Chapter LXXXV: Section 1: Abstract Ideas Expressed Pictorially

The first stage of picture-writing, as considered in the present chapter, 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 American 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 was when a special quality or characteristic of an object, generally an animal, became employed to express a general quality, i. e., an abstract idea. It can be readily seen how, among the Egyptians, a hawk with bright eye and lofty flight might be selected to express divinity and royalty, and that the crocodile should denote darkness, while a slightly further advance in metaphors made the ostrich feather, from the equality of its filaments, typical of truth. All peoples whose rulers used special objective designations of their rank, made those objects the signs for power, whether they were crowns or umbrellas, eagle feathers, or colored buttons. A horse meant swiftness, a serpent life--or immortality when drawn as a circle--a dog was watchfulness, and a rabbit was fecundity. It is evident from examples given in the present paper that the 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, which may be accounted for by its more frequent use required by the constant meeting of many persons speaking different languages. There is no more necessary connection between abstract ideas and sounds, the mere signs of thought that strike the ear, than there is between the same ideas and signs addressed only to the eye. The success and scope of either mode of expression depends mainly upon the amount of its exercise, in which oral language undoubtedly has surpassed both sign-language and picture-writing.

The examples now following in this chapter are by no means all the graphic representations of abstract ideas collected. Indeed many others are contained in the work under other headings, but the following are selected for grouping here with an attempt at order. In the popular definition, or want of definition, some of them would be classed as symbols.

AFTER.

Fig. 845.--Charge after; Red-Cloud’s Census.

Here is suggested the order in a charge upon an enemy, apparently a Crow. The concept is not the general charge of a number of warriors upon the Crows, but the succession between themselves of the men who made that charge. The person whose name is represented probably followed in but did not lead some celebrated charge.

Fig. 846.--John Richard shot and killed an Oglala named Yellow-Bear, and the Oglalas killed Richard before he could get out of the lodge; American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1871-’72. This occurred in the spring of 1872. As the white man was killed after the Indian, he is placed behind him in the figure. The bear’s head is shown.

_AGE--OLD AND YOUNG._

OLD.

Fig. 847.--Old-Horse; Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the old age is shown by the wrinkles and projecting lips.

Fig. 848.--Old-Mexican; Red-Cloud’s Census. The man in European dress is bent and supported by a staff, thus depicting the gesture-sign mentioned in connection with Fig. 994. The Dakota had probably received his name from killing an aged Mexican.

YOUNG.

Fig. 849.--Young-Rabbit, a Crow, was killed in battle by Red-Cloud. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1861-’62. Here the youth of the Rabbit is expressed by diminutive size and short legs.

Fig. 850.--Bad-Boy. Red-Cloud’s Census. The boyhood is expressed by the short hair and short scalp lock.

BAD.

Fig. 851.--Bad-Horn. Red-Cloud’s Census. The bad quality of the horn is expressed by its decayed and broken condition and its distorted curve.

Fig. 852.--Bad-Face, a Dakota, was shot in the face. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1794-’95. The bad face may have been broken out with blotches of disease before the shot, or the scars may have been the result of the shot, which gave occasion for a new name, as is common. The idea of “bad” is often expressed by an abnormality, especially one which disfigures.

Fig. 853, taken from Copway (_d_), represents “bad.” The concept appears to be the preponderance of “below” to “above.”

BEFORE.

Fig. 854.--Got there first. Red-Cloud’s Census. The figure portrays a successful escape of an unmounted Indian from a chase by enemies on horseback. The chased man gets home to his tipi before being overtaken by his pursuers, whose horses’ tracks are shown.

BIG.

Fig. 855.--Big-Turnip. Red-Cloud’s Census. The plant is also known as the navet de prairie. The large size of the specimen, as compared with the human head, is apparent.

Fig. 856.--A Minneconjou Dakota, named Big-Crow, was killed by the Crow Indians. Swan’s Winter Count, 1859-’60. He had received his name from killing a Crow Indian of unusual size. The bird is portrayed much larger than similar objects in the Winter Count, from which it is taken.

