On these scaffolds, which are from 8 to 10 feet high, corpses were deposited in a box made from part of a broken canoe. Some hair was suspended which we at first mistook for a scalp; but our guide informed us that these were locks of hair torn from their heads by the relations to testify their grief. In the center, between the four posts which supported the scaffold, a stake was planted in the ground; it was about 6 feet high, and bore an imitation of human figures; five of which had a design of a petticoat, indicating them to be females; the rest, amounting to seven, were naked, and were intended for male figures. Of the latter, four were headless, showing that they had been slain; the three other male figures were unmutilated but held a staff in their hands which, as our guide informed us, designated that they were slaves. The post, which is an usual accompaniment to the scaffold that supports a warrior’s remains, does not represent the achievements of the deceased, but those of the warriors that assembled near his remains, danced the dance of the post, and related their martial exploits.
Maximilian, Prince of Wied (d), tells that as a sign of mourning the Sioux daub themselves with white clay.
According to Powers, (d) “A Yokaia widow’s style of mourning is peculiar. In addition to the usual evidence of grief she mingles the ashes of the dead husband with pitch, making a white tar or ungent with which she smears a band about two inches wide all around the edge of her hair (which is previously cut off close to the head), so that at a little distance she appears to be wearing a white chaplet.”
Mr. Dorsey reports that mud is used by a mourner in the sacred-bag war party among the Osages. Several modes of showing mourning by styles of paint and markings are presented in this paper under the headings of Color and of Tattooing. Other practices connected with the present topic, and which may explain some pictographs, are described in the work of Dr. H. C. Yarrow, acting assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, on The Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians, in the First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.
Fig. 724.—Votive offering. Alaska.
Fig. 724 is copied from a piece of ivory in the museum of the Alaska Commercial Company, San Francisco, California, and was interpreted by an Alaskan native in San Francisco in 1882.
First is a votive offering or “shaman stick,” erected to the memory of one departed. The “bird” carvings are considered typical of “good spirits,” and the above was erected by the remorse-stricken individual, who had killed the person shown.
The headless body represents the man who was killed. In this respect the Ojibwa manner of drawing a person “killed” is similar.
The right hand Indian represents the homicide who erected the “grave-post” or “sacred stick.” The arm is thrown earthward, resembling the Blackfeet and Dakota gesture for “kill.”
That portion of the Kauvuya tribe of Indians in Southern California known as the Playsanos, or lowlanders, formerly inscribed characters upon the gravestones of their dead, relating to the pursuits or good qualities of the deceased. Dr. W. J. Hoffman obtained several pieces or slabs of finely-grained sandstone near Los Angeles, California, during the summer of 1884, which had been used for this purpose. Upon these were the drawings, in incised lines, of the fin back whale, with figures of men pursuing them with harpoons. Around the drawings were close parallel lines with cross lines similar to those made on ivory by the southern Innuit of Alaska.
Figs. 725 to 727 were procured from a native Alaskan by Dr. Hoffman in 1882, and explained to him to be drawings made upon grave posts.
Fig. 725.—Grave post. Alaska.
Fig. 725 commemorates a hunter, as land animals are shown to be his chief pursuit. The following is the explanation of the characters:
a. The baidarka, or boat, holding two persons; the occupants are shown, as are also the paddles, which project below the horizontal body of the vessel.
b. A rack for drying skins and fish. A pole is added above it, from which are seen floating streamers of calico or cloth.
c. A fox.
d. A land otter.
e. The hunter’s summer habitation. These are temporary dwellings and usually constructed at a distance from home. This also indicates the profession of a skin-hunter, as the permanent lodges, indicated as winter houses, i. e., with round or dome-like roof, are located near the seashore, and summer houses are only needed when at some distance from home, where a considerable length of time is spent in hunting.
Fig. 726.—Grave post. Alaska.
The following is the explanation of Fig. 726. It is another design for a grave post, but is erected in memory of a fisherman:
a. The double-seated baidarka, or skin canoe.
b. The bow used in shooting seal and other marine animals.
c. A seal.
d. A whale.
The summer lodge is absent in this, as the fisherman did not leave the seashore in the pursuit of game on land.
Fig. 727.—Village and burial grounds. Alaska.
