PL. IV
OJIBWA MEDA SONG.
This has been the most apparent, and probably the most ancient, purpose for which pictographs have been made. It commenced by the use of material objects which afterwards were reproduced graphically in paintings, etchings, and carvings.
In the present paper many examples appear of objects known to have been so used, the graphic representations of which, made with the same purpose, are explained by knowledge of the fact. Other instances are mentioned as connected with the evolution of pictographs, and possibly to interpret some of the latter which are not yet understood.
The quipu of the Peruvians is one of the most instructive devices for the general aid of memory, and as applicable to a variety of subjects, also having value for comparison with and reference to all other objects of this character. A good account of the quipu, quoted from Travels in Peru, during the years 1838-1842, * * by Dr. J. J. von Tschudi [Wiley and Putnam’s Library, Vols. XCIII-XCIV.], New York, 1847, Pt. II, pp. 344, 345, is as follows:
The ancient Peruvians had no manuscript characters for single sounds; but they had a method by which they composed words and incorporated ideas. This method consisted in the dexterous intertwining of knots on strings, so as to render them auxiliaries to the memory. The instrument consisting of these strings and knots was called the Quipu. It was composed of one thick head or top string, to which, at certain distances, thinner ones were fastened. The top string was much thicker than these pendent strings, and consisted of two doubly twisted threads, over which two single threads were wound. The branches, if I may apply the term to these pendent strings, were fastened to the top ones by a single loop; the knots were made in the pendent strings, and were either single or manifold. The length of the strings used in making the quipu were various. The transverse or top string often measures several yards, and sometimes only a foot long; the branches are seldom more than two feet long, and in general they are much shorter.
The strings were often of different colors; each having its own particular signification. The color for soldiers was red; for gold, yellow; for silver, white; for corn, green, &c. This writing by knots was especially employed for numerical and statistical tables; each single knot representing ten; each double knot stood for one hundred; each triple knot for one thousand, &c.; two single knots standing together made twenty; and two double knots, two hundred.
This method of calculation is still practiced by the shepherds of the Puna. They explained it to me, and I could, with very little trouble, construe their quipus. On the first branch or string they usually place the numbers of the bulls; on the second, that of the cows; the latter being classed into those which were milked, and those which were not milked; on the next string were numbered the calves, according to their ages and sizes. Then came the sheep, in several subdivisions. Next followed the number of foxes killed, the quantity of salt consumed, and, finally, the cattle that had been slaughtered. Other quipus showed the produce of the herds in milk, cheese, wool, &c. Each list was distinguished by a particular color, or by some peculiarity in the twisting of the string.
In this manner the ancient Peruvians kept the accounts of their army. On one string were numbered the soldiers armed with slings; on another, the spearmen; on a third, those who carried clubs, &c. In the same manner the military reports were prepared. In every town some expert men were appointed to tie the knots of the quipu, and to explain them. These men were called quipucamayocuna (literally, officers of the knots). Imperfect as was this method, yet in the flourishing period of the Inca government the appointed officers had acquired great dexterity in unriddling the meaning of the knots. It, however, seldom happened that they had to read a quipu without some verbal commentary. Something was always required to be added if the quipu came from a distant province, to explain whether it related to the numbering of the population, to tributes, or to war, &c. Through long-continued practice, the officers who had charge of the quipus became so perfect in their duties that they could with facility communicate the laws and ordinances, and all the most important events of the kingdom, by their knots.
All attempts made in modern times to decipher Peruvian quipus have proved unsatisfactory in their results. The principal obstacle to deciphering those found in graves consists in the want of the oral communication requisite for pointing out the subjects to which they refer. Such communication was necessary, even in former times, to the most learned quipucamayocuna. Most of the quipus here alluded to seems to be accounts of the population of particular towns or provinces, tax-lists, and information relating to the property of the deceased. Some Indians in the southern provinces of Peru are understood to possess a perfect knowledge of some of the ancient quipus, from information transmitted to them from their ancestors. But they keep that knowledge profoundly secret, particularly from the whites.