Fig. 857.--Grasp. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the indication of size and strength of the hand is suggested by one hand growing out from another, a species of duplication. To have drawn two distinct hands would only have been normal and not suggestive of unusual power of grip.

Fig. 858.--Big-Hand. From Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the fingers are widely separated and displayed.

Fig. 859.--Big-Thunder. From Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the size or power is suggested by implication. The double or two-voiced thunder is big thunder.

Fig. 860.--Big-Voice. From Red-Cloud’s Census. In this figure there are still more voices than in the preceding.

CENTER.

Fig. 861.--Upi-Yaslate. Center-Feather. The Oglala Roster. This is the indication of a particular feather, i. e., the middle tail feather of a bird, probably of an eagle, the tail feathers of which bird are represented in many pictographs in this paper. There was some reason for the selection of the center feather for the name, and to indicate the center three feathers were depicted with a line touching the middle one.

DEAF.

Fig. 862.--Wi-nugin-kpa, Deaf-Woman. The Oglala Roster. The ears are covered by a line, i. e., are closed, and the ear most in view is connected with the crown of the head, to show that the name is expressed.

DIRECTION.

This title has been selected as being the most comprehensive one for the five following figures. The first shows a moccasin with a serpentine track, at the farthest end of which is an angular design, indicating leadership as well as the direction taken. This suggests the leader of a war party conducting his band over an uncertain trail. The second is explanatory of the first. That the chief goes in front is indicated in a manner the reverse of that which would appear in the designs common in our military text-books. He is supposed to be in the opening in the angle of the advance and not at its apex. The third figure shows a steadfast leadership in the determined straight direction of attack against the enemy. This is still more ideographically represented by the single strong straight line showing that he “Don’t turn” in the fourth figure of this group.

Fig. 863.--Warrior. Red-Cloud’s Census. The name does not give any idea of the design.

Fig. 864.--Goes-in-Front. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 865.--Don’t-turn. Red-Cloud’s Census. This means that the warrior don’t--that is, won’t--turn from his direct course.

Fig. 866.--Don’t-turn. Red Cloud’s Census. This figure is a variant of the last, and a body of mounted men following the leader, all on horseback as shown by the lunules.

Fig. 867.--Tunweya-gli, Returning-Scout. The Oglala Roster. The returning is ingeniously represented by the line curving backward and returning to the point of starting. The two balls above the head are simply two fixed points, which establish the course of the line.

DISEASE.

Fig. 868.--Many had the whooping cough. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1813-’14. The cough is represented by the lines issuing from the man’s mouth, but the characteristics of the disease are better expressed in the three charts of the Lone-Dog system, Figs. 196, 197, and 198.

Fig. 869.--All the Dakotas had measles, very fatal. Swan’s Winter Count, 1818-’19. Battiste Good says: “Smallpox-used-them-up-again winter.” They, i. e., the Dakotas, at this time lived on the Little White river, about 20 miles above the Rosebud agency. The character in Battiste Good’s chart is presented here in Fig. 870 as a variant.

Fig. 871.--Dakota war party ate a buffalo and all died. Swan’s Winter Count, 1826-’27. Battiste Good calls the same year, “Ate-a-whistle-and-died winter,” Fig. 872, and explains that six Dakotas on the warpath had nearly perished with hunger, when they found and ate the rotting carcass of an old buffalo, on which the wolves had been feeding. They were seized soon after with pains in the stomach, their bellies swelled, and gas poured from the mouth and the anus, and they “died of a whistle,” or from eating a whistle. The sound of gas escaping from the mouth is illustrated in the figure. The character on the abdomen and on its right may be considered to be the ideograph for pain in that part of the body.

Fig. 873.--Many people died of smallpox. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1782-’83. The charts all record two successive winters of smallpox, but American-Horse makes the first year of the epidemic one year later than that of Battiste Good, and Cloud-Shield makes it two years later.

Fig. 874.--Many died of smallpox. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1780-’81. Here the smallpox marks are on the face and neck of a Dakota, as indicated by the arrangement of the hair.

Kingsborough (_e_) explains Fig. 875 by these words in the text: “In the year of Seven Rabbits, or in 1538, many of the people died of the smallpox.” This may be compared with the two preceding figures.

