APPENDIX. 



477 



it through Mr. Maverick's rolling press. It was covered with figures on both 

 sides, one side containing forty principal figures ; six embrace the symbol 

 of the uplifted hand, four of which had also the arm, but no other part of the 

 body, attached. Their import, which the man also imparted to me, is given 

 in the general remark above. On the reverse of this board, consisting of 

 thirty eight characters, nine embrace the uplifted hand, in one case from a 

 headless trunk, but in the eight others connected with the whole frame. 



The design of the hand is uniformly the same with our tribes, whether it 

 be used disjunctively or alone, or connected with the arm alone, or with the » 

 whole body. In the latter cases it is a compound symbol, and reveals 

 some farther particular or associated idea of the action. The former is the 

 most mysterious use of it, precisely because there are no accessories to 

 help out the meaning, and it is, I think, in.^uch isolated cases, to be re- 

 garded as a general sign of devotion. 



In the course of many years' residence on the frontiers, including various 

 journeyings among the tribes, I have had frequent occasion to remark 

 the use of the hand alone as a symbol, but it has generally been a sym- 

 bol applied to the naked body after its preparation and decoration for sa- 

 cred or festive dances. And the fact deserves farther consideration, from 

 these preparations being generally made in the arcanum of the med- 

 icine, or secret lodge, or some other private place, and with all the skill of 

 the priest's, the medicine man's, or the juggler's art. The mode of apply- 

 ing it in these cases is by smearing the hand of the operator with white or 

 coloured clay, and impressing it on the breast, the shoulder, or other part 

 of the body. The idea is thus conveyed, that a secret influence, a charm, 

 a mystic power is given to the dancer, arising from his sanctity or his pro- 

 ficiency in the occult arts. This use of the hand is not confined to a single 

 tribe or people. I have noticed it alike among the Dacotahs, the Winneba- 

 goes, and other Western tribes, as among the numerous branches of the 

 red race still located east of the Mississippi River, above the latitude of 

 43°, who speak dialects of the Algonquin language. 



A single additional fact appears to me to be pertinent to your inquiry. 

 In an excursion which I made in the year 1831 into the more unfrequented 

 and interior parts of the Chippewa country, lying between the group of the 

 Twelve Apostles' Islands in Lake Superior and the Falls of St. Anthony, I 

 came to a curious edifice, situated in the edge of the forest, on the elevated 

 banks of a fine lake, which was exclusively used as the village temple. It 

 was built of stout posts, describing a circle, firmly and well sheathed with 

 thick bark, fastened on transverse pieces. It constituted a peculiarity in 

 this structure that there was a circular building within, or, rather, it was 

 arranged after the manner of the whorls of a sea-shell, so that a person 

 could, as it were, involve himself in a labyrinth. It had a single door, sub- 

 ject to the entrance of the priest only. As this person was the political 

 chief of-, the band, and a man of more than ordinary intellect, he appeared 



