Chapter III: Front Matter (3)

Most of them present the appearance of the natural tread of the
animal in plastic clay. * * * These _intaglios_ closely resemble
those described by Mr. Ward [Jour. Anthrop. Inst. of N. Y., No.
1, 57 _et seq._], as existing upon the upheaved strata of coarse
carboniferous grit in Belmont County, Ohio, near the town of
Barnesville.

The appearance of objects showing the influence of European civilization and christianization should always be carefully noted. An instance where an object of that character is found among a multitude of others not liable to such suspicion is in the heart surmounted by a cross, in the upper line of Figure 1, page 30 _ante._ This suggests missionary teaching.

Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
]

The following is the explanation of the figures:

Fig. 4. A beaver.
5. A bear.
6. A mountain sheep (_Ovis montana_).
7. Three wolf heads.
8. Three Jackass rabbits.
9. Cottontail rabbit.
10. Bear tracks.
11. An eagle.
12. Eagle tails.
13. A turkey tail.
14. Horned toads (_Phryosoma_ sp.?).
15. Lizards.
16. A butterfly.
17. Snakes.
18. A rattlesnake.
19. Deer track.
20. Three Bird tracks.
21. Bitterns (wading birds).

INSTRUMENTS USED IN PICTOGRAPHY.

These are often of anthropologic interest. A few examples are given as follows, though other descriptions appear elsewhere in this paper.

INSTRUMENTS FOR CARVING.

This includes etching, pecking, and scratching.

The Hidatsa, when carving upon stone or rocks, as well as upon pieces of wood, use a sharply pointed piece of hard stone, usually a fragment of quartz.

The bow-drill was an instrument largely used by the Innuit of Alaska in carving bone and ivory. The present method of cutting figures and other characters, to record events and personal exploits, consists in the use of a small blade, thick, though sharply pointed, resembling a graver.

INSTRUMENTS FOR DRAWING.

When in haste, or when the necessary materials are not at hand, the Hidatsa sometimes prepare notices by drawing upon a piece of wood or the shoulder blade of a buffalo with a piece of charcoal obtained from the fire, or with a piece of red chalk, with which nearly every warrior is at all times supplied.

INSTRUMENTS FOR PAINTING.

Painting upon robes or skins is accomplished by means of thin strips of wood, or sometimes of bone. Tufts of antelope hair are also used, by tying them to sticks to make a brush. This is evidently a modern innovation. Pieces of wood, one end of each chewed so as to produce a loose fibrous brush, are also used at times, as has been observed among the Titon Dakota.

The Hidatsa, Arikara, and other Northwest Indians usually employ a piece of buffalo rib, or a piece of hard wood, having somewhat of an elliptical or lozenge-shaped form. This is dipped in thin glue and a tracing is made, which is subsequently treated in a similar manner with a solution, of glue, water, and color.

INSTRUMENTS FOR TATTOOING.

The Hidatsa say that formerly, when tattooing was practiced, sharp pieces of bone were used for pricking the skin.

The tribes of Oregon, Washington, and northern California used sharp pieces of bone, thorns, and the dorsal spines of fish, though at present needles are employed, as they are more effective and less painful, and are readily procured by purchase.

Needles are used by the Klamath Indians, according to Mr. Gatschet.

Rev. M. Eells reports (Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey II, p. 75) that for tattooing the Twana Indians use a needle and thread, blackening the thread with charcoal and drawing it under the skin as deeply as they can bear it.

Stephen Powers says (Contrib. to N. A. Ethnol. III., p. 130) that tattooing among the Yuki is done with pitch-pine soot, and a sharp-pointed bone. After the designs have been traced on the skin the soot is rubbed in dry.

Paul Marcoy mentions in his Travels in South America, N. Y., 1875, Vol. II, 353, that the Passés, Yuris, Barrés and Chumanas, of Brazil, use a needle for tattooing.

The following quotation is from Te Ika a Maui, or New Zealand and its Inhabitants, by Rev. Richard Taylor, London, 1870, pp. 320, 321:

The substance generally used as coloring matter is the resin of the
_kauri_ or _rimu_, which, when burnt, is pounded and converted into
a fine powder.

The _uhi_ or instrument used was a small chisel, made of the bone of
an albatross, very narrow and sharp, which was driven by means of
a little mallet, _he mahoe_, quite through the skin, and sometimes
completely through the cheek as well, in which case when the person
undergoing the operation took his pipe, the smoke found its way out
through the cuttings; the pain was excruciating, especially in the
more tender parts, and caused dreadful swellings, only a small piece
could be done at a time; the operator held in his hand a piece of
_muka_, flax, dipped in the pigment, which he drew over the incision
immediately it was made; the blood which flowed freely from the wound
was constantly wiped away with a bit of flax; the pattern was first
drawn either with charcoal or scratched in with a sharp-pointed
instrument. To tattoo a person fully was therefore a work of time,
and to attempt to do too much at once endangered life. I remember a
poor _porangi_, or insane person, who, during the war, was tattooed
most unmercifully by some young scoundrels; the poor man’s wounds
were so dreadfully inflamed, as to occasion his death; whilst any one
was being operated upon, all persons in the pa were tapu, until the
termination of the work, lest any evil should befall him; to have
fine tattooed faces, was the great ambition of young men, both to
render themselves attractive to the ladies, and conspicuous in war:
for even if killed by the enemy, whilst the heads of the untattooed
were treated with indignity and kicked on one side, those which were
conspicuous by their beautiful moko, were carefully cut off, stuck
on the _turuturu_, a pole with a cross on it, and then preserved;
all which was highly gratifying to the survivors, and the spirits of
their late possessors.

The person operated upon was stretched all his length on the ground,
and to encourage him manfully to endure the pain, songs were
continually sung to him.

