TRIBAL DESIGNATIONS.
A large number of these graphic distinctions are to be found in the Dakota Winter Counts.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey reports that the Tsi[c]u side of the Osage tribe, when on a war party, have the face painted red, with mud upon the cheek, below the left eye, as wide as two or more fingers.
The Hañka side of the tribe paint the face red, with a spot of mud upon the right cheek, below the eye, as wide as two or more fingers.
For an ingenious method of indicating by variation of incisions on trees, the tribal use of paint by the Absaroka and Dakota respectively, see page [62].
Figure 68 shows the tribal designation of the Kaiowa by the Dakota, taken from the winter count of Battiste Good, 1814-’15. He calls the winter “Smashed-a-Kaiowa’s-head-in winter.” The tomahawk with which it was done is in contact with the Kaiowa’s head.
Fig. 68.—Kaiowa.
The sign for Kaiowa is made by passing the hands—naturally extended—in short horizontal circles on either side of the head, and the picture is probably drawn to represent the man in the attitude of making this gesture, and not the involuntary raising of the hands upon receiving the blow, such attitudes not appearing in Battiste Good’s system.
Figure 69 is the tribal sign of the Arikara made by the Dakotas, taken from the winter count of Battiste Good for the year 1823-’24, which he calls “General-——-first-appeared-and-the-Dakotas-aided-in-an-attack-on-the-Rees winter”; also “Much-corn winter.”
Fig. 69.—Arikara.
The gun and the arrow in contact with the ear of corn show that both whites and Indians fought the Rees.
The ear of corn signifies “Ree” or Arikara Indians, who are designated in gesture language as “Corn Shellers.”
Figure 70 is the tribal designation of the Omahas by the Dakotas, taken from the winter count of Battiste Good.
Fig. 70. Omaha.
A human head with cropped hair and red cheeks signifies Omaha. This tribe cuts the hair short and uses red paint upon the cheeks very extensively. This character is of frequent occurrence in Battiste Good’s count.
Figure 71 is the tribal designation of the Pani by the Dakotas, taken from Battiste Good’s winter count for the year 1704-’05.
Fig. 71.—Pani.
He says: The lower legs are ornamented with slight projections resembling the marks on the bottom of an ear of corn [husks], and signifies Pani.
A pictograph for Cheyenne is given in Figure 78, page [173], with some remarks.
Figure 72 is the tribal designation for Assiniboine by the Dakotas from winter count of Battiste Good for the year 1709-’10.
Fig. 72.—Assiniboine.
The Dakota pictorial sign for Assiniboine or Hohe, which means the voice, or, as some say, the voice of the musk-ox, is the outline of the vocal organs, as they conceive them, and represents the upper lip and roof of the mouth, the tongue, the lower lip, and chin and neck. The view is lateral, and resembles the sectional aspect of the mouth and tongue.
Figure 73 is the tribal designation of the Gros Ventres, by the same tribe and on the same authority.
Fig. 73.—Gros Ventre.
Two Gros Ventres were killed on the ice by the Dakotas in 1789-’90. The two are designated by two spots of blood on the ice, and killed is expressed by the blood-tipped arrow against the figure of the man above. The long hair, with the red forehead, denotes the Gros Ventre. The red forehead illustrates the manner of applying war paint, and applies, also, to the Arikara and Absaroka Indians, in other Dakota records. The horizontal blue band signifies ice.
Stephen Powers says (Contrib. to N. A. Ethnology, III, p. 109) the Mattoal, of California, differ from other tribes in that the men tattoo. “Their distinctive mark is a round blue spot in the center of the forehead.”
He adds: Among the Mattoal—
The women tattoo pretty much, all over their faces.
In respect to this matter of tattooing there is a theory entertained by some old pioneers which may be worth the mention. They hold that the reason why the women alone tattoo in all other tribes is that in case they are taken captives their own people may be able to recognize them when there comes an opportunity of ransom. There are two facts which give some color of probability to this reasoning. One is that the California Indians are rent into such infinitesimal divisions, any one of which may be arrayed in deadly feud against another at any moment, that the slight differences in their dialects would not suffice to distinguish the captive squaws. A second is that the squaws almost never attempt any ornamental tattooing, but adhere closely to the plain regulation mark of the tribe.
Paul Marcoy, in Travels in South America, N. Y., 1875, Vol. II, page 353, says of the Passés, Yuris, Barrés, and Chumanas, of Brazil, that they mark their faces (in tattoo) with the totem or emblem of the nation to which they belong. It is possible at a few steps distant to distinguish one nation from another.