Fig. 1285.—Grave creek stone.
Copy No. 1 is reproduced as Fig. 1285, drawn by Capt. Eastman.
Capt. Seth Eastman was a graduate and teacher of drawing at West Point. He was an accomplished draftsman and painter detailed by the War Department to furnish the illustrations for “Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes,” published by the Government. This copy was made in his official capacity, with the stone before him, and therefore takes the first rank as authority. There are between the lines twenty-two characters, but one is repeated three times and another twice leaving only twenty. The figure, if it has any significance, is undoubtedly pictorial.
Fig. 1286.—Grave creek stone.
Copy No. 3, now Fig. 1286, was used by Monsieur Jomard at Paris, 1843.
From this copy M. Jomard considered the letters to be Lybian, a language derived from the Phenician. At the right of the upper line one is omitted and another bears no resemblance to the original. The fifth character of the second line is equally defective and objectionable. The second, fifth, and sixth of the lower line are little better. In the rude profile of a human face beneath an eye has been introduced and the slender cross lines attached to it have assumed the proportions of a dagger or sword. For the linguist or ethnologist this copy is entirely worthless.
Fig. 1287.—Grave creek stone.
Copy No. 4, now Fig. 1287, was sent to Prof. Rafn, Copenhagen, 1843.
This is so imperfect and has so many additions that it is little better than a burlesque upon the original. No one will be surprised that the learned Danish antiquarian could find in it no resemblance to the Runic, with which he was thoroughly familiar.
A mere collocation of letters from various alphabets is not an alphabet. Words can not be formed or ideas communicated by that artifice. When a people adopts the alphabetical signs of another it adopts the general style of the characters and more often the characters in detail. Such signs had already an arrangement into syllables and words which had a vocalic validity as well as known significance. A jumble of letters from a variety of alphabets bears internal evidence that the manipulator did not have an intelligent meaning to convey by them, and did not comprehend the languages from which the letters were selected. In the case of the Grave creek inscription the futile attempts to extract a meaning from it on the theory that it belongs to an intelligent alphabetic system show that it holds no such place. If it is genuine it must be treated as pictorial and ideographic, unless, indeed, it is cryptographic, which is not indicated.
In this connection some allusion must be made to the learned discussions upon the Dighton rock before mentioned, p. 86. The originally Algonquian characters were translated by a Scandinavian antiquary as an account of the party of Thorfinn, the Hopeful. A distinguished Orientalist made out clearly the word “melek” (king). Another scholar triumphantly established the characters to be Scythian, and still another identified them as Phenician. But this inscription has been so manipulated that it is difficult now to determine the original details.
An official report made in 1830 by the Rhode Island Historical Society and published by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, in “Antiquitates Americanæ,” by C. C. Rafn (e), presents the best account known concerning the Dighton rock and gives copies made from time to time of the inscription, which are here reproduced, Pl. LIV. The text is condensed as follows, but in quoting it the statement that the work was not done by the Indians is without approval.
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LIV
DIGHTON ROCK.
It is situated about 6½ miles south of Taunton, on the east side of Taunton river, a few feet from the shore, and on the west side of Assonet neck, in the town of Berkley, county of Bristol, and commonwealth of Massachusetts; although probably from the fact of being generally visited from the opposite side of the river, which is in Dighton, it has always been known by the name of the Dighton Writing Rock. It faces northwest toward the bed of the river, and is covered by the water 2 or 3 feet at the highest, and is left 10 or 12 feet from it at the lowest tides; it is also completely immersed twice in twenty-four hours. The rock does not occur in situ, but shows indubitable evidence of having occupied the spot where it now rests since the period of that great and extensive disruption which was followed by the transportation of immense bowlders to, and a deposit of them in, places at a vast distance from their original beds. It is a mass of well characterized, fine grained graywacke. Its true color, as exhibited by a fresh fracture, is a bluish gray. There is no rock in the immediate neighborhood that would at all answer as a substitute for the purpose for which the one bearing the inscription was selected, as they are aggregates of the large conglomerate variety. Its face, measured at the base is 11½ feet, and in height it is a little rising 5 feet. The upper surface forms with the horizon an inclined plane of about 60 degrees. The whole of the face is covered to within a few inches of the ground with unknown hieroglyphics. There appears little or no method in the arrangement of them. The lines are from half an inch to an inch in width; and in depth, sometimes one-third of an inch, though generally very superficial. They were, inferring from the rounded elevations and intervening depressions, pecked in upon the rock and not chiseled or smoothly cut out. The marks of human power and manual labor are indelibly stamped upon it. No one who examines attentively the workmanship will believe it to have been done by the Indians. Moreover, it is a well attested fact that nowhere throughout our widespread domain is a single instance of their recording or having recorded their deeds or history on stone.
