PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 93 



Mr. Powell referred to historical charts among the Pueblos 

 the interpretations of some portions having been confirmed by 

 Spanish annals. Pictorial writings have been discovered in Mex 

 ICO and South America; and Schoolcraft has published such 

 writings, found among the Indians of North America Mr 

 Powell spoke of the mythological character of all these writino-s' 

 -and the absence of anything mythological, except in one instances 

 in the drawings exhibited by Mr. Mallery. From his observa- 

 tions of Indian custom he did not understand how there could 

 be so many symbols for names of individuals, nor the picturing 

 of the to al ecl.pse of the sun in 1869 as it actually appears 

 instead of the usual mythological representation of a monste; 

 devouring the sun. 



Mr. Abbe remarked that he must differ from Mr. Powell's 

 opinion that it is improbable that any Indians would depict the 



Hthil Ifr. ? '^^"^^^^- *^- ^ mythological symbol. 

 He himself had in August of that year led a party of seven young 



thlt ecr ^T'' "' ''^"^ ^^'^^ ^^^^' - -^- to obser:' 



that eclipse, which purpose was successfully accomplished 



During their week's stay at that place they had explained the 

 eclipse o numerous Sioux, and probably an hundred of those 

 Indians had occasion to realize that white men knew of the ap- 

 proaching event, and that to them the phenomenon was no mys- 

 tery On the day itself a party of six or seven warriors lingered 

 ^bout the camp until the progress of the eclipse became evtdent 

 to the naked eye, when, all their doubts being dispelled, they 

 departed with a shrug of the shoulder and " Ugh I bad medicine -■ 



The eclipse, as seen in that high latitude and elevated region 

 where the Dakotas roam, was impressive and beautiful in the 

 highest degree. The stars, which were thus made visible in the 

 daytime, have been deemed by the Indian chronologist worthy 

 of marking the year 1869. ^ 



Mr Abbe further remarked that the whole of this Dakota 

 record seemed to him to be eminently practical and truthful, and 

 free from fancy or mythology; as we might, indeed, expect it to 

 be when we consider that the compiler was one of the original 

 geniuses of his race, an innovator upon the ordinary customs of 

 the Indians, a though he may have heard of similar representa- 

 tions among the Aztecs or the whites. The meteoric shower in 



