characters to preserve the remembrance of songs. The words of these
are invariable as well as the notes to which they are chanted. Both
words and notes must have been previously memorized by the singers.
Ideographic characters might give the general interpretation, but would
not suggest the exact words.
Schoolcraft, I, 361, remarks: Sounds are no further preserved by these
mnemonic signs, than is incident, more or less, to all pure figurative
or representative pictures. The simple figure of a quadruped, a man,
or a bird, recalls the _name_ of a quadruped, a man or a bird. * * We
may thus recall something of the living language from the oblivion of
the past, by the pictorial method. Mnemonic symbols are thus at the
threshold of the hieroglyphic.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IV
OJIBWA MEDA SONG.]
One of the best examples of this mnemonic device is one of the Ojibwas,
found in Schoolcraft, _op. cit._, I, page 362 _et seq._, and called by
him Songs of the Meda. His illustration is reproduced as Plate IV, and
his explanation, much condensed, is as follows:
No. 1. A medicine lodge filled with the presence of the Great Spirit,
who, it is affirmed, came down with wings to instruct the Indians in
these ceremonies. The meda, or priest, sings, “The Great Spirit’s
lodge--you have heard of it. I will enter it.” While this is sung, and
repeated, the priest shakes his shi-shi-gwun, and each member of the
society holds up one hand in a beseeching manner. All stand, without
dancing. The drum is not struck during this introductory chant.
No. 2. A candidate for admission crowned with feathers, and holding,
suspended to his arm, an otter-skin pouch, with the wind represented
as gushing out of one end. He sings, repeating after the priest, all
dancing, with the accompaniment of the drum and rattle: * * “I have
always loved that that I seek. I go into the new green leaf lodge.”
No. 3 marks a pause, during which the victuals prepared for the feast
are introduced.
No. 4. A man holding a dish in his hand, and decorated with magic
feathers on his wrists, indicating his character as master of the
feast. All sing, “I shall give you a share, my friend.”
No. 5. A lodge apart from that in which the meda-men are assembled,
having a vapor-bath within it. The elder men go into this lodge, and
during the time of their taking the bath, or immediately preceding
it, tell each other certain secrets relative to the arts they employ
in the Medá-win. The six heavy marks at the top of the lodge indicate
the steam escaping from the bath. There are three orders of men in
this society, called 1. meda; 2. sangemau; and 3. ogemau. And it is in
these secret exchanges of arts, or rather the communication of unknown
secrets from the higher to the lower orders, that they are exalted from
one to another degree. The priest sings, “I go into the bath--I blow my
brother strong.”
No. 6. The arm of the priest, or master of ceremonies, who conducts the
candidate, represented in connection with the next figure.
No. 7. The goods, or presents given, as a fee of admission, by the
novitiate. “I wish to wear this, my father, my friend.”
No. 8. A meda-tree. The recurved projection from the trunk denotes the
root that supplies the medicine. “What! my life, my single tree!--we
dance around you.”
No. 9. A stuffed crane-skin, employed as a medicine-bag. By shaking
this in the dance, plovers and other small birds are made, by a
sleight-of-hand trickery, to jump out of it. These, the novitiates are
taught, spring from the bag by the strong power of the operator. This
is one of the prime acts of the dance. “I wish them to appear--that
that has grown--I wish them to appear.”
No. 10. An arrow in the supposed circle of the sky. Represents a
charmed arrow, which, by the power of the meda of the person owning
it, is capable of penetrating the entire circle of the sky, and
accomplishing the object for which it is shot out of the bow. “What are
you saying, you mee dá man? This--this is the meda bone.”
No. 11. The Ka Kaik, a species of small hawk, swift of wing, and
capable of flying high into the sky. The skin of this bird is worn
round the necks of warriors going into battle. “My kite’s skin is
fluttering.”
No. 12. The sky, or celestial hemisphere, with the symbol of the Great
Spirit looking over it. A Manito’s arm is raised up from the earth in a
supplicating posture. Birds of good omen are believed to be in the sky.
“All round the circle of the sky I hear the Spirit’s voice.”
No. 13. The next figure denotes a pause in the ceremonies.
