EAui KOCK-MAEKINGS IN AEIZONA, UTAH, AND OREGON. 65 



Among the Klauiath Indians in Oregon, it seems, the practice of paint- 

 ing figures on rocks has not yet entirely gone into disuse. Through the 

 mediation of Mr. Albert S. Gatschet I received from Dr. James S. Denison, 

 physician at the Klamath Agency, Lake County, Oregon, a communication 

 relative to the subject. According to my correspondent, there are in that 

 neighborhood many rocks bearing painted figures ; but his description refers 

 specially to a single rock, called Ktd-i Tupdkshi (standing rock), situated 

 about fifty yards north of Sprague River, and one hundred and fifty yards 

 from the junction of Sprague and Williamson Rivers. It is about ten feet 

 high, fourteen feet long, and twelve or fourteen feet deep. The accompa- 

 nying Figures 54, 5.5, 56, and 57, all drawn in one-twelfth of the natural 

 size, after Dr. Denison's copies, illustrate the character of the paintings seen 

 on the smooth southern surface of this rock. The most frequent designs 

 are single or concentric circles, like Fig. 54, which consists of a dark-red 

 circle surrounded b}' a white one, the centre being formed by a red round 

 spot. Fig. 55, painted in dark-red and white colors, exhibits a somewhat 

 Mahadeo-like shape; the straight appendage of the circle is provided on 

 each side with short projecting lines, alternately red and white, and almost 

 producing the effect of the so-called herring-bone ornament. Figures 56 

 and 57, executed in dark-red color, are other characteristic designs seen on 

 the rock in question. The colors, which, as my informant thinks, are rubbed 

 on with grease, appear qiiite distinct on the dark surface of the rock. 



" I have conversed," he says, "with all the leading men and women of 

 the tribe about these pictures and others in the neighborhood ; but none of 

 them know, so they say, when and how they were made. It is, however, 

 the generally-received opinion that ICinulMintsh, the Creator*, painted them 

 himself when he made this country. The oldest people say that they were 

 there when they were young, and that the oldest people told them that they 

 were there when they were young, and so on. There are many rocks with 

 pictures on them all over this country. These places are all sacred, and 

 there are many legends concerning them. Children are taught not to 

 injure or deface tlue pictures. My own opinion is, that these pictures have 

 no more definite meaning than those made by children without any design; 



• " Tho Old Man of Onr Forefathers," according to Mr. A. S. Gatschet. 



