It is, moreover, a good thing to take the young through the stages of race development; just as the young bird must run for a send-off, before it flies, so pictography, being its earliest form, is the natural first step to writing.
In this dictionary I give the written form after many of the signs that have an established pictograph. These are chiefly from Mallery, 10th Annual Report Bureau of American Ethnology. A few are popularly accepted among ourselves.
NOTE
The letters, initials, etc., after the paragraphs indicate the chief authority for the sign.
Where no authority is given, it means that the sign was observed by myself among the Cheyenne Indians. Those ascribed to other Indians also were observed by myself. Besides these the following are cited:
C. Standing for Captain William Philo Clark, U. S. A.
Scott, for General Hugh L. Scott, U. S. A.
Seger, for John M. Seger, of Colony, Oklahoma.
R. B., for Robert Burns, the Cheyenne interpreter at Concho, Oklahoma.
Long, for Major Stephen H. Long, U. S. A.