Fig. 727 is a drawing of a village and neighboring burial-ground, prepared by an Alaskan native in imitation of originals seen by him among the natives of the mainland of Alaska, especially the Aigalúqamut. Carvings are generally on walrus ivory; sometimes on wooden slats. In the figure, g is a representation of a grave post in position, bearing an inscription similar in general character to those in the last two preceding figures.
The details are explained as follows:
a, b, c, d. Various styles of habitations, denoting a settlement.
e. An elevated structure used for the storage of food.
f. A box with wrappings, containing the corpse of a child. The small lines, with ball attached, are ornamental appendages consisting of strips of cloth or skin, with charms, or, sometimes, tassels.
g. Grave post, bearing rude illustrations of the weapons or implements used by the deceased during his life.
h. A grave scaffold, containing adult. Besides the ornamental appendages, as in f preceding, there is a “Shaman stick” erected over the box containing the corpse as a mark of good wishes of a sorrowing survivor. See object a, in Fig. 724.
Schoolcraft (m) gives a good account, with illustration, of the burial posts used by the Sioux and Chippewas. It has been quoted so frequently that it is not reproduced here. The most notable feature connected with the posts is that the totems depicted on them are reversed, to signify the death of the persons buried.
Fig. 728 represents the grave post of a Menomoni Indian of the bear totem. The stick is a piece of pine board 2½ inches wide at the top, gradually narrowing down to a point; three-fourths of an inch thick, and about 2 feet long. On one side are two sets of characters, the oldest being incised with a sharp-pointed nail, while over these are a later set of drawings made with red ocher, represented in the illustration by shading. The figure of the bear, drawn with head to the ground, denotes the totem of which the deceased was a member, the remaining incised figures relating to some exploits the signification of which was not known. The red marks were put upon the stick at the time of the holding of a memorial service, when the father of the deceased furnished a feast to the medicine priests just previous to his being received into the society of shamans to fill the vacancy caused by the death. The number of red crosses denote the number of speeches made at the grave upon that occasion, while the band at the top refers to the person acting as master of ceremonies, who had been requested to make all the arrangements for the medicine ceremonies and initiation. So said some Menomoni in the neighborhood, but later the Indian who actually painted the red crosses came to Washington and explained that they signified the number of war parties in which the deceased had taken part.
Fig. 729 shows the incised lines on the front of the post before color was applied. The manner of placing the grave posts at the head of the grave box is shown in Fig. 730, the left-hand grave being that of Oshkosh, the late head chief of the Menomoni in Wisconsin, after whom the city of Oshkosh was named.
Before the grave is a small board, upon which tobacco is placed to gratify the taste of the dead, and during the season of sugar making pieces of that delicacy are pushed through the small openings in the head board, that the spirit of the deceased may be gratified and give success to the donors at future seasons.
The right-hand grave box is that of another member of the family of Oshkosh, at which the board, with tobacco, is also placed, as well as the grave post. This, however, does not bear any indications of characters, which probably had been washed off by the rain.
Pieces of bark, stones, and sticks are also placed upon the grave boxes, but the signification of this practice could not be ascertained.
The next two figures come from the Dakotas.
Fig. 731.—Commemoration of dead. Dakota.
Fig. 731.—Held a commemoration of the dead. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1826-’27. The ceremonial pipe-stem and the skull indicate the mortuary practice, which is further explained by the next figure.
Fig. 732.—Ossuary ceremonial. Dakota.
Fig. 732.—A white man made medicine over the skull of Crazy-Horse’s brother. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1852-’53. He holds a pipe-stem in his hand. This figure refers to the custom of gathering periodically the bones of the dead that have been placed on scaffolds and burying them. It appears that a white man made himself conspicuous by conducting the ceremonies on the occasion noted.
Lewis and Clarke (c) mention the Chilluckittequaws, a division of the Chinooks of the Columbia river, as having for burial purposes vaults made of pine or cedar boards, closely connected, about 8 feet square and 6 in height. The walls as well as the door were decorated with strange figures cut and painted on them; besides these there were several wooden images of men, some of them so old and decayed as to have almost lost their shape, which were all placed against the sides of the vaults. These images do not appear to be at all the objects of adoration, but were probably intended as resemblances of those whose decease they indicate.
