The picture writing of Indians is the sole form in which they recorded
events and ideas that can ever be interpreted without the aid of a
traditional key, such as is required for the signification of the
wampum belts of the Northeastern tribes and the _quippus_ of Peru.
Strips of bark, tablets of wood, dressed skins of animals, and the
smooth surfaces of rock have been and still are used for such records,
those most ancient, and therefore most interesting, being of course
the rock etchings; but they can only be deciphered, if at all, by the
ascertained principles on which the more modern and the more obvious
are made. Many of the numerous and widespread rock carvings are mere
idle sketches--of natural objects, mainly animals, and others are as
exclusively mnemonic as the wampum above mentioned. Even since the
Columbian discovery some tribes have employed devices yet ruder than
the rudest pictorial attempt as markers for the memory. An account
of one of these is given in E. Winslow's Relation (A.D. 1624), _Col.
Mass. Hist. Soc._, 2d series, ix, 1822, p. 99, as follows:
"Instead of records and chronicles they take this course: Where any
remarkable act is done, in memory of it, either in the place or by
some pathway near adjoining, they make a round hole in the ground
about a foot deep, and as much over, which, when others passing by
behold, they inquire the cause and occasion of the same, which being
once known, they are careful to acquaint all men as occasion serveth
therewith. And lest such holes should be filled or grown over by any
accident, as men pass by they will often renew the same; by which
means many things of great antiquity are fresh in memory. So that as a
man traveleth, if he can understand his guide, his journey will be the
less tedious, by reason of the many historical discourses which will
be related unto him."
Gregg, in _Commerce of the Prairies_, _New York_, 1844, II, 286, says
of the Plains tribes: "When traveling, they will also pile heaps
of stones upon mounds or conspicuous points, so arranged as to be
understood by their passing comrades; and sometimes they set up the
bleached buffalo heads, which are everywhere scattered over those
plains, to indicate the direction of their march, and many other facts
which may be communicated by those simple signs."
[Illustration: Fig. 151.]
[Illustration: Fig. 152.]
A more ingenious but still arbitrary mode of giving intelligence is
practiced at this day by the Abnaki, as reported by H.L. Masta, chief
of that tribe, now living at Pierreville, Quebec. When they are in the
woods, to say "I am going to the east," a stick is stuck in the ground
pointing to that direction, Fig. 151. "Am not gone far," another stick
is stuck across the former, close to the ground, Fig. 152. "Gone
far" is the reverse, Fig. 153. The number of days journey of proposed
absence is shown by the same number of sticks across the first; thus
Fig. 154 signifies five days' journey. Cutting the bark off from a
tree on one, two, three or four sides near the butt means "Have had
poor, poorer, poorest luck." Cutting it off all around the tree means
"I am starving." Smoking a piece of birch bark and hanging it on a
tree means "I am sick."
[Illustration: Fig. 153.]
[Illustration: Fig. 154.]
Where there has existed any form of artistic representation, however
rude, and at the same time a system of ideographic gesture signs
prevailed, it would be expected that the form of the latter would
appear in the former. The sign of _river_ and _water_ mentioned on
page 358 being established, when it became necessary or desirable to
draw a character or design to convey the same idea, nothing would be
more natural than to use the graphic form of delineation which is
also above described. It was but one more and an easy step to fasten
upon bark, skins, or rocks the evanescent air pictures that still in
pigments or carvings preserve their skeleton outline, and in their
ideography approach, as has been shown above, the rudiments of the
phonetic alphabets that have been constructed by other peoples. A
transition stage between gestures and pictographs, in which the left
hand is used as a supposed drafting surface upon which the index draws
lines, is exhibited in the DIALOGUE BETWEEN ALASKAN INDIANS, _infra_,
page 498. This device is common among deaf-mutes, without equal
archaeologic importance, as it may have been suggested by the art
of writing, with which they are generally acquainted, even if not
instructed in it.
The reproduction of apparent gesture lines in the pictographs made
by our Indians has, for obvious reasons, been most frequent in the
attempt to convey those subjective ideas which were beyond the range
of an artistic skill limited to the direct representation of objects,
so that the part of the pictographs which is still the most difficult
of interpretation is precisely the one which the study of sign
language is likely to elucidate. The following examples of pictographs
of the Indians, in some cases compared with those from foreign
sources, have been selected because their interpretation is definitely
known and the gestures corresponding with or suggested by them are
well determined.
[Illustration: Fig. 155.]
