Section 1 Conventional Devices
Peace
Among the North American Indians and in several parts of the world where, as among the Indians, the hand-grasp in simple salutation has not been found, the junction of the hands between two persons of different tribes is the ceremonial for union and peace, and the sign for the same concept is exhibited by the two hands of one person similarly grasped as an invitation to, or signification of, union and peace. The ideogram of clasped hands to indicate peace and friendship is found in pictographs from many localities. The exhibition and presentation of the unarmed hand may have affected the practice, but the concept of union by linking is more apparent.
Fig. 1011.—The Dakotas made peace with the Cheyenne Indians. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1840-’41. Here the hands shown with fingers extended, and therefore incapable of grasping a weapon, are approaching each other. The different coloration of the arms indicates different tribes. The device on the right is a rough form of the forearm of the Cheyenne marked as mentioned several times in this work.
Fig. 1013.—A Mandan and a Dakota met in the middle of the Missouri River, each swimming halfway across. They shook hands there and made peace. The-Flame’s Winter Count, 1791-’92.
Mulligan, post interpreter at Fort Buford, says that this was at Fort Berthold, and is an historic fact; also that the same Mandan long afterwards, killed the same Dakota.
Fig. 1014.—The Omahas came and made peace to get their people whom the Dakotas held as prisoners. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1804-’05. The attitudes and expressions are unusually artistic. The uniting line may only intensify the idea of a treaty resulting in peace, but perhaps recognizes the fact that the Omaha (on the left) and Dakota belong to the same Siouan stock. The marks on the Omaha are not tribal, but refer to the prisoners—the marks of their bonds.
Fig. 1015.—The Dakotas made peace with the Crows at Pine Bluff. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1816-’17. The arrow shows they had been at war. The Indian at the left is a Crow. The distinctive and typical arrangement of the hair of the several tribes in this and the preceding figure are worthy of note.
Fig. 1016.—The Dakotas made peace with the Pawnees. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1814-’15. The man with the marked forehead, blue in the original, is a Pawnee, the other is a Dakota, whose body is smeared with clay. The four arrows show that they had been at war, and the clasped hands denote peace.
Fig. 1017.—They made peace with the Gros Ventres. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1803-’04. But one arrow is shown, indicating that the subject in question was war, but that it was not waged at the time, as would have been shown by two opposed arrows.
Fig. 1018.—Dakotas made peace with the Crow Indians. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1851-’52. Here the representatives of the two tribes show their pipes crossed, indicating exchange as is expressed by a common gesture sign.
Fig. 1019.—Made peace with Gen. Sherman and others at Fort Laramie. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1867-’68. This is the adoption of the white man’s flag, as the paramount symbol on recognition of which peace was made.
War
Fig. 1020.—The Dakotas were at war with the Cheyennes. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1834-’35. The Cheyenne is the man with stripes on his arm. The two arrows shot in opposite directions form one of the conventional symbols for war.
Fig. 1021 is taken from the Winter Count of Battiste Good for the year 1840-’41. He names it “Came-and-killed-five-of-Little-Thunder’s-brothers winter.” He explains that the five were killed in an encounter with the Pawnees. The capote or headdress, always but not exclusively worn by Dakota war parties, is shown, and is the special symbol of war as also given in several other places in the same record. The five short vertical lines below the arrow signify that five were killed.
Fig. 1022.—War-Eagle. Red-Cloud’s Census. This figure shows a highly abbreviated conventional symbol. The pipe used in the ceremonial manner explained on page 539 et seq. means war and not peace, and the single eagle feather stands for the entire bird often called the war-eagle.
The adoption of a mat or mattress as an emblem of war or a military expedition is discussed and illustrated, supra, p. 553, Fig. 782.
In the Jesuit Relation for 1606, p. 51, it is narrated that “The Huron and Northern Algonkin chiefs, when their respective war parties met the enemy, distributed among their warriors rods which they carried for the purpose, and the warriors stuck them in the earth as a token that they would not retreat any more than the rods would.”
In their pictographs the rods became represented by strokes which were not only numerical, but signified warriors.
Chief
Fig. 1023.—Naca-haksila, Chief-Boy. From the Oglala Roster. The large pipe held forward with the outstretched hand is among the Oglalas the conventional device for chief. This is explained elsewhere by the ceremonies attendant on the raising of war parties, in which the pipe is conspicuous. That the human figure is a boy is indicated by the shortness of the hair and the legs.
