Symbols of War, Love and History

Symbolic Figures in the Departments of the War Dance, and of Love. Translation of a Love Song and two War Songs. Further examples of these Devices. Their ultimate and most permanent mode of employment in recording Historical Events, in the Inscriptions, called Muzzinabikon. Account of two separate Inscriptions from the Banks of Lake Superior, recording the crossing of that Lake, by a War Party, in Canoes, led by Myeengun. Symbolic Alphabet of the Kekewin and the Kekenowin.

Nundobunewin, or War. The devices used to commemorate the incidents of war, among the northern tribes, will now be brought forward. Most of these are employed to excite the memory in the recital of songs preparatory to the setting out of war parties. It will be seen by the annexed figures, that these devices are chiefly of the ke-ke-no-win, or highest grade of the symbolic.

The figures from 1 to 4, Plate 56, C., comprise what is deemed a continuous song, and although each stanza of it may be sung by a separate individual, the general theme is preserved. Figure 1 represents the sun, which is to be regarded in this connection as not only the source of light and knowledge to men, but a symbol of vigilance. The warrior merely sings I am rising. In figure 2 he assumes to possess this power himself, and by one hand pointing to the earth, and another extended to the sky, declares his wide-spreading power and fearful prowess. He sings, I take the sky I take the earth. In number 3 he appears under the symbol of the moon, denoting the night to be the season of secrecy and warlike enterprise. With a proud feeling of exaltation, he sings I walk through the sky. In figure 4 he personifies Venus, here called the Eastern Woman, or the Evening Star, who is thus appealed to, as a witness of his valor and warlike cunning. He sings, The Eastern Woman calls. The entire song as thus expressed, in the native dialect, is this:

1st War Song.

Divested, in some degree, of its symbolic shape, the verses may be read thus:

In the ensuing six figures, (A, Plate 56,) a like unity of theme is preserved. Figure 1 personifies an active and swift-footed warrior; he is therefore depicted with wings. He sings, I wish to have the body of the swiftest bird. In No. 2 he is re presented as standing under the morning star, which, as a sentinel, is set to watch, or should terminate his nocturnal enterprise. He sings, Every day I look at you; the half of the day I sing my song. In No. 3, he is depicted as standing under the centre of the sky, with his war club and rattle. He sings, I throw away my body. In figure 4, the eagle, a symbol of carnage, is represented as performing the circuit of the sky. He sings, The birds take a flight in the air. In figure 5, he imagines himself to be slain on the field of battle. He sings, Full happy am I to be numbered with the slain. And in figure 6, he consoles himself with the idea of posthumous fame, under the symbol of a spirit in the sky. He sings, The spirits on high repeat my name.

2d War-Song.

It is not deemed necessary to encumber these pages with the native words, which are before me, nor with any farther attempt to disencumber them from their symbolic meanings. The system adopted in the preceding song will apply to this, and to all others, which shall be selected with similar care and symbolic propriety in the arrangement. By this method, these songs, which have been usually exhibited as meager and disjointed portions of rhapsodies, are shown to have a consistency and import which may well be supposed to inspire the singer with martial warmth, and prepare his mind for deeds of daring. The symbolic pictures form, indeed, the true key to the nug-a-moon-un, or songs, and show to what extent the mnemonic symbols are applied.

Sageawin, or Love. As a proper appendage to this part of the inquiry, I subjoin the seven following mnemonic symbols of love. (B, Plate 56.) The subject is one which will scarcely bear to be treated of at much length, for which, indeed, but little space can be assigned, and yet, without some allusion to it, there would be manifestly a branch of the inquiry, and not an unimportant one, wanting. And here also, as in war, in the meda, and in the symbols of hunting, the theme is to be regarded as unbroken.

Love Song.