COLORS AND METHODS OF APPLICATION.

IN THE UNITED STATES.

Since the establishment of traders’ stores most colors of civilized manufacture are obtained by the Indians for painting and decoration. Frequently, however, the primitive colors are prepared and used when Indians are absent from localities where those may be obtained. The ferruginous clays of various shade of brown, red, and yellow, occur so widely distributed in nature that these are the most common and leading tints. Black is generally prepared by grinding fragments of charcoal into a very fine powder. Among some tribes, as has been found in some of the “ancient” pottery from the Arizona ruins, clay had evidently been mixed with charcoal to give better body. The black color of some of the Innuit tribes is blood and charcoal intimately mixed, which is afterwards applied to the incisions made in ivory, bone, and wood.

Among the Dakota, colors for dyeing porcupine quills are obtained chiefly from plants, or have been until very recently. The vegetable colors, being soluble, penetrate the substance of the quills more evenly and beautifully than the mineral colors of eastern manufacture.

The black color of some of the Pueblo pottery is obtained by a special burning with pulverized manure, into which the vessel is placed as it is cooling after the first baking. The coloring matter--soot produced by smoke--is absorbed into the pores of the vessel, and will not wear off as readily as when colors are applied to the surface with sticks or primitive brushes.

In decorating skins or robes the Arikara Indians boil the tail of the beaver, thus obtaining a viscous fluid which is in reality thin glue. The figures are first drawn in outline with a piece of beef-rib, or some other flat bone, the edge only being used after having been dipped into the liquor. The various pigments to be employed in the drawing are then mixed with some of the same liquid, in separate vessels, when the various colors are applied to the objects by means of a sharpened piece of wood or bone. The colored mixture adheres firmly to the original tracing in glue, and does not readily rub off.

When similar colors are to be applied to wood, the surface is frequently picked or slightly incised to receive the color more securely. For temporary purposes, as for mnemonic marks upon a shoulder blade of a buffalo or upon a piece of wood to direct comrades upon the course to be pursued to attain a certain object, a piece of red chalk, or a lump of red ocher of natural production is resorted to. This is often carried by the Indian for personal decoration.

A small pouch, discovered on the Yellowstone River in 1873, which had been dropped by some fleeing hostile Sioux, contained several fragments of black micaceous iron. The latter had almost the appearance and consistence of graphite, so soft and black was the result upon rubbing it. It had evidently been used for decorating the face as warpaint.

Mr. Dall, in treating of the remains found in the mammalian layers in the Amakuak cave, Unalashka, remarks (Contributions to N. A. Ethnology, I, p. 79) that “in the remains of a woman’s work-basket, found in the uppermost layer in the cave, were bits of this resin [from the bark of pine or spruce driftwood], evidently carefully treasured, with a little birch-bark case (the bark also derived from drift logs) containing pieces of soft hæmatite, graphite, and blue carbonate of copper, with which the ancient seamstress ornamented her handiwork.”

The same author reports, _op. cit._ p. 86, “The coloration of wooden articles with native pigments is of ancient origin, but all the more elaborate instances that have come to my knowledge bore marks of comparatively recent origin. The pigments used were blue carbonates of iron and copper; the green fungus, or _peziza_, found in decayed birch and alder wood; hæmatite and red chalk; white infusorial or chalky earth; black charcoal, graphite, and micaceous ore of iron. A species of red was sometimes derived from pine bark or the cambium of the ground willow.”

Stephen Powers states in Contributions to N. A. Ethnology, III, 244, that the Shastika women “smear their faces all over daily with chokecherry juice, which gives them a bloody, corsair aspect.”

Mr. A. S. Gatschet reports that the Klamaths of southwestern Oregon employ a black color, _lgú_, made of burnt plum seeds and bulrushes, which is applied to the cheeks in the form of small round spots. This is used during dances. Red paint, for the face and body, is prepared from a resin exuding from the spruce tree, _pánam_. A yellow mineral paint is also employed, consisting probably of ocher or ferruginous clay. Mr. Gatschet says the Klamath _spál_, yellow mineral paint, is of light yellow color, but turns red when burned, after which it is applied in making small round dots upon the face. The white infusorial earth (?), termed chalk by Mr. Gatschet, is applied in the form of stripes or streaks over the body. The Klamaths use charcoal, _lgúm_, in tattooing.

* * * * *

The various colors required by a tribe were formerly obtained from plants as by the Dakota, while some of the earthy compounds consisted of red and yellow ocher--oxides of iron--and black micaceous ore of iron and graphite. Some of the California Indians in the vicinity of Tulare River also used a white color, obtained at that locality, and consisted of infusorial earth--diatomaceous. The tribes at and near the geysers, north of San Francisco Bay, obtained their vermilion from croppings of sulphuret of mercury--cinnabar. The same is said to have been the case at the present site of the New Almaden mines, where tribes of the Mutsun formerly lived. Black colors were also prepared by mixing finely powdered charcoal and clay, this being practiced by some of the Pueblos for painting upon pottery. Some of the black color obtained from pictographs in Santa Barbara County, California, proved to be a hydrous oxide of manganese.

For black color in tattooing the Yuki, of California, use soot. The juice of certain plants is also used by the Karok, of California, to color the face.

The Yokuts, of Tule River Agency, California, employ the roots of the cedar (red) and willow (white) split and rendered uniform in caliber. During work the materials are kept moistened, so as to permit of easy manipulation and to prevent fracture of the vegetal fibers.

Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, of the Bureau of Ethnology, reports regarding the Osages that one mode of obtaining black color for the face consists in burning a quantity of small willows. When these are charred they are broken in small pieces and placed in pans, with a little water in each. The hands are then dipped into the pan and rubbed together, and finally rubbed over the parts to be colored.

Formerly tattooing was more frequently practiced among the Hidatsa than at present, the marks being caused by pricking the skin with a sharp splinter of bone and the application of a paste consisting of finely-powdered charcoal and water.

The Hualpais, living on the western border of the Colorado Plateau, Arizona Territory, were found by Dr. Hoffman, in 1871, to decorate their persons by a disgusting process. Various individuals were observed who appeared as if their persons had been tattooed in vertical bands from the forehead to the waist, but upon closer examination it was found that dark and light bands of the natural skin are produced in the following manner: When a deer or an antelope has been killed, the blood is rubbed over the face and breast, after which the spread and curved fingers--to resemble claws--are scratched downward from the forehead over the face and over the breast, thus removing some of the blood; that remaining soon dries, and gives the appearance of black stripes. The exposed portion of the skin retains the natural dark-tanned color, while that under the coating of coagulated blood naturally becomes paler by being protected against the light and air. These individuals do not wash off such marks of success in the chase, and after a while the blood begins to drop off by desquamation, leaving lighter spots and lines, which for a short period of a week or two appear like tattoo marks.

The Mojave pigments are ocher, clay, and probably charcoal, mingled with oil. See Pac. R. R. Exped., Vol. III, Pt. III, p. 33.

The colors, at present used by the Indians and obtained from the traders, consist generally of the following compounds, viz.: vermilion, red lead, chromate of lead (yellow), Prussian blue, chrome green, ivory black and lamp black, Chinese white, and oxide of zinc. All of these are in the form of powder or in crude masses, and are subsequently prepared for use as required.

IN BRITISH GUIANA.

Everard F. im Thurn, _op. cit._, p. 316, gives the following details:

The dyes used by the Indians to paint their own bodies, and
occasionally to draw patterns on their implements, are red faroah,
purple caraweera, blue-black lana, white felspathic clay, and, though
very rarely, a yellow vegetable dye of unknown origin.

Faroah is the deep red pulp around the seed of a shrub (_Bixa
orellana_), which grows wild on the banks of some of the rivers, and
is cultivated by the Indians in their clearings. Mixed with a large
quantity of oil, it is then either dried and so kept in lumps which
can be made soft again by the addition of more oil, or is stored in
a liquid condition in tubes made of hollow bamboo-stems. When it is
to be used, either a mass of it is taken in the palm of the hand and
rubbed over the skin or other surface to be painted, or a pattern of
fine lines is drawn with it by means of a stick used as a pencil. The
True Caribs also use faroah largely to stain their hammocks.

Caraweera is a somewhat similar dye, of a more purplish red, and by
no means so commonly used. It is prepared from the leaves of a yellow
flowered bignonia (_B. chicka_), together with some other unimportant
ingredients. The dried leaves are boiled for a few minutes over a
fire, and then some fresh-cut pieces of the bark of a certain tree
and a bundle of twigs and fresh leaves of another tree are added to
the mixture. The whole is then boiled for about twenty minutes, care
being taken to keep the bark and leaves under water. The pot is then
taken from the fire, and the contents, being poured into bowls, are
allowed to subside. The clear water left at the top is poured away,
and the sediment, of a beautiful purple colour, is put into a cloth,
on which it is allowed to dry; after this it is scraped off and
packed in tiny baskets woven of the leaves of the cokerite palm. The
pigment is used for body-painting, with oil, just as is faroah.

Lana is the juice of the fruit of a small tree (_Genipa americana_),
with which, without further preparation, blue-black lines are drawn
in patterns, or large surfaces are stained on the skin. The dye thus
applied is for about a week indelible.

One or more of the three body paints already mentioned is used by
most Indians and in large quantities. But the white, and still more
the yellow, pigments are used only rarely, in lines or dots, and very
sparingly, by some of the Savannah Indians. The white substance is
simply a very semi-liquid felspathic clay, which occurs in pockets
in one or two places on the savannah; this is collected and dried in
lumps, which are then pierced, threaded, and so put aside for future
use. The nature of the yellow dye I was never able to trace; all that
the Indians could or would say was that they received it in small
quantities from a tribe living beyond the Wapianas, who extracted it
from a tree which only grows in that neighborhood.

Paul Marcoy, in Travels in South America: N. Y., 1875, Vol. II, p. 353, says the Passés, Yuris, Barrés, and Chumanas, of Brazil, employ a decoction of indigo or genipa in tattooing.

SIGNIFICANCE OF COLORS.

Significance has been attached to the several colors among all peoples and in all periods of culture. That it is still recognized in the highest civilizations is shown by the associations of death and mourning connected with black, of innocence and peace with white, danger with red, and epidemic disease, officially, with yellow. Without dwelling upon the modern popular fancies on this subject, some illustrations from antiquity may be useful for comparison.

The Babylonians represented the sun and its sphere of motion by gold, the moon by silver, Saturn by black, Jupiter by orange, Mars by red, Venus by pale yellow, and Mercury by deep blue. Red was anciently and generally connected with divinity and power both priestly and royal. The tabernacle of the Israelites was covered with skins dyed red and the gods and images of Egypt and Chaldea were noticeably of that color, which to this day is the one distinguishing the Roman Pontiff and the cardinals.

In ancient art each color had a mystic sense or symbolism, and its proper use was an important consideration and carefully studied. With regard to early Christian art, the following extract is given from Mrs. Clement’s Handbook of Legendary and Mythologic Art, Boston, 1883. The associations with the several colors therein mentioned differ widely from those in modern folk-lore--for instance, those with green and yellow, from the same colors stigmatized in the song produced by Mr. Black in his Three Feathers, exhibiting the belief in Cornwall that “green’s forsaken and yellow’s forsworn.”

White is worn by the Saviour after his resurrection, by the Virgin
in representations of the Assumption; by women as the emblem of
chastity; by rich men to indicate humility, and by the judge as the
symbol of integrity. It is represented sometimes by silver or the
diamond, and its sentiment is purity, virginity, innocence, faith,
joy, and light.

Red, the color of the ruby, speaks of royalty, fire, divine love,
the holy spirit, creative power, and heat. In an opposite sense it
symbolized blood, war, and hatred. Red and black combined were the
colors of Satan, purgatory, and evil spirits. Red and white roses are
emblems of love and innocence, or love and wisdom, as in the garland
of St. Cecilia.

Blue, that of the sapphire, signified heaven, heavenly love and
truth, constancy and fidelity. Christ and the Virgin Mary wear the
blue mantle, St. John a blue tunic.

Green, the emerald, the color of spring, expressed hope and victory.

Yellow or gold was the emblem of the sun, the goodness of God,
marriage and fruitfulness. St. Joseph and St. Peter wear yellow.
Yellow has also a bad signification when it has a dirty, dingy hue,
such as the usual dress of Judas, and then signifies jealousy,
inconstancy, and deceit.

Violet or amethyst signified passion and suffering, or love and
truth. Penitents, as the Magdalene, wear it. The Madonna wears it
after the crucifixion, and Christ after the resurrection.

Gray is the color of penance, mourning, humility, or accused
innocence.

Black with white signified humility, mourning, and purity of life.
Alone, it spoke of darkness, wickedness, and death, and belonged to
Satan. In pictures of the Temptation Jesus sometimes wears black.

It is probable that, at one time, the several colors, at least in the same Indian tribe, had each special significance. This general significance was, however, modified by specific positions of the colors.

Colors are generally applied at this day according to fancy and without regard to special signification. The warriors make a distinction when on the warpath, and when mourning a deceased relative or engaged in dances and religious ceremonies the members of most of the tribes still exhibit precise care in the selection and arrangement of color.

The Dakota at Grand River Agency, now abandoned, generally painted the face red from the eyes down to the chin when going to war. The whole face was blacked with charcoal or ashes when mourning. The women frequently resorted to this method of expressing grief.

The Absaroka, or Crow Indians, generally paint the forehead red when on the war-path. This distinction of the Crows is also noted by the Dakota in recording pictographic narratives of encounters with the Crows. See page 62, and Figures 124 _et seq._

Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. of Tennessee, 1823, p. 228, says of the Cherokees:

“When going to war their hair is combed and annointed with bear’s grease and the red-root [_Sanguinaria canadensis?_], and they adorn it with feathers of various beautiful colours, besides copper and iron rings, and sometimes wampum or peak in the ears. And they paint their faces all over as red as vermillion, making a circle of black about one eye and another circle of white about the other.”

When a Modoc warrior paints his face black before going into battle it means victory or death, and he will not survive a defeat. See Bancroft’s Native Races, I, p. 333.

The Los Angeles County Indian girls paint the cheeks sparingly with red ocher when in love. (Bancroft, I, 403.) This prevails, to some extent also, among the northern bands of the Sioux, and among the Arikara at Fort Berthold, Dakota.

Rev. J. Owen Dorsey reports that when the Osage men go to steal horses from the enemy they paint their faces with charcoal.

The same authority gives the following description of the Osage paint for war parties:

Before charging the foe the Osages warriors paint themselves anew. This is called the death paint. If any of the men die with this paint on them the survivors do not put on any other paint.

All the gentes on the Tsi[c]u side use the “fire paint” or i[k]ama^n, which is red. It is applied by them with the left hand all over the face. And they use prayers about the fire: “As the fire has no mercy, so should we have none.” Then they put mud on the cheek below the left eye, as wide as two or more fingers. On the Hañ[k]a side this mud is put on the cheek, below the right eye. It is the young buffalo bull decoration (Tse-[t]ú-[c]iñ´[k]a kínŭ^n itáa[p]i aú). With reference to it, a man says, “My little grandfather (the young buffalo bull) is ever dangerous, as he makes attempts. Very close do I stand, ready to go to the attack” (Witsí[k]u [c]iñ´[k]a wáckŭ^n nŭ^n´pewá¢ĕ ehnu^n[p]i aú. Ecŭ^nqtsita wa[k]a^n´¢a [p]¢é atqa^n´hi aú!) The horse is painted with some of the mud on the left cheek, shoulder, and thigh.

For the corresponding Hanka decorations, substitute _the right_ for _the left_ wherever the latter word occurs above.

Some who act like a black bear paint with charcoal alone.

Some paint in the wind style, some in the lightning style, and others in the panther or puma style.

See also pages 85 and 162.

When a Thlinkit arms himself for war he paints his face and powders his hair a brilliant red. He then ornaments his head with white eagle-feathers, a token of stern vindictive determination. See Bancroft, Native Races, etc., I, page 105.

Blue signifies peace among the Indians of the Pueblo of Tesuque. See Schoolcraft, III, 306.

In several addresses before the Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C., and papers yet unpublished, in the possession of the Bureau of Ethnology, by Mr. James Stevenson, Dr. Washington Matthews, U. S. Army, and Mr. Thomas V. Keam, the tribes below are mentioned as using in their ceremonial dances the respective colors designated to represent the four cardinal points of the compass, viz.:

N. S. E. W.
Stevenson--Zuñi Yellow. Red. White. Black.
Matthews--Navajo Black. Blue. White. Yellow.
Keam--Moki White. Red. Yellow. Blue.

