HOMOMORPHS AND SYMMORPHS.
It has been already mentioned that characters substantially the same, or homomorphs, made by one set of people, have a different signification among others. Differing forms for the same general conception or idea are also noticed. These may be termed symmorphs. Some examples under these titles are noted as follows, not for the purpose of giving an even approximately complete list, but merely to show the manner in which they may be compared and sometimes confused with similar characters, some of which appear in other parts of this paper.
Fig. 168.
Figure 168 represents Dakota lodges as drawn by the Hidatsa. These characters when carelessly or rudely drawn can only be distinguished from personal marks by their position and their relation to other characters.
Fig. 169.
Figure 169 signifies earth lodges among the Hidatsa. The circles resemble the ground plan of the lodges, while the central markings are intended to represent the upright poles, which support the roof on the interior. Some of these are similar to the Kadiak drawing for island, Figure 47, page [147].
Fig. 170.
Figure 170 represents buildings erected by white men; the character is generally used by the Hidatsa to designate Government buildings and traders’ stores.
Fig. 171.
Figure 171 is the Hidatsati, the home of the Hidatsa. Inclosure with earth lodges within.
The Arikara sometimes simply mark dots or spots to signify men; when in connection with small crescents to denote horses. The numerical strength of a war party is sometimes shown in this manner, as in Figure 172.
Fig. 172.
Figure 173 was drawn for dead man by the Arikara. Cf. “nothing there,” page [168].
Fig. 173.
Figure 174. In records of personal events the two lines above the head of the fallen enemy denote among the Hidatsa that the person to whom the exploit refers was the second to strike the body.
Fig. 174.
Figure 175 shows the third person to strike the enemy, as drawn by the Hidatsa.
Fig. 175.
Figure 176 means a scalp taken. Hidatsa.
Fig. 176.
Figure 177 signifies, in Hidatsa drawing, the man who struck the enemy, and who took his gun.
Fig. 177.
The following specimens from the writer’s card collection are presented as having some individual interest:
Figure 178 was drawn by a Dakota Indian, at Mendota, Minnesota, and represents a man holding a scalp in one hand, while in the other is the gun, the weapon used in the destruction of the enemy. The short vertical lines below the periphery of the scalp indicate hair. The line crossing the leg of the Indian is only an indication of the ground upon which the figure is supposed to stand.
Fig. 178.
Figure 179 is taken from the winter count of Battiste Good for the year 1840-’41. He names it “Came-and-killed-five-of-Little-Thunder’s-brothers winter” and “Battiste-alone-returns winter.” He explains that the five were killed in an encounter with the Panis. Battiste Good was the only one of the party to escape. The capote is shown, and signifies war, as in several other instances of the same record. The five short vertical lines below the arrow signify that five were killed.
Fig. 179.
Figure 180 is taken from Mrs. Eastman’s Dahcotah, or Life and Legends of the Sioux, New York, 1849, p. xxvii, and shows a Dakota method of recording the taking of prisoners. Nos. 1 and 3 are the prisoners; No. 1 being a female, as denoted by the presence of mammæ, and No. 3 a male. No. 2 is the person making the capture. It is also noted that the prisoners are without hands, to signify their helplessness.
Fig. 180.
In this connection the following quotation is taken from the Historical Collections of Louisiana, Part III, 1851, p. 124, describing a pictograph, as follows: “There were two figures of men without heads and some entire. The first denoted the dead and the second the prisoners. One of my conductors told me on this occasion that when there are any French among either, they set their arms akimbo, or their hands upon their hips, to distinguish them from the savages, whom they represent with their arms hanging down. This distinction is not purely arbitrary; it proceeds from these people having observed that the French often put themselves in this posture, which is not used among them.”
Fig. 181.—Circle of men. Dakota.
Figure 181 is taken from the winter count of Battiste Good for the year 1851-’52. In the year 1851-’52, the first issue of goods was made to the Indians, and the character represents a blanket surrounded by a circle to show how the Indians sat awaiting the distribution. The people are represented by small lines running at right angles to the circle.
Fig. 182.—Shooting from river banks. Dakota.
Figure 182 is also from Battiste Good. An encounter is represented between two tribes, each on the banks of a river, from which arrows were fired across the water at the opposing party. The vertical lines represent the banks, while the opposing arrows denote a fight or an encounter.
Fig. 183.—Panther. Haida.
The drawing, Figure 183, was made by Mr. J. G. Swan while on a visit to the Prince of Wales Archipelago, where he found two carved figures with panthers’ heads, and claws upon the fore feet, and human feet attached to the hind legs. These mythical animals were placed upon either side of a corpse which was lying in state, awaiting burial.
This union of the human figure with that of other animals is of interest in comparison with the well-known forms of similar character in the art of Egypt and Assyria.
Fig. 184.—Wolf head. Haida.
The feet of the accompanying Figure 184 cannot be seen, being hidden in the head of the figure beneath. It is squatting, with its hands on its knees, and has a wolf’s head. Arms, legs, mouth, jaws, nostrils, and ear-holes are scarlet; eyebrows, irises, and edges of the ears black. The figure is reproduced from The Northwest Coast of America, being results of recent ethnological researches from the collections of the Royal Museums at Berlin. (Trans. from German.) New York, Pl. 7, Fig. 3.
The accompanying illustration, Figure 185, represents a knife from Africa, which bears upon both sides of the blade incised characters of the human form, strikingly similar to those found among the Ojibwa. The lines running upward from the head are identical with an Ojibwa form of representing a meda, or Shaman, while the hour-glass form of body is also frequently found, though generally used to designate a woman, the lower part of the body representing the skirt. In the present instance, it may have allusion to the peculiar skirt-like dress often worn by the men among the tribes of Northern Africa.
Fig. 185.—Drawings on an African knife.
The lines extending from the middle of the body downward to below the skirt and terminating in an irregular knob somewhat resemble the Pueblo method of designating sex, the male being shown by a small cross, and the female by a simple, short, vertical line attached to the perinæum.
The upper character, in B, in addition to the line and circle extending downward from the lower extremity, shows a bird’s leg and toes at either side. This is also, according to Schoolcraft, an Ojibwa method of depicting a person or being who is endowed with the power of flight into the upper regions, hence one of superior knowledge.
The history of the knife here figured is received from Mr. Thomas M. Chatard, of the National Museum, who in turn obtained it from his father, Mr. F. E. Chatard, Baltimore, Maryland, who writes that it was obtained at Cape Mesurado, Africa, in November, 1822, where the natives had attacked a recently established colony. The Africans were repulsed, and the knife was subsequently picked up on the battle-field and brought to America by the late William Seton, an officer of the United States Navy.