Figure 1 represents a person who affects to be invested with a magic power to charm the other sex, which makes him regard himself as a monedo, or god. He depicts himself as such, and therefore sings It is my painting that makes me a god. In No. 2, he further illustrates this idea by his power in music. He is depicted as beating a magic drum. He sings Hear the sounds of my voice, of my song; it is my voice. In No. 3, he denotes the effects of his necromancy. He surrounds himself with a secret lodge. He sings I cover myself in sitting down by her. In No. 4, ho depicts the intimate union of their affections, by joining two bodies with one continuous arm. He sings I can make her blush, because I hear all she says of me-. In No. 5, he represents her on an island. He sings Were she on a distant island, I could make her swim over. In No. 6, she is depicted asleep. He boasts of his magical powers, which are capable of reaching her heart. He sings Though she was far off, even on the other hemisphere. Figure 7 depicts a naked heart. He sings I speak to your heart. Still further divested of their symbolic dress, and relieved of some points of peculiarity, the entire nugamoon may be thus read:

That the system of mnemonic symbols may be clearly understood, and the kind of aid which it imparts to the memory appreciated, it is applied, in the following example, to the eight verses of the latter part of the 30th of Proverbs, from the 25th to the 32d inclusive. The English version of these, being hi every one s hand, need not be quoted. The following is their translation in that now rare and extraordinary effort of literary-mission labor, Eliot s Bible in the Massachusetts language.

Verse 25. Annunekqsog missinnaog matta manuhkesegig, qut onch quaquoshwe-tamwog ummeetsuong au oo nepunae.
26. Ogkoshquog nananoochumwesuog, qut onch weekitteaog qussukquanehta.
27. Chansompsog wanne ukeihtassootamooeog, qut onch sohhamwog nag wame moeu chipwushaog.
28. Mamunappeht anunuhqueohts wunnutchegash, kah appu tahsootamukkom-ukqut.
29. Nishwinash nish wariumaushomoougish nux yauunash tapeunkgshaumooash.
30. Quonuonu noh anue menuhkesit kenugke puppinashimwut, kah matta qush-kehtauoou howausinne.
31. Quohgunonu, nomposhimwe goats wonk, kah ketasioot, noh wanue kowan ayeuuhkone waabehtauunk.
32. Mattammagwe usseas, tah shinadtkuhhog, asah matanatamas, ponish kenutcheg kuttoonut.

The symbolic figures represented in A, Plate 47, may be put to denote the import of the principal object of each verse, the symbol being taken as the key.

Number 25. An ant.
Number 26. A coney.
Number 27. A locust.
Number 28. A spider.
Number 29. A river a symbol of motion.
Number 30. A lion.
Number 31. A greyhound. 2. A he-goat. 3. A king.
Number 32. A man foolishly lifting up himself to take hold of the heavens.

It must be quite evident that while this primitive mode of notation is wholly inadequate to the purpose of recording sounds, any farther than the mere names of the objects prefigured by the key-picture, yet, the words themselves having been previously committed to memory, these key-pictures are a strong aid and stimulant to the memory. This is precisely the scope and object of the Indian bark pictographs and " music boards," and other modes of drawings intended to denote songs or chants. And where many such are to be sung, as is the case with the Medas and singers in their public ceremonies, the songs being generally short, it may be conceived to be a system of much utility to them. It is, at once, their book and musical scale.

Muzzinabikon, Rock Writing or History. The application of picture-writing among the tribes has now been traced, from its first or simple drawings in the inscription of totems and memorials on grave-posts, through the various methods adopted to convey information on sheets of bark, scarified trees, and other substances, and through the institutions and songs of the Meda, and the Wabeno societies, the mysteries of the Jeesukawin, the business of hunting, and the incidents of war and affection. It re mains only to consider their use in an historical point of view, or in recording, in a more permanent form than either of the preceding instances, such transactions in the affairs of a wandering forest life as appear to them to have demanded more labored attempts to preserve.

The term kekewin is applied to picture-writing generally. Another syllable, (no) is thrown into the centre of the word, when the figures are more particularly designed to convey instruction. The term then is kekenowin. It is the distinction which the native vocabulary appears to establish, between simple representative figures and symbols. By reference to a prior page, other terms, descriptive of other means of communicating information by signs, or emblems, will be observed. The term Muz-zin-a-bik-on, is strictly applied to inscriptions on rocks, or, as the word literally implies, Rock-writing. Izzi is one of those general stock roots in the language, denoting generic matter or substance, which enters into a variety of compound words and phrases. As the vowel, i, is permutable under the influence of the juxtaposition of various prefixed consonants, the sound changes frequently, to uzzi, ozzi, &c. The letter M, as an initial in compound words in this language, is generally derived from the adjective, Monaudud, (a bad thing, or substance,) and denotes a bad or defective quality. In this instance, its meaning and office is, evidently, to denote a mysterious import; most things of a mysterious nature being associated in the Indian mind with fear, or a bad quality. Aubik, the third syllable, is rock, and the termination in cm, (pronounced oan,) is a common inanimate plural. Muzziniegun, a single letter, book, writing, or piece of written or printed-paper, derives its first two syllables from the same roots, and has the same meaning. Its termination in egun, instead of aubick, is from jeegun, a generic word for implement, or anything artificially made. The word is frequently, most frequently, indeed, contracted to gun; and in this instance means paper for which the natives had no word. The precise difference between the two terms, therefore, is, that between paper writing and rock-writing.

