250 PICTOGRAPHS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 



senting Ojibwa pictographs, and given by Schoolcraft. The arrange- 

 ment of these copied characters is precisely that which would be nat- 

 ural in the similar work of Indians. In fact, the groups constitute a 

 thoroughly genuine pictograph, and afford a good illustration of the 

 manner in which a record can be made. The fact that it was made 

 and sold under false representations is its objectionable feature. 



An inscribed stone found in Grave Creek Mound, near the Ohio River, 

 in 1838, has been the subject of much linguistic contention among those 

 who admitted its authenticity. Twenty-four characters on it have been 

 considered to be alphabetic and one is a supposed hieroglyphic sign. • Mr. 

 Schoolcraft says that twenty-two of the characters are alphabetic, but 

 there has been a difference of opinion with regard to their origin. One 

 scholar finds among them four characters which he claims are ancient 

 Greek; another claims that four are Etruscan; five have been said to 

 be Runic; six, ancient Gaelic; seven, old Erse; ten, Phoenician; four- 

 teen, old British; and sixteen, Celteberic. M. Levy Bing reported at 

 the Congress of Americanists at Nancy, in 1875, that he found in the 

 inscription twenty-three Canaauite letters, and translated it: "What 

 thou sayest, thou dost impose it, thou shinest in thy impetuous clan and 

 rapid chamois." (!) M. Maurice Schwab in 1857 rendered it: "The Chief 

 of Emigration who reached these places (or this island) has fixed these 

 statutes forever.'' M. Oppert, however, gave additional variety by the 

 translation, so that all tastes can be suited: "The grave of one who was 

 assassinated here. May God to avenge him strike his murderer, cutting 

 off the hand of his existence." 



For further particulars on this topic reference may be made to Colonel 

 Charles Whittlesey's Archaeological Frauds, in several tracts, and to 

 The Mound Builders, by J. P. MacLeau, Cincinnati, 1879, p. 90, ctseq. 



From considerations mentioned in the introduction of this paper, and 

 others that are obvious, any inscriptions purporting to be pre-Columbian 

 showing apparent use of alphabetic characters, signs of the zodiac, or 

 other evidences of a culture higher than that known among the North 

 American Indians, must be received with caution, but the pictographs 

 may be altogether genuine, and their erroneous interpretation be the 

 sole ground of their being discredited. 



In this connection some allusion may be made to the learned discus- 

 sions upon the Dighton rock before mentioned. The originally Algon- 

 kian characters were translated by a Scandinavian antiquary as an 

 account of the party of Thorfinn, the Hopeful. A distinguished Orient- 

 alist made out clearly the word melek (king). Another scholar trium- 

 phantly established the characters to be Scythian, and still another 

 made them Phoenician. But this inscription has been so manipulated 

 that it is difficult now to determine the original details. 



The course above explained, viz., to attempt the interpretation of all 

 unknown American pictographs by the aid of actual pietographers 

 among the living Indians, should lie adopted regarding all remarkable 