Whymper (a) reports that the Kalosh Indians of Alaska construct grave boxes or tombs which contain only the ashes of the dead. These people invariably burn the deceased. On one of the boxes he saw a number of faces painted, long tresses of human hair depending therefrom. Each head represented a victim of the deceased man’s ferocity. Thus the pictures are not likenesses or totemic marks of the cremated Kalosh, but of enemies whom he had killed, being in the nature of trophies or proofs of valor. Fig. 733 is a reproduction of the illustration.
Dall (c) says of the Yukon Indians:
Some wore hoops of birch wood around the neck and wrists, with various patterns and figures cut on them. These were said to be emblems of mourning for the dead.
Dr. Franz Boas (f) gives the following account of the funeral customs practiced by the Snanaimuq, a Salish tribe:
The face of the deceased is painted with red and black paint. * * * A chief’s body is put in a carved box and the front posts supporting his coffin are carved. His mask is placed between these posts. The graves of great warriors are marked by a statue representing a warrior with a war club. * * * After the death of husband or wife, the survivor must paint his legs and his blanket red. * * * At the end of the mourning period the red blanket is given to an old man, who deposits it in the woods.
Didron (a) speaks of emblems on tombstones:
Even today, at Constantinople, in the cemetery of the Armenians, every tombstone is marked with the insignia of the profession followed by the defunct which the stone covers. For an Armenian tailor there is a pair of shears, thread, and needles; for a mason, hammer and trowel; for a shoemaker, a last, leather, and a leather cutter; for a grocer, a pair of scales; for a banker, pieces of money. It is the same with others. Among us [Frenchmen], in the middle ages, a compass, a rule, and square are engraved on the tomb of Hugues Libergier. In the cemetery of L’Est, at Paris, a palette indicates the grave of a painter, a chisel and hammer mark that of a sculptor. Animals are represented as talking and acting, masks grimace and smile, to announce in the same inclosure the tombs of La Fontaine and of Molière. Among the Romans it was the same: a fisher had a boat on his tomb; a shepard, a sheep; a digger, a pickaxe; a navigator, an anchor or a trident; a vine-dresser, a cask; an architect, a capital or the instruments of his art.
Hewitt (g) says of the Dieri, a tribe of Central Australia:
A messenger who is sent to convey the intelligence of a death is smeared all over with white clay. On his approach to the camp the women all commence screaming and crying most passionately. After a time the particulars of the death are made known to the camp. The near relations and friends then only weep. Old men even cry bitterly, and their friends comfort them as if they were children. On the following day the near relations dress in mourning by smearing themselves over with white clay. Widows and widowers are prohibited by custom from uttering a word until the clay has worn off, however long it may remain on them. They do not, however, rub it off, as doing so would be considered a bad omen. It must absolutely wear off of itself. During this period they communicate by means of gesture language.
Dr. Ferdinand von Hochstetter (a) says:
The carved Maori figures which are met with on the road are the memorials of chiefs who, while journeying to the restorative baths of Rotorua, succumbed to their ills on the road. Some of the figures are decked out with pieces of clothing or kerchiefs; and the most remarkable feature in them is the close imitation of the tattooing of the deceased, by which the Maoris are able to recognize for whom the monument has been erected. Certain lines are peculiar to the tribe, others to the family, and again others to the individual. A close imitation of the tattooing of the face, therefore, is to the Maori the same as to us a photographic likeness; it does not require any description of name.
A representation of one of these carved posts is given in Fig. 734.
Fig. 735.—New Zealand grave-post.
Another carved post of like character is represented in Fig. 735, concerning which the same author says, p. 338: “Beside my tent, at Tahuahu, on the right bank of the Mangapu, there stood an odd, half-decomposed figure carved of wood; it was designated to me by the natives as a Tiki, marking the tomb of a chief.”
Ball, on Nicobarese Ideographs, in Jour. Anthrop. Inst. of Gr. Br. & I. (d), says, describing Fig. 736, which appears to be connected with mortuary observances:
The example of Nicobarese picture writing in Fig. 736 was obtained in the year 1873 on the island of Kondul, where I found it hanging in the house of a man who was said to have died a short time previously. * * *
The material of which it is made is either the glume of a bamboo or the spathe of a palm which has been flattened out and framed with split bamboos.