“The committee also examined the various drawings that have been made of this inscription.
“The first was made by Cotton Mather as early as 1712; and may be found in No. 338, vol. 28, of the Philosophical Transactions, pp. 70 and 71; also in vol. 5, Jones’s abridgment, under article fourth.
“Another was made by James Winthrop in 1788, a copy of which may be found in the Memoirs of the American Academy, vol. 2, part 2, p. 126.
“Dr. Baylies and Mr. Goodwin made another drawing in 1790, a copy of which is inclosed.
“Mr. E. A. Kendall in 1807 took another which may be found in the Memoirs of the American Academy, vol. 3, part 1, p. 165.
“And one has been more recently [1812] made by Mr. Job Gardner, a lithograph from which is also inclosed.
“Dr. Isaac Greenwood exhibited a drawing of the inscription before the Society of Antiquarians of London bearing the date of 1730. The drawing by the Historical Society of Rhode Island bears the date of 1830.
“We send you a copy of the inscription, as given on said representation of the rock, being what you probably desire; but having made an accurate drawing of the rock itself for your special use, we have not deemed it necessary to forward the one above referred to. We also send a copy of Judge Winthrop’s drawing contained in the same work, and of one taken by Stephen Sewell in 1768.
“You will likewise find among the drawings a copy of what purports to be ‘a faithful and accurate representation of the inscription,’ taken by Dr. Danforth in 1680. This is not sent with any idea that it will prove serviceable in your present inquiry, but simply to show what strange things have been conjured up by travelers and sent to Europe for examination. We are, indeed, at times almost compelled to believe there must have been some other inscription rock seen; and yet from the accompanying accounts it would appear that all refer to the same one; besides, there is a degree of similarity in the complicated triangular figures which appear on all.”
See, also, the illustration from Schoolcraft, Fig. 49, supra, with further account. The fact was mentioned on p. 87 that the characters on the Dighton Rock strongly resembled those on the Indian God Rock, Pennsylvania, and some others specified. Lately some observers have noticed the same fact with a different deduction. They presuppose that the Dighton inscription is Runic, and therefore that the one in Pennsylvania was carved by the Norsemen. This logic would bring the Vikings very far inland into West Virginia and Ohio.
From considerations mentioned elsewhere, and others that are obvious, any inscriptions purporting to be pre-Columbian, showing apparent use of alphabetic characters, signs of the zodiac, or other evidences of a culture higher than that known among the North American Indians, must be received with caution, but the pictographs may be altogether genuine, and their erroneous interpretation may be the sole ground for discrediting them.
The course above explained, viz, to attempt the interpretation of all unknown American pictographs by the aid of actual pictographers among the living Indians, should be adopted regarding all remarkable “finds.” This course was pursued by Mr. Horatio N. Rust, of Pasadena, California, regarding the much-discussed Davenport Tablets, in the genuineness of which he believes. Mr. Rust exhibited the drawings to Dakotas with the result made public at the Montreal meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and also in a letter, an extract from which is as follows:
As I made the acquaintance of several of the older and more intelligent members of the tribe, I took the opportunity to show them the drawings. Explaining that they were pictures copied from stones found in a mound, I asked what they meant. They readily gave me the same interpretation (and in no instance did either interpreter know that another had seen the pictures, so there could be no collusion). In Plate I, of the Davenport Inscribed Tablets [so numbered in the Proceedings of the Davenport Academy, vol. II], the lower central figure represents a dome-shaped lodge, with smoke issuing from the top, behind and to either side of which appears a number of individuals with hands joined, while three persons are depicted as lying upon the ground. Upon the right and left central margins are the sun and moon, the whole surmounted by three arched lines, between each of which, as well as above them, are numerous unintelligible characters. * * * The central figure, which has been supposed by some to represent a funeral pile, was simply the picture of a dirt lodge. The irregular markings apparently upon the side and to the left of the lodge represent a fence made of sticks and brush set in the ground. The same style of fence may be seen now in any Sioux village.
The lines of human figures standing hand-in-hand indicate that a dance was being conducted in the lodge. The three prostrate forms at right and left sides of the lodge represent two men and a woman who, being overcome by the excitement and fatigue of the dance, had been carried out in the air to recover. The difference in the shape of the prostrate forms indicates the different sexes.
The curling figures or rings above the lodge represent smoke, and indicate that the dance was held in winter, when fire was used.