[Illustration: Fig. 156.]
[Illustration: Fig. 157.]
The common Indian gesture sign for _sun_ is: "Right hand closed,
the index and thumb curved, with tips touching, thus approximating a
circle, and held toward the sky," the position of the fingers of the
hand forming a circle being shown in Fig. 155. Two of the Egyptian
characters for sun, Figs. 156 and 157, are plainly the universal
conception of the disk. The latter, together with indications of rays,
Fig. 158, and in its linear form, Fig. 159, (Champollion, _Dict._,
9), constitutes the Egyptian character for _light_. The rays emanating
from the whole disk appear in Figs. 160 and 161, taken from a MS.
contributed by Mr. G.K. GILBERT of the United States Geological
Survey, from the rock etchings of the Moqui pueblos in Arizona. The
same authority gives from the same locality Figs. 162 and 163 for
_sun_, which may be distinguished from several other similar etchings
for _star_ also given by him, Figs. 164, 165, 166, 167, by always
showing some indication of a face, the latter being absent in the
characters denoting _star_.
[Illustration: Fig. 158.]
[Illustration: Fig. 159.]
[Illustration: Fig. 160.]
[Illustration: Fig. 161.]
[Illustration: Fig. 162.]
[Illustration: Fig. 163.]
With the above characters for sun compare Fig. 168, found at Cuzco,
Peru, and taken from Wiener's _Perou et Bolivie, Paris_, 1880, p. 706.
[Illustration: Fig. 164.]
[Illustration: Fig. 165.]
[Illustration: Fig. 166.]
[Illustration: Fig. 167.]
The Ojibwa pictograph for sun is seen in Fig. 169, taken from
Schoolcraft, _loc. cit._, v. 1, pl. 56, Fig. 67.
[Illustration: Fig. 168.]
[Illustration: Fig. 169.]
A gesture sign for _sunrise, morning_, is: Forefinger of right hand
crooked to represent half of the sun's disk and pointed or extended to
the left, then slightly elevated. (_Cheyenne_ II.) In this connection
it may be noted that when the gesture is carefully made in open
country the pointing would generally be to the east, and the body
turned so that its left would be in that direction. In a room in a
city, or under circumstances where the points of the compass are
not specially attended to, the left side supposes the east, and the
gestures relating to sun, day, &c., are made with such reference. The
half only of the disk represented in the above gesture appears in the
following Moqui pueblo etchings for _morning_ and _sunrise_, Figs.
170, 171, and 172. (Gilbert, _MS._)
[Illustration: Fig. 170.]
[Illustration: Fig. 171.]
[Illustration: Fig. 172.]
[Illustration: Fig. 173.]
A common gesture for _day_ is when the index and thumb form a circle
(remaining fingers closed) and are passed from east to west.
Fig. 173 shows a pictograph found in Owen's Valley, California, a
similar one being reported in the _Ann. Rep. Geog. Survey west of the
100th Meridian for 1876, Washington_, 1876, pl. opp. p. 326, in which
the circle may indicate either _day_ or _month_ (both these gestures
having the same execution), the course of the sun or moon being
represented perhaps in mere contradistinction to the vertical line, or
perhaps the latter signifies _one_.
[Illustration: Fig. 174.]
[Illustration: Fig. 175.]
Fig. 174 is a pictograph of the Coyotero Apaches, found at Camp
Apache, in Arizona, reported in the _Tenth Ann. Rep. U.S. Geolog. and
Geograph. Survey of the Territories for 1876_, _Washington_, 1878,
pl. lxxvii. The sun and the ten spots of approximately the same shape
represent the days, eleven, which the party with five pack mules
passed in traveling through the country. The separating lines are the
nights, and may include the conception of covering over and consequent
obscurity above referred to (page 354).
[Illustration: Fig. 176.]
A common sign for _moon, month_, is the right hand closed, leaving
the thumb and index extended, but curved to form a half circle and the
hand held toward the sky, in a position which is illustrated in Fig.
175, to which curve the Moqui etching, Fig. 176, and the identical
form in the ancient Chinese has an obvious resemblance.
[Illustration: Fig. 177.]
The crescent, as we commonly figure the satellite, appears also in
the Ojibwa pictograph, Fig. 177 (Schoolcraft, I, pl. 58), which is the
same, with a slight addition, as the Egyptian figurative character.
[Illustration: Fig. 178.]
[Illustration: Fig. 179.]