Fig. 1024, drawn by a Passamaquoddy Indian, shows the manner of representing a war chief by that tribe:
It signifies a chief with 300 braves. The relative magnitude of the leading human figure indicates his rank. In this particular compare Figs. 137, 138, and 142. The device is common in the Egyptian glyphs.
Dr. Worsnop, op. cit., makes the following remarks about a similar device in Australia:
At Chasm island, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, indenting Australia, the third person of a file of thirty-two painted on the rock was twice the height of the others, and held in his hand something resembling the waddy, or wooden sword, of the natives of Port Jackson, and was probably intended to represent a chief. They could not as with us, indicate superiority by clothing or ornament, since they wear none of any kind, and therefore, with the addition of a weapon similar to the ancients, they seem to have made superiority of persons the principal emblem of superior power, of which, indeed power is usually a consequence in the very early stages of society.
The exhibition of horns as a part of the head dress, or pictorially displayed as growing from the head, is generally among the tribes of Indians an emblem of power or chieftancy. It is distinctly so asserted by Schoolcraft, vol. I, p. 409, as regards the Ojibwa, and by Lafitau, vol. ii, 21, both authors presenting illustrations. The same concept was ancient and general in the eastern hemisphere. The images of gods and heads of kings were thus adorned, as at a later day were the crests of the dukes of Brittany. Some writers have suggested that this symbol was taken from the crescent moon, others that it referred to the vigor of the bull. Col. Marshall (a), however, gives an instance of special derivation. He says that the Todas, when idle, involuntarily twist and split branches of twigs and pieces of cane into the likeness of buffalo horns, because they dream of buffalo, live on and by it, and their whole religion is based on the care of the cow.
Council
Fig. 1025 is taken from the Winter Count of Battiste Good for the year 1851-’52. In that year the first issue of goods was made to the Dakotas, and the character represents a blanket surrounded by a circle to show how the Indians sat awaiting the distribution. The people are represented by small lines running at right angles to the circle.
Fig. 1029.—The Dakotas had a council with the whites on the Missouri river below the Cheyenne agency, near the mouth of Bad creek. They had many flags which the Good-White-Man gave them with their guns, and they erected them on poles to show their friendly feelings. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1805-’06. This was perhaps their meeting with the Lewis and Clarke expedition. The curved line is drawn to represent the council lodge, which they made by opening several tipis and uniting them at their sides to form a semicircle. The small dashes are for the people. This is a compromise between the Indian and the European mode of designating an official assemblage.
Plenty of Food
Fig. 1030.—The Dakotas have an abundance of buffalo meat. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1856-’57. This is shown by the full drying pole on which it was the usage after successful hunts to hang the pieces of meat to be dried for preservation.
Fig. 1031.—The Oglalas had an abundance of buffalo meat and shared it with the Brulés, who were short of food. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1817-’18. The buffalo hide hung on the drying pole, with the buffalo head above it, indicates an abundance of meat, as in the preceding figure.
Fig. 1032 is taken from Battiste Good’s Winter Count for the year 1745-’46, in which the drying-pole is as usual supported by two forked sticks or poles. This is a variant of the two preceding figures.
Fig. 1033.—Immense quantities of buffalo meat. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1845-’46. This is another form of drying-pole in which a tree is used for one of the supports. The pieces of meat would not be recognized as such without explanation by the preceding figures.
Fig. 1034 is taken from the Winter Count of Battiste Good for the year 1703-’04. The forked stick being one of the supports of the drying pole or scaffold, indicates meat. The irregular circular object means “heap,” i. e., large quantity, buffalo having been very plentiful that year. The buffalo head denotes the kind of meat stored. This is an abbreviated form of the device before presented, and affords a suggestive comparison with some Egyptian hieroglyphics and Chinese letters, both in their full pictographic origin and in their abbreviation.
Fig. 1035.—The Dakotas had unusual quantities of buffalo. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1816-’17. This representation of a buffalo hide or side is another sign for abundance of meat, and is the most abbreviated and conventional of all, with the same significance, in the collections now accessible.
Fig. 1036.—The Dakotas had unusual abundance of buffalo. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1861-’62. This is another mode of expressing the same abundance. The buffalo tracks, shown by the cloven hoofs, are coming up close to the tipi.