It is about 3 feet long by 18 inches broad. The objects are painted with vermilion, their outlines being surrounded with punctures, which allow the light to pass through. * * *
As in all such Nicobarese paintings, figures of the sun, moon, and stars occupy prominent positions. Now, the sun and moon are stated, by those who have known the Nicobarese best, to be especial objects of adoration, and therefore these paintings may have some religious significance.
At first it occurred to me that this was merely an inventory of the property of the deceased, but as some of the objects are certainly not such as we should expect to find in an enumeration of property, e. g., the lizard, while the figures of men appear to portray particular emotions, it seems probable that the objects represented have a more or less conventional meaning, and that we have here a document of as bona fide and translatable a character as an Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription.
My own efforts to discover an interpretation from the natives on the spot were not crowned with success. * * *
Mr. De Röepstorff, extra assistant superintendent of the Andamans and Nicobars, to whom I applied for such information as he might be able to collect upon the subject, assured me by letter, in 1873, that the screens had a religious significance and were used to exorcise spirits, but he did not seem to regard them as capable of being interpreted. * * *
The following is a list of the objects depicted, besides animals; many of the common utensils in use in a Nicobarese household are included:
(1) The sun and stars; (2) the moon and stars; (3) swallows or (?) flying fish; (4) impression of the forepart of a human foot; (5) a lizard (Hydrosaurus?); (6) four men in various attitudes; (7) two dás for cutting jungle; (8) two earthen cooking vessels; (9) two birds; (10) an ax; (11) two spears; (12) a ladder (?); (13) dish for food; (14) cocoanut water-vessels; (15) palm tree; (16) a canoe; (17) three pigs; (18) shed; (19) domestic fowl; (20) seaman’s chest; (21) dog; (22) fish of different kinds; (23) turtle.
The notes given under this heading are divided into (1) cult societies; (2) daily life and habits; (3) games.
Voluntary associations, to be distinguished from those of an exclusively religious character, have flourished among most Indian tribes and are still found among those least affected by contact with civilization. Maj. Powell, the Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, has named them cult societies. Their members are designated by special paintings and marks entirely distinct from those relating to their clans or gentes and their personal names. Travelers have frequently been confused by the diversity of such designations.
The translated names of some of these societies found among the Sioux are “Brave Night Hearts,” “Owl Feathers,” and “Wolves and Foxes.” They control tribes in internal affairs and strongly influence their policy in external relations, and may be regarded as the substitute both for regular soldiery and for police. It is necessary that a young man proposing to be a warrior should be initiated into some one of these societies. But in distinguishing them from the purely shamanistic orders it must not be understood that their ceremonies and ties are independent of the cult of religion, or that they disregard it, for this among Indians would be impossible.
The following account of these societies among the Blackfeet or Satsika and their pictorial or objective devices is condensed from Maximilian of Wied’s Travels (e):
The bands, unions, or associations are found among the Blackfeet as well as all the other American tribes. They have a certain name, fixed rules and laws, as well as their peculiar songs and dances, and serve in part to preserve order in the camp, on the march, in the hunting parties, etc. Seven such bands or unions among the Blackfeet were mentioned to me. They are the following: (1) The band of the mosquitos. This union has no police business to do, but consists of young people, many of whom are only 8 or 10 years of age. There are also some young men among them and sometimes even a couple of old men, in order to see to the observance of the laws and regulations. This union performs wild, youthful pranks; they run about the camp whenever they please; pinch, nip, and scratch men, women, and children in order to give annoyance like the mosquitos. The young people begin with this union and then gradually rise higher through the others. As the badge of their band they wear an eagle’s claw fastened around the wrist with a leather strap. They have also a particular mode of painting themselves, like every other band, and their peculiar songs and dance. (2) The dogs. Its badge is not known to me; it consists of young married men, and the number is not limited. (3) The prairie dogs. This is a police union, which receives married men; its badge is a long hooked stick wound round with otter skin, with knots of white skin at intervals, and a couple of eagle’s feathers hanging from each of them. (4) Those who carry the raven. Its badge is a long staff covered with red cloth, to which black ravens’ feathers in a long thick row are fastened from one end to the other. They contribute to the preservation of order and the police. (5) The buffalo, with thin horns. When they dance they wear horns on their caps. If disorders take place they must help the soldiers, who mark out the camp and then take the first place. (6) The soldiers. They are the most distinguished warriors, who exercise the police, especially in the camp and on the march; in public deliberations they have the casting vote whether, for instance, they shall hunt, change their abode, make war or conclude peace, etc. They carry as their badge a wooden club the breadth of a hand, with hoofs of the buffalo cow hanging to the handle. They are sometimes 40 or 50 men in number. (7) The buffalo bulls. They form the first, that is, the most distinguished, of all the unions, and are the highest in rank. They carry in their hand a medicine badge, hung with buffalo hoofs, which they rattle when they dance to their peculiar song. They are too old to attend to the police, having passed through all the unions, and are considered as having retired from office. In their medicine dance they wear on their head a cap made of the long forelock and mane of the buffalo bull, which hangs down to a considerable length.