Capt. John G. Bourke, U. S. Army, in the Snake Dance of the Moquis of Arizona, etc., New York, 1884, p. 120, says that the Moki employ the following colors: yellow in prayers for pumpkins, green for corn, and red for peaches. Black and white bands are typical of rain, while red and blue bands are typical of lightning.

The Central Californians (north of San Francisco Bay) formerly wore the down of Asclepias(?) (white) as an emblem of royalty. See Bancroft, Native Races, I, 387, 388, quoting Drake’s World Encomp. pp. 124-126.

The natives of Guatemala wore red feathers in their hats, the nobles only wearing green ones. _Ibid_, p. 691.

See with reference to the Haidas, Mr. J. G. Swan’s account, page 66, _infra_.

The following extract relative to the color red among the New Zealanders is from Taylor’s Te Ika a Maui, etc., pp. 209-210.

Closely connected with religion, was the feeling they entertained
for the Kura, or Red Paint, which was the sacred color; their
idols, _Pataka_, sacred stages for the dead, and for offerings or
sacrifices, _Urupa_ graves, chief’s houses, and war canoes, were all
thus painted.

The way of rendering anything tapu was by making it red. When a
person died, his house was thus colored; when the tapu was laid on
anything, the chief erected a post and painted it with the kura;
wherever a corpse rested, some memorial was set up, oftentimes the
nearest stone, rock, or tree served as a monument; but whatever
object was selected, it was sure to be made red. If the corpse were
conveyed by water, wherever they landed a similar token was left;
and when it reached its destination, the canoe was dragged on shore,
thus distinguished, and abandoned. When the hahunga took place,
the scraped bones of the chief, thus ornamented, and wrapped in a
red-stained mat, were deposited in a box or bowl, smeared with the
sacred color, and placed in a tomb. Near his final resting-place a
lofty and elaborately carved monument was erected to his memory; this
was called _he tiki_, which was also thus colored.

In former times the chief annointed his entire person with red ochre;
when fully dressed on state occasions, both he and his wives had red
paint and oil poured upon the crown of the head and forehead, which
gave them a gory appearance, as though their skulls had been cleft
asunder.

A large number of examples occur in the present paper where the use and significance of color is mentioned. Among these see pages 64, 165-’6-’7, and 183.

MATERIALS UPON WHICH PICTOGRAPHS ARE MADE.

These may be divided into:

1st. Natural objects other than the human person.

2d. The human person.

3d. Artificial objects.

NATURAL OBJECTS.

Under the first head, the most important division is that of rocks and stones, many examples of which have already been presented. In addition to those respecting stone, Mr. Gilbert furnishes some data relating to the sacred stone kept by the Indians of the village of Oraibi, on the Moki mesas. This stone was seen by Messrs. John W. Young and Andrew S. Gibbon, and the notes were made by Mr. Gilbert from those furnished to him by Mr. Young. Few white men have had access to this sacred record, and but few Indians have enjoyed the privilege.

Mr. Gilbert remarks that “the stone was evidently squared by the eye and not by any instrument. The engraving seems to have been done with some rude instrument, but executed with some degree of skill, like an ancient art faded into dim remembrance of the artist or writer of the characters. The stone is a red clouded marble, entirely different from anything found in the region, so I learn by the Indians. The stone is badly worn, and some of the characters are difficult to determine.”

According to the notes accompanying the rude drawings of this stone, it is an oblong rectangle, measuring 11-3/4 inches long, 7-1/4 inches wide, and 1-1/2 inches thick. On one side there is an interior space, also an oblong rectangle measuring about three-fourths of the size of the whole tablet, between which and the outer margin are six nude human figures resembling one another, one at either end and two on each of the two sides. The interior space may have contained characters, though no traces are now visible.

On the other side are drawings of the sun, clouds with rain descending therefrom, lightning, stars, arrows, foot-prints of the bear, and several other undeterminable characters.

No history of the origin and import of this tablet has been obtained.

Other materials may be mentioned as follows:

BONE.

For instances of the use of bone, refer to several Alaska ivory carvings in this paper, _e. g._, Figure 111, page 192; Comanche buffalo shoulder blade, Figure 137, page 216; Hidatsa shoulder blade, page 151; New Zealand human bone, Figure 34, page 74.

THE LIVING TREE.

An example is to be found in Schoolcraft, IV, p. 253; Pl. 33, Fig. A, where it is stated that Mr. Richard H. Kern furnished a copy of an Indian drawing, which was “found on the trunk of a cottonwood tree in the valley of King’s River, California, and evidently represents the manner of catching different wild animals with the lasso.”

The use of the lasso, and the characters being upon the bark of a living tree, show sufficient reason to believe that this record was of modern workmanship.

WOOD.

The Indians of the Northwest Coast generally employ wood upon which to depict objects of various kinds. These appear to partake of a mythical nature, sometimes becoming absurdly grotesque. Totem posts (Plate LXXXIII, page 199), boats, boat paddles, the boards constituting the front wall of a house, and masks are among the objects used upon which to display artistic skill.

Ottawa drawings are also found upon pipe-stems made of wood, usually ash. Figure 120, page 204, is an example of this.

Among the Arikara boat paddles are used upon which marks of personal distinction are reproduced, as shown in Figure 80, page 182.

Wooden dancing ornaments, such as fanciful representations of the human figure, idols, etc., are generally ornamented with a variety of colors, having them sometimes arranged to represent designs closely related to, if not actually signifying, marks of gentile distinction.

In Alaska, mortuary records are drawn upon slabs of wood. See Figures 113 and 114, page 198. Mnemonic devices, notices of departure, distress, etc., are also drawn upon thin narrow slips of wood, averaging an inch in width, and of sufficient length. See Figures 58 and 59, page 154. A circular piece of wood or board is sometimes drawn upon, showing the human face, and placed upon a pole, and facing in a certain direction, to show the course taken by the survivors of a settlement which has been attacked by an enemy. See Figure 50, page 152.

