FACULTY IN ABORIGINAL RACES. 117 



of tlie Iroquois verb. These are only partially illustrated in the above example, and 

 might easily have been carried further. For example, the rendering of the Active, Indica- 

 tive, Past Progressive, vpith Feminine Object, is really a verb in the passive voice. To 

 realize the full inflexional niceties of such minute grammatical distinctions, the two 

 genders should be given ; and also a mixed gender, i.e. the two genders together, as the 

 artists may consist of both sexes. This is i)ulicated in the two forms of the Future 

 Indefinite, by easliakodiyadarahste, " they (Mas.) shall draw her," eayaktodiyadarahste, " they 

 (Fem.) shall draw her." 



Both in the A'erb K/jndarahsle, and in the other M^ords applicable to art-processes, it is 

 rather the aptitudes of the language, than its grammatical compass and complexities, that 

 are illustrated. In the study of this, I have been largely indebted to Dr, Oronhyatekha 

 and the Rev. Isaac Bearfoot, both educated Mohawks. Some of the terms of art given 

 above are, no doubt, to be regarded as of modern origin, or coined words. "Writing, 

 engraving, modelling, etc., are not terms naturally to be looked for in the vocabulary of a 

 people in the condition of the Iroquois when first brought under the notice of the French 

 or English. But, as has been shown, drawing was already practised by them, and was 

 applied by them to ideographic use. Hence their language furnished roots, as well as the 

 formal processes, whereby to supply the necessary terms. Aijehyatoah, " to grave," is from 

 hahyatonh, " a mark," — ayeh giving the idea of the action. The word accordingly signifies 

 "to make a mark," and is chiefly applied to writing. Rahyatonhs, "an engaver," is from 

 the same root. The prefix mli not only shews the action, but marks the gender ; literally, 

 " he is making a mark." Ayekonteke, " to paint," is from okonfshera, " paint," a-ye giving 

 it the verbal significance. Another word, apparently modern, yonlisolikiva, is applied 

 to dyes, and other colouring matter, as well as to paint. Rnkonteks, " a painter," or " he 

 paints," is also from the previous root, with the masculine prefix. Sliakoyadarlia, " an 

 artist " — from yeyadare, " a pictirre of a person, " i.e. of his body — signifies one who pro- 

 duces representations of people by any art. It suffices, therefore, to express " a portrait- 

 painter, a sketcher of figures, a photographer," etc. Shako is the male prefix denoting 

 action ; for a female artist it becomes yakoyadarha, from yakdya, " a female." As for the 

 words previously given for a carver and a modeller, they are, I believe, of modern origin, 

 though fashioned from old forms of the language: rahkaralahkivas, "a carver," from ohkara, 

 "chips," and ratahkicus, " he takes out ; " rateanakerahtha, " a modeller," from deweanakeralitonli, 

 " an imitation," ratea, expressive of the action in the masculine, from ra. It is not without 

 abundant reason, as has been shown from the indications of an artistic faculty in abori- 

 ginal races, that the same terms are used to express the ideas of making a mark, drawing, 

 or writing ; and that an ideographic purpose appears to underly the earliest efforts at 

 artistic imitation. 