Of rock writing, or muzzinabikon, there are many examples in North America; but most of the known inscriptions consist of single, or at most, but few figures. Allusion has been made to several instances of this kind, which are generally in the simple representative character. There has been noticed a striking disposition in the persons inscribing these figures, to place them in positions on the rock, not easily accessible, as on the perpendicular face of a cliff, to reach which, some artificial contrivance must have been necessary. The object clearly was, to produce a feeling of surprise or mystery. The mottled and shaded appearance on the imposing line of coast on Lake Superior, called the Pictured Rocks, is not at all the result of pictured writing. No artificial writing of any kind has been noticed there. The term has been introduced into popular use to denote a geological effect analogous to that for which, in mineralogy the Germans have the appropriate term of ange laufenen farben, or iridescent colors.¹

There exists, however, an inscription at a point west of this precipitous portion of the coast, on the banks of the Namabin, or Carp River, about half a day s march from its mouth. The following copy of this inscription (Plate 57) was made by the chief Chingivauk, and drawn on birch bark. He also explained the symbols and gave its full interpretation. There lived on that stream, as he states, years ago, a chief of the name of Myeengun, or the Wolf of the Mermaid, (or rather, as the language has it, Merman totem,) who was skilled in the Meda, and was invested by the opinion of his people, with a character of much skill and secret power. He practised the arts and ceremonies of the Meda, and made ckeekwondum. By these means he acquired influence, and raised a war party which crossed Lake Superior in canoes. The expedition was not barren in other respects of success, but this exploit was considered as a direct evidence of the influence of his gods, and it gave him so much credit, that he deter mined to perpetuate the memory of it, by a Muz-zin-a-bik-on. He made two inscriptions, one on the south, and the other on the north shores of the lake. Both were on the precipitous faces of rocks. Copies of both are presented. These copies were made with the point of a knife, on a roll of bark of firm texture, and exhibit an evidence of ingenuity and dexterity in the art, which is remarkable. They are transcribed in the two following pictographs, marked A and B., (Plate 57)

Figure 1 (A) represents the chief Myeengun, whose family totem is given under the form of his lodge, (Number 2.) This lodge is to be regarded as ancestral. The totem Nebanabee, or the Merman, No. 3, fills it, and symbolically denotes that all its members bear the same mark. His individual name is given by Figure No. 4, the wolf. The whole of the remaining eight figures, are symbolical representations of the various spirits, or gods, upon whom he relied. Number 5 is the Misshibezhieu, or fabulous panther. The drawing shows a human head crowned with horns, the usual symbol of power, with the body and claws of a panther, and a mane. The name of the panther, Misshibezhieu, is a great lynx. The crosses upon the body denote night, and are supposed to indicate the time proper for the exercise of the powers it conveys. Number 6 is a representation of the same figure without a mane, and without crosses, and denotes the exercise of its powers by day-light. In Number 7 he depicts his reliance upon Mong, or the loon; in Number 8, upon Mukwah, or the black bear; and in Number 9, on Moaz, or the moose. Each of these objects is emblematic of some property, or qualification, desired by the warrior. The loon, whose cry foretells changes of the weather, denotes forecast; the bear, strength and sagacity;, and the moose, wariness, being the most keen of hearing and wary of any of the quadrupeds. In Number 10, he depicts a kind of fabulous serpent resembling a saurian, having two feet, and armed with horns. Both these appendages are believed to be symbolic of its swiftness and power over life. It is called Misshikinabik, or Great Serpent. In Number 11 there is shown a reptile of analogous powers, but it has a body mounted on four legs, and is therefore more clearly of the lizard, or saurian type. The name is, however, the same.