An amusing example of forced interpretation of a genuine petroglyph is given by Lieut. J. W. Gunnison (a), and is presented in the present work in connection with Fig. 81, supra.
Fig. 1288 is a copy of a drawing taken from an Ojibwa pipestem, obtained by Dr. Hoffman from an officer of the United States Army, who had procured it from an Indian in St. Paul, Minnesota. On more minute examination, it appeared that the pipestem had been purchased at a shop in St. Paul, which had furnished a large number of similar objects—so large as to awaken suspicion that they were in the course of daily manufacture. The figures and characters on the pipestem were drawn in colors. In the present figure, which is without colors, the horizontal lines represent blue and the vertical red, according to the heraldic scheme. The outlines were drawn in a dark neutral tint, in some lines approaching black; the triangular characters, representing lodges, being also in a neutral tint, or an ashen hue, and approaching black in several instances. The explanation of the figures, made before there was any suspicion of their authenticity, is as follows:
The first figure is that of a bear, representing the person to whom the record pertains. The heart above the line, according to an expression in gesture language, would signify a brave heart, increased numbers indicating much or many, so that the three hearts mean a large brave heart.
The second figure, a circle inclosing a triradiate character, refers to the personal totem. The character in the middle somewhat resembles the pictograph sometimes representing stars, though in the latter the lines center upon the disks and not at a common point.
The seven triangular characters represent the lodges of a village to which the person referred to belongs.
The serpentine lines immediately below these signify a stream or river, near which the village is situated.
The two persons holding guns in their left hands, together with another holding a spear, appear to be the companions of the speaker or recorder, all of whom are members of the turtle gens, as shown by that animal.
The curve from left to right is a representation of the sky, the sun having appeared upon the left or eastern horizon. The drawing, so far, might represent the morning when a female member of the crane gens, was killed—shown by the headless body of a woman.
The lower figure of a bear is the same apparently as the upper, though turned to the right. The hearts are drawn below the line, i. e., down, to denote sadness, grief, remorse, as it would be expressed in gesture language, and to atone for the misdeed committed the pipe is brought and offering made for peace.
Altogether the act depicted appears to have been accidental, the woman belonging to the same tribe, as can be learned from the gens of which she was a member. The regret or sorrow signified in the bear, next to the last figure, corresponds with that supposition, as such feelings would not be manifested on the death of an enemy.
The point of interest in this drawing is, that the figures are very skillfully copied from the numerous characters of the same kind representing Ojibwa pictographs, and given by Schoolcraft. The arrangement of these copied characters is precisely what would be common in the similar work of Indians. In fact, the group constitutes an intelligent pictograph and affords a good illustration of the manner in which one can be made. The fact that it was sold under false representations is its objectionable feature.
Another case brought officially to the Bureau of Ethnology shows evidence of a more determined fraud. In 1888 and earlier a so-called “Shawnee doctor” had displayed as a chart in the nature of an aboriginal diploma, a brightly colored picture 36 by 40 inches, a copy of which was sent, to be deciphered, to the Bureau by a gentleman who is not supposed to have been engaged in fraud or hoax. The mystic chart is copied in Fig. 1289. There was little difficulty in its explanation.
The large figures on the border can not be pretended to be of Indian origin. The smaller interior figures constituting the body of the chart are all, with trifling exceptions, exact copies of figures published and fully explained in G. Copway’s “Traditional History, etc., of the Ojibway Nation,” op. cit. Several of the same figures appear above in the present work. The principal exceptions are, first, a modern knife; second, a bird with a decidedly un-Indian human head, and, third, a cross with two horizontal arms of equal length. The figures from Copway are not in the exact order given in his list and it is possible that they may have been placed in their present order to simulate the appearance of some connected narrative or communication, which could readily be done in the same manner as the words of a dictionary could be cut out and pasted in some intelligent sequence.
Among the curiosities of literature in connection with the interpretation of pictographs may be mentioned La Vèritè sur le Livre des Sauvages, par L’Abbé Em. Domenech, Paris, 1861, and Researches into the Lost Histories of America, by W. S. Blacket, London and Philadelphia, 1884.
Fig. 1290.—Chinese characters.
The following remarks of Dr. Edkins (h) are also in point:
The early Jesuits were accustomed to interpret Chinese characters on the wildest principles. They detected religious mysteries in the most unexpected situations. Kwei “treacherous,” is written with Kieu “nine,” and above it one of the covering radicals, Fig. 1290a. This, then, was Satan at the head of the nine ranks of angels. The character, same Fig., b, c’hwen “a boat,” was believed to contain an allusion to the deluge. On the left side is the ark and on the right are the signs for eight and for persons. The day for this mode of explaining the Chinese characters has gone by.
