, on the Denver and Colorado Railroad, Utah.

Collections of drawings of pictographs at Black Rock spring, on Beaver Creek, north of Milford, Utah, have been furnished by Mr. Gilbert. A number of fallen blocks of basalt, at a low escarpment, are filled with etchings upon the vertical faces. The characters are generally of an “unintelligible” nature, though the human figure is drawn in complex forms. Foot-prints, circles, etc., also abound.

Mr. I. C. Russell, of the United States Geological Survey, furnished rude drawings of pictographs at Black Rock spring, Utah (see Figure 153). Mr. Gilbert Thompson, of the United States Geological Survey, also discovered pictographs at Fool Creek Cañon, Utah (see Figure 154). Both of those figures are on page 230.

ROCK CARVINGS IN COLORADO.

Captain E. L. Berthoud furnished to the Kansas City Review of Science and Industry, VII, 1883, No. 8, pp. 489, 490, the following: