the United States, by a delegation of the Pueblos of Tesuque in New
Mexico, offering him friendship and intercommunication; and opening,
symbolically, a road from the Moqui country to Washington. * * *
This unique diplomatic packet consists of several articles of
symbolic import. The first is the official and ceremonial offer of
the peace-pipe. This is symbolized by a joint of the maize, five and
a half inches long, and half an inch in diameter. The hollow of the
tube is filled by leaves of a plant which represents tobacco. It is
stopped to secure the weed from falling out, by the downy yellow
under plumage of some small bird. Externally, around the center of
the stalk, is a tie of white cotton twisted string of four strands,
(not twisted by the distaff,) holding, at its end, a small tuft of
the before-mentioned downy yellow feathers, and a small wiry feather
of the same species. The interpreter has written on this, “The pipe
to be smoked by the President.” * * The object is represented in the
cut, A, [represented in Figure 63.]
[Illustration: FIG. 63.--Part of diplomatic packet.]
The second symbol consists of two small columnar round pieces of
wood, four and a half inches long, and four-tenths in diameter,
terminating in a cone. The cone is one and a half inches long, and
is colored black; the rest of the pieces are blue; a peace color
among the Indians south, it seems, as well as north. This color has
the appearance of being produced by the carbonate of copper mixed
with aluminous earth; and reminds one strongly of the blue clays
of the Dacotahs. The wood, when cut, is white, compact, and of a
peculiar species. A notch is cut at one end of one of the pieces,
and colored yellow. A shuck of the maize, one end of which, rolled
in the shape of a cone, is bound up by cotton strings, with a small
bird’s feather, in the manner of the symbolic pipe. There is also
tied up with the symbolic sticks, one of the secondary feathers and
bits of down of a bird of dingy color. The feather is naturally
tipped with white. Together with this, the tie holds a couple of
sticks of a native plant or small seed of the prairie grass, perhaps.
It may, together with the husk of the maize, be emblematic of
their cultivation. The whole of the tie represents the Moquis. The
following cut, B, [reproduced in Figure 64,] represents this symbol:
[Illustration: FIG. 64.--Part of diplomatic packet.]
[Illustration: FIG. 65.--Part of diplomatic packet.]
The third object is, in every respect, like B, [reproduced in Figure
64,] and symbolizes the President of the United States. A colored
cotton cord, four feet long, unites these symbols. Six inches of
this cord is small and white. At the point of its being tied to the
long colored cord there is a bunch of small bird’s feathers. This
bunch, which symbolizes the geographical position of the Navajoes,
with respect to Washington, consists of the feathers of six species,
the colors which are pure white, blue, brown, mottled, yellow, and
dark, like the pigeon-hawk, and white, tipped with brown. (See the
preceding cut, C.)
The interpreter appends to these material effigies or devices [which
are arranged as in D, reproduced in Figure 66] the following remarks.
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--Part of diplomatic packet.]
“These two figures represent the Moqui people and the President;
the cord is the road which separates them; the feather tied to the
cord is the meeting point; that part of the cord which is white is
intended to signify the distance between the President and the place
of meeting; and that part which is stained is the distance between
the Moqui and the same point. Your Excellency will perceive that the
distance between the Moqui and place of meeting is short, while the
other is very long.
“The last object of this communication from the high plains of New
Mexico, is the most curious, and the most strongly indicative of the
wild, superstitious notions of the Moqui mind. It consists of a
small quantity of wild honey, wrapped up in a wrapper or inner fold
of the husk of the maize, as represented in E, [reproduced in Figure
67.] It is accompanied by these remarks:
“A charm to call down rain from heaven.--To produce the effect
desired, the President must take a piece of the shuck which contains
the wild honey, chew it, and spit it upon the ground which needs
rain; and the Moquis assure him that it will come.”
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--Part of diplomatic packet.]
The Maori used a kind of hieroglyphical or symbolical way of
communication; a chief inviting another to join in a war party sent
a tattooed potato and a fig of tobacco bound up together, which was
interpreted to mean that the enemy was a Maori and not European by the
tattoo, and by the tobacco that it represented smoke; he therefore
roasted the one and eat it, and smoked the other, to show he accepted
the invitation, and would join him with his guns and powder. Another
sent a water-proof coat with the sleeves made of patchwork, red, blue,
yellow, and green, intimating that they must wait until all the tribes
were united before their force would be water-proof, _i. e._, able to
encounter the European. Another chief sent a large pipe, which would
hold a pound of tobacco, which was lighted in a large assembly, the
emissary taking the first whiff, and then passing it round; whoever
smoked it showed that he joined in the war. See Te Ika a Maui, by Rev.
Richard Taylor, London, 1870.
RECORD OF EXPEDITION.
Under this head, many illustrations of which might be given besides
several in this paper, see account of colored pictographs in Santa
Barbara County, California, page 34 _et seq._, Plates I and II, also
Lean-Wolf’s trip, Figure 60, page 158. Also, Figures 135 and 136, pages
214 and 215.
TOTEMIC.
This is one of the most striking of the special uses to which
pictography has been applied by the North American Indians. For
convenience, the characters may be divided into: First, tribal; Second,
gentile; and Third, personal designations.
TRIBAL DESIGNATIONS.
A large number of these graphic distinctions are to be found in the
Dakota Winter Counts.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey reports that the Tsi[c]u side of the Osage tribe,
when on a war party, have the face painted red, with mud upon the
cheek, below the left eye, as wide as two or more fingers.
The Hañka side of the tribe paint the face red, with a spot of mud upon
the right cheek, below the eye, as wide as two or more fingers.
For an ingenious method of indicating by variation of incisions on
trees, the tribal use of paint by the Absaroka and Dakota respectively,
see page 62.
Figure 68 shows the tribal designation of the Kaiowa by the Dakota,
taken from the winter count of Battiste Good, 1814-’15. He calls the
winter “Smashed-a-Kaiowa’s-head-in winter.” The tomahawk with which it
was done is in contact with the Kaiowa’s head.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--Kaiowa.]
The sign for Kaiowa is made by passing the hands--naturally
extended--in short horizontal circles on either side of the head, and
the picture is probably drawn to represent the man in the attitude of
making this gesture, and not the involuntary raising of the hands upon
receiving the blow, such attitudes not appearing in Battiste Good’s
system.
Figure 69 is the tribal sign of the Arikara made by the
Dakotas, taken from the winter count of Battiste Good
for the year 1823-’24, which he calls “General- ----
-first-appeared-and-the-Dakotas-aided-in-an-attack-on-the-Rees winter”;
also “Much-corn winter.”
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--Arikara.]
The gun and the arrow in contact with the ear of corn show that both
whites and Indians fought the Rees.
The ear of corn signifies “Ree” or Arikara Indians, who are designated
in gesture language as “Corn Shellers.”
Figure 70 is the tribal designation of the Omahas by the Dakotas, taken
from the winter count of Battiste Good.
[Illustration: FIG. 70. Omaha.]
A human head with cropped hair and red cheeks signifies Omaha. This
tribe cuts the hair short and uses red paint upon the cheeks very
extensively. This character is of frequent occurrence in Battiste
Good’s count.
Figure 71 is the tribal designation of the Pani by the Dakotas, taken
from Battiste Good’s winter count for the year 1704-’05.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--Pani.]
He says: The lower legs are ornamented with slight projections
resembling the marks on the bottom of an ear of corn [husks], and
signifies Pani.
A pictograph for Cheyenne is given in Figure 78, page 173, with some
remarks.
Figure 72 is the tribal designation for Assiniboine by the Dakotas from
winter count of Battiste Good for the year 1709-’10.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Assiniboine.]
The Dakota pictorial sign for Assiniboine or Hohe, which means the
voice, or, as some say, the voice of the musk-ox, is the outline of the
vocal organs, as they conceive them, and represents the upper lip and
roof of the mouth, the tongue, the lower lip, and chin and neck. The
view is lateral, and resembles the sectional aspect of the mouth and
tongue.
Figure 73 is the tribal designation of the Gros Ventres, by the same
tribe and on the same authority.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.--Gros Ventre.]
Two Gros Ventres were killed on the ice by the Dakotas in 1789-’90.
