OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. LIII 



River, and became acquainted with a pictorial chart repre- 

 sented to be a history of the I >akota. He ascertained that. 

 its true character was not historic, but that its design was to 

 designate successive years by the most remarkable, or rather 

 the most distinguishable, events that occurred in each. The 

 chart, therefore, became useful as a calendar, and was actually 

 in use as such. Colonel Mallery published it, with interpreta- 

 tions and explanations, under the title of "A Calendar of the 

 Dakota Nation," in a bulletin of the United States Geological 

 and Geographical Survey of the Territories, issued in 1877. 



The diffusion of this publication, awakening g'eneral interest 

 on the subject among Army officers and other persons in the 

 Indian country, "resulted in bringing to light other copies of 

 the chart and additional facts relating to its origin, interpreta- 

 tion, and use. The material thus gathered has been the 

 nucleus around which further information on the subject of 

 pictography has been accumulated. The systematic study 

 of sign language, upon which subject Colonel Mallery pre- 

 pared a preliminary paper published in the first annual re- 

 port, also brought under his observation many points connected 

 with pictography, both modes of expression being graphic and 

 pictorial. The research, study, and correspondence for the 

 preparation of a monograph on the gesture speech of man has 

 been continued by him since the preliminary paper before 

 mentioned, with which a similar undertaking upon the general 

 subject of picture writing- has proceeded pari passu. Both of 

 these modes of conveying ideas and facts, by one of which 

 they are also recorded, prevail among the North American 

 Indians with a development beyond that found among any 

 other existing peoples, and therefore the study of both devel- 

 opments among them is most advantageous when combined. 



It was deemed advisable to pursue a plan successfully 

 adopted by the Bureau in other departments of work, viz, to 

 publish a preliminary paper before undertaking an exhaustive 

 monograph. By this means the amount and character of the 

 information so far obtained is communicated to persons al- 

 ready interested in the subject. The interest of others is ex- 

 cited and their collaboration is invited, while their researches 