Fig. 876.--Many died of the cramps. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1849-’50. The cramps were those of Asiatic cholera, which was epidemic in the United States at that time, and was carried to the plains by the California and Oregon emigrants. The position of the man is very suggestive of cholera.

Fig. 877.--Many women died in childbirth. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1798-’99.

Fig. 878.--Many women died in childbirth. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1792-’93.

Fig. 879, from Copway (_e_), represents sickness. It evidently refers to the loss of flesh consequent thereon. The sick man is a European.

Edkins (_a_) gives Fig. 880 as “sickness,” and calls it a picture of a sick man leaning against a support. All words connected with diseases are arranged under this head.

FAST.

The following figures clearly indicate rapidity of motion:

Fig. 881.--Fast-Horse. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 882.--Fast-Elk. Red-Cloud’s Census.

FEAR.

The following ideograms for the concept of fear show respectively an elk, a bear, and a bull surrounded by a circle of hunters. It would seem that the latter were supposed to be afraid to attack the animals when at bay in hand-to-hand fight, but stood off in a circle until they had killed the enraged beast, or at least wounded it sufficiently to allow of approach without danger.

Fig. 883.--Afraid-of-Elk. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 884.--Afraid-of-Bull. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 885.--Afraid-of-Bear. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 886.--Matokinajin, The-Bear-Stops. The Oglala Roster. The bear is surrounded by a circle of hunters, so is forced to stop. This figure is in no essential respect different from the one preceding, yet the name is suggestive of the converse of the fact expressed. In this case the bear is forced to stop, and doubtless fear is exhibited by that animal and not his hunters. Each of the ideas is appropriately expressed, the point of consideration being changed.

Fig. 887 is taken from Copway, loc. cit. It probably represents “fear,” the concept being the imagined sinking or depression of the heart and vital organs, as is correspondingly expressed in several languages.

FRESHET.

This small group shows the Dakotan modes of portraying the freshets of the rivers on the banks of which they lived, which were often disastrous. Each of the three figures pictures differently the same event.

Fig. 888.--“Many-Yanktonais-drowned winter.” The river bottom on a bend of the Missouri river, where they were encamped, was suddenly submerged, when the ice broke and many women and children were drowned. Battiste Good’s Winter Count 1825-’26.

Fig. 889.--Many of the Dakotas were drowned in a flood caused by a rise in the Missouri river, in a bend of which they were encamped. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1825-’26. The curved line is the bend in the river; the waved line is the water, above which the tops of the tipis are shown.

Fig. 890.--Some of the Dakotas were living on the bottom lands of the Missouri river, below the Whetstone, when the river, which was filled with broken ice, rose and flooded their village. Many were drowned or else killed by the floating ice. Many of those that escaped climbed on cakes of ice or into trees. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1825-’26.

GOOD.

Fig. 891.--Good-Weasel. Red-Cloud’s Census. The character is represented with two waving lines passing upward from the mouth in imitation of the gesture sign, good talk, as made by passing two extended and separated fingers (or all fingers separated) upward and forward from the mouth. This gesture is made when referring either to a shaman or to a Christian clergyman. It is connected with the idea of “mystic” frequently mentioned in this work.

HIGH.

Various modes of delineating this idea are represented as follows:

Fig. 892.--Top-man. Red-Cloud’s Census. This character for Top-man, or more properly “man above,” is drawn a short distance above a curved line, which represents the character for sky inverted. The gesture for sky is sometimes made by passing the hand from east to west, describing an arc. Other pictographs for sky are shown in Fig. 1117.

Fig. 893.--High-Cloud. Red-Cloud’s Census. The light and horizontal character of the cloud suggests that it is one of those classed by meteorologists as belonging to the higher regions of the atmosphere. This differs from all the varieties of clouds depicted in the Dakotan system.

Fig. 894--High-Bear. Red-Cloud’s Census. The length of the line and the animal’s stretch of attitude suggest the altitude.

Fig. 895.--High-Eagle. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here there is an additional suggestion of elevation from the upward angle or pointer delineated below the eagle’s body and in front of its legs.