BARK.

The Ojibwa have, until very recently, been in the habit of tracing characters of various kinds upon the inner surface of birch bark. These records are usually mnemonic, though many pertain to personal exploits. An illustration is given in Figure 139, page 218. The lines appear to have been traced with a sharply-pointed instrument, probably bone, and in some examples the drawings are made by simple puncturing. Sometimes color is applied to the objects delineated, and apparently with reference to specific signification. The strips of bark, varying from an inch to several feet in length, roll up upon drying, and are straightened out for examination by heating near the fire.

SKINS.

This includes scalps. A large number of records upon the hides of animals are mentioned in the present paper. Plate VI with its description in the Dakota Winter Counts is one instance.

FEATHERS.

The Sacramento tribes of California are very expert in weaving blankets of feathers, many of them having really beautiful figures worked upon them. This is reported by Edward M. Kern in Schoolcraft, V, 649, 650.

The feather work in Mexico, Central America and the Hawaiian Islands is well known, often having designs properly to be considered among pictographs, though in general not, at least in modern times, passing beyond ornamentation.

GOURDS.

After gourds have dried the contents are removed and handles are attached; they serve as rattles in dances, and in religious and shamanistic rites. The representations of natural or mythical objects for which the owner may have special reverence are often depicted upon their surfaces. This custom prevails among the Pueblos generally, and, also, among many other tribes, notably those constituting the Siouan linguistic stock.

HORSE HAIR.

The Hidatsa, Arikara, Dakota, and several other tribes of the Northwest plains, use horse hair dyed red as appendages to feathers worn as personal marks of distinction. Its arrangement is significant.

SHELLS, INCLUDING WAMPUM.

The illustrated and exhaustive paper of Mr. W. H. Holmes, in the Second Annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology, removes all necessity for present extended mention under this head.

EARTH AND SAND.

Papers by Dr. Washington Matthews, U. S. A., Dr. W. H. Corbusier, U. S. A., and Mr. James Stevenson were read in the Anthropological Society of Washington during the season of 1884-5, giving account of important and entirely novel paintings by the Navajo, Yuman, and Zuni Indians. These paintings were made upon the ground by means of sand, ashes, and powdered vegetable matter of various colors. These were highly elaborate, made immediately preceding certain ceremonies, at the close of which they were obliterated.

Dr. W. J. Hoffman states that when the expedition under command of Capt. G. M. Wheeler, U. S. A., passed through Southern Nevada in 1871, the encampment for one night was at Pai-Uta Charlie’s rancheria, where it was visited by many of the Pai-Uta Indians of that vicinity. On leaving camp the following morning representations of many mounted men, the odometer cart and pack animals were found depicted upon the hard, flat surface of the sand. The Indians had drawn the outlines in life size with sticks of wood, and the work was very artistically done. A mounted expedition was a new thing in that part of the country and amused them not a little.

The well-known animal mounds, sometimes called effigy mounds, of Wisconsin come in this category.

THE HUMAN PERSON.

Pictographs upon the human person may be divided into, 1st, paint on the face; 2d, paint on the body; and, 3d, tattooing, which is also divided into tattoo marks upon the head and tattoo marks upon the body.

PAINT.

Dr. Hoffman, who visited the Hualpai Indians of northern Arizona in 1871, gives an account (see _ante_, p. 52) of their habit of besmearing their bodies and faces with the blood of game killed.

A colored plate, facing page 33 of the report of the Pacific Railroad Expedition, 1856, pt. III, shows the designs adopted by the Mojave Indians for painting the body. These designs consist of transverse lines extending around the body, arms, and legs, or horizontal lines, or different parts may partake of different designs. Clay is now generally used, as was observed by Dr. Hoffman, who visited Camp Mojave in 1871.

For other notices of paint on head and body and the significance of color see _ante_, page 53 _et seq._

Everard F. im Thurn, in his work before cited, page 196, describes the painting of the Indians of Guiana as follows:

The paint is applied either in large masses or in patterns. For
example, a man, when he wants to dress well, perhaps entirely coats
both his feet up to the ankles with a crust of red; his whole trunk
he sometimes stains uniformly with blue-black, more rarely with red,
or covers it with an intricate pattern of lines of either colour;
he puts a streak of red along the bridge of his nose; where his
eyebrows were till he pulled them out he puts two red lines; at the
top of the arch of his forehead he puts a big lump of red paint, and
probably he scatters other spots and lines somewhere on his face. The
women, especially among the Ackawoi, who use more body-paint than
other ornament, are more fond of blue-black than of red; and one very
favorite ornament with them is a broad band of this, which edges the
mouth, and passes from the corners of that to the ears. Some women
especially affect certain little figures, like Chinese characters,
which look as if some meaning were attached to them, but which the
Indians are either unable or unwilling to explain.

The Serranos, near Los Angeles, California, formerly cut lines upon the trees and posts, marking boundaries of land, these lines corresponding to those adopted by the owner as facial decorations. See page 182.

During his connection with the Yellowstone expedition of 1873, under the command of General Stanley, Dr. Hoffman found elaborate narratives of hostile encounters between the Absaroka and Dakota Indians incised upon the bark of cotton-wood trees, in the valley of the Musselshell River. The Absaroka were shown by having the bark in the forehead removed, thus corresponding to their war custom of painting that portion of the face red, while the Dakota were denoted by having only the part of the face from the eyes down to the chin removed, referring to their custom of painting that part of the face. The number of individuals was shown by the outline of one individual of either tribe, with added short lines. The total number of arms was shown by drawing one gun and the requisite number of spots. The number of horses was indicated in a similar manner.

