Chapter XXI Means of Interpretation
The power of determining the authorship of pictographs made on materials other than rocks, by means of their general style and type, can be estimated by a comparison of those of the Abnaki, Ojibwa, Dakota, Haida, Innuit, Shoshoni, Moki, etc., presented in various parts of this paper.
Everard F. im Thurn (k), in reference to Fig. 1257, remarks:
Wherever a peculiar, complex, and not very obvious figure occurs in many examples it is legitimate to assume that this had some ulterior object and meaning. Now this figure, occurring in the shallow engravings of Guiana, is of such kind. It is not a figure which an Indian would be likely to invent in an idle moment even once, for such a man very seldom, probably never, except in these particular figures, has been known to draw straight lines. Moreover, even if it were a figure that one Indian might idly invent, it is certainly highly improbable that this would be copied by many other Indians in various places. And, lastly, a figure strikingly like the one in question, if, indeed, it is not identical, occurs in certain Mexican picture writings. For example, in the Mexican MSS. [reproduced in Kingsborough, op. cit., I, from Sir Thomas Bodley’s MSS., pp. 22, 23, and from the Selden MSS., also in the Bodleian, p. 3] several figures occur so like that of the shallow engravings of Guiana that there can be but little doubt of their connection. The recurrence of this peculiar figure in these writings is surely sufficient evidence of the fact that they are not without intention. If it were possible to obtain a clue to the meaning of the Mexican figures it might serve as a key to decipher the hieroglyphic writings of Guiana.
With regard to the study of the individual characters themselves to identify the delineators of pictographs, the various considerations of fauna, religion, customs, tribal signs, indeed most of the headings of this paper, will be applicable.
It is convenient to divide this chapter into: 1. Marked characters of known significance. 2. Distinctive costumes, weapons, and ornaments. 3. Ambiguous characters, with ascertained meaning.