Picture writing of the American Indian, by Garrick Mallery

Fig. 865.—Don’t-turn.

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.

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.—Returning Scout.

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.—Whooping cough.

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.—Measles.

Fig. 870.—Measles or smallpox.

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.—Ate buffalo and died.

Fig. 872.—Died of “whistle.”

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.—Smallpox.

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.—Smallpox.

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.

Fig. 875.—Smallpox. Mexican.

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.—Died of cramps.

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.—Died in childbirth.

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

Fig. 878.—Died in childbirth.

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

Fig. 879.—Sickness. Ojibwa.

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

Fig. 880.—Sickness. Chinese.

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.

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.

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

Fig. 884.—Afraid-of-Bull.

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

Fig. 885.—Afraid-of-Bear.

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

Fig. 886.—The Bear-stops.

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.

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.—River freshet.

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.—River freshet.

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.—River freshet.

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.

Fig. 892.—Top-man.

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.

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.

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.

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 on height.

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 on height.

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.

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

Fig. 899.—Lean-Dog.

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

Fig. 900.—Lean-Bear.

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

Fig. 901.—Lean-Elk.

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

Fig. 902.—Lean-Bull.

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

Fig. 903.—Lean-Wolf.

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.

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.

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

Fig. 906.—Little-Crow.

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

Fig. 907.—Little-Cloud.

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

Fig. 908.—Little-Dog.

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

Fig. 909.—Little-Wolf.

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

Fig. 910.—Little-Bear.

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

Fig. 911.—Little-Elk.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.—Lone-woman.

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.

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.

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

Fig. 919.—Many deer.

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.—Much snow.

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.-Great, much.

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

OBSCURE.

Fig. 922.—Ring-Cloud.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.—His-Fight.

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.—River fight.

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.

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

Fig. 931.—Has something sharp.

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.—Prisoner. Dakota.

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.

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:

Fig. 934.—Iroquois 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.

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.

Fig. 937.—Prisoners. Mexico.

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.

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

SIGHT.

Fig. 939.—Sees-the-Enemy.

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.—Crier.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

SLOW.

Fig. 945.—Slow-Bear.

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.

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

Fig. 947.—Tall-White-Man.

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.

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

Fig. 949.—Long-Panther.

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

Fig. 950.—Tall-Panther.

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

Fig. 951.—Tall-Bull.

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.

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.

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.