The sign for _sky_, also _heaven_, is generally made by passing the
index from east to west across the zenith. This curve is apparent in
the Ojibwa pictograph Fig. 178, reported in Schoolcraft, I, pl. 18,
Fig. 21, and is abbreviated in the Egyptian character with the same
meaning, Fig. 179 (Champollion, _Dict._, p. 1).
[Illustration: Fig. 180.]
[Illustration: Fig. 181.]
[Illustration: Fig. 182.]
A sign for _cloud_ is as follows: (1) Both hands partially closed,
palms facing and near each other, brought up to level with or slightly
above, but in front of the head; (2) suddenly separated sidewise,
describing a curve like a scallop; this scallop motion is repeated for
"many clouds." (_Cheyenne_ II.) The same conception is in the Moqui
etchings, Figs. 180, 181, and 182 (Gilbert _MS._)
[Illustration: Fig. 183.]
The Ojibwa pictograph for _cloud_ is more elaborate, Fig. 183,
reported in Schoolcraft, I, pl. 58. It is composed of the sign for
_sky_, to which that for _clouds_ is added, the latter being reversed
as compared with the Moqui etchings, and picturesquely hanging from
the sky.
[Illustration: Fig. 184.]
The gesture sign for _rain_ is described and illustrated on page
344. The pictograph, Fig. 184, reported as found in New Mexico by
Lieutenant Simpson (_Ex. Doc. No. 64, Thirty-first Congress, first
session_, 1850, pl. 9) is said to represent Montezuma's adjutants
sounding a blast to him for rain. The small character inside the curve
which represents the sky, corresponds with the gesturing hand. The
Moqui etching (Gilbert _MS._) for _rain_, i.e., a cloud from which the
drops are falling, is given in Fig. 185.
[Illustration: Fig. 185.]
[Illustration: Fig. 186.]
The same authority gives two signs for _lightning_, Figs. 186 and 187.
In the latter the sky is shown, the changing direction of the streak,
and clouds with rain falling. The part relating specially to the
streak is portrayed in a sign as follows: Right hand elevated before
and above the head, forefinger pointing upward, brought down with
great rapidity with a sinuous, undulating motion; finger still
extended diagonally downward toward the right. (_Cheyenne_ II.)
[Illustration: Fig. 187.]
[Illustration: Fig. 188.]
[Illustration: Fig. 189.]
Figs. 188 and 189 also represent _lightning_, taken by Mr. W.H.
Jackson, photographer of the late U.S. Geolog. and Geog. Survey, from
the decorated walls of an estufa in the Pueblo de Jemez, New Mexico.
The former is blunt, for harmless, and the latter terminating in an
arrow or spear point, for destructive or fatal, lightning.
[Illustration: Fig. 190.]
[Illustration: Fig. 191.]
A common sign for _speech, speak_, among the Indians is the repeated
motion of the index in a straight line forward from the mouth. This
line, indicating the voice, is shown in Fig. 190, taken from
the _Dakota Calendar_, being the expression for the fact that
"the-Elk-that-hollows-walking," a Minneconjou chief, "made medicine."
The ceremony is indicated by the head of an albino buffalo. A more
graphic portraiture of the conception of _voice_ is in Fig. 191,
representing an antelope and the whistling sound produced by the
animal on being surprised or alarmed. This is taken from MS. drawing
book of an Indian prisoner at Saint Augustine, Fla., now in the
Smithsonian Institution, No. 30664.
[Illustration: Fig. 192.]
Fig. 192 is the exhibition of wrestling for a turkey, the point of
interest in the present connection being the lines from the mouth to
the objects of conversation. It is taken from the above-mentioned MS.
drawing book.
The wrestlers, according to the foot prints, had evidently come
together, when, meeting the returning hunter, who is wrapped in his
blanket with only one foot protruding, they separated and threw off
their blankets, leggings, and moccasins, both endeavoring to win the
turkey, which lies between them and the donor.
In Fig. 193, taken from the same MS. drawing book, the conversation is
about the lassoing, shooting, and final killing of a buffalo which has
wandered to a camp. The dotted lines indicate footprints. The Indian
drawn under the buffalo having secured the animal by the fore feet, so
informs his companions, as indicated by the line drawn from his mouth
to the object mentioned; the left-hand figure, having also secured
the buffalo by the horns, gives his nearest comrade an opportunity to
strike it with an ax, which he no doubt announces that he will do, as
the line from his mouth to the head of the animal suggests. The Indian
in the upper left-hand corner is told by a squaw to take an arrow and
join his companions, when he turns his head to inform her that he has
one already, which fact he demonstrates by holding up the weapon.
