742 PICTURE-WRITING OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 
painters and sculptors. But Mr. Muybridge bases his statement upon 
a small number of Indian drawings, apparently seen by him in Europe, 
the characteristics of which do not appear in the many drawings of 
horses in the possession of the present writer, a considerable number 
of which are published in this work. The position of the legs in the 
drawings praised is doubtless fortuitous. The Indian in his delineation 
of horses cared little more than to show an animal with the appropriate 
mane, tail, and hoofs, and the legs were extended without the slightest 
regard to natural motion. The drawing of the Indians closely resem- 
bles the masterly abstractions of the living forms devised by the early 
heraldic painters which later were corrupted by an attempt to compro- 
mnise with zodlogy, resulting in a clumsy naturalism if net caricature. 
A comparison of artistic rather than of pictographic skill may fre- 
quently be made, for izstance the art of the Haida in carving, which 
shows remarkable similarity to that in Central and South America, 
and made public by Habel, op. cit., and H. H. Bancroft (7). 
The style of drawing is strongly influenced by the material on which 
itis made. This topic must receive some consideration here, though 
too extensive for full treatment. The substances on which and the in- 
struments by which pictographs are made in America are discussed in 
Chaps. VII and VIII of this work, and the remarks and illustrations 
there presented apply generally to other forms of drawing and paint- 
ing. Examples of drawing on every kind of material known to the 
American aborigines appear in this work. Carving, pecking, and 
scratching of various kinds of rock are illustrated, also paintings on 
skins and on wood. The Innuit carving on walrus ivory, of which 
numerous illustrations are furnished, is notable for its minuteness as 
well as distinctness. The substance was precious, the working surface 
limited, and the workmanship required time and care. Birch bark, com- 
mon in the whole of thenorthern Algonquian region, was an attractive 
material. It was used much more freely and was worked more easily 
than walrus ivory, and in two modes, one in which outlines are drawn 
by any hard-pointed substance on the inner side of the bark when it 
is soft and which remain permanent when dry, the other made by 
scraping on the rough outer surface, thus producing a difference in color. 
Many examples of the first-mentioned method are shown throughout 
this work, and of the latter in Pl. xvi and Fig. 659. Having before 
them this large collection of varied illustrations readers can judge for 
themselves of the effect of the material in determining the style among 
people who had substantially the same concepts. 
Tt is universally admitted that the material used, whether papyrus 
or parchment, stone or wood, palm leaves or metal, wax or clay, and 
the appropriate instruments, hammer, knife, graver, brush or pen, de- 
cided the special style of incipient artists throughout the world. The 
Chinese at first worked with knives on bamboo and stone, and even 
after they had obtained paper, ink, and fine hair pencils, the influence 