No. 14. A meda-tree. The idea represented is a tree animated by magic
or spiritual power. “The Wabeno tree--it dances.”
No. 15. A stick used to beat the Ta-wa-e-gun or drum. “How rings aloud
the drum-stick’s sound.”
No. 16. Half of the celestial hemisphere--an Indian walking upon it.
The idea symbolized is the sun pursuing his diurnal course till noon.
“I walk upon half the sky.”
No. 17. The Great Spirit filling all space with his beams, and
enlightening the world by the halo of his head. He is here depicted as
the god of thunder and lightning. “I sound all around the sky, that
they can hear me.”
No. 18. The Ta-wa-e-gun, or single-headed drum. “You shall hear the
sound of my Ta-wa-e-gun.”
No. 19. The Ta-wa-e-gonse, or tambourine, ornamented with feathers,
and a wing, indicative of its being prepared for a sacred use. “Do you
understand my drum?”
No. 20. A raven. The skin and feathers of this bird are worn as head
ornaments. “I sing the raven that has brave feathers.”
No. 21. A crow, the wings and head of which are worn as a head-dress.
“I am the crow--I am the crow--his skin is my body.”
No. 22. A medicine lodge. A leader or master of the Meda society,
standing with his drum stick raised, and holding in his hands the
clouds and the celestial hemisphere. “I wish to go into your lodge--I
go into your lodge.”
In connection with this topic reference may be made to the Lenâpé and
their Legends: with the complete text and symbols of The Walam Olum,
by Daniel G. Brinton, A. M., M. D., Phila., 1885. 8vo. pp. 262, with
numerous illustrations.
TRADITIONS.
[Illustration: FIG. 38--Osage chart.]
As an example of a chart used to assist in the exact repetition of
traditions, Figure 38 is presented with the following explanation by
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey:
“The chart accompanies a tradition chanted by members of a secret
society of the Osage tribe. It was drawn by an Osage, Ha[p]a
[c]ü[t][s]e, Red Corn, who was adopted in childhood by a white man
named Matthews; hence he is also known as Wm. P. Matthews, or “Bill
Nix.” He is one of the tribal lawyers. He obtained his version of
the tradition from a member of his gens, Sa[p]eki¢ĕ. Another version
of the same tradition was obtained by him from Pahü-skă, White Hair,
the chief of the Bald Eagle sub-gens of the Tsi[c]u gens. [K]ahi[k]e
wa[t]ayiñ[k]e, Saucy Chief, gave me other parts of the tradition, which
Ha[p]a [c]ü[t][s]e had forgotten.
He also chanted a few lines of the tradition of the Wa[c]a[c]e gens.
Wayüts`a[k]a[c]ĭ, of the Black Bear gens, told me a little of his
tradition; and I obtained part of the Wa[c]a[c]e tradition from
Hu¢ak¢i^n, Good Voice, of the Mi^nk’i^n gens.
The tree at the top represents the tree of life. By this flows a river.
The tree and the river are described later in the degrees. When a woman
is initiated she is required by the head of her gens to take four sips
of water (symbolizing the river), then he rubs cedar on the palms of
his hands, with which he rubs her from head to foot. If she belongs
to a gens on the left side of the tribal circle, her chief begins on
the left side of her head, making three passes, and pronouncing the
sacred name of Deity three times. Then he repeats the process from her
forehead down; then on the right side of her head; then at the back of
her head; four times three times, or twelve passes in all.
Beneath the river are the following objects: The Watse [t]u[k]a, male
slaying animal(?), or morning star, which is a red star. 2. Six stars
called the “Elm rod” by the white people in the Indian Territory. 3.
The evening star. 4. The little star. Beneath these are the moon,
seven stars, and sun. Under the seven stars are the peace pipe and
war hatchet, the latter is close to the sun, and the former and the
moon are on the same side of the chart. Four parallel lines extending
across the chart, represent four heavens or upper worlds through which
the ancestors of the Tsi[c]u people passed before they came to this
earth. The lowest heaven rests on an oak tree: the ends of the others
appear to be supported by pillars or ladders. The tradition, according
to Sa[p]eki¢ĕ, begins below the lowest heaven, on the left side of the
chart, under the peace pipe. Each space on the pillar corresponds with
a line of the chant; and each stanza (at the opening of the tradition)
contains four lines. The first stanza precedes the arrival of the first
heaven, pointing to a time when the children of the “former end” of
the race were without human bodies as well as human souls. The bird
hovering over the arch denotes an advance in the condition of the
people; then they had human souls in the bodies of birds. Then followed
the progress from the fourth to the first heaven, followed by the
descent to earth. The ascent to four heavens and the descent to three,
makes up the number seven.