Fig. 737.—The policeman.
Fig. 737.—“The policeman” was killed by the enemy. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1780-’81.
The man here figured was probably one of the active members of the associations whose functions are above described to keep order and carry out the commands of the chiefs.
These voluntary associations are not of necessity ancient or permanent. An instance is given in Fig. 738 which is instructive in the interpretation of pictographs. It is a copy of drawings on a pipe stem which had been made and used by Ottawa Indians. On each side are four spaces, upon each of which are various incised characters, three spaces on one side being reserved for the delineation of human figures, each having diverging lines from the head upward, denoting their social status as chiefs or warriors and medicine men.
Upon the space nearest the mouth is the drawing of a fire, the flames passing upward from the horizontal surface beneath them. The cross bands are raised portions of the wood (ash) of which the pipestem is made; these show peculiarly shaped openings which pass entirely through the stem, though not interfering with the tube necessary for the passage of the smoke. This indicates considerable mechanical skill.
Upon each side of the stem are spaces corresponding in length and position to those upon the opposite side. In the lower space of the stem is a drawing of a bear, indicating that the two persons in the corresponding space on the opposite side belong to the bear gens. The next upper figure is that of a beaver, showing the three human figures to belong to the beaver gens, while the next to this, the eagle, means that the opposite persons are members of the eagle gens. The upper figure is that of a lodge which contains a council fire, shown on the opposite side.
The signification of the whole is that two members of the bear gens, three members of the beaver gens, and three members of the eagle gens have united and constitute a society living in one lodge, around one fire, and smoke through the same pipe.
Reference may also be made to remarks by Prof. Dall (d) upon the use of masks by associations or special classes.
Fig. 739.—Shooting fish. Micmac.
Fig. 739, printed from the Kejimkoojik rocks, in Nova Scotia, represents two Indians in a canoe following a fish to shoot it. This is not a pure example of the class of totemic designs. Both Indians in the canoe have paddles in which the device resembles the Micmac tribal device, but in that the hunters pursue a deer and not a fish and the canoe is “humpback.” The Passamaquoddy tribal pictographic sign in which a fish is followed, requires both Indians to have paddles, and, it may be understood that the two Indians in the canoe are Passamaquoddy, but in the figure one of them has laid aside his paddle and is shooting at the fish with a gun, which departs from the totemic device, and also shows that the drawing was made since the Indians of the region had obtained firearms from Europeans, but these were obtained three centuries ago, quite long enough for hunting scenes on some of the petroglyphs to exhibit the use of a gun instead of a bow.
This kind of fish hunting by gunshot is one of daily occurrence in the region during the proper season.
Fig. 740, from the same locality, is more ideographic. The line of the gun barrel is exaggerated and prolonged so as nearly to touch the fish, and signifies that the shot was a sure hit. The hunters are very roughly delineated. Possibly this hunting was at night with fire on a brazier and screens, a common practice which seems to be indicated.
Fig. 741, also from Kejimkoojik, is more ancient, but less distinct. The fish is larger, and the weapon may be a lance, not a gun.
Fig. 742.—Whale hunting. Innuit.
