96 PICTOGRAPHS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 



With regard to the Lone-Dog system, with which the present writer 

 is more familiar, and upon which be has examined a large number of 

 Indians during the last eigbt years, an attempt was made to ascertain 

 whether the occurrences selected and represented were those peculiar 

 to the clan or tribe of tbe recorder or were either of general concern or 

 of notoriety throughout the Dakota tribes. This would tend to deter- 

 mine whether the undertaking was of a merely individual nature, lim- 

 ited by personal knowledge or special interests, or whether the scope 

 was general. All inquiries led to the latter supposition. The persons 

 examined were of different tribes, and far apart from each other, yet all 

 knew what the document was, i. e., that "some one thing was put down 

 for each year;" that it was the work of Lone-Dog, and that he was the 

 only one who " could do it," or perhaps was authority for it. The internal 

 evidence is to the same effect. All the symbols indicate what was done, 

 experienced, or observed by the nation at large or by its tribes without 

 distinction — not by that of which Lone-Dog is a member, no special feat 

 of the Yanktonais, indeed, being mentioned — and the chiefs whose 

 deaths or deeds are noted appear to have belonged indifferently to 

 the several tribes, whose villages were generally at great distance each 

 from the other and from that of the recorder. It is, however, true that 

 the Minueconjous were more -familiar than other of the Dakotas with 

 the interpretation of the characters on Lone-Dog's chart, and that a 

 considerable proportion of the events selected relate to that division of 

 the confederacy. 



In considering the extent to which Lone-Dog's chart is understood 

 and used among his people, it may be mentioned that the writer has 

 never shown it to an intelligent Dakota of full years who has not known 

 what it was for, and many of them knew a large part of the years por- 

 trayed. When there was less knowledge, there was the amount that 

 may be likened to that of an uneducated person or child who is exam- 

 ined about a map of the United States, which had been shown to him 

 before, with some explanation only partially apprehended or remem- 

 bered. He would tell that it was a map of the United States; would 

 probably be able to point out with some accuracy the State or city 

 where he lived ; perhaps the capital of the country ; probably the names 

 of the States of peculiar position or shape, such as Maine, Delaware, 

 or Florida. So the Indian examined would often point out in Lone- 

 Dog's chart the year in which he was born or that in which his father 

 died, or in which there was some occurrence that had strongly im- 

 pressed him, but which had no relation whatever to the character for 

 the year in question. It had been pointed out to him before, and he 

 had remembered it, though not the remainder of the chart. 



With the interpretations of the several charts given below some ex- 

 planations are furnished, but it may be useful to set forth in advance a 

 few facts relating to the nomenclature and divisions of the tribes fre- 

 quently mentioned. In the literature on the subject the great linguistic 



