68 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



The j^reat luass of charts cousist of lunenionic soiij;s, peitaiiiiug to 

 iiicautatioijs, exorcism, aud other ceremouies, and a considerable number 

 of these records were obtained, together with their interpretations. 

 Sketches of tattooed Indians were also made, but it was learned that 

 this custom is almost extinct, the only modern markings being those 

 applied to various portions of the face for the exorcism of evil spirits 

 causing neuralgia, headache, and other i)ains. Hasty sketches were 

 obtained also of an old Grand Medicine chart at lied Lake, a protracted 

 examination of it not being permitted by the keeper of the record. 



In addition to the pictograi)hic material, a (juantity of mythologic 

 matter was collected, all or nearly all of which was intimately con- 

 nected with the rites of the secret society of the Midewin, or Grand 

 Medicine. 



Colonel Mallery directed his attention chiefly to the examination of 

 the Ojibwa on the La Pointe and lied Cliff Keservations in Wisconsin, 

 and although it is a less favorable field for ethnologic research than 

 those mentioned in Minnesota, owing to tlie larger and closer intluence 

 of civilization, he obtained evidence complementing the observations 

 and conclusions of Dr. Hoffman. As a general result it is found that 

 there still exists among the Ojibwa a remarkable degree of pictographic 

 skill and it is employed in ordinary affairs of life as well as in the serv- 

 ice of religion and ceremonial rites. The statements of Schoolcraft, 

 however, are shown to be exaggerated, or at least erroneous, especially 

 in their attribution of mystic symbolism to devices purely ideographic 

 or mnemonic. The apparently significant coloration of his figures is 

 deceptive, as colors are not now and probably never have been used in 

 the genuine records. 



In August, Colonel Mallery proceeded alone to Cape Breton and 

 Prince Edward Islands, iSfova Scotia, and Maine, to investigate the 

 bark records and petroglyj^hs of Micmacs and the Abnaki. Special 

 study was made as to the probability of an aboriginal source for many 

 of the characters supposed to have Ix^en first used by French mission- 

 aries in 1652, and afterward printed at Vienna, Austria, in 1862, with 

 additions and changes, under the direction of Pev. Charles Kauder, 

 and now generally styled the " Micmac Hieroglyphs." 



A most interesting and uuique body of rock etchings was discovered 

 at and near Kejimkoojic Lake, Nova Scotia, and accurate copies of 

 many of them were secured'. On account of their number, their in- 

 trinsic interest and the evidences of their antiquity, these etchings 

 form a highly important addition to the collections before made, es- 

 pecially as they are in a region from which no representation of that 

 nature had been reported. A petroglyph of interest near Machias, 

 Me., not before known, was also copied. A valuable collection was for 

 the first time ol)tained of birch-bark pictographs still made or formerly 

 used by the Passannnpioddy and Penobscot tribes of the Abnaki in 

 Maine, showing a similarity in the use of picture-writing between the 