Fig. 742, copied from a walrus ivory drill-bow, from Cape Darley, Alaska (Nat. Mus. No. 44211), illustrates the mode of whale-hunting by the Innuit. The crosses over the whale and beneath the harpoon line represent aquatic birds; the three, oval objects attached to the line are floaters to support the line and to indicate its course after the downward plunge of the harpooned cetacean.
Fig. 743.—Hunting in canoe. Ojibwa.
A similar hunting scene by canoe, in which, however, the game was deer, is given in Fig. 743. The drawing is on birch bark, and was made by an old Indian named Ojibwa, now living at White Earth, Minnesota, an intimate friend and associate of the late chief Hole-in-the-Day. Ojibwa is supposed to be actor as well as depictor. He shows his lodges in a, where he resided many years ago; b is a lake; c, c, c, c represent four deer, one of which is shown only by the horns protruding above a clump of brush near the lake; e represents Ojibwa in his canoe, d, floating on the river, h, h; g is a pine torch, giving light and smoke, erected on the bow of the canoe, the light being thrown forward from a curve slice of birch bark at f, its bright inner surface acting as a reflector. The whole means that during one hunt, by night, the narrator shot four deer at the places indicated.
The accompanying Fig. 744 is reproduced from a drawing also incised on birch bark by Ojibwa, and relates to a hunting expedition made by his father and two companions, all of whom are represented by three human forms near the left-hand upper line. The circle at the left is Red Cedar lake, Minnesota; a river is shown flowing northward, and another toward the east, having several indications of lakes which this river passes through or drains. The circle within the lake denotes an island upon which the party camped, as is shown by the trail leading from the human forms to the island. Around the lake are a number of short lines which signify trees, indicating a wooded shore. The first animal form to the right of the human figures is a porcupine; the next a bittern. The two shelters in the right-hand upper corner indicate another camp made by the hunters, to which one of them dragged a deer, as shown by the man in that act, just to the left of the shelter.
Another camp of the same party of three is shown in the lower left-hand corner; the bow and arrow directed to the right indicates that there they shot a raccoon, a fisher, a duck (a man lying down decoyed this bird by calling), a mink, and an otter. The line above the lower row consists of the following animals, reading from the left to right, viz, bear, owl, wolf, elk, and deer.
Fig. 745.—Fruit gatherers. Hidatsa.
Fig. 745 is a copy of a sketch made by Lean-Wolf, second chief of the Hidatsa, and shows the manner in which the women carry baskets used in gathering wild plums, bull-berries, and other small fruits. The baskets are usually made of thin splints of wood, and very similar in manner of construction to the well known bushel-basket of our eastern farmers.
Fig. 746 was also made by Lean-Wolf, and illustrates the old manner of hunting antelope and deer. The hunter would disguise himself by covering his head with the head and skin of an antelope, and so be enabled to approach the game near enough to use his bow and arrow.
In a similar manner the Hidatsa would mask themselves with a wolf skin to enable them to approach buffalo. This is illustrated in Fig. 747, which is a reproduction of a drawing made by the above-mentioned chief.
The next group of figures illustrates the custom of gaining and afterwards counting coups or hits, the French expression, sometimes spelled by travelers “coo,” being generally adopted. This is an honor gained by hitting an enemy, whether dead or alive, with an ornamented lance, or sometimes a stick, carried for the purpose as part of a warrior’s equipment. These sticks or wands are about 12 feet long, often of willow, stripped of leaves and bark, and each having some distinguishing objects, such as feathers, bells, brightly-colored cloth, or else painted in a special manner. Further remarks on this custom appear in Chapter XIII, Section 4.
a, in Fig. 748, Kills-the-Enemy, from Red-Cloud’s Census, exhibits the coup stick in contact with the dead enemy’s head. b is taken from Bloody-Knife’s robe and shows an Indian about to strike his prostrate enemy.
Fig. 749.—Counting coups. Dakota.
Fig. 749.—Killed-First. Red Cloud’s Census. This is the case where a warrior struck the enemy with his coup stick first in order, which is the most honorable achievement, greater than the actual killing. The word translated kill or killed does not always imply immediate death, but the infliction of a fatal wound.
The apparent reason why the striking of the body of a dead or disabled enemy, whether or not killed or disabled by the striker, is more honorable than the actual infliction of the wound, is because the attempt to strike is vigorously resisted by the enemy, the survivors of which assemble to prevent the successful achievement; mere killing might be at a distance in comparative safety.