That the general idea or invention for mnemonic purposes appearing in the quipus, was used pictorially is indicated in the illustrations given by Dr. S. Habel in The Sculptures of Santa Lucia Cosumalwhuapa in Guatemala, etc., Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, [No. 269], 1878, Vol. XXII, page 85. Upon these he remarks:
It has been frequently affirmed that the aborigines of America had nowhere arisen high enough in civilization to have characters for writing and numeral signs; but the sculptures of Santa Lucia exhibit signs which indicate a kind of cipher writing, higher in form than mere hieroglyphics. From the mouth of most of the human beings, living or dead, emanates a staff variously bent, to the sides of which nodes are attached. These nodes are of different sizes and shapes, and variously distributed on the sides of the staff, either singly or in twos and threes,—the last named either separated or in shape of a trefoil. This manner of writing not only indicates that the person is speaking, or praying, but also indicates the very words, the contents of the speech or prayer. It is quite certain that each staff, as bent and ornamented, stood for a well-known petition which the priest could read as easily as those acquainted with a cipher dispatch can know its purport. Further, one may be allowed to conjecture that the various curves of the staves served the purpose of strength and rhythm, just as the poet chooses his various meters for the same purpose.
In connection with the quipu, Dr. Hoffman reports a corresponding device among the Indians formerly inhabiting the mountain valleys north of Los Angeles, California, who frequently came to the settlements to dispose of native blankets, skins, and robes. The man delegated by the tribe to carry away and sell these articles was provided with a number of strings, made of some flexible vegetable fiber, one string for each class of goods, which were attached to his belt. Every one contributing articles mentioned the prices to be asked therefor, and when the salesman disposed of a blanket the proper cord was taken, and a single knot was tied for each real received, or a double knot for each peso. Thus any particular string indicated the kind of goods disposed of, as well as the whole sum realized, which was finally distributed among the original contributors.
The use of these mnemonically was very frequent. A few instances only of this obvious expedient need be given.
The Dakotas formerly residing at Grand River Agency, the Hidatsa, and the Shoshoni from Idaho were observed to note the number of days during which they journeyed from one place to another, by cutting lines or notches upon a stick of wood.
The coup sticks carried by Dakota warriors are often found bearing a number of small notches, which refer to the number of individuals the owners may have hit after they had been shot or wounded.
The young men and boys of the several tribes at Fort Berthold, Dakota, frequently carry a stick, upon which they cut a notch for every bird killed during a single expedition.
Dr. Hoffman states that he found in the collection of the Hon. A. F. Coronel, of Los Angeles, California, a number of notched sticks, which had been invented and used by the Indians at the Mission of San Gabriel. The history of them is as follows: Immediately after the establishment of the mission the Franciscan father appointed major domos, who had under their charge corporals or overseers of the several classes of laborers, herders, etc. The chief herder was supplied with a stick of hard wood, measuring about one inch in thickness each way, and from twenty to twenty-four inches long. The corners were beveled at the handle. Upon each of these facets were marks to indicate the kinds of cattle herded, thus: one cut or notch, a bull; two cuts, a cow; one cross, a heifer; and a >-shaped character, an ox. Similar characters were also used for horses, respectively, for stallion, mare, colt, and gelding. Where only cattle were owned no difference was made in the upper end of the stick; but when both kinds of animals were owned near the same localities, or by the same settler, the stick referring to cattle was notched v-shaped at the head end, and reversed or pointed to denote horses. Sticks were also marked to denote the several kinds of stock, and to record those which had been branded. In all of these sticks numbers were indicated by cutting notches into the corners, each tenth cut extending across the face of the stick. For instance, if the herder had thirteen oxen in charge, he selected that edge of the stick which bore upon the handle the >-shape, and cut nine short notches, one long one, and three short ones.
Labor sticks were also used by the Indians. On one side was a circle intersected with cross lines to denote money, and on the opposite side, which was reserved for time, either nothing or some character, according to the fancy of the owner. Short notches on the money side indicated reals, long cuts pesos. On the opposite side short cuts indicated days, and long cuts weeks.
For further reference to this subject, see Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ; etc., by Edouard Lartet and Henry Christy, * * London, 1875, p. 183 et seq.
Many instances have been published in regard to the use of mnemonic 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.
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.
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, Hada ɔüʇƨe, 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, Sadeki¢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 Tsiɔu gens. ʞahiʞe waʇayiñʞe, Saucy Chief, gave me other parts of the tradition, which Hada ɔüʇƨe had forgotten.