The tree on which the Tsi[c]u was called pü-sü-hü, jack oak, or a
sort of a red oak. When they alighted, it was on a beautiful day when
the earth was covered with luxuriant vegetation. From that time the
paths of the Osages separated; some marched on the right, being the
war gentes, while those on the left were peace gentes, including the
Tsi[c]u, whose chart this is.
Then the Tsi[c]u met the black bear, called Káxe-wáhü-sa^n´ in the
tradition. Káxe-wáhü-sa^n´, Crow-bone-white in the distance. He offered
to become their messenger, so they sent him to the different stars for
aid. According to the chart he went to them in the following order:
Morning star, sun, moon, seven stars, evening star, little star; but,
according to the chant related, they were as follows: Watse [t]u[k]a
(morning star); Watse mi^n[k]a (female animal that slays another
star); Ha^n-pa[t]a^n-Wakan[t]a (Wakanda or Deity during the day,
the sun); Wakan[t]aha^n ¢iñkce (Deity of the night, moon); Mikak’e
pe¢ŭ^n[p]a, Seven Stars; Ta a[p]¢i^n, Three Deer; Mikak’e tañ[k]a, Big
Star; Mikak’e [c]iñ[k]a, Little Star. Then the Black bear went to the
Wa[c]iñ[k]a-[c]ü[t][s]e, a female red bird sitting on her nest. This
grandmother granted his request. She gave them human bodies, making
them out of her own body.
The earth lodge at the end of the chart denotes the village of the
Hañ[k]a uta¢a^n[t][s]i, who were a very warlike people. Buffalo skulls
were on the tops of the lodges, and the bones of the animals on which
they subsisted, whitened on the ground. The very air was rendered
offensive by the decaying bodies and offal. The Hañ[k]a uta¢a^n[t][s]i
made a treaty of peace with the Wa[c]ace and Tsi[c]u gentes, and from
the union of the three resulted the present nation of the Osages.
The Bald Eagle account of the tradition begins very abruptly. The
stars were approached thus: Ha^n[p]a[t]a^n-Wakan[t]a (sun), Watse
[t]u[k]a (morning star), Wa[p]aha (Great Dipper), Tapa (Pleiades),
Mikak’e-ha^n-[p]a[t]a^n (Day Star). This version gives what is wanting
in the other, the meeting of other gentes, Hañkā [c]iñ[k]a, Wa[c]a[c]e,
Hañ[k]a-uta¢a^n[t][s]i, etc., and the decisions of the chief of the
Hañ[k]a-uta¢a^n[t][s]i.
The people on the war side had similar adventures, but the accurate
account has not yet been obtained.
The whole of the chart was used mnemonically. Parts of it, such as the
four heavens and ladders, were tattooed on the throat and chest of the
old men belonging to the order.”
TREATIES.
The most familiar example of the recording of treaties is the
employment of wampum belts for that purpose. An authority on the
subject says: “The wampum belts given to Sir William Johnson, of
immortal Indian memory, were in several rows, black on each side,
and white in the middle; the white being placed in the center was to
express peace, and that the path between them was fair and open. In the
center of the belt was a figure of a diamond made of white wampum,
which the Indians call the council fire.” See Voyages and Travels of an
Indian interpreter and trader, etc., by J. Long, London, 1791, p. 47.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. V
PENN WAMPUM BELT.]
