the Amakuak cave, Unalashka, remarks (Contributions to N. A. Ethnology,
I, p. 79) that “in the remains of a woman’s work-basket, found in the
uppermost layer in the cave, were bits of this resin [from the bark of
pine or spruce driftwood], evidently carefully treasured, with a little
birch-bark case (the bark also derived from drift logs) containing
pieces of soft hæmatite, graphite, and blue carbonate of copper, with
which the ancient seamstress ornamented her handiwork.”
The same author reports, _op. cit._ p. 86, “The coloration of wooden
articles with native pigments is of ancient origin, but all the more
elaborate instances that have come to my knowledge bore marks of
comparatively recent origin. The pigments used were blue carbonates of
iron and copper; the green fungus, or _peziza_, found in decayed birch
and alder wood; hæmatite and red chalk; white infusorial or chalky
earth; black charcoal, graphite, and micaceous ore of iron. A species
of red was sometimes derived from pine bark or the cambium of the
ground willow.”
Stephen Powers states in Contributions to N. A. Ethnology, III,
244, that the Shastika women “smear their faces all over daily with
chokecherry juice, which gives them a bloody, corsair aspect.”
Mr. A. S. Gatschet reports that the Klamaths of southwestern Oregon
employ a black color, _lgú_, made of burnt plum seeds and bulrushes,
which is applied to the cheeks in the form of small round spots. This
is used during dances. Red paint, for the face and body, is prepared
from a resin exuding from the spruce tree, _pánam_. A yellow mineral
paint is also employed, consisting probably of ocher or ferruginous
clay. Mr. Gatschet says the Klamath _spál_, yellow mineral paint, is
of light yellow color, but turns red when burned, after which it is
applied in making small round dots upon the face. The white infusorial
earth (?), termed chalk by Mr. Gatschet, is applied in the form of
stripes or streaks over the body. The Klamaths use charcoal, _lgúm_, in
tattooing.
* * * * *
The various colors required by a tribe were formerly obtained from
plants as by the Dakota, while some of the earthy compounds consisted
of red and yellow ocher--oxides of iron--and black micaceous ore of
iron and graphite. Some of the California Indians in the vicinity of
Tulare River also used a white color, obtained at that locality, and
consisted of infusorial earth--diatomaceous. The tribes at and near
the geysers, north of San Francisco Bay, obtained their vermilion from
croppings of sulphuret of mercury--cinnabar. The same is said to have
been the case at the present site of the New Almaden mines, where
tribes of the Mutsun formerly lived. Black colors were also prepared
by mixing finely powdered charcoal and clay, this being practiced by
some of the Pueblos for painting upon pottery. Some of the black color
obtained from pictographs in Santa Barbara County, California, proved
to be a hydrous oxide of manganese.
For black color in tattooing the Yuki, of California, use soot. The
juice of certain plants is also used by the Karok, of California, to
color the face.
The Yokuts, of Tule River Agency, California, employ the roots of the
cedar (red) and willow (white) split and rendered uniform in caliber.
During work the materials are kept moistened, so as to permit of easy
manipulation and to prevent fracture of the vegetal fibers.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, of the Bureau of Ethnology, reports regarding the
Osages that one mode of obtaining black color for the face consists in
burning a quantity of small willows. When these are charred they are
broken in small pieces and placed in pans, with a little water in each.
The hands are then dipped into the pan and rubbed together, and finally
rubbed over the parts to be colored.
Formerly tattooing was more frequently practiced among the Hidatsa
than at present, the marks being caused by pricking the skin with a
sharp splinter of bone and the application of a paste consisting of
finely-powdered charcoal and water.
The Hualpais, living on the western border of the Colorado Plateau,
Arizona Territory, were found by Dr. Hoffman, in 1871, to decorate
their persons by a disgusting process. Various individuals were
observed who appeared as if their persons had been tattooed in vertical
bands from the forehead to the waist, but upon closer examination it
was found that dark and light bands of the natural skin are produced
in the following manner: When a deer or an antelope has been killed,
the blood is rubbed over the face and breast, after which the spread
and curved fingers--to resemble claws--are scratched downward from
the forehead over the face and over the breast, thus removing some
of the blood; that remaining soon dries, and gives the appearance of
black stripes. The exposed portion of the skin retains the natural
dark-tanned color, while that under the coating of coagulated blood
naturally becomes paler by being protected against the light and air.