Fig. 750.—Counting coups. Dakota.
Fig. 750.—Enemies-hit-him. Red-Cloud’s Census. In this case the Dakota has been hit by the enemy’s lance or coup stick.
This group refers to the custom, east of the Rocky mountains, of exhibiting scalps.
Fig. 751.—Scalp displayed. Dakota.
Fig. 751.—A war party of Oglalas killed one Pawnee; his scalp is on the pole. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1855-’56. This and the next figure show the custom of a successful war party on returning to the home village to display the scalps taken. This display is the occasion of special ceremonies. The marks on the foot signify that on their way home the men of the war party froze their feet.
Fig. 752.—Scalp displayed. Dakota.
Fig. 752.—Owns-the-Pole, the leader of an Oglala war party, brought home many Cheyenne scalps. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1798-’99. The cross stands for Cheyenne, as explained above.
Fig. 753.—Scalped head. Dakota.
Fig. 753.—Black-Rock, a Dakota, was killed by the Crows. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1806-’07. A rock or, more correctly translated, a large stone is represented above his head. He was killed with an arrow and was scalped. The figure is introduced here to show the designation of a scalped head, which is colored red—that is, bloody—when coloration is possible. It frequently appears in the Winter Counts of the Dakotas.
Fig. 754.—Scalp taken.
Fig. 754 was drawn by a Dakota Indian at Mendota, Minnesota, and represents a man holding a scalp in one hand, while in the other is the gun, the weapon used in killing the enemy. The short vertical lines below the periphery of the scalp indicate hair. The line crossing the leg of the Indian is only a suggestion of the ground upon which he is supposed to stand.
The following group pictographically expresses the hunting of antelopes.
Fig. 755.—Antelope hunting. Dakota.
Fig. 755.—They drove many antelope into a corral and then killed them. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1828-’29. This and the following two figures show the old mode of procuring antelope and other animals by driving them into an inclosure.
Fig. 756.—Antelope hunting. Dakota.
Fig. 756.—They provided themselves with a large supply of antelope meat by driving antelope into a corral, in which they were easily killed. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1828-’29.
Fig. 757.—Antelope hunting. Dakota.
Fig. 757.—They capture a great many antelope by driving them into a pen. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1860-’61.
Fig. 758.—Wife’s punishment.
Fig. 758.—A woman who had been given to a white man by the Dakotas was killed because she ran away from him. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1799-1800. The gift of the woman was in fact a sale, and, in addition to the crime of marital infidelity, the tribe was implicated in a breach of contract. The union line below the figures, mentioned before, means husband and wife. This picture illustrates, as far as may be done pictorially, a Dakotan custom as regards marriage and the penalty connected with it.
The following figures relate to several different forms:
Fig. 759.—Decorated horse.
Fig. 759.—They brought in a fine horse with feathers tied to his tail. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1810-’11. White-Cow-Killer calls it “Came-with-medicine-on-horse’s-tail winter.” This illustrates the ornamentation of specially valuable or favorite horses, which, however, is not mere ornamentation, but often connected with sentiments or symbols of a religious character, and as often with the totemic, which from another point of view may also be regarded as religious.
Fig. 760.—Suicide. Dakota.
Fig. 760.—A young man who was afflicted with smallpox and was in his tipi by himself sang his death song and shot himself. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1784-’85. Suicide is more common among Indians than is generally suspected, and even boys sometimes take their own lives. A Dakota boy at one of the agencies shot himself rather than face his companions after his mother had whipped him; and a Paiute boy at Camp McDermit, Nevada, tried to poison himself with the wild parsnip because he was not well and strong like other boys. The Paiutes usually eat the wild parsnip when bent on suicide.
Fig. 761.—Eagle hunting. Arikara.
Fig. 761.—A Ree Indian hunting eagles from a hole in the ground was killed by the Two-Kettle Dakotas. The Swan’s Winter Count, 1806-’07. The drawing represents an Indian in the act of catching an eagle by the legs in the manner that the Arikaras were accustomed to catch eagles in their earth-traps. They rarely or never shot war eagles. The Dakotas probably shot the Arikara in his trap just as he put his hand up to grasp the bird.