Famine
Fig. 1038.—The Dakotas had very little buffalo meat, but plenty of ducks in the fall. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1811-’12. The bare, drying pole is easily interpreted, but the reversed or dead duck would not be understood without explanation.
Fig. 1042.—They had to sell many mules and horses to get food, as they were starving. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1868-’69. White-Cow-Killer calls it “Mules-sold-by-hungry-Sioux winter.” The figure is understood as a conventionalized sign by reference to the historic fact mentioned. The line of union between the horses’ necks shows that the subject-matter was not a horse trade, but that both of the animals, i. e., many, were disposed of.
Fig. 1043.—Kingsborough (l) gives the pictograph recording that “In the year of One Rabbit and A. D. 1454 so severe a famine occurred that the people died of starvation.” It is reproduced in Fig 1043.
Starvation
Fig. 1045, from the record of Battiste Good for the year 1720-’21, signifies starvation, denoted by the bare ribs. This design is abbreviated and conventionalized among the Ottawa and Pottawatomi Indians. Among the latter a single line only is drawn across the breast, shown in Fig. 1046. This corresponds also with one of the Indian gesture-signs for the same idea.
Horses
Fig. 1049.—Dakotas first used a lasso for catching wild horses. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1812-’13. In these two figures the lasso is shown without the animal, thus becoming the conventional sign for wild horse.
Fig. 1050.—Crow Indians stole 200 horses from the Minneconjou Dakotas, near Black Hills. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1849-’50. This figure is inserted to show in the present connection the lunules, which signify unshod horses. The Indians never shod their ponies, and the hoof marks may be either of wild horses, herds of which formerly roamed the prairies, or the common horses brought into subjection.
Fig. 1051.—Blackfeet Dakotas stole some American horses having shoes on. Horseshoes seen for the first time. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1802-’03. The horseshoe here depicted is the conventional sign for the white man’s horse.
Horse Stealing
Fig. 1055.—Dog, an Oglala, stole seventy horses from the Crows. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1822-’23. Each of the seven tracks stands for ten horses. A lariat, which serves the purpose among others of a long whip, and is usually allowed to trail on the ground, is shown in the man’s hand.
Fig. 1058.—The Utes stole all of the Brulé horses. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1874-’75. The mere indication of a number of horse tracks without any qualifying or determinative object means that the horses are run off or stolen. This becomes the most conventionalized form of the group.
Fig. 1059.—Steals-Horses. Red-Cloud’s Census. In this figure the horse tracks themselves are more rude and conventionalized.
The Prince of Wied mentions, op. cit., p. 104, that in the Sac and Fox tribes the rattle of a rattlesnake attached to the end of the feather worn on the head signifies a good horse stealer. The stealthy approach of the serpent, accompanied with latent power, is here clearly indicated.
Fig. 1060.—Making-the-Hole stole many horses from a Crow tipi. Such is the translation in Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1849-’50. The man is cutting the hole with a knife. Through the orifice thus made he obtains access to the horse. But it is more probable that the single tipi represents a village into which the horse-thief effected an entrance and ran off the horses belonging to it.
Kill and Death
Fig. 1061.—Male-Crow, an Oglala, was killed by the Shoshoni. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1844-’45. The bow in contact with the head of the victim is frequently the conventional sign for “killed by an arrow.” This is not drawn in the Winter Counts on the same principle as the touching with a lance or coup stick, elsewhere mentioned in this paper, but is generally intended to mean killed, and to specify the manner of killing, though in fact before the use of firearms the “coup” was often counted by striking with a bow.
Fig. 1063.—Uncpapas kill two Rees. The-Flame’s Winter Count, 1799-1800. The object over the heads of the two Rees, projecting from the man figure, is a bow, showing the mode of death. The hair of the Arickaras is represented. This is clearly conventional and would not be understood from the mere delineation.
Fig. 1065.—Kills-Two. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here is the indication of number by upright lines united by a horizontal line, as designating the same occasion and the same people, two of whom are struck by the coup stick.
Fig. 1066.—Feather-Ear-Rings was killed by the Shoshoni. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1842-’43. The four lodges and the many blood-stains intimate that he was killed in a battle when four lodges of Shoshoni were killed. Again appears the character for successful gunshot wound, before explained in connection with Fig. 987.
