220 



PICTOGRAPHS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 



Figure 142 is taken from the same count for the year 1745-'46, in 

 ■winch the drying-pole is supported by two forked sticks or poles, only 

 one of which, without the drying-pole, was indicated in 

 the preceding figure, which is an abbreviated or conven- 

 tionalized form of the objective representation in the pre- 

 present figure, viz., a scaffold or pole upon which buffalo 

 meat was placed for drying. Buffalo were very plentiful 

 during the winter of 1745-'46, and the kind of meat is de- 

 noted by the buffalo head placed above the pole, from 

 which meat appears suspended. 

 Figure 143 is taken from Prince Maximilian's Travels, op. cit. p. 352. 

 The cross signifies, I will barter or trade. Three animals are drawn on 

 the right hand of the cross ; one is a buffalo (probably albino); the two 

 others, a weasel (Mustela Canadensis) and an otter. The pictographer 



Fig. 142.— 

 Plenty Buffalo 

 meat. Dakota. 



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Fig. 143.— Pictograph for trade. Dakota. 



offers in exchange for the skins of these animals the articles which he 

 has drawn on the left side of the cross. He has there, in the first place, 

 depicted a beaver very plainly, behind which there is a gun ; to the left 

 of the. beaver are thirty strokes, each ten separated by a longer line; 

 this means: I will give thirty beaver skins and a gun 

 ^> for the skins of the three animals on the right hand 



I I tif the cross. 



The ideographic character of the design consists in 

 the use of the cross — being a draw ing of the gesture-sign 

 for "trade" — the arms being in position interchanged. 

 Of the two things each one is put in the place before 

 occupied by the other thing — the idea of exchange. 



Figure 144, from the record of Battiste Good for 

 the year 1720-'21, siguifies starvation, denoted by the 

 bare ribs. 



This design survives among the Ottawa and Potta- 

 watomi Indians of Northern Michigan, but among the 

 latter a single line only is drawn across the breast, 

 shown in Figure. 145. This corresponds, also, with one of the gesture- 

 signs for the same idea. 



Fig. 144— Starvation. 

 Dakota. 