These individuals do not wash off such marks of success in the chase,
and after a while the blood begins to drop off by desquamation, leaving
lighter spots and lines, which for a short period of a week or two
appear like tattoo marks.
The Mojave pigments are ocher, clay, and probably charcoal, mingled
with oil. See Pac. R. R. Exped., Vol. III, Pt. III, p. 33.
The colors, at present used by the Indians and obtained from the
traders, consist generally of the following compounds, viz.: vermilion,
red lead, chromate of lead (yellow), Prussian blue, chrome green, ivory
black and lamp black, Chinese white, and oxide of zinc. All of these
are in the form of powder or in crude masses, and are subsequently
prepared for use as required.
IN BRITISH GUIANA.
Everard F. im Thurn, _op. cit._, p. 316, gives the following details:
The dyes used by the Indians to paint their own bodies, and
occasionally to draw patterns on their implements, are red faroah,
purple caraweera, blue-black lana, white felspathic clay, and, though
very rarely, a yellow vegetable dye of unknown origin.
Faroah is the deep red pulp around the seed of a shrub (_Bixa
orellana_), which grows wild on the banks of some of the rivers, and
is cultivated by the Indians in their clearings. Mixed with a large
quantity of oil, it is then either dried and so kept in lumps which
can be made soft again by the addition of more oil, or is stored in
a liquid condition in tubes made of hollow bamboo-stems. When it is
to be used, either a mass of it is taken in the palm of the hand and
rubbed over the skin or other surface to be painted, or a pattern of
fine lines is drawn with it by means of a stick used as a pencil. The
True Caribs also use faroah largely to stain their hammocks.
Caraweera is a somewhat similar dye, of a more purplish red, and by
no means so commonly used. It is prepared from the leaves of a yellow
flowered bignonia (_B. chicka_), together with some other unimportant
ingredients. The dried leaves are boiled for a few minutes over a
fire, and then some fresh-cut pieces of the bark of a certain tree
and a bundle of twigs and fresh leaves of another tree are added to
the mixture. The whole is then boiled for about twenty minutes, care
being taken to keep the bark and leaves under water. The pot is then
taken from the fire, and the contents, being poured into bowls, are
allowed to subside. The clear water left at the top is poured away,
and the sediment, of a beautiful purple colour, is put into a cloth,
on which it is allowed to dry; after this it is scraped off and
packed in tiny baskets woven of the leaves of the cokerite palm. The
pigment is used for body-painting, with oil, just as is faroah.
Lana is the juice of the fruit of a small tree (_Genipa americana_),
with which, without further preparation, blue-black lines are drawn
in patterns, or large surfaces are stained on the skin. The dye thus
applied is for about a week indelible.
One or more of the three body paints already mentioned is used by
most Indians and in large quantities. But the white, and still more
the yellow, pigments are used only rarely, in lines or dots, and very
sparingly, by some of the Savannah Indians. The white substance is
simply a very semi-liquid felspathic clay, which occurs in pockets
in one or two places on the savannah; this is collected and dried in
lumps, which are then pierced, threaded, and so put aside for future
use. The nature of the yellow dye I was never able to trace; all that
the Indians could or would say was that they received it in small
quantities from a tribe living beyond the Wapianas, who extracted it
from a tree which only grows in that neighborhood.
Paul Marcoy, in Travels in South America: N. Y., 1875, Vol. II, p.
353, says the Passés, Yuris, Barrés, and Chumanas, of Brazil, employ a
decoction of indigo or genipa in tattooing.
SIGNIFICANCE OF COLORS.
Significance has been attached to the several colors among all
peoples and in all periods of culture. That it is still recognized
in the highest civilizations is shown by the associations of death
and mourning connected with black, of innocence and peace with white,
danger with red, and epidemic disease, officially, with yellow. Without
dwelling upon the modern popular fancies on this subject, some
illustrations from antiquity may be useful for comparison.
The Babylonians represented the sun and its sphere of motion by gold,
the moon by silver, Saturn by black, Jupiter by orange, Mars by red,
Venus by pale yellow, and Mercury by deep blue. Red was anciently and
generally connected with divinity and power both priestly and royal.
The tabernacle of the Israelites was covered with skins dyed red and
the gods and images of Egypt and Chaldea were noticeably of that color,
which to this day is the one distinguishing the Roman Pontiff and the
cardinals.