Thus far are detailed the means and powers upon which the chief relied, and these were (symbolically) inscribed in the region of his residence, on the southern shores of the lake. The results of the expedition are given in pictograph B, Plate 57, which was painted on the face of a rock at WAZHENAUBIKINIGUNING AUGAWONG, or the Place of the Writing, or Inscription Rock, on the north shores of Lake Superior, Canada. It is near a bay, between this point and Namabin River, that the lake was crossed. The passage was made in five canoes of various sizes, and numbering, in all, fifty-one men. Of these, sixteen were in number one, nine in number two, ten in number three, eight in number four, and eight in number five. The first canoe was led by Kish-kemunasee, or the Kingfisher, (figure Number 6,) who was his chief auxiliary. The crossing occupied three days, depicted by the figure of three suns, under a sky and a rainbow, in Number 7. In Numbers 8, 9, and 10 he introduces three objects of reliance, not previously brought forward. Number 8 is the Mikenok, or land-tortoise, an important symbol, which appears to imply the chief point of triumph, that is, reaching land. Number 9 is the horse, and reveals the date of this adventure as being subsequent to the settlement of Canada. The Meda is depicted on his back, crowned with feathers, and holding up his drumstick, such as is used in the mystic incantations. Number 10 is the Migazee, or eagle, the prime symbol of courage. In Number 11 he records the aid he received from the fabulous night panther this panther, by the way, is generally located in the clouds and in Number 12 a like service is recorded to the credit of the great serpent.

The following explanations of Plates 58 and 59, exhibit a general synopsis of the symbolic and representative devices in common use.

Plate 58
Number 1. Chronological and arithmetical devices.
Number 2. Symbol of a headless body.
Number 3. Symbol of a headless body.
Number 4. Devices representing the human head.
Number 5. Death s head symbolically eclipsed, or veiled.
Number 6. The human figure representative.
Number 7. Symbol of a man walking at night, or under the moon.
Number 8. Symbol of the sun.
Number 9. Do. do.
Number 10. A spirit, or man enlightened from on high, having the head of the sun.
Number 11. Totemic mark of the sun.
Number 12. The moon dry quarter.
Number 13. The moon flaming.
Number 14. The moon eclipsed, or at night.
Number 15. A man s head, with ears open to conviction.
Number 16. A winged female.
Number 17. Clouds.
Number 18. The sun filling the world.
Number 19. A Meda endowed by the sun with mystic power, denoted by the appended plumes and rays.
Number 20. A Wabeno.
Number 21. The sky.
Number 22. Death s heads.
Number 23. Hearing ears.
Number 24. The sea.
Number 25. A spirit.
Number 26. Do.
Number 27. A Jossakeed.
Number 28. A sick man under the influence of necromancy.
Number 29. A Meda.
Number 30. An evil, or one-sided Meda.
Number 31. Medical skill the human heart symbolic.
Number 32. An idol.
Number 33. A seer s image.
Number 34. The human heart a symbol.
Number 35. Symbols of the heart.
Number 36. A headless Wabeno.
Number 37. A man loaded with presents.
Number 38. The society of the Wabeno seated in a lodge.
Number 39. Grand medicine.
Number 40. Domestic circle.
Number 41. A fortress European.