The result of the writer’s studies upon petroglyphs as distinct from other forms of picture writing may now be summarized.
Perhaps the most important lesson learned from these studies is that no attempt should be made at symbolic interpretation unless the symbolic nature of the particular characters under examination is known, or can be logically inferred from independent facts. To start with a theory, or even a hypothesis, that the rock writings are all symbolic and may be interpreted by the imagination of the observer or by translation either from or into known symbols of similar form found in other regions, were a limitless delusion. Doubtless many of the characters are genuine symbols or emblems, and some have been ascertained through extrinsic information to be such. Sometimes the more modern forms are explained by Indians who have kept up the pictographic practice, and the modern forms occasionally throw light upon the more ancient. But the rock inscriptions do not evince mysticism or esotericism, cryptography, or steganography. With certain exceptions they were intended to be understood by all observers either as rude objective representations or as ideograms, which indeed were often so imperfect as to require elucidation, but not by any hermeneutic key. While they often related to religious ceremonies or myths, such figures were generally drawn in the same spirit with which any interesting matter was portrayed.
While the interpretation of petroglyphs by Indians should be obtained if possible, it must be received with caution. They very seldom know by tradition the meaning of the older forms, and their inferences are often made from local and limited pictographic practices. There is no more conscientious and intelligent Indian authority than Frank La Flêche, an Omaha, and he explains the marks on a rock in Nebraska as associated with the figures of deceased men and exhibiting the object which caused their death, such as an arrow or ax. This may be a local or tribal practice, but it certainly does not apply to similar figures throughout the Algonquian and Iroquoian areas, where, according to the concurrent testimony for more than two centuries, similar figures are either designations of tribes and associations, or in their combinations are records of achievements.
Lossing (b) gives the following explanation of markings on a well known rock:
Among the brave warriors in the battle [of Maumee] who were the last to flee before Wayne’s legion, was Me-sa-sa, or Turkey-foot, an Ottawa chief, who lived on Blanchards Fork of the AuGlaize River. He was greatly beloved by his people. His courage was conspicuous. When he found the line of dusky warriors giving way at the foot of Presque Isle hill, he leaped upon a small bowlder, and by voice and gesture endeavored to make them stand firm. He almost immediately fell, pierced by a musket ball, and expired by the side of the rock. * * * They carved many rude figures of a turkey’s foot on the stone, as a memorial of the English name of the lamented Me-sa-sa. The stone is still there, by the side of the highway at the foot of Presque Isle hill, within a few rods of the swift-flowing Maumee. Many of the carvings are still quite deep and distinct, while others have been obliterated by the abrasion of the elements.
This tale may be true, but it surely does not account for the turkey-foot marks which are so common in the northeastern Algonquian region, extending from Dighton rock to Ohio, that they form a typical characteristic of its pictographs. They have been considered to be the sign for the bird, the turkey, which was a frequent totem. Lossing’s story is an example of the readiness of an Indian, when in an amiable and communicative mood, to answer queries in a manner which he supposes will be satisfactory to his interviewer. He will then give any desired amount of information on any subject without the slightest restriction by the vulgar bounds of fact. It is dangerous to believe explanations on such subjects as are now under consideration, unless they are made without leading questions by a number of Indian authorities independently.
Specially convenient places for halting and resting on a journey, either by land or water, such as is mentioned supra, on Machias bay, generally exhibit petroglyphs if rocks of the proper character are favorably situated there. The markings may be mere graffiti, the product of leisure hours, or may be of the more serious descriptions mentioned below.
Some points are ascertained with regard to the motives of the painters and sculptors on rocks. Some of the characters were mere records of the visits of individuals to important springs or to fords on regularly established trails. In this practice there may have been in the intention of the Indians very much the same spirit which induces the civilized man to record his name or initials upon objects in the neighborhood of places of general resort. But there was real utility in the Indian practice, which more nearly approached to the signature in a visitor’s book at a hotel or public building, both to establish the identity of the traveler and to give the news to friends of his presence and passage. At Oakley springs, Arizona territory, totemic marks have been found, evidently made by the same individual at successive visits, showing that on the number of occasions indicated he had passed by those springs, probably camping there, and the habit of making such record was continued until quite recently by the neighboring Indians. The same repetition of totemic names has been found in great numbers in the pipestone quarries of Minnesota, on the rocks near Odanah, Wisconsin, and also at some old fords in West Virginia. These totemic marks are so designed and executed as to have intrinsic significance and value, wholly different in this respect from names in alphabetic form, which grammatically are proper but practically may be common.
