MALLERY. ] IN NEBRASKA. 91 
The eagle or ‘‘ thunder-bird” figures are quite numerous. There are also many of 
the ‘‘buftalo track” and of the “turkey track” figures. Icallthem ‘turkey tracks”’ 
because they all show a spur and seem to represent some of the large gallinacie. 
In one of the groups, which I will call the ‘ bear-fight group,” we are at a loss to 
determine whether the figure of the small animal was a part of the original design 
or a subsequent interpolation. It seemed genuine, but was not so deeply carved as 
the other figures. The same may be said of the diagonal bars across the figure of 
the bear. 
In the other group, which I will term the ‘“ turkey-track group,” there are some 
figures of which we could not even imagine the meaning. But they are undoubtedly 
genuine, and seem to belong to the same design as the other figure. 
The “‘bear-track” figures are very numerous and of several different sizes. A cat- 
like figure, which we call a panther, shows faintly. It is about effaced by time. 
Other figures reminded us of a crab or crawfish, but we were unable to determine 
whether the line running back just below belongs to it or not. 
lam informed by the same gentleman who saw these petroglyphs in 1857 that there 
were at onetime many more some 3 or 4 miles from this place, near Homer, Nebraska, 
in the vicinity of a large spring, but he also said that as it is a favorite picnic 
ground for the country people the carvings are probably destroyed. I presume 
others may be found in these blutts. 
]surmise that the almost cave-like nature of the place where the carvings I have 
above attempted to describe are situated rendered it a favorite camping ground and 
resting place; and also that the ravines above mentioned made easy trails from the 
Missouri bottom up to the higher grounds farther from the river, because it obviated 
the ascent of the very steep bluffs. 
The Winnebago Indian reservation is a few miles south of this locality, but they 
were placed here by the Government as late as from 1860 to 1865. Previous to that 
time { think this ground was occupied by the Omahas. I have been unable to gain 
any information as to the Indians who carved these figures or as to their meaning. 
The most instructive of the petroglyphs, copies of which are kindly 
furnished by Mr. Quick, is presented as Pl. x11, and selected sketches 
from that and the other petroglyphs copied are shown as Figs. 52 and 53. 
5 
iN Rae fe 
Ne 
SS 
l“\— SS 
\\ = 
B 
Fic. 52.—Characters from Nebraska petroglyphs. 
Wi 
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Frank La Fleéche, of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in February, 1886, 
communicated the following: 
Ingna"ye gikdya-ina is the Omaha name of a rock ledge on the banks of the Mis- 
souri river, near the Santee agency, Nebraska. This ledge contains pictographs of 