He also chanted a few lines of the tradition of the Waɔaɔe gens. Wayüts`aʞaɔĭ, of the Black Bear gens, told me a little of his tradition; and I obtained part of the Waɔaɔe tradition from Hu¢ak¢in, Good Voice, of the Mink’in 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 ʇuʞa, 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 Tsiɔu 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 Sadeki¢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 Tsiɔu 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 Tsiɔu, whose chart this is.
Then the Tsiɔu met the black bear, called Káxe-wáhü-san´ in the tradition. Káxe-wáhü-san´, 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 ʇuʞa (morning star); Watse minʞa (female animal that slays another star); Han-paʇan-Wakanʇa (Wakanda or Deity during the day, the sun); Wakanʇahan ¢iñkce (Deity of the night, moon); Mikak’e pe¢ŭnda, Seven Stars; Ta ad¢in, Three Deer; Mikak’e tañʞa, Big Star; Mikak’e ɔiñʞa, Little Star. Then the Black bear went to the Waɔiʞa-ɔüʇƨe, 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 Hañʞa uta¢anʇƨi, 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 Hañʞa uta¢anʇɔi made a treaty of peace with the Waɔace and Tsiɔu 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: Handaʇan-Wakanʇa (sun), Watse ʇuʞa (morning star), Wadaha (Great Dipper), Tapa (Pleiades), Mikak’e-han-daʇan (Day Star). This version gives what is wanting in the other, the meeting of other gentes, Hañkā ɔiñʞa, Waɔaɔe, Hañʞa-uta¢anʇƨi, etc., and the decisions of the chief of the Hañʞa-uta¢anʇƨi.
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.”
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.
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.”
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.
Dr. William H. Corbusier, assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, gives the following information:
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.
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 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.
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.
The duplicate from which the copy was immediately taken was in the possession of Basil Clément, a half-breed interpreter, living at Little Bend, near Fort Sully, Dakota, who professed to have obtained information concerning the chart from personal inquiries of many Indians, and whose dictated translation of them, reduced to writing in his own words, forms the basis of that given in the present paper. The genuineness of the document was verified by separate examination, through another interpreter, of the most intelligent Indians accessible at Fort Rice, and at a considerable distance from Clément, who could have had no recent communication with those so examined. One of the latter, named Good-Wood, a Blackfoot Dakota and an enlisted scout attached to the garrison at Fort Rice, immediately recognized the copy now in possession of the writer as “the same thing Lone-Dog had,” and also stated that he had seen another copy at Standing Rock Agency in the hands of Blue-Thunder, a Blackfoot Dakota. He said it showed “something put down for every year about their nation.” He knew how to use it as a calendar, beginning from the center and counting from right to left, and was familiar with the meaning of many of the later characters and the events they commemorated, in which he corroborated Clément’s translation, but explained that he had forgotten the interpretation of some of the earlier signs, which were about those things done before his birth.
All the investigations that could be made elicited the following account, which, whether accurate or not, the Indians examined certainly believed: Probably with the counsel of the old men and authorities of his tribe, Lone-Dog ever since his youth has been in the habit of deciding upon some event or circumstance which should distinguish each year as it passed, and when such decision was made he marked what was considered to be its appropriate symbol or device upon a buffalo robe kept for the purpose. The robe was at convenient times exhibited to other Indians of the nation, who were thus taught the meaning and use of the signs as designating the several years, in order that at the death of the recorder the knowledge might not be lost. A similar motive as to the preservation of the record led to its duplication in 1870 or 1871, so that Clément obtained it in a form ending at that time. It was also reported by several Indians that other copies of the chart in its various past stages of formation had been known to exist among the several tribes, being probably kept for reference, Lone-Dog and his robe being so frequently inaccessible.
Although Lone-Dog was described as a very old Indian, it was not supposed that he was of sufficient age in the year 1800 to enter upon the duty as explained. Either there was a predecessor from whom he received the earlier records or obtained copies of them, or, his work being first undertaken when he had reached manhood, he gathered the traditions from his elders and worked back so far as he could do so accurately, the object either then or before being to establish some system of chronology for the use of the tribe, or more probably in the first instance for the use of his particular band.