Fig. 1067.—Kills-the-Bear. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here there appears to be a bullet mark in the middle of the paw representing the middle of the whole animal. The idea of death may be indicated by the reverse attitude of the paws, which are turned up, corresponding with the slang expression “toes up,” to indicate death.
Fig. 1068.—They killed a very fat buffalo bull. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1835-’36. This figure is introduced to show an ingenious differentiation. The rough outline of the buffalo’s forequarters is given sufficiently to show that the arrow penetrates to an unusual depth, which indicates the mass of fat, into the region of the buffalo’s respiratory organs, and therefore there is a discharge of blood not only from the point of entrance of the arrow, but from the nostrils of the animal. No device of an analogous character is found among five hundred of the Dakotan pictographs studied, so that the designation of abnormal fat is made evident.
Fig. 1069.—They killed many Gros Ventres in a village which they assaulted. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1832-’33. The single scalped head shows the killing. This conventional sign is so common as hardly to require notice.
Fig. 1070, taken from Mrs. Eastman’s Dakota (e), shows the Dakota pictograph for “killed”: a is a woman and b a man killed, and c and d a boy and girl killed.
In Doc. Hist. N. Y. (d), is the illustration now copied as Fig. 1072 with the statement that it shows the fashion of painting the dead among the Iroquois; the first two are men and the third is a woman, who is distinguished only by the waistcloth that she wears.
The device is further explained by the following paragraphs from the same volume, on p. 6, which add other details:
When they have lost any men on the field of battle they paint the men with the legs in the air and without heads, and in the same number as they have lost; and to denote the tribe to which they belonged, they paint the animal of the tribe of the deceased on its back, the paws in the air, and if it be the chief of the party that is dead, the animal is without the head.
If there be only wounded, they paint a broken gun which, however, is connected with the stock, or even an arrow, and to denote where they have been wounded, they paint the animal of the tribe to which the wounded belong with an arrow piercing the part in which the wound is located; and if it be a gunshot they make the mark of the ball on the body of a different color.
Fig. 1073.—This is drawn by the Arikara for “dead man” and perhaps suggests the concept of nothing inside, i. e., no life, with a stronger emphasis than given to “lean” in Fig. 903, supra. It must be noted, however, that the Hidatsa draw the same character for “man” simply.
La Salle, in 1680, wrote that when the Iroquois had killed people they made red strokes with the figure of a man drawn in black with bandaged eyes. As this bandaging was not connected with the form of killing, it may be conjectured that it ideographically meant death—the light of life put out.
For other devices to denote “Kill,” see Figs. 93 and 94.
Shot
In this group the figures show obvious similarity yet seem to be graphic, or at least ideographic, but on examining the text of the several records conventionality is developed.
Fig. 1074.—Shot-at. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here is shown the discharge of guns and lines of passage of the bullets, one of which is graphically displayed passing the neck of the human figure, but without either graphic mark of wound or the conventional sign for “hit” or “it struck.” He was shot at by many enemies, but was not hit.
Fig. 1076.—Shot-at-his-horse. Red-Cloud’s Census. Here again are the flashes made by the discharge of guns and the horse tracks showing horses, but no specific indication of hitting. The mark within the right-hand horse track may be compared with the passing bullet in Fig. 1074. The horse was shot at but not hit.
Fig. 1078.—Shot-in-front-the-lodge. Red-Cloud’s Census. Without explanation derived from the context this figure would not be understood. The right hand character means several bows united. Between these and the tipi is the usual device for blood flowing vertically downwards, meaning a fatal shot, and the device displayed horizontally and touching the tipi means that the man shot belonged to that tipi or lodge, in front of which he was shot.
Coming Rain
Mr. Keam in his MS. describes Fig. 1079 as two forms of the symbol of Aloseka, which is the bud of the squash. The form seen in the upper part of the figure, drawn in profile, is also used by the Moki to typify the east peak of the San Francisco mountains, the birthplace of the Aloseka; when the clouds circle, it presages the coming rain. In the rock carvings the curving profile is further conventionalized into straight lines and assumes the lower form.