Rock carvings are frequently noticed at waterfalls and other points on rivers and on lake shores favorable for fishing, which frequency is accounted for by the periodical resort of Indians to such places. Sometimes they only mark their stay, but occasionally there also appear to be records of conflict with rival or inimical tribes which sought to use the same waters.
Evidence is presented in the present work that the characters on rock pictures sometimes were pointers or “sign-posts” to show the direction of springs, the line of established trails, or of paths that would shorten distances in travel. It has been supposed that similar indications were used guiding to burial mounds and other places of peculiar sanctity or interest, but the evidence of this employment is not conclusive. Many inquiries have been made of the Bureau of Ethnology concerning Indian marks supposed to indicate the sites of gold, silver, and copper mines and buried treasure generally, which inquiries were answered only because it was recognized as the duty of an office of the government to respond, so far as possible, to requests for information, however silly, which are made in good faith.
Petroglyphs are now most frequently found in those parts of the world which are still, or recently have been, inhabited by savage or barbarian tribes. Persons of these tribes when questioned about the authorship of the rock drawings have generally attributed them to supernatural beings. Statements to this effect from many peoples of the three Americas and of other regions, together with the names of rockwriting deities, are abundantly cited in the present work. This is not surprising, nor is it instructive, except as to the mere fact that the drawings are ancient. Man has always attributed to supernatural action whatever he did not understand. Also, it appears that in modern times shamans have encouraged this belief and taken advantage of it to interpret for their own purposes the drawings, some of which have been made by themselves. But notwithstanding these errors and frauds, a large proportion of the petroglyphs in America are legitimately connected with the myths and the religious practices of the authors. The information obtained during late years regarding tribes such as the Zuñi, Moki, Navajo, and Ojibwa, which have kept up on the one hand their old religious practices and on the other that of picture writing, is conclusive on this point. The rites and ceremonies of these tribes are to some extent shown pictorially on the rocks, some of the characters on which have until lately been wholly meaningless, but are now identified as drawings of the paraphernalia used in or as diagrams of the drama of their rituals. Unless those rituals, with the creeds and cosmologies connected with them had been learned, the petroglyphs would never have been interpreted. The fact that they are now understood does not add any new information, except that perhaps in some instances their age may show the antiquity and continuity of the present rites.
A potent reason for caution in making deductions based only on copies of figures published incidentally in works of travel is that it can seldom be ascertained with exactness what is the true depiction of those figures as actually existing or as originally made. The personal equation affects the drawings and paintings intended to be copies from the rock surfaces and also the engravings and other forms of reproductions, and the student must rely upon very uncertain reproductions for most of his material. The more ancient petroglyphs also require the aid of the imagination to supply eroded lines or faded colors. Travelers and explorers are seldom so conscientious as to publish an obscure copy of the obscure original. It is either made to appear distinct or is not furnished at all, and if the author were conscientious the publisher would probably overrule him.
Thorough knowledge of the historic tribes, including their sociology, sophiology, technology, and especially their sign language, will probably result in the interpretation of many more petroglyphs than are now understood, but the converse is not true. The rock characters studied independently will not give much primary information about customs and concepts, though it may and does corroborate what has been obtained by other modes of investigation. A knowledge of Indian customs, costumes, including arrangement of hair, paint, and all tribal designations, and of their histories and traditions, is essential to the understanding of their drawings; for which reason some of those particulars known to have influenced pictography have been set forth in this work and objects have been mentioned which were known to have been portrayed graphically with special intent.
Other objects are used symbolically or emblematically which, so far as known, have never appeared in any form of pictographs, but might be found in any of them. For instance, Mr. Schoolcraft says of the Dakotas that “some of the chiefs had the skins of skunks tied to their heels to symbolize that they never ran, as that animal is noted for its slow and self-possessed movements.” This is one of the many customs to be remembered in the attempted interpretations of pictographs. The present writer does not know that a skunk skin or a strip of skin which might be supposed to be a skunk skin attached to a human heel has ever been separately used pictorially as the ideogram of courage or steadfastness, but with the knowledge of this objective use of the skins, if they were found so represented pictorially, the interpretation would be suggested without any direct explanation from Indians.