The two are designated by two spots of blood on the ice, and _killed_
is expressed by the blood-tipped arrow against the figure of the man
above. The long hair, with the red forehead, denotes the Gros Ventre.
The red forehead illustrates the manner of applying war paint, and
applies, also, to the Arikara and Absaroka Indians, in other Dakota
records. The horizontal blue band signifies ice.
Stephen Powers says (Contrib. to N. A. Ethnology, III, p. 109) the
Mattoal, of California, differ from other tribes in that the men
tattoo. “Their distinctive mark is a round blue spot in the center of
the forehead.”
He adds: Among the Mattoal--
The women tattoo pretty much, all over their faces.
In respect to this matter of tattooing there is a theory entertained
by some old pioneers which may be worth the mention. They hold that
the reason why the women alone tattoo in all other tribes is that
in case they are taken captives their own people may be able to
recognize them when there comes an opportunity of ransom. There are
two facts which give some color of probability to this reasoning.
One is that the California Indians are rent into such infinitesimal
divisions, any one of which may be arrayed in deadly feud against
another at any moment, that the slight differences in their dialects
would not suffice to distinguish the captive squaws. A second is that
the squaws almost never attempt any ornamental tattooing, but adhere
closely to the plain regulation mark of the tribe.
Paul Marcoy, in Travels in South America, N. Y., 1875, Vol. II, page
353, says of the Passés, Yuris, Barrés, and Chumanas, of Brazil, that
they mark their faces (in tattoo) with the totem or emblem of the
nation to which they belong. It is possible at a few steps distant to
distinguish one nation from another.
GENTILE OR CLAN DESIGNATIONS.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey reports of the Osages that all the old men who have
been distinguished in war are painted with the decorations of their
respective gentes. That of the Tsi[c]u wactake is as follows: The face
is first whitened all over with white clay; then a red spot is made on
the forehead, and the lower part of the face is reddened; then with the
fingers the man scrapes off the white clay, forming the dark figures,
by letting the natural color of the face show through.
In Schoolcraft, V, 73, 74, it is stated that by totemic marks the
various families of the Ojibwa denote their affiliation. A guardian
spirit has been selected by the progenitor of a family from some object
in the zoological chain. The representative device of this is called
the totem. A warrior’s totem never wants honors in their reminiscences,
and the mark is put on his grave-post, or _adjedatig_, when he is dead.
In his funeral pictograph he invariably sinks his personal name in that
of his totem or family name. These marks are, in one sense, the surname
of the clan. The personal name is not indicative of an Indian’s totem.
The same custom, according to Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, prevails among the
Omahas; and with the exception of that portion which relates to the
drawing of the totemic mark upon the grave post the above remarks
apply also to the Dakotas, of Northern Dakota, according to the
observations of Dr. Hoffman. The Pueblos, remarked Mr. James Stevenson
in a conversation with the writer, depict the gens totems upon their
various forms and styles of ceramic manufacture. The peculiar forms
of secondary decoration also permit the article to be traced to any
particular family by which it may have been produced.
PERSONAL DESIGNATIONS.
This head may be divided into (1) Insignia, or tokens of authority. (2)
Connected with personal name. (3) Property marks. (4) Status of the
individual. (5) Signs of particular achievement.
INSIGNIA OR TOKENS OF AUTHORITY.
A large number of examples are presented in connection with other
divisions of this paper. Many more are noted in Schoolcraft, especially
in Vol. I, plates 58 and 59, following page 408. In addition the
following may be mentioned:
Figure 74 is a copy of a drawing made by Lean-Wolf, second chief of
the Hidatsa, to represent himself. The horns on his head-dress show
that he is a chief. The eagle feathers on his war-bonnet, arranged in
the special manner portrayed, also show high distinction as a warrior.
His authority as “partisan,” or leader of a war party is represented
by the elevated pipe. His name is also added with the usual line drawn
from the head. He explained the outline character of the wolf, having
a white body with the mouth unfinished, to show that it was hollow,
nothing there, _i. e._, lean. The animal’s tail is drawn in detail and
dark to distinguish it from the body.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Lean-Wolf. Partisan.]
The character for “partisan” is also shown in the Dakota winter counts
for the year 1842-’43. See Plate XXIII.
