440 PICTURE-WRITING OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 
The mark of a black hand, sometimes made by the impress of an 
actually blackened palm or drawn of natural size, or less, signifies that 
the person authorized to wear the mark has killed an enemy. 
Fig. 576, drawn by a Hidatsa, means that the owner of the robe or 
record on which it appears had taken a scalp. Fig. 577, also drawn by 
a Hidatsa, means that the bearer struck the enemy in the order above 
mentioned and took his scalp and his gun. 
The drawing reproduced on Pl. XxX was made by a Hidatsa at Fort 
Berthold, North Dakota. It represents several dancing figures, upon 
which the several marks of personal achievements can be recognized. 
The fourth figure of the upper row shows the wearer to have been the 
second person to strike an enemy upon four different occasions. Upon 
the right-hand figure of the lower row two distinct marks will be 
observed; that upon the wearer’s left leg indicating him to have been 
the second to strike an enemy upon two different occasions; and the 
mark upon the right leg, that he was twice the second person to strike 
enemies, and twice the third person to perform that exploit. 
Fic. 576.—Scalp taken. Fic. 577.—Scalp and gun taken. 
Miss Agnes Crane (a), in an article on Ancient Mexican Heraldry, 
seems to assert that the evidence of emblems in the western hemisphere 
as boastful records of individual achievements is confined to Mexico. 
The present section may supply the evidence lacking. 
The following information regarding Winnebago devices of the 
character now under consideration was given by St. Cyr, a mixed 
blood Winnebago, in April, 1886. 
To show that the wearer killed a man, strike the muddy hand upon 
the body or horse. Clay of any kind is used. When 20 men have 
been killed, an otter skin is worn on the back. A skunk skin worn on 
the calf signifies a man killed. 
Scented grass worn on the neck or the wrist shows that a prisoner 
had been captured and tied with grass in the absence of other cords. 
To show that the wearer had been wounded, cover the part of the 
body with white clay, and indicate the spot with red paint. 
Paul Kane (a) says that among the Cree Indians red earth was 
spotted on a leg to indicate that the wearer had been wounded. 