Fig. 896.--Wolf-stands-on-a-hill. Red-Cloud’s Census. This and the following representation of the same name show variation in execution. The first, which is faint, as if distant vertically, is connected with a straight line. The second shows the hill, appearing from vertical distance too small to be the support of the wolf, which requires an imaginary support for its hind legs.

Fig. 897.--Wolf-stands-on-hill. Red-Cloud’s Census.

LEAN.

In the five figures next following the leanness of the several animals is objectively portrayed. In Fig. 903 the idea is conveyed of “nothing inside.”

Fig. 898.--Lean-Skunk. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 899.--Lean-Dog. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 900.--Lean-Bear. Red-Cloud’s Census. This bear being excessively hungry is rendered ferocious by devouring unpalatable provender.

Fig. 901.--Lean-Elk. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 902.--Lean-Bull. Red-Cloud’s Census.

The original of Fig. 903 was made by Lean-Wolf, second chief of the Hidatsa, in 1881, and represents the method which he had employed to designate himself for many years past. During his boyhood he had another name. This is a current, or perhaps it may be called cursive, form of the name, which is given more elaborately in Fig. 548.

LITTLE.

Fig. 904.--Little-Ring. Red-Cloud’s Census. This and the six following figures express smallness by their minute size relative to the other characterizing figures among nearly three hundred in the census.

Fig. 905.--Little-Ring. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 906.--Little-Crow. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 907.--Little-Cloud. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 908.--Little-Dog. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 909.--Little-Wolf. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 910.--Little-Bear. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 911.--Little-Elk. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here there is an ideogram explained by the sign-language for small, little, as follows:

Hold imaginary object between left thumb and index; point (carrying right index close to tips) to the last. In the original appears a small round spot over the back of the deer representing the imaginary point made in the gesture.

Fig. 912.--Little-Beaver and three other white men came to trade. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1797-’98. In this figure the man is small and the beaver abnormally large.

Fig. 913.--Little-Beaver’s trading house was burned down. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1808-’09. The beaver is not comparatively so large as in the preceding figure, but still much too large for a proper proportion with the human head. It is indicated that the man is small.

Fig. 914.--Little-Beaver’s house was burned. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1809-’10. White-Cow-Killer says, “Little-Beaver’s (the white man) house-burned-down winter.” This is a third method of representing the same name.

Fig. 915.--Little-Moon. Red-Cloud’s Census. This figure shows a phase of the moon when the bright part of its disk is small.

LONE.

Fig. 916.--Winyan-isnala, Lone-Woman. The Oglala Roster. It is possible that the single straight line above the woman’s head shows unity, loneliness, or independence, as it may be interpreted.

Fig. 917.--Lone-Bear was killed in battle. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1866-’67. This figure is perhaps to be explained by the one preceding. The bear is drawn sitting upright and solitary, not standing as it would be with the device turned, feet to ground, as might be suspected to be the intended attitude instead of that here shown.

MANY, MUCH.

In the two following figures the idea of “many” is conveyed by repetition.

In the third, Fig. 920, the representation is that of a heap, for much.

Fig. 918.--Many-Shells. Red Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 919.--General Maynadier made peace with the Oglalas and Brulés. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1865-’66. The general’s name (the sound of which resembles the words “many deer”) is indicated by the two deer heads connected with his mouth by lines. The pictographers represented his name in the same manner as they do their own. It is not an example of rebus, but of misunderstanding the significance of the word as spoken and heard by such Indians as had some knowledge of English. The official interpreters would be likely to commit the error as they seldom understand more than the colloquial English phrases.

Fig. 920 is taken from the winter count of Battiste Good for the year 1841-’42. He calls the year “Pointer-made-a-commemoration-of-the-dead winter.” Also “Deep-snow winter.”

The extended index denotes the man’s name, “Pointer,” the circular line and spots, deep snow.

The spots denoting snow occur also in other portions of this count, and the circle, denoting much, is in Fig. 260 connected with a forked stick and incloses a buffalo head to signify “much meat.” That the circle is intended to signify much is made probable, by the fact that a gesture for “much” is made by passing the hands upward from both sides and together before the body, describing the upper half of a circle, i. e., showing a heap.