Plate 59
Number 42. A necromantic professor filling the world with his power and skill.
Number 43. symbol of power.
Number 44 Gushkepitugush, or magic medicine-sack.
Number 45. A magic drum.
Number 46. The sun inclined to hear.
Number 47. A magic bone lifted by a meda.
Number 48. A magic bone flying.
Number 49. A wampum belt.
Number 50. A cormorant under magic influence.
Number 51. The sun in a hearing attitude.
Number 52. War-clubs.
Number 53. The medical power of a plant filling the world, and reaching to the sky.
Number 54. A medical professor botanic.
Number 55. A Wabeno headless standing on the world holding human hearts
Number 56. Flames symbolic.
Number 57. A Wabeno having power to stand on half the world.
Number 58. An American symbolic.
Number 59. A mösa a species of worm, alluded to by the Wabenos.
Number 60. A Wabeno, sitting on the top of "the circle of the heavens."
Number 61. A magic ring and a dart symbolic of magic skill.
Number 62. A mer-man a totem.
Number 63. A female prophet.
Number 64. A symbol of war.
Number 65. A symbol of peace.
Number 66. Goods a symbol.
Number 67. Symbol of time.
Number 68. The great horned serpent.
Number 69. A spirit of evil.
Number 70. Serpent.
Number 71. Sociality.
Number 72 . The kingfisher a totem.
Number 73. Spirit of evil, looking into heaven.
Number 74. The tortoise a totem.
Number 75. A belt or baldric nocturnal fraternity.
Number 76. A meda with great magic power.
Number 77. A budding war-club.
Number 78. A Jossakeed, sustained by the power of birds to look into events.
Number 79. Fabulous serpent.
Number 80. Stuffed bird a magic symbol.
Number 81. A doctor, having great skill in plants. The birds give him the power of ubiquity.
Number 82. A magic grasp.
Number 83. Hearing serpent.
Number 84. A symbol of the power to look into futurity.
Number 85. A man clothed in a bear s skin.
Number 86. Symbol of power over the heart.
Number 87. Symbol of spiritual power.
Number 88. Representative figure of a female.
Number 89. The catfish a totem.
Number 90. The eagle a totem.
Number 91. Disabled man.
Number 92. Pipes.
Number 93. A bad spirit of the air.
Number 94. Spirit of the blue sky.
Number 95. A woodpecker, flying off in a direct line.
Number 96. A bad spirit of the sky.
Number 97. Symbol of a Wabeno standing on the globe. Totem of his name.
Number 98. The sun.
Number 99. A spirit of prophecy of the sky.
Number 100. The serpent penetrating the earth.
Number 101. Plants symbols of medical power.
Number 102. A beaver s tail.
Number 103. Symbol of magical power.
Number 104. A Meda s power, symbolized by an uplifted arm.
Number 105, Symbol of a Meda s power, holding the clouds in his hands.
Number 106. Botanical power.
Number 107. The turtle.
Number 108. Medical power a symbol.
Number 109. Do. do. do.
Number 110. Monster issuing from the earth.
Number 111. Symbol of 40 heads killed in battle.
Number 112. Flag at a grave.
Number 113. A meda with power.
Number 114. Symbol of death.
Number 115. A flag at a grave.
Number 116. War lance-club.
Number 117. Symbol of war.
Number 118. A bale of goods.
Number 119. A canoe hunter s.
Number 120. A monster figure used in the game of the bowl.
Number 121. A chief,
Number 122. A bad spirit half fledged.
Number 123. Symbol of mythical power.
Number 124. A great war captain with one hand he grasps the earth, with the other the sky.
Number 125. Symbol of a warrior bold as the sun.
Number 126. Reindeer s head a totem.
Number 127. A canoe filled with warriors.
Number 128. Instruction in magic.
Number 129. An encampment symbolic.
Number 130. A beaver under medical influence.
Number 131. A wolf a totem.
Number 132. A fabulous bear having a copper tail.
Number 133. Symbol of speed.
Number 134. A crane a totem.
Number 135. A deer a totem.
Number 136. A fabulous snake.
Number 137. Satanic power a symbol.
Number 138. Crossed serpents a symbol of wariness.
Number 139. Symbol of the death of a man whose totem is the crane.
Number 140. Symbol of death of the bear totem.

These signs by no means fill the entire symbolic alphabet of the Kekenowin and Kekewin, but will serve to denote something of their capacity of symbolizing objects in the various departments of nature.

Universality and Antiquity of the Pictographic Method Among the Northern Tribes.

Geographical Area covered by the Migrations of the Algonquin Tribes; The great fixity of Mental and Physical Character, caused by their Religious Beliefs; These Beliefs of a strongly marked Oriental Type; Their Pictography to be traced back to the North Atlantic; Their Ethnological Identity with the Ancient New England Tribes; Examples of Indian Petitions to the President of the United States.

Pictorial inscriptions of the character of the Muzzinabiks of the Western Indians, particularly of those of the Algonquin type of languages, are to be traced eastward from Lake Superior and the sources of the Mississippi, on the back line of their migration, through Lake Huron, by its northern communications, to the shores of the Northern Atlantic. One of these has been previously alluded to as existing on the Straits of St. Mary's, and it is believed that the art will be found to have been in use, and freely employed at all periods of their history, embracing the residence of then ancestors on the shores of the Atlantic. The ancient inscription existing at the mouth of the Assonet or Taunton River, between the States of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, is believed to be a record, essentially, of this symbolic character, in scribed around an old Scandinavian inscription.

