CHAPTER XXII. 
MEANS OF INTERPRETATION. 
The power of determining the authorship of pictographs made on 
materials other than rocks, by means of their general style and type, 
can be estimated by a comparison of those of the Abnaki, Ojibwa, 
Dakota, Haida, Innuit, Shoshoni, Moki, ete., presented in various parts 
of this paper. 
Everard F. im Thurn (x), in reference to Fig. 1257, remarks: 
Wherever a peculiar, complex, and not very obvious figure occurs in many 
examples it is legitimate to assume that this had some ulterior object and meaning. 
Now this figure, occurring in the shallow engravings of Guiana, is of such kind. 
It is not a figure which an Indian would be likely to invent 
in an idle moment even once, for such a man very seldom, 
probably never, except in these particular figures, has been 
known to draw straight lines. Moreover, even if it were a 
figure that one Indian might idly invent, it is certainly ki ghly 
improbable that this would be copied by many other Indians 
in various places. And, lastly, a figure strikingly like the 
one in question, if, indeed, it is not identical, occurs in cer- 
tain Mexican picture writings. For example, in the Mexican 
MSS. [reproduced in Kingsborough, op. cit., 1, from Sir 
Thomas Bodley’s MSS., pp. 22, 23, and from the Selden MSS., 
also in the Bodleian, p.3] several figures occur so like that of 
the shallow engravings of Guiana that there can be but little 
doubt of their connection. The recurrence of this peculiar 
a . ope s i F rs Fig. 1257.—Typical char- 
figure in these writings is surely sufficient evidence of the acter. Guiana. 
fact that they are not without intention. If it were possible to obtain a clue to the 
meaning of the Mexican figures it might serve as a key to decipher the hieroglyphic 
writings of Guiana. 
With regard to the study of the individual characters themselves to 
identify the delineators of pictographs, the various considerations of 
fauna, religion, customs, tribal signs, indeed most of the headings of 
this paper, will be applicable. 
It is convenient to divide this chapter into: 1. Marked characters 
of known significance. 2. Distinctive costumes, weapons, and orna- 
ments. 3. Ambiguous characters, with ascertained meaning. 
SC LW OUN, ie 
MARKED CHARACTERS OF KNOWN SIGNIFICANCE. 
It is obvious that before attempting the interpretation of pictographs 
concerning which no direct information is to be obtained, there should 
be a collection, as complete as possible, of known characters, in 
order that through them the unknown may be learned. When any 
considerable number of objects in a pictograph are actually known the 
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