The upper right-hand drawing of the three trees with peculiar devices near their several roots was also printed from one of the Kejimkoojik rocks. It became intelligible to the present writer after examination of a silver disk in the possession of Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, of Calais, Maine, which, not long before, had been owned by the head chief of the Passamaquoddy tribe, whose title had been modernized into “governor.” The disk, which is copied in the upper left-hand corner, was probably not of Indian workmanship, but appeared to have been ordered from a silversmith to be made from a Passamaquoddy design. It was known to represent the three superior officers of the tribe mentioned and had been worn by a former governor as a prized sign of his rank. The middle device is for the governor and the right and left for the officers next in rank to him. The devices at the roots of the trees of the drawing before mentioned are noticeably similar. They may have been made, as were most of the other characters on the Kejimkoojik rocks, by the Micmacs, in which case it would seem that they designated their chiefs by emblems similar to those used by their congeners of the Passamaquoddy tribe or some member of the last-named tribe may have drawn the emblem on the rocks in the Micmac territory. In any case there is encouragement in the attempt to decipher petroglyphs from the fact that the tree drawing in Nova Scotia, which seemed without significance, was readily elucidated by a metal inscription found in Maine, the interpretation being verified through living Indians, not only in the two geographic divisions mentioned, but also by the Amalecites in New Brunswick.
Father P. J. De Smet (b), referring to the Piegan and Blackfeet or Satsika, describes the great Tail-Bearer:
His tail, composed of buffalo and horse hair, is about 7 or 8 feet long, and instead of wearing it behind, according to the usual fashion, it is fastened above his forehead and there formed into a spiral coil resembling a rhinoceros’s horn. Such a tail among the Blackfeet is a mark of greater distinction and bravery—in all probability the larger the tail the braver the person.
The following description of a Chilkat ceremonial shirt, with the illustration reproduced in Fig. 552, is taken from Niblack (c):
Fig. 552.—Chilkat ceremonial shirt.
The upper character in the figure represents the sea lion, and that below is a rear view of the same shirt ornamented with a design of wasko, a mythological animal of the wolf species. The edges and arm holes are bordered with red cloth and the whole garment is neatly made.
The same authority describes a Chilkat cloak, with the illustration reproduced as Fig. 553, as follows:
Fig. 553.—Chilkat ceremonial cloak.