[Illustration: Fig. 193.]
The Mexican pictograph, Fig. 194, taken from Kingsborough, II, pt. 1,
p. 100, is illustrative of the sign made by the Arikara and Hidatsa
for _tell_ and _conversation_. _Tell me_ is: Place the flat right
hand, palm upward, about fifteen inches in front of the right side of
the face, fingers pointing to the left and front; then draw the hand
inward toward and against the bottom of the chin. For _conversation_,
talking between two persons, both hands are held before the breast,
pointing forward, palms up, the edges being moved several times toward
one another. Perhaps, however, the picture in fact only means the
common poetical image of "flying words."
[Illustration: Fig. 194.]
Fig. 195 is one of Landa's characters, found in _Rel. des choses de
Yucatan_ p. 316, and suggests one of the gestures for _talk_ and
more especially that for _sing_, in which the extended and separated
fingers are passed forward and slightly downward from the mouth--"many
voices." Although the last opinion about the bishop is unfavorable to
the authenticity of his work, yet even if it were prepared by a Maya,
under his supervision, the latter would probably have given him some
genuine native conceptions, and among them gestures would be likely to
occur.
[Illustration: Fig. 195.]
The natural sign for _hear_, made both by Indians and deaf-mutes,
consisting in the motion of the index, or the index and thumb joined,
in a straight line to the ear, is illustrated in the Ojibwa pictograph
Fig. 196, "hearing ears," and those of the same people, Figs. 197 and
198, the latter of which is a hearing serpent, and the former means "I
hear, but your words are from a bad heart," the hands being thrown out
as in the final part of a gesture for _bad heart_, which is made by
the hand being closed and held near the breast, with the back toward
the breast, then as the arm is suddenly extended the hand is opened
and the fingers separated from each other. (_Mandan and Hidatsa_ I.)
[Illustration: Fig. 196.]
[Illustration: Fig. 197.]
[Illustration: Fig. 198.]
The final part of the gesture, representing the idea of _bad_, not
connected with heart, is illustrated in Fig. 236 on page 411.
The above Ojibwa pictographs are taken from Schoolcraft, _loc. cit._
I, plates 58, 53, 59.
Fig. 199, a bas-relief taken from Dupaix's Monuments of New Spain, in
Kingsborough, _loc. cit._ IV, pt. 3, p. 31, has been considered to be
a royal edict or command. The gesture _to hear_ is plainly depicted,
and the right hand is directed to the persons addressed, so the
command appears to be uttered with the preface of _Hear Ye! Oyez!_
[Illustration: Fig. 199.]
[Illustration: Fig. 200.]
The typical sign for _kill_ or _killed_ is: Right hand clinched,
thumb lying along finger tips, elevated to near the shoulder, strike
downward and outward vaguely in the direction of the object to be
killed. The abbreviated sign is simply to clinch the right hand in
the manner described and strike it down and out from the right side.
(_Cheyenne_ II.) This gesture, also appears among the Dakotas and is
illustrated in Fig. 200.
[Illustration: Fig. 201.]
Fig. 201, taken from the _Dakota Calendar_, illustrates this gesture.
It represents the year in which a Minneconjou chief was stabbed in the
shoulder by a Gros Ventre, and afterwards named "Dead Arm" or "Killed
Arm." At first the figure was supposed to show the permanent drawing
up of the arm by anchylosis, but that would not be likely to be the
result of the wound described, and with knowledge of the gesture the
meaning is more clear.
[Illustration: Fig. 202.]
Fig. 202, taken from _Report upon the Reconnaissance of Northwestern
Wyoming, &c., Washington_, 1875, p. 207, Fig. 53, found in the Wind
River Valley, Wyoming Territory, was interpreted by members of a
Shoshoni and Banak delegation to Washington in 1880 as "an Indian
killed another." The latter is very roughly delineated in the
horizontal figure, but is also represented by the line under the hand
of the upright figure, meaning the same individual. At the right is
the scalp taken and the two feathers showing the dead warrior's rank.
The arm nearest the prostrate foe shows the gesture for _killed_.
[Illustration: Fig. 203.]
The same gesture appears in Fig. 203, from the same authority and
locality. The scalp is here held forth, and the numeral _one_ is
designated by the stroke at the bottom.