In ancient art each color had a mystic sense or symbolism, and its
proper use was an important consideration and carefully studied. With
regard to early Christian art, the following extract is given from Mrs.
Clement’s Handbook of Legendary and Mythologic Art, Boston, 1883. The
associations with the several colors therein mentioned differ widely
from those in modern folk-lore--for instance, those with green and
yellow, from the same colors stigmatized in the song produced by Mr.
Black in his Three Feathers, exhibiting the belief in Cornwall that
“green’s forsaken and yellow’s forsworn.”
White is worn by the Saviour after his resurrection, by the Virgin
in representations of the Assumption; by women as the emblem of
chastity; by rich men to indicate humility, and by the judge as the
symbol of integrity. It is represented sometimes by silver or the
diamond, and its sentiment is purity, virginity, innocence, faith,
joy, and light.
Red, the color of the ruby, speaks of royalty, fire, divine love,
the holy spirit, creative power, and heat. In an opposite sense it
symbolized blood, war, and hatred. Red and black combined were the
colors of Satan, purgatory, and evil spirits. Red and white roses are
emblems of love and innocence, or love and wisdom, as in the garland
of St. Cecilia.
Blue, that of the sapphire, signified heaven, heavenly love and
truth, constancy and fidelity. Christ and the Virgin Mary wear the
blue mantle, St. John a blue tunic.
Green, the emerald, the color of spring, expressed hope and victory.
Yellow or gold was the emblem of the sun, the goodness of God,
marriage and fruitfulness. St. Joseph and St. Peter wear yellow.
Yellow has also a bad signification when it has a dirty, dingy hue,
such as the usual dress of Judas, and then signifies jealousy,
inconstancy, and deceit.
Violet or amethyst signified passion and suffering, or love and
truth. Penitents, as the Magdalene, wear it. The Madonna wears it
after the crucifixion, and Christ after the resurrection.
Gray is the color of penance, mourning, humility, or accused
innocence.
Black with white signified humility, mourning, and purity of life.
Alone, it spoke of darkness, wickedness, and death, and belonged to
Satan. In pictures of the Temptation Jesus sometimes wears black.
It is probable that, at one time, the several colors, at least in
the same Indian tribe, had each special significance. This general
significance was, however, modified by specific positions of the colors.
Colors are generally applied at this day according to fancy and without
regard to special signification. The warriors make a distinction when
on the warpath, and when mourning a deceased relative or engaged in
dances and religious ceremonies the members of most of the tribes still
exhibit precise care in the selection and arrangement of color.
The Dakota at Grand River Agency, now abandoned, generally painted
the face red from the eyes down to the chin when going to war. The
whole face was blacked with charcoal or ashes when mourning. The women
frequently resorted to this method of expressing grief.
The Absaroka, or Crow Indians, generally paint the forehead red when on
the war-path. This distinction of the Crows is also noted by the Dakota
in recording pictographic narratives of encounters with the Crows. See
page 62, and Figures 124 _et seq._
Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. of Tennessee, 1823, p. 228, says of the
Cherokees:
“When going to war their hair is combed and annointed with bear’s
grease and the red-root [_Sanguinaria canadensis?_], and they adorn it
with feathers of various beautiful colours, besides copper and iron
rings, and sometimes wampum or peak in the ears. And they paint their
faces all over as red as vermillion, making a circle of black about one
eye and another circle of white about the other.”
When a Modoc warrior paints his face black before going into battle
it means victory or death, and he will not survive a defeat. See
Bancroft’s Native Races, I, p. 333.
The Los Angeles County Indian girls paint the cheeks sparingly with red
ocher when in love. (Bancroft, I, 403.) This prevails, to some extent
also, among the northern bands of the Sioux, and among the Arikara at
Fort Berthold, Dakota.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey reports that when the Osage men go to steal horses
from the enemy they paint their faces with charcoal.
The same authority gives the following description of the Osage paint
for war parties:
Before charging the foe the Osages warriors paint themselves anew. This
is called the death paint. If any of the men die with this paint on
them the survivors do not put on any other paint.
All the gentes on the Tsi[c]u side use the “fire paint” or i[k]ama^n,
which is red. It is applied by them with the left hand all over the
face. And they use prayers about the fire: “As the fire has no mercy,
so should we have none.” Then they put mud on the cheek below the left
eye, as wide as two or more fingers. On the Hañ[k]a side this mud is
put on the cheek, below the right eye. It is the young buffalo bull
decoration (Tse-[t]ú-[c]iñ´[k]a kínŭ^n itáa[p]i aú). With reference to
it, a man says, “My little grandfather (the young buffalo bull) is ever
dangerous, as he makes attempts. Very close do I stand, ready to go to
the attack” (Witsí[k]u [c]iñ´[k]a wáckŭ^n nŭ^n´pewá¢ĕ ehnu^n[p]i aú.