It is found that very few essential changes in their forest arts or character have taken place among the North American tribes for several centuries. There is scarcely anything more worthy of remark than this general fixity of character, and indisposition to change, or adopt any new traits, or abandon any old ones. The state of a society, simple and erratic, and molded together on the basis of petty predatory wars and hunting, did not demand extraordinary efforts. The arts that sufficed one gene ration sufficed the next. There was always a sanctity, in their localities, and a strong appeal to prejudice in a reference to ancestral customs, and to places of actual residence and achievements. There was never a more powerful appeal to be made by their speakers than is contained in the epithets, the" land of my fathers, and, the graves of my ancestors. The opinion that prior times had attained all that was worth attainment, one of the dogmas of Pontiac, has had the most paralyzing effect upon the progress of the hunter tribes. Elksquatowa, the Shawnee Prophet, had a powerful effect in confirming them in the miraculous power of his Jeesukáwin. It also had this further effect, that if they learnt nothing new they forgot nothing old. The old religion and old notions of barbarism had charms for them. How far into remote antiquity this remark should be carried may, perhaps, admit of question, but its truth is vindicated by the three centuries which have elapsed since the discovery; for, with the exception of mere changes of articles of dress and arms, and partial modes of subsistence, the wild-wood tribes of A. D. 1850 are, mentally, physically, and characteristically, identical with those of A. D. 1500.

One of the great causes of this fixity and identity we may add, the great cause of both, is to be found in their system of religious belief and worship.

The religion and the mythology of the North American Indians, are the two prolific sources of their opinions. Their belief on these heads may be confidently asserted to have been the cause of action in many of the most important events which mark the history of the race, ancient and modern. And the topic is one which demands a careful investigation in the examination of questions of this nature. The idea and the picture representing the idea, are too intimately connected to allow the one to be well understood without a knowledge of the other. Great diversity has prevailed, as prior data demonstrate, in the number and character of the symbols which have served to conduct their worship; but there are certain leading principles to be traced through these diversities of types and signs. Wherever examined, whether in the ancient seats of their power in New England, or on the plains of the Mississippi, or the borders of the Lakes, their religion is found to be based on the belief in the existence of a Great Spirit, or universal Power, who is regarded as the Wazhetoad, or if the object made be animate, Wazheaud, or maker. Practically, and as denoted by the animate roots of active verbs implying life, or being, he is recognized as the Original Animating Principle. As such, he is believed to be invariably Good, and inseparable from the Principle of Good. But, evidently to account for evil influences in the world, the Indian theology provides an antagonistical power which is represented as the impersonation of the Principle of Evil. Both these powers are called Monedo, and admit the prefix Great, but the latter is never denominated Wazheaud or Maker. This is a very ancient oriental belief, as ancient, certainly, as the age of Zoroaster, by whom it appears to have been originally constructed to account for all conflicting moral phenomena in the government of the world. Our tribes are certainly innocent of any refined theory or reflection of this kind; but they adhere, with rigid pertinacity, to the doctrine of the two antagonistical powers of Good and Evil. And this tells the history of their origin and descent, with more plainness than their mounds, their anomalous style of architecture, or their unread signs and hieroglyphics. These two principles are, however, found to be so attenuated and infinitely diffused, and in this diffusion they have become so materialized and localized, and so prone to manifest themselves in the shape of created matter, animate, and inanimate, that every class of creation, and every species of every class, is seized upon by their forest worshippers, as an individual god. The whole earth is thus peopled with imaginary deities of benign or malignant power. The two classes are perpetually antagonistical to each other, and their votaries are thus kept in a perpetual state of fear and distrust.