Fig. 921, from Copway, gives the character meaning “great,” really “much.” See the above mentioned gesture.

OBSCURE.

Fig. 922.--Ring-Cloud. Red-Cloud’s Census. The semicircle for cloud is the reverse in execution to that shown in Fig. 893. The ring is partially surrounded by the cloud.

Fig. 923.--Cloud-Ring. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the outline of the ring is intentionally contorted and blurred, thus becoming obscure.

Fig. 924.--Fog. Red-Cloud’s Census. The obscurity here can only be appreciated by comparison with the other figures of the chart. The outline is drawn broad and with a blurred and in part double line, and there is no distinguishing mark of identity, as if to suggest that the man was so much obscured in the fog as not to be recognizable.

OPPOSITION.

The following two figures, 925 and 926, are introduced to show the opposition in attitude, which would not be understood without knowledge of the fact that these are perhaps the only instances in a collection of nearly three hundred in which the characterizing faces are turned to the right, all others being turned to the left. This shows the opposite of normality, i. e., opposition, as suggested in each case, with a different shade of meaning.

Fig. 925.--Kills-Back. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the backward concept is presented by the unusual attitude. The coup stick or lance is supposed to be wielded in the reverse manner.

Fig. 926.--Keeps-the-Battle. Red-Cloud’s Census. The concept is that of stubborn retreat while fighting against the advancing foe.

Fig. 927.--Keeps-the-Battle. Red-Cloud’s Census. This is the same name as the preceding, but the opposition suggested is that which is usual in pictographs of a battle, with the important addition of the opposed arrow points being attached together by striking the same object, and possibly being connected by an imaginary knot. This keeps or continues the struggle.

Fig. 928.--Okicize-tawa, His-Fight. The Oglala Roster. The opposed guns and tracks indicate the fight in which this warrior was conspicuous and probably victorious. This figure is introduced here as typical of simple opposition in battle.

Fig. 929.--Battiste Good’s Winter Count, 1836-’37. An encounter is represented between two tribes, separated by the banks of a river, from which arrows are fired across the water at the opposing party. The vertical lines represent the banks, while the opposing arrows denote a fight or an encounter.

POSSESSION.

Fig. 930.--Owns-the-Arrows. Red-Cloud’s Census. This is a common mode of expressing possession by exhibition in hand.

Fig. 931.--Pesto-yuha, Has-something-sharp (weapon). Oglala Roster. The weapon or sharp utensil is held in front to denote its possession.

PRISONER.

This group shows the several modes of expressing the idea of a prisoner.

Fig. 932.--The Ponkas attacked two lodges of Oglalas, killed some of the people, and made the rest prisoners. The Oglalas went to the Ponka village a short time afterward and took their people from the Ponkas. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1802-’03.

In the figure an Oglala has a prisoner by the arm leading him away. The arrow indicates that they were ready to fight. The hand grasping the fore arm is the ideogram of prisoner.

Fig. 933.--Takes-Enemy. Red-Cloud’s Census. This man is represented as not killed nor even wounded. He is touched by the coup stick or feathered lance, when he can not escape, and becomes a prisoner.

Lafitau (_d_) gives the following account descriptive of Fig. 934, which reminds of the classic Roman parade of prisoners in triumph:

Those who have charge of the prisoners prepare them for this
ceremony, which is a sort of triumph, having for them something of
glory and of sorrow at the same time; for, whether it is desired
to do them honor or to enhance the triumph of the conquerors, they
paint their faces black and red as on a solemn feast day. Their
heads are decorated with a crown, embellished with feathers; in the
left hand is placed a white stick covered with swan skin, which
is a sort of commander’s baton or scepter, as if they represented
the chief of the nation [sic] or the nation itself which had been
vanquished; in the right hand is placed the rattle, and around the
neck of the most prominent of the slaves the wampum necklace which
the war chief has given or received when he raised the party and
on which the other warriors have sealed their engagement. But if
on one hand the prisoners are honored, on the other, to make them
feel their miserable situation, they are deprived of everything
else; so that they are left entirely naked and made to walk with the
arms tied behind the back above the elbow.

