IDEOGRAPHS. 



The number of instances in this paper in which the picture has been 

 expressive of an idea, and not a mere portraiture of an object, and has 

 amounted sometimes to a graphic representation of an abstract idea, 

 is so great as to render cross-references superfluous. As examples, 

 attention may be invited to Figure 72, page 1GG, for the idea of "voice," 

 Figure 179, page 241, for that of " war," and the Corbusier winter counts 

 for the year 1870-'77— No. I, page 14G, for that of "support." In ad- 

 dition to them, however, for convenience of grouping under this special 

 heading, the following illustrations (some of which would as properly 

 appear under the head of Conventionalizing) are presented. 



ABSTRACT IDEAS. 



Fir.. 140.- 

 for pipe, 

 kota. 



Sinn 



Da- 



Figure 140 is taken from the winter count of Battiste Good, and is 

 drawn to represent the sign for pipe, which it is intended to signify. 

 The sign is made by placing the right hand near the up- 

 per portion of the breast, the left farther forward, and 

 both held so that the index and thumb approximate a 

 circle, as if holding a pipe-stem. The remaining fingers 

 are closed. 



The point of interest in this character is that instead 

 of drawing a pipe the artist drew a human figure making 

 the sign for pipe, showing the intimate connection be- 

 tween gesture-signs and pictographs. The pipe, in this instance, was 

 the symbol of peace. 



Figure 141, taken from the winter count of Battiste Good for the year 

 1703-04, signifies plenty of buffalo meat. 



The forked stick being one of the supports of a drying- 

 pole or scaffold, indicates meat. The circle may repre- 

 sent a pit or " cache" in which buffalo meat was placed 

 during the winter of 1703-04, or it may mean "heap" — 

 i. e., large quantity, buffalo having been very plentiful 

 that year. The buffalo head denotes the kind of meat 

 stored. This is an abbreviated form of the device im- 

 mediately following, and being fully understood affords a 

 suggestive comparison with some Egyptian hieroglyphs 

 and Chinese letters, both in their full pictographic origin and in their 

 abbreviation. 



219 



Fig. 141.— Plenty 

 Butfalo meat. 

 Dakota. 



