Fig. 1041.
Fig. 1041.—They could not hunt on account of the deep snow, and were compelled to subsist on anything they could get, as herbs (pézi) and roots. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1790-’91.
Fig. 1042.
Fig. 1042.—They had to sell many mules and horses to get food, as they were starving. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1868-’69. White-Cow-Killer calls it “Mules-sold-by-hungry-Sioux winter.” The figure is understood as a conventionalized sign by reference to the historic fact mentioned. The line of union between the horses’ necks shows that the subject-matter was not a horse trade, but that both of the animals, i. e., many, were disposed of.
Fig. 1043.
Fig. 1043.—Kingsborough (l) gives the pictograph recording that “In the year of One Rabbit and A. D. 1454 so severe a famine occurred that the people died of starvation.” It is reproduced in Fig 1043.