Fig. 935 is taken from Mrs. Eastman (_d_), and shows a Dakota method of recording the taking of prisoners. _a_ and _c_ are the prisoners, _a_ being a female as denoted by the presence of mammæ, and _c_ a male; _b_ is the person making the capture. It is to be noted that the prisoners are without hands, to signify their helplessness.

In Doc. Hist. New York (_c_) is the following description of Fig. 936:

On their return, the Iroquois, if they have prisoners or scalps,
paint the animal of the tribe to which they belong rampant (debout),
with a staff on the shoulder along which are strung the scalps they
may have and in the same number. After the animal are the prisoners
they have made, with a chichicois (or gourd filled with beans which
rattle) in the right hand. If they be women, they represent them
with a cadenette or queue and a waistcloth.

_a._ This is a person returning from war who has taken a
prisoner, killed a man and woman, whose scalps hang from the end of
a stick that he carries. _b._ The prisoner. _c._ Chichicois (or a
gourd), which he holds in the hand. _d._ These are cords attached to
his neck, arms, and girdle. _e._ This is the scalp of a man; what is
joined on one side is the scalp-lock. _f._ This is the scalp of a
woman; they paint it with the hair thin.

The expression prisoner and slave are often convertible. The following from Kingsborough (_f_), explaining this illustration reproduced as Fig. 937, refers in terms to slavery. “The figures are those of the wife and son of a cacique who rebelled against Montezuma, and who, having been conquered, was strangled. The ‘collars’ upon their necks show that they have been reduced to slavery.”

SHORT.

Fig. 938.--Short-Bull. Red-Cloud’s Census, No. 16. The buffalo is markedly short even to distortion.

SIGHT.

Fig. 939.--Sees-the-Enemy. Red-Cloud’s Census. In this collection the eye is not indicated except where that organ is directly connected with the significance of the name. Here its mere presence suggests that vision is the subject matter. But, in addition, the object above the head is probably a hand mirror, which by its reflection is supposed to “see” the objects reflected. The plains Indians make use of such mirrors not only in their face painting but in flash signaling.

Fig. 940.--In a fight with the Mandans, Crier was shot in the head with a gun. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1827-’28. This figure is introduced to present another rare instance in which the eye is delineated. Here the act is that of weeping.

Fig. 941.--Comes-in-Sight. Red-Cloud’s Census, No. 235. Distant objects, probably buffalo or other animals of the chase, are observed coming into the line of vision.

Fig. 942.--Bear-comes-out. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here the bear is supposed to come into sight through a hole in the tipi.

Fig. 943.--Bear-comes-out. Red-Cloud’s Census. This figure is explained by the one preceding. Only half of the bear--the fore part--is to be seen as if emerging through some orifice. Heads and other parts of animals are frequently portrayed as signifying the whole, by synechdoche, but in this case the presentation of the head and forequarters has special significance.

Fig. 944.--Taken from Copway, p. 136, is the character which is employed to represent “see.”

SLOW.

Fig. 945.--Slow-Bear. Red-Cloud’s Census. In this figure the bear seems to be in backing or retrograde motion, which is slower than any normal advance, and is therefore ideographically suggestive of slowness.

TALL.

Fig. 946.--Tall-Man. Red-Cloud’s Census. This and the five following animal figures show length and individual height objectively.

Fig. 947.--Wasicun-wankatuya, Tall-White-Man. The Oglala Roster. The hat shows the man of European origin, but his figure is large in the face and short in the legs; so not tall in a usual sense. He was probably killed by the Oglala.

Fig. 948.--Tall-White-Man. Red-Cloud’s Census. This expresses the height much more graphically than the one preceding.

Fig. 949.--Long-Panther. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 950.--Tall-Panther. Red-Cloud’s Census.

Fig. 951.--Tall-Bull was killed by white soldiers and Pawnees on the south side of the South Platte river. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1869-’70. The combined arrangement of the human head and the buffalo so as to produce the effect of abnormal height in the latter is ingenious. The plan of this chart did not allow of long lines above the head, so the effect is attained by comparison of the standing buffalo with the height of the man.

Fig. 952.--Tall-Pine. Red-Cloud’s Census. In this as in the two next figures the length of the trunk of the tree is apparent.

