On account of the manifest importance of determining the prevalence and persistence of the signs as observed half a century ago, an exception is made to the general arrangement hereafter mentioned by introducing after the Wied signs remarks of collaborators who have made special comparisons, and adding to the latter the respective names of those collaborators—as, (Matthews), (Boteler). It is hoped that the work of those gentlemen will be imitated, not only regarding the Wied signs, but many others.
4. The signs given to publication by Capt. R. F. Burton, which, it would be inferred, were collected in 1860-’61, from the tribes met or learned of on the overland stage route, including Southern Dakotas, Utes, Shoshoni, Arapahos, Crows, Pani, and Apaches. They are contained in The City of the Saints, New York, 1862, pp. 123-130.
Information has been recently received to the effect that this collection was not made by the distinguished English explorer from his personal observation, but was obtained by him from one man in Salt Lake City, a Mormon bishop, who, it is feared, gave his own ideas of the formation and use of signs rather than their faithful description.
5. A list read by Dr. D. G. Macgowan, at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society, January 23, 1866, and published in the Historical Magazine, vol. x, 1866, pp. 86, 87, purporting to be the signs of the Caddos, Wichitas, and Comanches.
6. Annotations by Lieut. Heber M. Creel, Seventh United States Cavalry, received in January, 1881. This officer is supposed to be specially familiar with the Cheyennes, among whom he lived for eighteen months; but his recollection is that most of the signs described by him were also observed among the Arapaho, Sioux, and several other tribes.
7. A special contribution from Mr. F. F. Gerard, of Fort A. Lincoln, D. T., of signs obtained chiefly from a deaf-mute Dakota, who has traveled among most of the Indian tribes living between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Gerard’s own observations are based upon the experience of thirty-two years’ residence in that country, during which long period he has had almost daily intercourse with Indians. He states that the signs contributed by him are used by the Blackfeet, (Satsika), Absaroka, Dakota, Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara Indians, who may in general be considered to be the group of tribes referred to by the Prince of Wied.
In the above noted collections the generality of the statements as to locality of the observation and use of the signs rendered it impossible to arrange them in the manner considered to be the best to study the diversities and agreements of signs. For that purpose it is more convenient that the names of the tribe or tribes among which the described signs have been observed should catch the eye in immediate connection with them than that those of the observers only should follow. Some of the latter indeed have given both similar and different signs for more than one tribe, so that the use of the contributor’s name alone would create confusion. To print in every case the name of the contributor, together with the name of the tribe, would seriously burden the paper and be unnecessary to the student, the reference being readily made to each authority through this LIST which also serves as an index. The seven collections above mentioned will therefore be referred to by the names of the authorities responsible for them. Those which now follow are arranged alphabetically by tribes, under headings of Linguistic Families according to Major J. W. Powell’s classification, which are also given below in alphabetic order. Example: The first authority is under the heading Algonkian, and, concerning only the Abnaki tribe, is referred to as (Abnaki I), Chief Masta being the personal authority.
[ ALGONKIAN.]
Abnaki I. A letter dated December 15, 1879, from H. L. Masta, chief of the Abnaki, residing near Pierreville, Quebec.
Arapaho I. A contribution from Lieut. H. B. Lemly, Third United States Artillery, compiled from notes and observations taken by him in 1877, among the Northern Arapahos.