MCfiEE] GRAPHIC SYMBOLISM 169 



wrouglit into domestic wares, and sometimes carved on rocks. Jona- 

 than Carver gives an examiile of picture-vrriting on a tree, in cliarcoal 

 mixed with bear's grease, designed to convey information from the 

 "Chii)e'ways''(Algonqiiian) to the" Nando wessies,"' and other instances 

 of intertribal communication by means of pictogra^jhy are on record. 

 Personal decoration was common, and was largely symbolic; the face 

 and body were painted in distinctive ways when going on the warx)ath, 

 in organizing the hunt, in mourning the dead, in celebrating the vic- 

 tory, and in performing various ceremonials. Scarification and maim- 

 ing were practiced by some of the tribes, always in a symbolic way. 

 Among the Mandan and Hidatsa scars were produced in cruel ceremo- 

 nials originally connected with war and hunting, and served as endur- 

 ing witnesses of courage and fortitude. Symbolic tattooing was fairly 

 common among the westernmost tribes. Eagle and other feathers were 

 worn as insignia of rank and for other symbolic purposes, while bear 

 ./claws and the scalps of enemies were worn as symbols of the chase 

 and battle. Some of the tribes recorded current history by means of 

 "winter counts" or calendaric inscriptions, though their arithmetic 

 was meager and crude, and their calendar proper was limited to recog- 

 nition of the year, lunation, and day — or, as among so many primitive 

 people, the "snow,'' "dead moon," and "night,'' — with no definite sys- 

 tem of fitting lunations to the annual seasons. Most of the graphic 

 records were perishable, and have long ago disappeared; but during 

 recent decades several untutored tribesmen have executed vigorous 

 drawings representing hunting scenes and conflicts with wliite soldiery, 

 which have been preserved or reproduced. These crude essays in 

 graphic art were the germ of writing, and indicate that, at the time of 

 discovery, several Siouau tribes were near the gateway opening into 

 the broader field of scriptorial culture. So far as it extends, the crude 

 graphic symbolism betokens warlike habit ami militant organization, 

 which were doubtless measurably inimical to further progress. 



It would appear that, in connection with their jiroficiency in gesture 

 speech and their meager graphic art, the Siouau Indians had become 

 masters in a vaguely understood system of dramaturgy or symbolized 

 conduct. Among them the use of the peace-pipe was general; among 

 several and perhaps all of the tribes the definite use of insignia was com- 

 mon; among them the customarj^ hierarchic organization of the abo- 

 rigines was remarkably developed and was maintained by an elaborate 

 and strict code of etiquette whose observance was exacted and yielded 

 by every tribesman. Thus the warriors, habituated to expressing and 

 recognizing tribal alSliation and status in address and deportment, were 

 notably observant of social minuti;!?, and this habit extended into every 

 activity of their lives. They were ceremonious among themselves and 



'TraxeU Tlirougli the Interior Parts of North America in the Vears 1766, 1767, and 1768; London, 

 1778, p. 418. 