Ecŭ^nqtsita wa[k]a^n´¢a [p]¢é atqa^n´hi aú!) The horse is painted with
some of the mud on the left cheek, shoulder, and thigh.
For the corresponding Hanka decorations, substitute _the right_ for
_the left_ wherever the latter word occurs above.
Some who act like a black bear paint with charcoal alone.
Some paint in the wind style, some in the lightning style, and others
in the panther or puma style.
See also pages 85 and 162.
When a Thlinkit arms himself for war he paints his face and powders
his hair a brilliant red. He then ornaments his head with white
eagle-feathers, a token of stern vindictive determination. See
Bancroft, Native Races, etc., I, page 105.
Blue signifies peace among the Indians of the Pueblo of Tesuque. See
Schoolcraft, III, 306.
In several addresses before the Anthropological Society of Washington,
D. C., and papers yet unpublished, in the possession of the Bureau of
Ethnology, by Mr. James Stevenson, Dr. Washington Matthews, U. S. Army,
and Mr. Thomas V. Keam, the tribes below are mentioned as using in
their ceremonial dances the respective colors designated to represent
the four cardinal points of the compass, viz.:
N. S. E. W.
Stevenson--Zuñi Yellow. Red. White. Black.
Matthews--Navajo Black. Blue. White. Yellow.
Keam--Moki White. Red. Yellow. Blue.
Capt. John G. Bourke, U. S. Army, in the Snake Dance of the Moquis of
Arizona, etc., New York, 1884, p. 120, says that the Moki employ the
following colors: yellow in prayers for pumpkins, green for corn, and
red for peaches. Black and white bands are typical of rain, while red
and blue bands are typical of lightning.
The Central Californians (north of San Francisco Bay) formerly wore the
down of Asclepias(?) (white) as an emblem of royalty. See Bancroft,
Native Races, I, 387, 388, quoting Drake’s World Encomp. pp. 124-126.
The natives of Guatemala wore red feathers in their hats, the nobles
only wearing green ones. _Ibid_, p. 691.
See with reference to the Haidas, Mr. J. G. Swan’s account, page 66,
_infra_.
The following extract relative to the color red among the New
Zealanders is from Taylor’s Te Ika a Maui, etc., pp. 209-210.
Closely connected with religion, was the feeling they entertained
for the Kura, or Red Paint, which was the sacred color; their
idols, _Pataka_, sacred stages for the dead, and for offerings or
sacrifices, _Urupa_ graves, chief’s houses, and war canoes, were all
thus painted.
The way of rendering anything tapu was by making it red. When a
person died, his house was thus colored; when the tapu was laid on
anything, the chief erected a post and painted it with the kura;
wherever a corpse rested, some memorial was set up, oftentimes the
nearest stone, rock, or tree served as a monument; but whatever
object was selected, it was sure to be made red. If the corpse were
conveyed by water, wherever they landed a similar token was left;
and when it reached its destination, the canoe was dragged on shore,
thus distinguished, and abandoned. When the hahunga took place,
the scraped bones of the chief, thus ornamented, and wrapped in a
red-stained mat, were deposited in a box or bowl, smeared with the
sacred color, and placed in a tomb. Near his final resting-place a
lofty and elaborately carved monument was erected to his memory; this
was called _he tiki_, which was also thus colored.
In former times the chief annointed his entire person with red ochre;
when fully dressed on state occasions, both he and his wives had red
paint and oil poured upon the crown of the head and forehead, which
gave them a gory appearance, as though their skulls had been cleft
asunder.
A large number of examples occur in the present paper where the use
and significance of color is mentioned. Among these see pages 64,
165-’6-’7, and 183.
MATERIALS UPON WHICH PICTOGRAPHS ARE MADE.
These may be divided into:
1st. Natural objects other than the human person.
2d. The human person.
3d. Artificial objects.
NATURAL OBJECTS.
Under the first head, the most important division is that of rocks and
stones, many examples of which have already been presented. In addition
to those respecting stone, Mr. Gilbert furnishes some data relating to
the sacred stone kept by the Indians of the village of Oraibi, on the
Moki mesas. This stone was seen by Messrs. John W. Young and Andrew S.