A partial view of petroglyphs has excited hope that by their correlation the priscan homes and migrations of peoples may be ascertained. Undoubtedly striking similarities are found in regions far apart from as well as near to each other. A glance at the bas-reliefs of Boro Boudour in Java, now copied and published by the Dutch authorities, at once recalls figures of the lotus and uræus of Egypt, the horns of Assyria, the thunderbolt of Greece, the Buddhist fig tree, and other noted characters common in several parts of the world. If the petroglyphs of America are considered as the texts with which all others may be compared, it is believed that the present work shows illustrations nearly identical with many much-discussed carvings and paintings on the rocks of the eastern hemisphere, those in Siberia being most strongly suggestive of connection. But from the present collection it would seem that the similarity of styles in various regions is more worthy of study than is the mere resemblance or even identity of characters, the significance of which is unknown and may have differed in the intent of the several authors. Indeed it is clear that even in limited areas of North America, diverse significance is attached to the same figure and differing figures are made to express the same concept.
The present work shows a surprising resemblance between the typical forms among the petroglyphs found in Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Guiana, part of Mexico, and those in the Pacific slope of North America. This similarity includes the forms in Guatemala and Alaska, which, on account of the material used, are of less assured antiquity. Indeed it would be safe to include Japan and New Zealand in this general class. In this connection an important letter from Mr. James G. Swan, respecting the carved wooden images of the Haidas, accentuates the deduction derived only from comparison. Mr. Swan says that he showed to the Indians of various coast tribes the plates of Dr. Habel’s work on sculptures in Guatemala, and that they all recognized several of the pictures which he notes. They also recognized and understood the pictures of the Zuñi ceremonials, masks, and masquerades scenes published by Mr. F. H. Cushing.
Without entering upon the discussion whether America was peopled from east to west, or from either, or from any other part of the earth, it is for the present enough to suggest that the petroglyphs and other pictographs in the three Americas indicate that their pre-Columbian inhabitants had at one time frequent communication with each other, perhaps not then being separated by the present distances of habitat. Styles of drawing and painting could thus readily be diffused, and, indeed, to mention briefly the extralimital influence, if as many Japanese and Chinese vessels were driven upon the west American coast in prehistoric times as are known by historic statistics to have been so driven, the involuntary immigrants skilled in drawing and painting might readily have impressed their styles upon the Americans near their landing place to be thence indefinitely diffused. This hypothesis would not involve migration.
Interest has been felt in petroglyphs, because it has been supposed that if interpreted they would furnish records of vanished peoples or races, and connected with that supposition was one naturally affiliated that the old rock sculptures were made by peoples so far advanced in culture as to use alphabets or at least syllabaries, thus supporting the theory about the mythical mound builders or some other supposititious race. All suggestions of this nature should at once be abandoned. The practice of pictography does not belong to civilization and declines when an alphabet becomes popularly known. Neither is there the slightest evidence that an alphabet or syllabary was ever used in pre-Columbian America by the aborigines, though there is some trace of Runic inscriptions. The fact that the Maya and Aztec peoples were rapidly approaching to such modes of expressing thought, and that the Dakota and Ojibwa had well entered upon that line of evolution, shows that they had proceeded no farther, and it is admitted that they were favorable representatives of the tribes of the continent in this branch of art. The theory mentioned requires the assumption, without a particle of evidence, that the rock sculptures are alphabetic, and therefore were made by a supposititious and extinct race. Topers of the mysterious may delight in such dazing infusions of perverted fancy, but they are repulsive to the sober student.
The foregoing remarks apply mainly to rock inscriptions and not to pictographs on other substances, the discussion and illustration of which occupy the greater part of the present work. In that division there is no need of warning against wild theories or uncertain data. The objects are in hand and their current use as well as their significance is understood. Their description and illustration by classes is presented in the above chapters with such detail that further discussion here would be mere repetition.
One line of thought, however, is so connected with several of the classifications that it may here be mentioned with the suggestion that the preceding headings, with the illustrations presented under each, may be reviewed in reference to the methodical progress of pictography toward a determined and convenient form of writing. This exhibition of evolution was arrested by foreign invasion before the indirect signs of sound had superseded the direct presentments of sight for communication and record. Traces of it appear throughout the present paper, but are more intelligently noticed on a second examination than in cursory reading. In the Winter Counts of Battiste Good there are many characters where the figure of a human being is connected with an object, which shows his tribal status or the disease of which he died, and the characters representing the tribe or disease are purely determinative.
The discrimination which is made between animals and objects portrayed simply as such, and as supernatural or mystic, is shown in the many illustrations of Ojibwa and Zuñi devices, in which the heart is connected with a line extending to the mouth, and those of the Ojibwa and the Dakota, where the spirals indicate spirit or wakan. Animals are often portrayed without such lines, in which cases it is understood that they are only the animals in natural condition, but with the designations or determinatives they are intended to be supernatural. Among the Ojibwa animals connected with certain ceremonies are represented as encircled by a belt or baldric, an ornamented baldric of the same character being used by the participants in the ceremonial chant dance; so that the baldric around the animal determines that the figure is that of a supernatural and mystic, not an ordinary, animal. This is an indication of the start from simple pictography towards an alphabet by the use of determinatives as was done by the Chinese.