Figure 75 (extracted from the First Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology,
Fig. 227), drawn and explained by an Oglala Dakota, exhibits four erect
pipes to show that he had led four war parties.
[Illustration: FIG. 75.--Two-Strike as Partisan.]
PERSONAL NAME.
The names of Indians as formerly adopted or bestowed among themselves
were and still remain connotive, when not subjected to white influence.
They very often refer to some animal, predicating an attribute or
position of that animal. On account of their objective, or at least
ideographic, character, they almost invariably admit of being expressed
in sign-language; and for the same reason they can with the same ease
be portrayed in pictographs. Abundant proof of this is given in two
collections _infra_, viz., the Ogalala Roster and the Red-Cloud Census.
The device generally adopted by the Dakotas to signify that an object
drawn in connection with a human head or figure was a name totem or a
personal name of the individual, is to connect that object with the
figure by a line drawn to the head or more frequently to the mouth of
the latter. The same tribes make a distinction in manifesting that the
gesture-sign for the object gestured is intended to be the name of an
individual, by passing the index forward from the mouth in a direct
line after the conclusion of the sign for the object. This signifies,
“that is his name,”--the name of the person referred to.
A similar designation of an object as a name by means of a connected
line is mentioned in Kingsborough’s Mexico, Vol. I, Plate 33, part 4,
and text, Vol. VI, page 150. Pedro de Alvarado, one of the companions
of Cortez, was red-headed. Because of this the Mexicans called him
_Tonatihu_, the “Sun,” and in their picture-writing his name was
represented by a picture of that luminary attached to his person by a
line.
As a general rule Indians are named at first according to a clan or
gentile system, but in later life one generally acquires a new name,
or perhaps several names in succession, from some special exploits or
adventures. Frequently a sobriquet is given which is not complimentary.
All of the names subsequently acquired as well as the original names
are so connected with material objects or with substantive actions as
to be expressible in a graphic picture, and also in a pictorial sign.
The determination to use names of this connotive character is shown
by the objective translation, whenever possible, of such European
names as it became necessary for them to introduce frequently into
their speech. William Penn was called _Onas_, that being the word for
feather-quill in the Mohawk dialect. The name of the second French
governor of Canada was Montmagny, erroneously translated to be “great
mountain,” which words were correctly translated by the Iroquois into
_Onontio_, and this expression becoming associated with the title
has been applied to all successive Canadian governors, though the
origin having been generally forgotten, it has been considered to be a
metaphorical compliment. Governor Fletcher was named by the Iroquois
_Cajenquiragoe_, “the great swift arrow,” not because of his speedy
arrival at a critical time, as has been supposed, but because they had
somehow been informed of the etymology of his name, “arrow-maker” (_Fr.
fléchier_). A notable example of the adoption of a graphic illustration
from a similarity in the sound of the name to known English words is
given in the present paper in the Winter Count of American-Horse for
the year 1865-’66, page 144, where General Maynadier is made to figure
as “many deer.”
While, as before said, some tribes give names to children from
considerations of birth and kinship according to a fixed rule, others
confer them after solemn deliberation. They are not necessarily
permanent. A diminutive form is frequently bestowed by the affection
of the parent. On initiation a warrior always assumes or receives a
name. Until this is established he is liable to change his name after
every fight or hunt. He will generally only acknowledge the name he
has himself assumed, perhaps from a dream or vision, though he may be
habitually called by an entirely different name. From that reason the
same man is sometimes known under several different epithets. Personal
peculiarity, deformity, or accident is sure to fix a name, against
which it is vain to struggle. Girls do not habitually change names
bestowed in their childhood. It may also be remarked that the same
precise name is often given to different individuals in the same tribe,
but not so frequently in the same band, whereby the inconvenience would
be increased. For this reason it is often necessary to specify the
band, sometimes also the father. For instance, when the writer asked an
Indian who Black-Stone, a chief mentioned in the Dakota winter counts,
was, the Indian asked, first, what tribe was he; then, what band; then,
who was his father; and, except in the case of very noted persons,
the identity is not proved without an answer to these questions. A
striking instance of this plurality of names among the Dakotas was
connected with the name Sitting-Bull, belonging to the leader of the
hostile band, while one of that name was almost equally noted as being
the head soldier of the friendly Dakotas at Red-Cloud Agency. The
present writer also found a number of Dakotas named Lone-Dog when in
search of the recorder of the winter count above explained. The case
may be illustrated by christian names among civilized people. At the
time when a former President of the United States was the leading
topic of conversation, nearly any one being asked who bore the name
of Ulysses would be able to refer to General Grant, but few other
christian names would convey any recognized identity. Indeed, the
surname may be added and multiplicity with confusion still remain.
