Fig. 205.
Figure 205, reproduced from Schoolcraft, I, Pl. 64, opposite page 424, is a drawing from the banks of the River Yenesei, Siberia, by Von Strahlenberg, in his historical and geographical description of the northern and eastern parts of Europe, Asia, etc. London, 1738.
The similarity to characters on [Figure 185] is obvious.
Fig. 206.
Figure 206, also from Strahlenberg, and quoted in Schoolcraft, Vol. I, Pl. 66, Fig. 4, opp. p. 342, was found in Siberia, and is identical with the character which, according to Schoolcraft, is drawn by the Ojibwa to represent speed and the power of superior knowledge by exaltation to the regions of the air, being, in his opinion, a combination of bird and man.
It is to be noticed that some Ojibwa recently examined regard the character merely as a human figure with outstretched arms, and fringes pendant therefrom. It has, also, a strong resemblance to some of the figures in the Dakota Winter Counts (those for 1854-’55 and 1866-’67, pages 121 and 124, respectively), in which there is no attempt understood to signify any thing more than a war-dress.
Fig. 207.
Figure 207, according to Schoolcraft, Vol. I, Pl. 58, No. 58, is the Ojibwa drawing symbolic for an American.