Fig. 204, from the same locality and authority, was also interpreted
by the Shoshoni and Banak. It appears from their description that a
Blackfoot had attacked the habitation of some of his own people. The
right-hand upper figure represents his horse with the lance suspended
from the side. The lower figure illustrates the log house built
against a stream. The dots are the prints of the horse's hoofs, while
the two lines running outward from the upper inclosure show that
two thrusts of the lance were made over the wall of the house,
thus killing the occupant and securing two bows and five arrows, as
represented in the left-hand group. The right-hand figure of that
group shows the hand raised in the attitude of making the gesture for
_kill_.
[Illustration: Fig. 204.]
As the Blackfeet, according to the interpreters, were the only Indians
in the locality mentioned who constructed log houses, the drawing
becomes additionally interesting, as an attempt appears to have
been made to illustrate the crossing of the logs at the corners, the
gesture for which (_log-house_) will be found on page 428.
Fig. 205 is the Egyptian character for _veneration, to glorify_
(Champollion, _Dict._, 29), the author's understanding being that the
hands are raised in surprise, astonishment.
[Illustration: Fig. 205.]
The Menomoni Indians now begin their prayers by raising their hands in
the same manner. They may have been influenced in this respect by
the attitudes of their missionaries in prayer and benediction. The
Apaches, who have received less civilized tuition, in a religious
gesture corresponding with prayer spread their hands opposite the
face, palms up and backward, apparently expressing the desire to
_receive_.
[Illustration: Fig. 206.]
Fig. 206 is a copy of an Egyptian tablet reproduced from Cooper's
_Serpent Myths_, page 28. A priest kneels before the great goddess
Ranno, while supplicating her favor. The conception of the author is
that the hands are raised by the supplicant to shield his face from
the glory of the divinity. It may be compared with signs for asking
for _mercy_ and for giving mercy to another, the former being: Extend
both forefingers, pointing upward, palms toward the breast, and
hold the hands before the chest; then draw them inward toward their
respective sides, and pass them up ward as high as the sides of
the head by either cheek. (_Kaiowa_ I; _Comanche_ III; _Apache_ II;
_Wichita_ II.) The latter, _to have mercy on another_, as made by the
same tribes, is: Hold both hands nearly side by side before the chest,
palms forward, forefinger only extended and pointing upward; then move
them forward and upward, as if passing them by the cheeks of another
person from the breast to the sides of the head.
[Illustration: Fig. 207.]
A similar gesture for _supplication_ appears in Fig. 207, taken from
Kingsborough, _loc. cit._, III, pt. I, p. 24.
[Illustration: Fig. 208.]
[Illustration: Fig. 209.]
An Indian gesture sign for _smoke_, and also one for _fire_, has been
described above, page 344. With the former is connected the Aztec
design (Fig. 208) taken from Pipart, _loc. cit._, II, 352, and the
latter appears in Fig. 209, taken from Kingsborough, III, pt. I, p.
21.
A sign for _medicine-man, shaman_, is thus described: "With its
index-finger extended and pointing upward, or all the fingers
extended, back of hand outward, move the right hand from just in front
of the forehead, spirally upward, nearly to arm's length, from left to
right." (_Dakota_ IV.)
[Illustration: Fig. 210.]
Fig. 210, from the _Dakota Calendar_, represents the making of
medicine or conjuration. In that case the head and horns of a white
buffalo cow were used.
[Illustration: Fig. 211.]
[Illustration: Fig. 212.]
[Illustration: Fig. 213.]
Fig. 211 is an Ojibwa pictograph taken from Schoolcraft, _loc. cit._,
representing _medicine-man, meda_. With these horns and spiral may be
collated Fig. 212 which portrays the ram-headed Egyptian god Knuphis,
or Chnum, the spirit, in a shrine on the boat of the sun, canopied
by the serpent-goddess Ranno, who is also seen facing him inside the
shrine. This is reproduced from Cooper's _Serpent Myths_, p. 24.
The same deity is represented in Champollion, _Gram._, p. 113, as
reproduced in Fig. 213.
[Illustration: Fig. 214.]
Fig. 214 is an Ojibwa pictograph found in Schoolcraft, I, pl. 58,
and given as _power_. It corresponds with the sign for _doctor_, or
_medicine-man_, made by the Absarokas by passing the extended and
separated index and second finger of the right hand upward from
the forehead, spirally, and is considered to indicate "superior
knowledge." Among the Otos, as part of the sign with the same meaning,
both hands are raised to the side of the head, and the extended
indices pressing the temples.
