Properties are attributed to this instrument similar to those of the small bags prepared by the Shaman, which are carried suspended from the neck by means of string or buckskin cords.
Subject-matter connected with this heading appears in several parts of this paper, e. g., Figure 46, on page [141], and the characters for 1824-’25 on [plate XLII].
CUSTOMS.
Pictographs in the writer’s possession, to be classed under this very general heading, in addition to those that are more intimately connected with other headings, and therefore arranged in other parts of this paper, may be divided into those relating to Associations and those exhibiting details of daily life and habits.
ASSOCIATIONS.
It is well known that voluntary associations, generally of a religious character, have existed among the Indians, the members of which are designated by special paintings and marks entirely distinct from those relating to their clan-totems and name-totems. This topic requires too minute details to be entered upon in this paper after the space taken by other divisions. That it may become a feature in the interpretation of pictographs is shown by the following account:
Dr. W. J. Hoffman obtained a copy of drawings on a pipe-stem, which had been made and used by Ottawa Indians. Both of the flat surfaces bore incisions of figures, which are represented in Figure 120. On each side are four spaces, upon each of which are various characters, three spaces on one side being reserved for the delineation of human figures, each having diverging lines from the head upward, denoting their social status as chiefs or warriors and medicine-men.
Fig. 120.—Ottawa pipe-stem.