Present knowledge of the Winter Count systems renders it improbable that Lone-Dog was their inventor or originator. They were evidently started, at the latest, before the present generation, and have been kept up by a number of independent recorders. The idea was one specially appropriate to the Indian genius, yet the peculiar mode of record was an invention, and is not probably a very old invention, as it has not, so far as known, spread beyond a definite district or been extensively adopted. If an invention of that character had been of great antiquity it would probably have spread by inter-tribal channels beyond the bands or tribes of the Dakotas, where alone the copies of such charts have been found and are understood. Yet the known existence of portable pictographs of this ascertained character renders it proper to examine rock etchings and other native records with reference to their possible interpretation as designating events chronologically.
A query is naturally suggested, whether intercourse with missionaries and other whites did not first give the Dakotas some idea of dates and awaken a sense of want in that direction. The fact that Lone-Dog’s winter count, the only one known at the time of its first publication, begins at a date nearly coinciding with the first year of the present century by our computation, awakened a suspicion that it might be due to civilized intercourse, and was not a mere coincidence. If the influence of missionaries or traders started any plan of chronology, it is remarkable that they did not suggest one in some manner resembling the system so long and widely used, and the only one they knew, of counting in numbers from an era, such as the birth of Christ, the Hegira, the Ab Urbe Conditâ, the First Olympiad, and the like. But the chart shows nothing of this nature. The earliest character (the one in the center or beginning of the spiral) merely represents the killing of a small number of Dakotas by their enemies, an event of frequent occurrence, and neither so important nor interesting as many others of the seventy-one shown in the chart, more than one of which, indeed, might well have been selected as a notable fixed point before and after which simple arithmetical notation could have been used to mark the years. Instead of any plan that civilized advisers would naturally have introduced, the one actually adopted—to individualize each year by a specific recorded symbol, or totem, according to the decision of a competent person, or by common consent acted upon by a person charged with or undertaking the duty whereby confusion was prevented—should not suffer denial of its originality merely because it was ingenious, and showed more of scientific method than has often been attributed to the northern tribes of America. The ideographic record, being preserved and understood by many, could be used and referred to with sufficient ease and accuracy for ordinary purposes. Definite signs for the first appearance of the small-pox and for the first capture of wild horses may be dates as satisfactory to the Dakotas as the corresponding expressions A. D. 1802 and 1813 to the Christian world, and far more certain than much of the chronological tables of Regiomontanus and Archbishop Usher in terms of A. M. and B. C. The careful arrangement of distinctly separate characters in an outward spiral starting from a central point is a clever expedient to dispense with the use of numbers for noting the years, yet allowing every date to be determined by counting backward or forward from any other that might be known; and it seems unlikely that any such device, so different from that common among the white visitors, should have been prompted by them. The whole conception seems one strongly characteristic of the Indians, who in other instances have shown such expertness in ideography. The discovery of the other charts presented or referred to in this paper, which differ in their times of commencement and ending from that of Lone-Dog and from each other, removed any inference arising from the above-mentioned coincidence in beginning with the present century.
Copies of the paper publishing and explaining Lone-Dog’s record were widely circulated by the present writer among Army officers, Indian agents, missionaries, and other persons favorably situated, in hopes of obtaining other examples and further information. The result was a gratifying verification of all the important statements and suggestions in the publication, with the correction of some errors of detail and the supply of much additional material. The following copies of the chart, substantially the same as that of Lone-Dog, are now, or have been, in the possession of the present writer:
1. A chart made and kept by Bo-í-de, The-Flame (otherwise translated The-Blaze), who, in 1877, lived at Peoria Bottom, 18 miles south of Fort Sully, Dakota. He was a Dakota and had generally dwelt with the Sans Arcs, though it was reported that he was by birth one of the Two Kettles. The interpretation was obtained (it is understood originally at the instance of Lieutenant Maus, First United States Infantry) directly from The-Flame by Alex. Laravey, official interpreter at Fort Sully, in the month of April, 1877.