It is not believed that much information of historical value will be obtained directly from the interpretation of the petroglyphs in America. The greater part of those already known are simply peckings, carvings, or paintings connected with their myths or with their every-day lives. It is, however, probable that others were intended to commemorate events, but the events, which to their authors were of moment, would be of little importance as history, if, as is to be expected, they were selected in the same manner as is done by modern Indian pictographers. They referred generally to some insignificant fight or some season of plenty or of famine, or to other circumstances the interest in which has long ago died away.
The question may properly be asked, why, with such small prospect of gaining historic information, so much attention has been directed to the collection and study of petroglyphs. A sufficient answer might be submitted, that the fact mentioned could not be made evident until after that collection and study, and that it is of some use to establish the limits of any particular line of investigation, especially one largely discussed with mystical inferences to support false hypotheses. But though the petroglyphs do not and probably never will disclose the kind of information hoped for by some enthusiasts, they surely are valuable as marking the steps in one period of human evolution and in presenting evidence of man’s early practices. Also though the occurrences interesting to their authors and therefore recorded or indicated by them are not important as facts of history, they are proper subjects of examination, simply because in fact they were the chief objects of interest to their authors, and for that reason become of ethnologic import. It is not denied that some of the drawings on rocks were made without special purpose, for mere pastime, but they are of import even as mere graffiti. The character of the drawings and the mode of their execution tell something of their makers. If they do not tell who those authors were, they at least suggest what kind of people they were as regards art, customs, and sometimes religion. But there is a broader mode of estimating the quality of known pictographs. Musicians are eloquent in lauding of the great composers of songs without words. The ideography, which is the prominent feature of picture writing, displays both primordially and practically the higher and purer concept of thoughts without sound.
The experience of the present writer induces him to offer the following suggestions for the benefit of travelers and other observers who may meet with petroglyphs which they may desire to copy and describe.
As a small drawing of large rock inscriptions must leave in doubt the degree of its finish and perhaps the essential objects of its production, it is requisite, in every instance, to affix the scale of the drawing, or to give a principal dimension to serve as a guide. A convenient scale for ordinary petroglyphs is one-sixteenth of actual size. The copy should be with sufficient detail to show the character of the work. It is useful to show the lithologic character of the rock or bowlder used; whether the drawing has been scratched into the face of the rock, or incised more deeply with a sharp implement, and the depth of such incision; whether the design is merely outlined, or the whole body of the figures pecked out, and whether paint has been applied to the pecked surface, or the design executed with paint only. The composition of paint should be ascertained when possible. The amount of weathering or erosion, together with the exposure, or any other feature bearing on the question of antiquity, might prove important. If actual colors are not accessible for representation the ordinary heraldic scheme of colors can be used.
That sketches, even by artists of ability, are not of high value in accuracy, is shown by the discrepant copies of some of the most carefully studied pictographs, which discrepancies sometimes leave in uncertainty the points most needed for interpretation. Sketches, or still better, photographs are desirable to present a connected and general view of the characters and the surface upon which they are found. For accuracy of details “squeezes” should be obtained when practicable.
A simple method of obtaining squeezes of petroglyphs, when the lines are sufficiently deep to receive an impression, is to take ordinary manilla paper of loose texture, and to spread the sheet, after being thoroughly wetted, over the surface, commencing at the top. The top edge may be temporarily secured by a small streak of starch or flour paste. The paper is then pressed upon the surface of the rock by means of a soft bristle brush, so that its texture is gently forced into every depression. Torn portions of the paper may be supplied by applying small patches of wet paper until every opening is thoroughly covered. A coating of ordinary paste, as above mentioned, is now applied to the entire surface, and a new sheet of paper, similarly softened by water, is laid over this and pressed down with the brush. This process is continued until three or four thicknesses of paper have been used. Upon drying, the entire mold will usually fall off by contraction. The edge at the top, if previously pasted to the rock, should be cut. The entire sheet can then be rolled up, or if inconveniently large can be cut in sections and properly marked for future purposes. This process yields the negative. To obtain the positive the inner coating of the negative may be oiled, and the former process renewed upon the cast.