See also with reference to paint on the human person, pages 165 and 167.

The present writer, when reading the magnificent work of Conte Giovanni Gozzadini, Di Ulteriori Scoperte Nell’ Antica Necropoli a Marzabotto nel Bolognese, Bologna, 1870, noticed in Plate XII, Figure 1, the representation of a human head in bronze of great antiquity, and that it shows incised lines over the superior malar region, below and outward from the outer canthus of the eye. To any one recently familiar with tattooing and the lines of face painting this gives a decided suggestion, and is offered as such.

The head is reproduced in Figure 22.

A less distinct suggestion arose from the representation of a “Fragment of a lustrous black bowl, with an incised decoration filled with white chalk,” pictured in Troja, etc., by Dr. Henry Schliemann, New York, 1884, p. 31, No. 1, and here presented, Figure 23. In the absence of knowledge as to the connection of the two sets of parallel lines on each side of the face, with the remainder of the bowl, it is not possible to form any decision as to whether there was any intention to portray face painting or tattooing, or whether the lines merely partook of the general pattern of the bowl. The lines, however, instantly caught the present writer’s eye as connected with the subject now under consideration.

TATTOOING.

Tattooing, a permanent marking of the skin as distinguished from the temporary painting, and accomplished by the introduction of coloring matter under the cutaneous epidermis, was formerly practiced extensively among the Indians of North America. Some authorities for this statement are here quoted, as also some descriptions of the custom where still practiced.

Capt. John Smith, in “The True Travels, Adventures, etc.,” Richmond, 1819, Vol. I, page 130, is made to say of the Virginia Indians:

“They adorne themselues most with copper beads and paintings. Their women, some haue their legs, hands, breasts and face cunningly imbrodered with divers workes, as beasts, serpents, artificially wrought into their flesh with blacke spots.”

The Innuit, according to Cook, practiced tattooing perpendicular lines upon the chin of women, and sometimes similar lines extending backward from near the outer portions of the eyes.

Mr. Gatschet reports that very few Klamath men now tattoo their faces, but such as are still observed have but a single line of black running from the middle of the lower lip to the chin. The women have three lines, one from each corner of the mouth and one down over the center of the chin.

The Modoc women tattoo three blue lines, extending perpendicularly from the center and corners of the lower lip to the chin. See Bancroft, Native Races, I, p. 332.

Stephen Powers says (Contrib. N. A. Ethnol., III, p. 20) that the Karol, California, squaws tattoo in blue three narrow fern leaves perpendicularly on the chin, one falling from each corner of the mouth and one in the middle. For this purpose, they are said to employ soot gathered from a stone, mingled with the juice of a certain plant.

The same author reports, page 76: “Nearly every (Hupâ, California) man has ten lines tattooed across the inside of the left arm, about half way between the wrist and the elbow; and in measuring shell-money, he takes the string in his right hand, draws one end over his left thumbnail, and if the other end reaches to the uppermost of the tattoo lines, the five shells are worth $25 in gold or $5 a shell. Of course it is only one in ten thousand that is long enough to reach this high value.”

The same author, on page 96, says: The squaws (Pat´awāt, Cal.) tattoo in blue three narrow pinnate leaves perpendicularly on their chins, and also lines of small dots on the backs of their hands.

He reports, page 148, of the Kas´tel Pomo: The women of this and other tribes of the Coast Range frequently tattoo a rude representation of a tree or other object, covering nearly the whole abdomen and breast.

Of the Wintūns of California the same author says (page 233) that the squaws all tattoo three narrow lines, one falling from each corner of the mouth, and one between.

See also page 167 _infra_.

Rev. M. Eells says (Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey, III, p. 75) of the Twana Indians: A little of this tattooing is done, but much less than formerly, and chiefly now among the children.

Blue marks tattooed upon a Mojave woman’s chin denotes that she is married. See Pacific R. R. Exped., III, 1856, p. 33.

The only remarkable instance of tattooing now among the Hidatsa is that of Lean-Wolf, the present second chief of the tribe. The ornamentation consists of horizontal stripes, from one-third to one-half an inch broad, running from the middle of the breast around the right side of the body to the spinal column. The right arm and the right leg are encircled by similar bands, between which there are spaces of equal width. Lean-Wolf professed not to be able to give the origin and history of this ornamentation, although, he represents himself with it upon pictographs relating to personal events of warfare and the chase.

Bancroft (Native Races, Vol. I, p. 48) says of the Eskimo, that the females tattoo lines on their chins; the plebeian female of certain bands has one vertical line in the center and one parallel to it on either side. The higher classes mark two vertical lines from each corner of the mouth. On page 72 he says that young Kadiak wives tattoo the breast and adorn the face with black lines. The Kuskoquim women sew into their chin two parallel blue lines. This color is applied by drawing a thread under the skin or pricking it with a needle. On page 117 he says that the Chippewyans have tattooed cheeks and foreheads. Both sexes have blue or black bars or from one to four straight lines to distinguish the tribe to which they belong; they tattoo by entering an awl or needle under the skin and on drawing it out, immediately rubbing powdered charcoal into the wounds. On page 127 he states that on the Yukon River among the Kutchins, the men draw a black stripe down the forehead and the nose, frequently crossing the forehead and cheeks with red lines and streaking the chin, alternately with red and black, and the women tattoo the chin with a black pigment.

It will be observed that these statements by Bancroft, about tattooing among the Hyperboreans, seem to be confined to the face, except as is mentioned among the Kadiak, where the women tattoo the breast, and that these tattoo marks seem to be simple straight lines, either vertical or horizontal.