The fac-simile copy in the writer’s possession, also made by Lieutenant Reed, is on a cotton cloth about a yard square and in black and red—thus far similar to his copy of Lone-Dog’s chart, but the arrangement is wholly different. The character for the first year mentioned appears in the lower left-hand corner, and the record proceeds toward the right to the extremity of the cloth, then crossing toward the left and again toward the right at the edge of the cloth—and so throughout in the style called boustrophedon; and ending in the upper left-hand corner. The general effect is that of seven straight lines of figures, but those lines are distinctly connected at their extremities with others above and below, so that the continuous figure is serpentine. It thus answers the same purpose of orderly arrangement, allowing constant additions, like the more circular spiral of Lone-Dog. This record is for the years 1786-’7 to 1876-’7, thus commencing earlier and ending later than that of Lone-Dog.
2. The-Swan’s chart was kindly furnished to the writer by Dr. Charles Rau, of the Smithsonian Institution. It was sent to him in 1872 by Dr. John R. Patrick, of Belleville, Saint Clair County, Illinois, who received it from Dr. Washington West, of Belleville, Illinois, who became an acting assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, November 2, 1868, and was assigned to duty at Cheyenne Agency, Dakota, established by General Harney, as one of a number of agencies to become useful as rendezvous for Dakotas to keep them from disturbing the line of the Union Pacific Railroad. He remained there from November, 1868, to May, 1870. The agency was specially for the Two Kettles, Sans Arcs, and Minneconjous. A Minneconjou chief, The-Swan, elsewhere called The-Little-Swan, kept this record on the dressed skin of an antelope or deer, claiming that it had been preserved in his family for seventy years. The title of the written interpretation of this chart was called the History of the Minneconjou Dakotas, its true use not being then understood. In return for favors, Dr. West obtained permission to have some copies made on common domestic cotton cloth and employed an Indian expert of the Two Kettle band to do the work in fac-simile. From one of these he had a photograph taken on a small plate, and then enlarged in printing to about two-thirds of the original size and traced and touched up in India ink and red paint to match the original, which was executed in some black pigment and ruddle.
The characters are arranged in a spiral similar to those in Lone-Dog’s chart, but more oblong in form. The course of the spiral is from left to right, not from right to left. The interpretation of this chart was made at Cheyenne Agency in 1868 for Dr. Washington West by Jean Premeau, interpreter at that agency.
A useful note is given in connection with the interpretation, that in it all the names are names given by the Minneconjous, and not the names the parties bear themselves, e. g., in the interpretation for the year 1829-’30, (see Plate XVIII, and page 114,) Bad Arrow Indian is a translation of the Dakota name for a band of Blackfeet. The owner and explainer of this copy of the chart was a Minneconjou, and therefore his rendering of names might differ from that of another person equally familiar with the chart.
3. Another chart examined was kindly loaned to the writer by Brevet Maj. Joseph Bush, captain Twenty-second United States Infantry. It was procured by him in 1870 at the Cheyenne Agency, from James C. Robb, formerly Indian trader, and afterwards post trader. This copy is one yard by three-fourths of a yard, spiral, beginning in the center from right to left. The figures are substantially the same size as those in Lone-Dog’s chart, with which it coincides in time, except that it ends at 1869-’70. The interpretation differs from that accompanying the latter in a few particulars.
4. The chart of Mato Sapa, Black-Bear. He was a Minneconjou warrior, residing in 1868 and 1869 on the Cheyenne Agency Reservation, on the Missouri River, near Fort Sully, Dakota, near the mouth of the Cheyenne River. In order to please Lieut. O. D. Ladley, Twenty-second United States Infantry, who was in charge of the reservation, he drew or copied on a piece of cotton cloth what he called, through the interpreter, the History of the Minneconjous, and also gave through the same interpreter the key or translation to the figures. Lieutenant Ladley loaned them to an ex-army friend in Washington, who brought them to the notice of the present writer.
This copy is on a smaller scale than that of Lone-Dog, being a flat and elongated spiral, 2 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 6 inches. The spiral reads from right to left. This chart, which begins as does that of Lone-Dog, ends with the years 1868-’69.
The present writer has had conversation and correspondence concerning other copies and other translated interpretations of what may be called for convenience and with some right, on account of priority in publication, the Lone-Dog system of winter counts. But it also was discovered that there were other systems in which the same pictographic method was adopted by the Dakotas. An account of the most important of these, viz.: the charts of Baptiste or Battiste Good, American-Horse, Cloud-Shield, and White-cow-killer has been communicated by Dr. William H. Corbusier, assistant surgeon, United States Army, and is presented infra, page 127, under the title of The Corbusier Winter Counts.