Picture-Writing of the American Indians / Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1888-89, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1893, pages 3-822

by Garrick Mallery

Fig. 615.

Fig. 615.—Fighting-Cuss. Red-Cloud’s Census. This warrior appears, while only armed with a lance, to be successfully fighting an enemy who has a gun.

Fig. 616.

Fig. 616.—Man-with-hearts. Red-Cloud’s Census. There is no information as to the significance of this drawing, but it is conjectured that the warrior had eaten the heart of one or more enemies, as was frequently done. This was not cannibalism, but a superstitious and sometimes ceremonial performance, by which the eater acquired the qualities of the victim, and in this case would be supposed to have more than one heart, i. e., the courage attributed to those hearts.

Fig. 617.

Fig. 617.—Takes-the-Gun. Red-Cloud’s Census. It appears from the name that the man is not handling his own gun, but is on the point of grasping and taking away the weapon of another person.