More minute statements regarding wampum is made superfluous after
its full discussion by Mr. W. H. Holmes in his work, “Art in Shell
of the ancient Americans,” in the Second Annual Report of the Bureau
of Ethnology, pages 253 _et seq._ One of his illustrations specially
in point for the present purpose is here reproduced in Plate V. His
remarks upon it are as follows:
The remarkable belt shown has an extremely interesting, although a
somewhat incomplete, history attached to it. It is believed to be
the original belt delivered by the Leni-Lenape sachems to William
Penn at the celebrated treaty under the elm tree at Shackamaxon in
1682. Although there is no documentary evidence to show that this
identical belt was delivered on that occasion, it is conceded on
all hands that it came into the possession of the great founder
of Pennsylvania at some one of his treaties with the tribes that
occupied the province ceded to him. Up to the year 1857 this belt
remained in the keeping of the Penn family. In March, 1857, it was
presented to the Pennsylvania Historical Society by Granville John
Penn, a great-grandson of William Penn. Mr. Penn, in his speech on
this occasion, states that there can be no doubt that this is the
identical belt used at the treaty, and presents his views in the
following language:
“In the first place, its dimensions are greater than of those used
on more ordinary occasions, of which we have one still in our
possession--this belt being composed of eighteen strings of wampum,
which is a proof that it was the record of some very important
negotiation. In the next place, in the center of the belt, which is
of white wampum, are delineated in dark-colored beads, in a rude but
graphic style, two figures--that of an Indian grasping with the hand
of friendship the hand of a man evidently intended to be represented
in the European costume, wearing a hat; which can only be interpreted
as having reference to the treaty of peace and friendship which was
then concluded between William Penn and the Indians, and recorded by
them in their own simple but descriptive mode of expressing their
meaning, by the employment of hieroglyphics. Then the fact of its
having been preserved in the family of the founder from that period
to the present time, having descended through three generations,
gives an authenticity to the document which leaves no doubt of its
genuineness; and as the chain and medal which were presented by the
parliament to his father the admiral, for his naval services, have
descended among the family archives unaccompanied by any written
document, but is recorded on the journals of the House of Commons,
equal authenticity may be claimed for the wampum belt confirmatory of
the treaty made by his son with the Indians; which event is recorded
on the page of history, though, like the older relic, it has been
unaccompanied in its descent by any document in writing.”
WAR.
Material objects were often employed in challenge to and declaration of
war, some of which may assist in the interpretation of pictographs. A
few instances are mentioned:
Arrows, to which long hairs are attached, were stuck up along the
trail or road, by the Florida Indians, to signify a declaration of war.
See Captain Laudonnière in Hakluyt, III, 415.
Challenging by heralds obtained. Thus the Shumeias challenged the
Ponios [in central California] by placing three little sticks, notched
in the middle and at both ends, on a mound, which marked the boundary
between the two tribes. If the Ponios accept, they tie a string round
the middle notch. Heralds then meet and arrange time and place, and the
battle comes off as appointed. See Bancroft, Native Races, I, p. 379.
* * * * *
A few notices of the foreign use of material objects in connection with
this branch of the subject may be given.
It appears in the Bible: Ezek., XXXVII, 16-20, and Numbers, XVII, 2.
Lieutenant-Colonel Woodthorp says (Jour. Anth. Inst. Gr. Brit., Vol.
XLI, 1882, p. 211): “On the road to Niao we saw on the ground a curious
mud figure of a man in slight relief presenting a gong in the direction
of Senna; this was supposed to show that the Fiao men were willing
to come to terms with Senna, then at war with Niao. Another mode of
evincing a desire to turn away the wrath of an approaching enemy, and
induce him to open negotiations, is to tie up in his path a couple of
goats, sometimes also a gong, with the universal symbol of peace, a
palm leaf planted in the ground hard by.”
The Maori had neither the quipus nor wampum, but only a board shaped
like a saw, which was called _he rakau wakapa-paranga_, or genealogical
board; it was in fact a tally, having a notch for each name, and a
blank space to denote where the male line failed and was succeeded
by that of the female; youths were taught their genealogies by
repeating the names of each to which the notches referred. See Te Ika
a Maui.--Rev. Richard Taylor, London, 1870, p. 379.
TIME.
Dr. William H. Corbusier, assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, gives the
following information:
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Device denoting succession of time. Dakota.]