[Illustration: Fig. 215.]
Fig. 215 is also an Ojibwa pictograph from Schoolcraft I, pl. 59, and
is said to signify _Meda's power_. It corresponds with another sign
made for _medicine-man_ by the Absarokas and Comanches, viz, The
hand passed upward before the forehead, with index loosely extended.
Combined with the sign for _sky_, before given, page 372, it means
knowledge of superior matters; spiritual power.
[Illustration: Fig. 216.]
The common sign for _trade_ is made by extending the forefingers,
holding them obliquely upward, and crossing them at right angles to
one another, usually in front of the chest. This is often abbreviated
by merely crossing the forefingers, see Fig. 278, page 452. It is
illustrated in Fig. 216, taken from the Prince of Wied's _Travels in
the Interior of North America; London_, 1843, p. 352.
To this the following explanation is given: "The cross signifies, 'I
will barter or trade.' Three animals are drawn on the right hand
of the cross; one is a buffalo; the two others, a weasel (_Mustela
Canadensis_) and an otter. The writer offers in exchange for the
skins of these animals (probably meaning that of a white buffalo) the
articles which he has drawn on the left side of the cross. He has, in
the first place, depicted a beaver very plainly, behind which there
is a gun; to the left of the beaver are thirty strokes, each ten
separated by a longer line; this means, I will give thirty beaver
skins and a gun for the skins of the three animals on the right hand
of the cross."
[Illustration: Fig. 217.]
Fig. 217 is from Kingsborough, III, pt. 1, p. 25, and illustrates
the sign for to _give_ or _to present_, made by the Brule-Dakotas by
holding both hands edgewise before the breast, pointing forward and
upward, the right above the left, then throwing them quickly downward
until the forearms reach a horizontal position.
[Illustration: Fig. 218.]
Fig. 218 is taken from the _Dakota Calendar_, representing a
successful raid of the Absarokas or Crows upon the Brule-Sioux, in
which the village of the latter was surprised and a large number of
horses captured. That capture is exhibited by the horse-tracks moving
from the _village_, the gesture sign for which is often made by a
circle formed either by the opposed thumbs and forefingers of both
hands or by a circular motion of both hands, palms inward, toward
each other. In some cases there is a motion of the circle, from above
downward, as formed.
[Illustration: Fig. 219.]
Fig. 219, from Kingsborough I, pt. 3, p. 10, represents _Chapultepec_,
"Mountain of the Locust," by one enormous locust on top of a hill.
This shows the mode of augmentation in the same manner as is often
done by an exaggerated gesture. The curves at the base of the
mountain are intelligible only as being formed in the sign for _many_,
described on pages 359 and 488.
Fig. 220, taken from Pipart, _loc. cit._, is the Mexican pictograph
for _soil cultivated_, i.e., tilled and planted. Fig. 221, from the
same authority, shows the sprouts coming from the cultivated soil, and
may be compared with the signs for _grass_ and _grow_ on page 343.
[Illustration: Fig. 220.]
[Illustration: Fig. 221.]
The gesture sign for _road, path_, is sometimes made by indicating
two lines forward from the body, then imitating walking with the hands
upon the imaginary road. The same natural representation of road is
seen in Fig. 222, taken from Pipart, _loc. cit._, page 352. A
place where two roads meet--cross-roads--is shown in Fig. 223, from
Kingsborough. Two persons are evidently having a chat in sign language
at the cross-roads.
[Illustration: Fig. 222.]
[Illustration: Fig. 223.]
[Illustration: Fig. 224.]
If no gesture is actually included in all of the foregoing
pictographs, it is seen that a gesture sign is made with the same
conception which is obvious in the ideographic pictures. They are
selected as specially transparent and clear. Many others less distinct
are now the subject of examination for elucidation. The following
examples are added to show the ideographic style of pictographs not
connected with gestures, lest it may be suspected that an attempt is
made to prove that gestures are always included in or connected with
them. Fig. 224, from the _Dakota Calendar_, refers to the small-pox
which broke out in the year (1802) which it specifies. Fig. 225 shows
in the design at the left, a warning or notice, that though a goat can
climb up the rocky trail a horse will tumble--"No Thoroughfare." This
was contributed by Mr. J.K. Hillers, photographer of the United States
Geological Survey, as observed by him in Canon De Chelly, New Mexico,
in 1880.
[Illustration: Fig. 225.]