Gibbon, and the notes were made by Mr. Gilbert from those furnished to
him by Mr. Young. Few white men have had access to this sacred record,
and but few Indians have enjoyed the privilege.
Mr. Gilbert remarks that “the stone was evidently squared by the eye
and not by any instrument. The engraving seems to have been done with
some rude instrument, but executed with some degree of skill, like an
ancient art faded into dim remembrance of the artist or writer of the
characters. The stone is a red clouded marble, entirely different from
anything found in the region, so I learn by the Indians. The stone is
badly worn, and some of the characters are difficult to determine.”
According to the notes accompanying the rude drawings of this stone,
it is an oblong rectangle, measuring 11-3/4 inches long, 7-1/4 inches
wide, and 1-1/2 inches thick. On one side there is an interior space,
also an oblong rectangle measuring about three-fourths of the size of
the whole tablet, between which and the outer margin are six nude human
figures resembling one another, one at either end and two on each of
the two sides. The interior space may have contained characters, though
no traces are now visible.
On the other side are drawings of the sun, clouds with rain descending
therefrom, lightning, stars, arrows, foot-prints of the bear, and
several other undeterminable characters.
No history of the origin and import of this tablet has been obtained.
Other materials may be mentioned as follows:
BONE.
For instances of the use of bone, refer to several Alaska ivory
carvings in this paper, _e. g._, Figure 111, page 192; Comanche buffalo
shoulder blade, Figure 137, page 216; Hidatsa shoulder blade, page 151;
New Zealand human bone, Figure 34, page 74.
THE LIVING TREE.
An example is to be found in Schoolcraft, IV, p. 253; Pl. 33, Fig. A,
where it is stated that Mr. Richard H. Kern furnished a copy of an
Indian drawing, which was “found on the trunk of a cottonwood tree in
the valley of King’s River, California, and evidently represents the
manner of catching different wild animals with the lasso.”
The use of the lasso, and the characters being upon the bark of a
living tree, show sufficient reason to believe that this record was of
modern workmanship.
WOOD.
The Indians of the Northwest Coast generally employ wood upon which to
depict objects of various kinds. These appear to partake of a mythical
nature, sometimes becoming absurdly grotesque. Totem posts (Plate
LXXXIII, page 199), boats, boat paddles, the boards constituting the
front wall of a house, and masks are among the objects used upon which
to display artistic skill.
Ottawa drawings are also found upon pipe-stems made of wood, usually
ash. Figure 120, page 204, is an example of this.
Among the Arikara boat paddles are used upon which marks of personal
distinction are reproduced, as shown in Figure 80, page 182.
Wooden dancing ornaments, such as fanciful representations of the human
figure, idols, etc., are generally ornamented with a variety of colors,
having them sometimes arranged to represent designs closely related to,
if not actually signifying, marks of gentile distinction.
In Alaska, mortuary records are drawn upon slabs of wood. See Figures
113 and 114, page 198. Mnemonic devices, notices of departure,
distress, etc., are also drawn upon thin narrow slips of wood,
averaging an inch in width, and of sufficient length. See Figures 58
and 59, page 154. A circular piece of wood or board is sometimes drawn
upon, showing the human face, and placed upon a pole, and facing in
a certain direction, to show the course taken by the survivors of a
settlement which has been attacked by an enemy. See Figure 50, page 152.
BARK.
The Ojibwa have, until very recently, been in the habit of tracing
characters of various kinds upon the inner surface of birch bark.
These records are usually mnemonic, though many pertain to personal
exploits. An illustration is given in Figure 139, page 218. The lines
appear to have been traced with a sharply-pointed instrument, probably
bone, and in some examples the drawings are made by simple puncturing.
Sometimes color is applied to the objects delineated, and apparently
with reference to specific signification. The strips of bark, varying
from an inch to several feet in length, roll up upon drying, and are
straightened out for examination by heating near the fire.
SKINS.
This includes scalps. A large number of records upon the hides
of animals are mentioned in the present paper. Plate VI with its
description in the Dakota Winter Counts is one instance.
FEATHERS.
The Sacramento tribes of California are very expert in weaving blankets
of feathers, many of them having really beautiful figures worked upon
them. This is reported by Edward M. Kern in Schoolcraft, V, 649, 650.