222 PICTOGRAPHS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 



the writer's personal experience is, that often when he has at first sup- 

 posed a character to be a genuine symbol it has resulted, with better 

 means of understanding, in being not even an ideograph but a mere 

 objective representation. In this connection, the remarks on the circle 

 on page 107, and those on Figure 200, on page 246, may be in point. 



Another case for consideration occurs. The impression, real or rep- 

 resented, of a human hand is used in several regions in the world with 

 symbolic significance. For instance, in Jerusalem a rough representa- 

 tion of a hand is reported by Lieutenant Couder (Palestine Exploration 

 Fund, January, 1873, p. 10) to be marked on the wall of every house 

 whilst in building by the native races. Some authorities connect it 

 with the five names of God, and it is generally considered to avert the 

 evil eye. The Moors generally, and especially the Arabs in Kairwan, 

 employ the marks on their houses as prophylactics. Similar hand 

 prints are fouud in the ruins of El Baird, near Petra. Some of the 

 quaint symbolism connected with horns is supposed to originate from 

 such hand marks. Among the North American Indians the mark so 

 readily applied is of frequent occurrence, an instance, with its ascer- 

 tained significance, being given on page 187, supra. 



It has been recently ascertained that the figure of a hand, with ex- 

 tended fingers, is very common in the vicinity of ruins in Arizona as a 

 rock-etching, and is also frequently seen daubed on the rocks with col- 

 ored pigments or white clay. This coincidence would seem at first to 

 assure symbolic significance, and possibly to connect the symbolism of 

 the two hemispheres. But Mr. Thomas V. Keam explains the Arizona 

 etchings of hands, on the authority of the living Moki, as follows: 



" These are vestiges of the test formerly practiced among young men 

 who aspired for admission to the fraternity of Salyko. The Salyko is a 

 trinity of two women and a woman from whom the Hopitus [Moki] first 

 obtained corn. Only those were chosen as novices, the imprints of 

 whose hands had dried on the instant." 



While the subject-matter is, therefore, ceremonial, there is absolutely 

 no symbolism connected with it. The etchings either simply perpetu- 

 ate the marks made in the several tests or imitate them. 



In the present stage of the study no more can be suggested than that 

 symbolic interpretations should be accepted with caution. 



With regard to the symbolic use of material objects, which would 

 probably be extended into graphic portrayal, the following remarks 

 may be given: 



The Prince of Wied mentions (op. tit., Vol. I, p. 241) that in the Sac 

 and Fox tribes the rattle of a rattlesnake attached to the end of the 

 feather worn on the head signifies a good horse stealer. The stealthy 

 approach of the serpent, accompanied with latent power, is here clearly 

 indicated. 



Mr. Schoolcraft says of the Dakotas that "some of the chiefs had the 

 skins of skunks tied to their heels to symbolize that they never ran, as 