* * * * *

In this place is properly inserted the following report of original research among the Haidas on this subject, by Mr. James G. Swan, of Port Townsend, Washington, for which the thanks of this Bureau are tendered to him.

TATTOO MARKS OF THE HAIDA INDIANS OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS, B. C., AND THE PRINCE OF WALES ARCHIPELAGO, ALASKA.

By JAMES G. SWAN.

H. H. Bancroft, in his “Native Races, Pacific States,” Vol. I, p. 155, includes in the Haida family the nations occupying the coast and islands from the southern extremity of Prince of Wales Archipelago to the Bentinck Arms in about 52° N.

Their territory is bounded on the north and east by the Thlinkeet and Carrier nations of the Hyperboreans, and on the south by the Nootka family of the Columbians.

Its chief nations, or, more correctly speaking, bands, whose boundaries, however, can rarely be fixed with precision, are the Massets, Skiddegates, Cumshawas, Laskeets, and the Skringwai, of Queen Charlotte Islands: the Kaigani, Howkan, Klemakoan, and Kazan, of Prince of Wales Archipelago; the Chimsyans, about Fort Simpson and on Chatham Sound; the Nass and the Skenas, on the rivers of the same name; the Sebasses, on Pitt Archipelago and the shores of Gardiner Channel, and the Millbank Sound Indians, including the Hailtzas, Bella Bella, Bella Coola, etc.

Among all the tribes or bands belonging to the Haida family, the practice of tattooing the person in some manner is common; but the most marked are the Haidas proper, or those living on Queen Charlotte Islands, and the Kaiganis, of Prince of Wales Archipelago, Alaska. Of the Haida tribe, H. H. Bancroft says (Works 1882, Vol. I, p. 159), “Besides the regular lip piece, ornaments various in shape and material, of shell, bone, wood, or metal, are worn, stuck in the lips, nose, and ears, apparently according to the caprice or taste of the wearer, the skin being sometimes, though more rarely, tattooed to correspond.” The authors quoted by Bancroft for this information are Mayne’s British Columbia, p. 282; Barrett-Lennard’s Travels, pp. 45, 46; Poole’s Queen Charlotte Islands, pp. 75-311; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 279, 285, and Reed, who says, “The men habitually go naked, but when they go off on a journey they wear a blanket.”

How this latter writer, presuming he speaks from personal experience, could have seen naked Haida men without noticing tattoo marks, I cannot understand. On page 182 of the same volume of Bancroft, footnote, is the following: “‘The habit of tattooing the legs and arms is common to all the women of Vancouver’s Island; the men do not adopt it.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc. Jour., Vol. XXVII, p. 307. ‘No such practice as tattooing exists among these natives.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 27.”

What Grant says applies not to the women of Vancouver’s Island, but to those of Queen Charlotte Islands. Sproat seems to have given more of his attention to some fancied terminal in their language, upon which he builds his theory of the “Aht” nation, than to the observance of their personal peculiarities. I am of the opinion, judging from my own observation of over twenty years among the coast tribes, that but few females can be found among the Indians, not only on Vancouver’s Island, but all along the coast to the Columbia River, and perhaps even to California, that are _not_ marked with some device tattooed on their hands, arms, or ankles, either dots or straight lines; but of all the tribes mentioned, the Haidas stand pre-eminent for tattooing, and seem to be excelled only by the natives of the Fiji Islands or the King’s Mills Group in the South Seas. The tattoo marks of the Haidas are heraldic designs or the family totem, or crests of the wearers, and are similar to the carvings depicted on the pillars and monuments around the homes of the chiefs, which casual observers have thought were idols.

In a memoir written by me on the Haida Indians, for the Smithsonian Institution, and published as No. 267 of Contributions to Knowledge, I have given illustrations of various tattoo designs and heraldic carvings in wood and stone, but did not attempt to delineate the position or appearance of those designs upon their bodies or limbs, although all the tattoo marks represented in that memoir were copied by me directly from the persons of the Haidas, as stated in the illustrations.

The publication of this memoir, with its illustrations, which I showed to the Haidas and Kaiganis in 1875, during my cruise to Alaska in the United States revenue steamer Wolcott, gave them confidence in me that I had not made the drawings from idle curiosity, and in February, 1879, I was fortunate enough to meet a party of Haida men and women in Port Townsend, Washington, who permitted me to copy their tattoo marks again.

These designs are invariably placed on the men between the shoulders, just below the back of the neck, on the breast, on the front part of both thighs, and on the legs below the knee. On the women they are marked on the breast, on both shoulders, on both fore-arms, from the elbow, down over the back of the hands, to the knuckles, and on both legs below the knee to the ankle.

When the Haidas visit Victoria or the towns on Puget Sound they are dressed in the garb of white people and present a respectable appearance, in marked contrast with the Indians from the west coast of Vancouver’s Island, or the vicinity of Cape Flattery, who dress in a more primitive manner, and attract notice by their more picturesque costumes than do the Haidas, about whom there is nothing outwardly of unusual appearance, except the tattoo marks on the hands of the women, which show their nationality at a glance of the most careless observer.

As I before remarked, almost all of the Indian women of the northwest coast have tattoo marks on their hands and arms, and some on the face; but as a general thing these marks are mere dots or straight lines, having no particular significance. With the Haidas, however, every mark has its meaning; those on the hands and arms of the women indicate the family name, whether they belong to the bear, beaver, wolf, or eagle totems, or any of the family of fishes. As one of them quaintly remarked to me, “If you were tattooed with the design of a swan, the Indians would know your family name.”

Although it is very easy to distinguish the Haida women from those of other tribes by seeing the tattoo marks on the backs of their hands, yet very few white persons have cared to know the meaning of these designs, or are aware of the extent of the tattoo marks on the persons of both sexes.