GRAPHIC ART OF THE ESKIMOS. 883 



reiudeer, two bucks, autl a doe. I also speared two large bucks iu the water. My 

 whaling crew have taken ten whales." The number of whales is open to suspicion, 

 as they just till up the board. 



In the above description the autlior does not state, as lie has doue in 

 another instance, that tlie interi^retation was obtained from the native 

 owner, and it may therefore be assumed that he ventures the interpre- 

 tation Iiimself. The statement at first that the animals were deer and 

 later on reindeer is confusiug in the attempt to differentiate between 

 the objective portrayal by the natives of the two species of animals. 

 It is evident that the reindeer is intended, because of the unusually 

 long, narrow antlers and their forward direction in their position upon 

 the head. It is unfortunate that no other pictographs from Point Bar- 

 row are at hand, in order that satisfactory comparison with other rep- 

 resentatious of deer and reindeer might be made so as to make note of the 

 specific differences, as we find so elaborately portrayed in the records 

 from Sledge Island, Norton Sound, and elsewhere. 



The reference to a female animal is perliaps a random one, because 

 the natives of Alaska, as well as the aborigines of North America 

 generally, are too cautious and matter of fact to j)ortray that which 

 they do not intend. The horns upon the third animal — the doe( 1) — are 

 too strikingly like those upon the two preceding specimens to denote 

 anything different from them in sex. 



The statement that "the number of whales is open to suspicion" is 

 worth noting, as frequently a large number of anything is denoted by 

 an indefinite number of conventional indications of such objects. 

 Various examples are given in which such large numbers have been 

 engraved with an ornamental or decorative motive, leading one to sus- 

 pect the true import intended by the recorder. A common example is 

 found in the ordinary "war bonnet" of eagle plumes, worn by several 

 of the so-called Prairie tri))es of Indians. The single feather is gained 

 by a warrior when he either kills an enemy or is one of the first four to 

 reach and touch the fallen enemy with the coup stick, a bow, or any 

 other object. The act of being able to reach the enemy iu such manner 

 is deemed by tlie Indian to denote that he is nearer and more in danger 

 than the one who may have fired the fatal shot. After a number of 

 plumes have been thus gained by a warrior, each to indicate an exjiloit 

 of valor, the number becomes inconvenient for attachment to the scalp 

 lock and the long plumed bonnet is permitted, provided the one so 

 entitled thereto is able to purchase such a decoration, the present value 

 of eagle plumes varying from $1 to $2 each. 



In similar manner an indefinite number of items, to denote many, is 

 often portrayed in pictorial records of various rudely remote peoples; 

 and it is probable that the above is only another instance, of which 

 others are noted in the present paper. 