Fig. 953.--Long-Pine was killed in a fight with the Crows. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1879-’80. The absence of his scalp denotes that he was killed by an enemy. The fatal wound was made with the bow and arrow.

Fig. 954.--Long-Pine, a Dakota, was killed by Dakotas, perhaps accidentally or perhaps in a personal quarrel. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1846-’47. He was not killed by a tribal enemy, as he has not lost his scalp.

TRADE.

Fig. 955.--They were compelled to sell many mules and horses to enable them to procure food, as they were in a starving condition. They willingly gave a mule for a sack of flour. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1868-’69. The mule’s halter is connected with two sacks of flour.

Fig. 956 is taken from Prince Maximilian, of Wied’s (_h_) Travels. The cross signifies, I will barter or trade. Three animals are drawn on the right hand of the cross; one is a buffalo (probably albino); the two others, a weasel (_Mustela Canadensis_) and an otter. The pictographer offers in exchange for the skins of these animals the articles which he has drawn on the left side of the cross. He has there, in the first place, depicted a beaver very plainly, behind which there is a gun; to the left of the beaver are thirty strokes, each ten separated by a longer line; this means: I will give thirty beaver skins and a gun for the skins of the three animals on the right hand of the cross.

The ideographic character of the design consists in the use of the cross--being a drawing of the gesture-sign for “trade”--the arms being interchanged in position. Of the two things each one is put in the place before occupied by the other thing, the idea of exchange.

UNION.

The Dakotas often express this concept by uniting two or more figures by a distinct inclusive line below the figures. This sometimes means family relationship and sometimes common membership in the same tribe.

Fig. 957.--Antoine Janis’s two boys were killed by John Richard. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1872-’73. The line of union shows them to be intimately connected; in fact, they were brothers.

Fig. 958.--The Oglalas got drunk at Chug creek and engaged in a quarrel among themselves, in which Red-Cloud’s brother was killed and Red-Cloud killed three men. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1841-’42. The union line shows that the quarrel was in the tribe.

Fig. 959.--Torn-Belly and his wife were killed by some of their own people in a quarrel. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1855-’56. Here the man and wife are united by the inclusive line.

Fig. 960.--Eight Minneconjou Dakotas were killed by Crow Indians at the mouth of Powder river. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1805-’06. This device is very frequently used to denote the death of the Dakotas. The black strokes indicate the death of persons of the number delineated and the union line shows that they were of the same tribe.

Fig. 961.--Blackfeet Dakotas kill three Rees. The-Flame’s Winter Count for 1798-’99. Here the uniting line of death refers to others than Dakotas, which does not often appear, but the principle is maintained that the dead are of the same tribe.

WHIRLWIND.

Fig. 962.--Mato-wamniyomni, Bear-Whirlwind. The Oglala Roster. This figure shows over the bear’s head a variant of the character given in Red-Cloud’s Census, Fig. 963. The figure appears, according to the explanation given by several Oglala Dakota Indians, to signify the course of a whirlwind with the transverse lines in imitation of the circular movement of the air, conveying dirt and leaves, observed during such aerial disturbances.

Fig. 963.--Represents White-Whirlwind, above referred to, from Red-Cloud’s Census. In this the designating character is more distinct.

Fig. 964.--Leafing. Red-Cloud’s Census. This seems to be of the same description. It is said to be drawn in imitation of a number of fallen leaves packed against one another and whirled along the ground. It also has reference to the season when leaves fall--autumn.

Mr. Keam’s MS. describing Fig. 965, says:

It is a decoration of great frequency and consisting of the
single and double spirals. The single spiral is the symbol of
Ho-bo-bo, the twister, who manifests his power by the whirlwind. It
is also of frequent occurrence as a rock etching in the vicinity
of ruins, where also the symbol of the Ho-bo-bo is seen. But the
figure does not appear upon any of the pottery. The myth explains
that a stranger came among the people, when a great whirlwind blew
all the vegetation from the surface of the earth and all the water
from its courses. With a flint he caught these symbols upon a rock,
the etching of which is now in Keam’s Cañon, Arizona Territory. It
is 17 inches long and 8 inches across. He told them that he was the
keeper of breath. The whirlwind and the air which men breathe comes
from this keeper’s mouth.