The Dakotas make use of the circle as the symbol of a cycle of time;
a small one for a year and a large one for a longer period of time,
as a life-time, one old man. Also a round of lodges, or a cycle of 70
years, as in Battiste Good’s Winter Count. The continuance of time
is sometimes indicated by a line extending in a direction from right
to left across the page, when on paper, and the annual circles are
suspended from the line at regular intervals by short lines, as in
Figure 39, and the ideograph for the year is placed beneath each
one. At other times the line is not continuous, but is interrupted at
regular intervals by the yearly circle, as in Figure 40.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--Device denoting succession of time. Dakota.]
The large amount of space taken up by the Dakota Winter Counts, now
following, renders it impracticable to devote more to the graphic
devices regarding time. While these Winter Counts are properly under
the present head, their value is not limited to it, as they suggest,
if they do not explain, points relating to many other divisions of the
present paper.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.
The existence among the Dakota Indians of continuous designations of
years, in the form of charts corresponding in part with the orderly
arrangement of divisions of time termed calendars, was first made
public by the present writer in a paper entitled “A Calendar of the
Dakota Nation,” which was issued in April, 1877, in Bulletin III, No.
1, of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey. Later
consideration of the actual use of such charts by the Indians has
induced the change of their title to that adopted by themselves, viz.,
Winter Counts, in the original, waníyetu wówapi.
The lithographed chart published with that paper, substantially the
same as Plate VI, now presented, was ascertained to be the Winter Count
used by or at least known to a large portion of the Dakota people,
extending over the seventy-one years commencing with the winter of A.
D. 1800-’01.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VI
WINTER COUNT ON BUFFALO ROBE.]
The copy from which the lithograph was taken, is traced on a strip of
cotton cloth, in size one yard square, which the characters almost
entirely fill, and was made by Lieut. H. T. Reed, First United States
Infantry, an accomplished officer of the present writer’s former
company and regiment, in two colors, black and red, used in the
original, of which it is a _fac simile_.
The general design of the chart and the meaning of most of its
characters were ascertained by Lieutenant Reed, at Fort Sully, Dakota,
and afterwards at Fort Rice, Dakota, in November, 1876, by the present
writer; while further investigation of records and authorities at
Washington elicited additional details used in the publication
mentioned and many more since its issue.
After exhibition of the copy to a number of military and civil officers
connected with the Departments of War and of the Interior, it appeared
that those who, from service on expeditions and surveys or from special
study of American ethnology, were most familiar with the Indian tribes
west of the Mississippi, had never heard of this or any other similar
attempt among them to establish a chronological system. Bragging
biographies of chiefs and partisan histories of particular wars
delineated in picture writing on hides or bark are very common. Nearly
every traveler on the plains has obtained a painted robe, on which
some aboriginal artist has stained rude signs purporting to represent
tribal or personal occurrences, or often the family connections of the
first owner. Some of these in the possession of the present writer have
special significance and are mentioned under appropriate heads in the
present work.
It is believed that, in the pictographs of all of these peoples
discovered before the chart mentioned, the obvious intention was
either historical or biographical, or more generally was to chronicle
occurrences as such, and that there was not an apparent design to
portray events selected without exclusive reference to their intrinsic
interest or importance, but because they severally occurred within
regular successive intervals of time, and to arrange them in an orderly
form, specially convenient for use as a calendar and valuable for no
other purpose.
The copy made by Lieutenant Reed was traced over a duplicate of the
original, which latter was drawn on a buffalo robe by Lone-Dog, an
aged Indian, belonging to the Yanktonai tribe of the Dakotas, who in
the autumn of 1876 was near Fort Peck, Montana, and was reported to be
still in his possession. His Dakota name is given him by correspondents
who knew him, as in the ordinary English literation, Shunka-ishnala,
the words respectively corresponding very nearly with the vocables in
Riggs’s lexicon for dog-lone. Others have, however, identified him as
Chi-no-sa, translated as “a lone wanderer,” and asserted that he was at
the time mentioned with the hostile Dakotas under Sitting Bull. There
appear to have been several Dakotas of the present generation known to
the whites as Lone-Dog.
Plate VI is a representation of the chart as it would appear on the
buffalo robe, but it is photographed from the copy on linen cloth, not
directly from the robe.