Very few men have names so peculiar as not to find them with exact
literation in the directories of the large cities.
Among the many peculiarities connected with Indian personal names, far
too many for discussion here, is their avoidance of them in direct
address, terms of kinship or relative age taking their place. Major
J. W. Powell, in some remarks before the Anthropological Society of
Washington, on the functions performed by kinship terms among Indian
tribes, stated that at one time he had the Kaibab Indians, a small
tribe of northern Arizona, traveling with him. The young chief was
called by white men “Frank.” For several weeks he refused to give his
Indian name, and Major Powell endeavored to discover it by noticing the
term by which he was addressed by the other Indians; but invariably
some kinship term was employed. One day in a quarrel his wife called
him “Chuarumpik (Yucca-heart.)” Subsequently Major Powell questioned
the young chief about the matter, who explained and apologized for
the great insult which his wife had given him by stating that she was
excused by great provocation. The insult consisted in calling the man
by his real name.
The following is quoted for comparison with the name-system of the
Indians of Guiana, from Everard F. im Thurn, _op. cit._, p. 219, _et
seq._:
The system under which the Indians have their personal names is
intricate, and difficult to explain. In the first place, a name,
which may be called the proper name, is always given to a young
child soon after birth. It is said to be proper that the peaiman,
or medicine-man, should choose and give this name; but, at any rate
now, the naming seems more often left to the parents. The word
selected is generally the name of some plant, bird, or other natural
object. Among Arawak proper names may be mentioned _Yambenassi_
(night-monkey) and _Yuri-tokoro_ (tobacco-flower), and among Macusi
names _Ti-ti_ (owl), _Cheripung_ (star?), and _Simiri_ (locust-tree).
But these names seem of little use, in that owners have a very strong
objection to telling or using them, apparently on the ground that the
name is part of the man, and that he who knows the name has part of
the owner of that name in his power.
To avoid any danger of spreading knowledge of their names, one
Indian, therefore, generally addresses another only according to
the relationship of the caller and the called, as brother, sister,
father, mother, and so on; or, when there is no relationship, as
boy, girl, companion, and so on. These terms, therefore, practically
form the names actually used by Indians amongst themselves. But an
Indian is just as unwilling to tell his proper name to a white man
as to an Indian; and, of course, between the Indian and the white man
there is no relationship the term for which can serve as a proper
name. An Indian, therefore, when he has to do with a European, asks
the latter to give him a name, and if one is given to him, always
afterwards uses this. The names given in this way are generally
simple enough--John, Peter, Thomas, and so on. But sometimes they are
not sufficiently simple to be comprehended and remembered by their
Indian owners, who therefore, having induced the donor to write the
name on a piece of paper, preserve this ever after most carefully,
and whenever asked for their name by another European, exhibit the
document as the only way of answering. Sometimes, however, an Indian,
though he cannot pronounce his English names, makes it possible by
corruption. For instance, a certain Macusi Indian was known to me for
a long time as Shassapoon, which I thought was his proper name, until
it accidentally appeared that it was his ‘English name,’ he having
been named by and after one Charles Appun, a German traveler.
The original of Figure 76 was made by Lean-Wolf, second chief of the
Hidatsa, for Dr. W. J. Hoffman in 1881, and represents the method
which this Indian has employed to designate himself for many years
past. During his boyhood he had another name. This is a current, or
perhaps it may be called cursive, form of the name, which is given more
elaborately in Figure 74.
[Illustration: FIG. 76.--Lean-wolf.]
Figure 77 is taken from the winter count of Battiste Good for the year
1841-’42. He calls the year “Pointer-made-a-commemoration-of-the-dead
winter.” Also “Deep-snow winter.”
[Illustration: FIG. 77.--Pointer.]