The collection of characters given in Figs. 1080 and 1081 are selected from a list published by Maj. C. R. Conder (b). That list includes all the Hittite designs distinctly deciphered which are so far known, and they are divided by the author into two plates, one giving the “Hittite emblems,” as he calls them, “of known sound,” and which are all compared with the Cypriote, and some with the cuneiform, Egyptian, and other characters; and the other comprising the “Hittite emblems of uncertain sound.” The collection is highly suggestive for comparison of the significance of many forms commonly appearing in several lands and also as a study of conventionalizing. In these respects its presentation renders it unnecessary to dwell as much as would otherwise be required upon the collections of Egyptian and cuneiform characters, with which students are more familiar and which teach substantially the same lessons.
Hittite Emblems of Known Sound a, a crook. Cypriote u.
b, apparently a key. Cypriote ke. Compare the cuneiform emblem ik, “to open.”
c, a tiara. Cypriote ko; Akkadian ku, “prince;” Manchu chu, “lord.”
d, another tiara, apparently a variant of c.
e, hand and stick. Cypriote ta, apparently a causative prefix, like the Egyptian determinative; Chinese ta, “beat.”
f, an herb. Cypriote te; Akkadian ti, “live;” Turkish it, “sprout;” ot, “herb.”
g, the hand grasping. Cypriote to. Compare the Egyptian, cuneiform and Chinese signs for “touch,” “take,” “have.” Akkadian tu, “have.”
h, apparently a branch. Cypriote pa. Compare Akkadian pa, “stick” (Lenormant).
i, apparently a flower. Cypriote pu. Compare the Akkadian emblem pa, apparently a flower. Akkadian pu, “long;” Tartar boy, “long,” “growth,” “grass;” Hungarian fu, “herb.”
j, a cross. Cypriote lo; Carian h.
k, a yoke. Cypriote lo and le; Akkadian lu, “yoke.”
l probably represents rain. Compare the Egyptian, Akkadian, and Chinese emblems for “rain,” “storm,” “darkness.”
m seems to represent drops of water equivalent to the last. Cypriote re.
n, possibly the “fire-stick.” Cypriote ri. Occurs as the name of a deity. Akkadian ri, “bright,” the name of a deity.
o, two mountains. Cypriote me or mi. The emblem for “country.”
p resembles the cuneiform sign for “female.”
q, this is the sign of opposition in cuneiform, in Chinese and Egyptian. Cypriote mu or no (nu, “not”).
r, a pot. Cypriote a or ya. Compare the Akkadian a, “water.”
s, a snake. Perhaps the Cypriote ye.
t, apparently a sickle. Cypriote sa. Compare the Tartar sa, se, “knife.”
u, the open hand. Cypriote se. Akkadian sa, “give.” Tartar saa, “take.”
v resembles the cuneiform and Chinese emblem for “breath,” “wind,” “spirit.” Cypriote zo or ze. Occurs as the name of a god. Akkadian zi, “spirit.”
w resembles the Chinese, cuneiform, and Egyptian emblem for heaven. Akkadian u. It may be compared with the Carian letter u or o.
x, the foot, used evidently as a verb, and resembles the cuneiform du. Probably may be sounded as in Akkadian and used for the passive (du, “come” or “become”).
HITTITE EMBLEMS OF UNCERTAIN SOUND.
y, a serpent. Occurs in the name of a god.
z, perhaps a monument. It recalls the Cypriote ro.
aa, apparently a monument.
bb, probably the sun (ud or tam).
cc, apparently a house.
dd, perhaps the sole of the foot.
ee, a donkey’s head. Probably the god Set.
ff, a ram’s head. Probably with the sound gug or guch and the meaning “fierce,” “mighty.”
gg, a sheep’s head. Probably lu or udu.
hh, a dog or fox head.
ii, a lion’s head. Only on seals.
jj, a demon’s head. Used specially in a text which seems to be a magic charm.
kk, two legs. Resembles the cuneiform dhu, and means probably “go” or “run.”
ll, two feet. Probably “stand;” or “send,” as in Chinese.
mm, apparently an altar.
nn, perhaps a bundle or roll.
oo, apparently a knife or sword; perhaps pal.
pp, apparently a tree.
qq, apparently the sacred artificial tree of Asshur.
rr, a circle. Compare the cuneiform sa, “middle.”
ss, twins. As in Egyptian.
tt resembles the Chinese emblem for “small.”
uu, a pyramid or triangle.
vv, apparently a hand or glove, pointing downwards. Possibly tu or dun for “down.”
ww, apparently a ship, like the cuneiform ma. Appears only on seals.
xx, only once found on the Babylonian bowl, and seems to represent the inscribed bowl itself.