84 



PICTURE-WRITING AND WORD -WRITING. 



rica as great proficients in tlie one as in the other, Tlieir 

 pictures^ as drawn and interpreted by Schoolcraft and other 

 writers^ give the best information that is to be had of the 

 lower development of the art.^ 



Fig. 2 is an Indian 

 record on a blazed 

 pine-tree (to blaze a 

 tree is to wound 

 (blesser) its side with 

 an axe^ so as to mark 

 it with a conspicuous 

 white patch) . On the 

 right are two canoes 

 (2 and 4)^ with a cat- 



Fig. 2. 



fish (1) in one of them^ and a fabulous animal, known as the 

 copper-tailed bear (3), in the other. On the left are a bear and 

 six catfish ; and the sense of the picture is simply that two 

 hunters, whose names, or rather totems or clan-names, were 

 " Cppper-tailed Bear'^ and " Catfish," went out on a hunting 

 expedition in their canoes, and took a bear and six catfish. 



•'^ 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 3 is a picture on the face of a rock on the shore of Lake 

 Superior, and records an expedition across the lake, which was 

 led by Myeengun, or " Wolf," a celebrated Indian chief. The 

 canoes with the upright strokes in them represent the force 

 of the party in men and boats, and Wolf's chief ally, Kishke- 

 munasee, that is, " Kingfisher," goes in the first canoe. The 



^ Figs. 2 to 7, and their interpretations, are from Schoolcraft, part i. 