Fig. 966 is a copy of part of the decoration on a pot taken from a mound in Missouri, published in Second Annual Report of the Bureau Ethnology, Pl. LIII, fig. 11. On the authority of Rev. S. D. Hinman, it is the conventional device among the Dakotas to represent a whirlwind.

WINTER--COLD--SNOW.

Fig. 967.--Glue, an Oglala, froze to death on his way to a Brulé village. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1791-’92. A glue-stick is represented back of his head. Glue, made from the hoofs of buffalo, is used to fasten arrowheads to the shaft and is carried about on sticks. The cloud from which hail or snow is falling represents winter.

Fig. 968.--A Dakota, named Glue, froze to death. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1820-’21. This figure is introduced to corroborate of the preceding one as regards the name Glue. It gives another representation of the glue stick.

Fig. 969.--A Dakota named Stabber froze to death. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1782-’83. The sign for winter is the same as before, but doubled, as if of twofold power or excessively severe.

Fig. 970.--The winter was so cold that many crows froze to death. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1788-’89. White-Cow-Killer says “Many-black-crows-died winter.”

The Crow falling stiff and motionless is a good symbol for the effect of excessive cold.

Fig. 971.--The snow was very deep. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1827-’28. The piled-up snow around the bottoms of the tipis is graphic; no other material than snow could make that kind of surrounding heap.

Fig. 972.--From Copway, page 135, is the representation of “cold,” “snow.”

The Shoshoni and Banak sign for cold, winter, is: Clinch both hands and cross the forearms before the breast with a trembling motion. It is represented in Fig. 973. Cf. Battiste Good’s Winter count for 1747-’48 and 1783-’84.

In Kingsborough (_g_) is the painting reproduced in Fig. 974 with this description: “In the year of seven Canes and 1447 according to our calculation, it snowed so heavily that lives were lost.”

In the same work and volumes, p. 146 and Pl. 26, is the original of Fig. 975, with the explanation that: “In this year of seven Flints, or 1512, there were heavy falls of snow.”

Wiener, op. cit., p. 762, gives the following description (condensed) of Fig. 976, a remarkable example of ideography:

This is on a cloth on which the eight fortresses of Paramonga
were presented. Between these bridges are drawn; these forts are of
three stages and on each stage is a representation of a man or of
two men. The men who are down on the plain had clothing of another
color and even another colored face from those who appear on the
different stages. Those who are on the plain at the foot of the
fortress have no arms, but they have highly developed ears. The
same is true of those who appear on the first stage. Those of the
following stage are provided with arms, and the ears are of normal
size. On the highest platform appear individuals with arms and they
have ears like those on the second stage. In the middle a figure
is provided with one arm and only one developed ear, which are on
opposite sides. The men without arms are also without weapons.
Those of the second stage carry at the height of the belt a kind of
hatchet and those of the upper platform have each a club.

Considering the character of the locality where this cloth was
found, the number of forts there, the marshy land which prevented
dry-shod communication between them, it can not be doubted that
the subject matter was the representation of that region, but this
representation is not a drawing on a plan, but is a description
which does not only treat of the nature of the place and of the
work that man raised there, but it also indicates the rôle that the
inhabitants played there.

The function of the men with exaggerated ears and no arms was that of scouts. The armed men with normal ears were guards or warriors bearing different weapons, ax and club, and differently uniformed. The highest figure with one large ear was the chief of the garrison.

It will be noticed that the scouts have enormous feet which do not rest on the ground. This in connection with their exaggerated ears implies that their duty is to listen and when they hear the enemy not to engage him, as they have no arms or weapons, but to fly to the headquarters and make the report. The duty of the warriors is not to listen, so their ears are not abnormal, but to fight, and therefore they have arms, one of which is exposed and the other holds a weapon. Their feet are attached to their several stations. The chief must both listen and direct, wherefore he is drawn with one exaggerated ear and one arm. His feet do not touch the platform, which signifies that he has no special station, but must move wherever he is most needed.