The characters when painted with bright tints and upon a light-colored surface, may readily be traced upon tracing linen, such as is employed by topographers. Should the rock be of a dark color, and the characters indistinct, a simple process is to first follow the characters in outline with colored crayons, red chalk, or dry colors mixed with water and applied with a brush, after which a piece of muslin is placed over the surface and pressed so as to receive sufficient coloring matter to indicate general form and relative position. After these impressions are touched up, the true position may be obtained by painting the lines upon the back of the sheet of muslin, or by making a true tracing of the negative.
An old mode of securing the outline was to clear out the channels of the intaglios, then, after painting them heavily, to press a sheet of muslin into the freshly painted depressions. The obvious objection to this method is the damage to the inscription. Before such treatment, if the only one practicable, all particulars of the work to be covered by paint should be carefully recorded.
The locality should be reported with detail of State (or territory), county, township, and distance and direction from the nearest post-office, railway station, or country road. In addition the name of any contiguous stream, hill, bluff, or other remarkable natural feature should be given. The name of the owner of the land is of temporary value, as it is liable to frequent changes. The site or station should be particularly described with reference to its natural characteristics and geological history. When petroglyphs are in numbers and groups, their relation to each other to the points of the compass or to topographical features, should be noted, if possible, by an accurate survey, otherwise by numeration and sketching.
The following details should be carefully noted: The direction of the face of the rock; the presence of probable trails and gaps which may have been used in shortening distances in travel; localities of mounds and caves, if any, in the vicinity; ancient camping grounds, indicated by fragments of pottery, flint chips or other refuse; existence of aboriginal relics, particularly flints which may have been used in pecking (these may be found at the base of the rocks upon which petroglyphs occur); the presence of small mortar-holes which may have served in the preparation of colors.
With reference to pictographs on other objects than rock it is important to report the material upon which they appear and the implements ascertained to be used in their execution examples of which are given in other parts of this work.
With reference to all kinds of pictographs, it should be remembered that mere descriptions without graphic representations are of little value. Probable age and origin and traditions relating to them should be ascertained. Their interpretation by natives of the locality who themselves make pictographs or who belong to people who have lately made pictographs is most valuable, especially in reference to such designs as may be either conventional, religious, or connected with lines of gesture-signs.
The object of this alphabetical list is to permit convenient reference to authorities without either deforming the pages of the present work by footnotes or cumbering the text with more or less abbreviated indications of editions, volumes, and pages, as well as titles and names, which in some cases would have required many repetitions. The list is by no means intended as a bibliography of the subject, nor even as a statement of the printed and MS. works actually studied and consulted by the present writer in the preparation of his copy. The details and niceties of bibliographic description are not attempted, the titles being abbreviated, except in a few instances where they are believed to be of special interest. The purpose is to include only the works which have been actually quoted or cited in the text, and, indeed, not all of those, as it was deemed unnecessary to transfer to the list some well-known works of which there are no confusing numbers of editions. When a publication is cited in the text but once, sufficient reference is sometimes made at the place of citation. When it would seem that the reference should be more particular the work is mentioned in the text, generally by the name of the author, followed by an italic letter of the alphabet in a parenthesis, which letter is repeated in the same form under the author’s name in the alphabetical list followed by mention of the edition from which the citation was taken, the number of the volume when there is more than one volume of that edition, and the page; also a reference, when needed, to the illustration reproduced or described.
Example: When the voluminous official publication of Schoolcraft is first quoted on p. 35, the reference is to p. 351 of his first volume, and the name “Schoolcraft” is followed by (a). On turning to that name in the list there appears under it a note of the work and the letter (a) is followed by “I, p. 351.” The references to this author are so many that all the letters of the alphabet are successively employed—indeed, some of them do duty several times, as several references in the text are to the same page or plate. The references to this single author would therefore have required at least thirty footnotes, or corresponding words in the text, instead of thirty italic letters divided between the several places of citation.
The abbreviation and simplicity of the plan is shown where there are many editions of the work cited. One of the most troublesome for reference of all publications is that of the Travels, etc., of Lewis and Clarke. The letter (a) after those names on p. 419, repeated under the same names in the list, refers to p. 66 of the edition specified.
When the italic letter in parenthesis precedes the title of a work in the list, reference is made to that work as a whole without specific quotation. So also when no such italic letter appears. Occasionally the title and imprint of a magazine or other continuous publication appears in the list without note of volume and page. This occurs where the authority is noted elsewhere, generally more than once, with only curt reference to the serial publication, and is intended to avoid repetition.
The simple scheme is designed, while avoiding bibliographic prolixity, to give practical assistance to the reader in finding the authorities cited, when desired. Scientific pretense has sometimes been sacrificed for simplicity and convenience.
ADAIR (James).