No example of the Indian picture writing has been consulted, in which this system of belief is not strongly brought out. Whoever has attentively examined the preceding pages must have been impressed with the multiplicity of these minor deities, and with the complex character of the Indian polytheism. Upon a system of spirit-worship thus diffuse, is engrafted the idea of medical magic, called Meda, and the oriental notion of Oracles, or Prophets, called Jossakeeds. These constitute the elements in their belief. The preceding details demonstrate that there is no department of Indian life which they do not invade with an absorbing interest. They are the leading influences in war and hunting. They have converted the medical art, in a great degree, into necromantic rites. They furnish objects of remembrance upon graves, they animate the arcana of the mystical societies, and they constitute no small part of the pictorial matter recorded on trees, on rolls of bark and skins, and even on the hard surface of rocks. Whenever a sheet of Indian figures, or a piece of their symbolic writings, is presented for examination, it is important to decide, as a primary point, upon its theological or mythological characteristics; for these are generally the key to its interpretation. It affords another coincidence to that above named, between the religious belief of the early nations of the eastern and the western hemisphere, that the Creator, the Great Spirit, and the Wazheaud, was symbolized under the figure of the sun. Life, and the power of Evil, are personified, generally, under the form of a serpent; and this accounts, not only for the great respect and reverence they have for serpents, but for the pervading influence the symbol has in their meda ceremonies, and in their traditions.

It is historically known that these religious institutions existed among the tribes who formerly occupied New England, the same in principle as they are now found at the West. The powwow, and the sagamore of the waters of Long Island, Narragansett, and Massachusetts, exercised the same office, and were governed by the same principles, as the meda and the wabeno of the Illinois and the Mississippi, and the jossakeed and juggler of the banks of the Huron and the Lake of the Woods. This was in the general direction that the migration of the race from the North Atlantic ran, and there was and still exists a more intimate affiliation in rites and customs, as well as in language, between these extremes, than between them and the trans-Mississippian tribes.

It has been shown that the office of a meda, or a prophet, is not only sometimes united in that of a war-chief, or captain, but it is often the best and surest avenue to popularity. When success had crowned the efforts of the Chippewa chief Myeengun, he inscribed its results by figurative signs on the faces of two separate and distinct rocks. The Delaware war-chief, Wingenund, described the part he bore in the great Indian partisan war of the West, in 1762, by symbolic figures on the banks of the Muskingum. The Algonquin tribes who joined the French in the expulsion of the Sacs and Foxes from the eastern part of Wisconsin, in 1754, made a similar record of their success on the cliffs of Green Bay. There are still existing symbolical figures, preserved by the exuded gum on the sides of trees of the species pinus resinosa, on the portage west from Leech Lake to the shores of Pike s Bay on Cass Lake, which were made, the chiefs informed me, by the Indians who inhabited the country at the head of the Mississippi, before its conquest by the Pillagers. And if so, they are equally remarkable for the duration of their drawings with those of the pines, mentioned by La Croix, as existing on the banks of the River Irtish, in Tartary.² The art of inscription by pictures, and the disposition to employ it, existed early and generally among all our principal tribes; but they contented themselves, in ordinary cases, by committing their records to sheets of bark, painted skins, tabular sticks of wood, or the decorticated sides of trees, where they were read by one or two generations, and then perished.

As a suitable conclusion to this chapter, an example of a pictographic petition to the President of the United States will be given. In the month of January 1849, a delegation of eleven Chippewas, from Lake Superior, presented themselves at Wash ington, who, amid other matters not well digested in their minds, asked the government for a retrocession of some portion of the lands which the nation had formerly ceded to the United States, at a treaty concluded at Lapointe, in Lake Superior, in 1842. They were headed by Oshcabawiss, a chief from a part of the forest-country, called by them Monomonecau, on the headwaters of the River Wisconsin. Some minor chiefs accompanied them, together with a Sioux and two boisbrules, or half-breeds, from the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The principal of the latter was a person called Martell, who appeared to be the master-spirit and prime mover of the visit, and of the motions of the entire party. His motives in originating and conducting the party, were questioned in letters and verbal representations from persons on the frontiers. He was freely pronounced an adventurer, and a person who had other objects to fulfill, of higher interest to himself than the advancement of the civilization and industry of the Indians. Yet these were the ostensible objects put forward, though it was known that he had exhibited the Indians in various parts of the Union for gain, and had set out with the purpose of carrying them, for the same object, to England. However this may be, much interest in, and sympathy for them, was excited. Officially, indeed, their object was blocked up. The party were not accredited by their local agent. They brought no letter from the acting Superintendent of Indian Affairs on that frontier. The journey had not been authorized in any manner by the department. It was, in fine, wholly voluntary, and the expenses of it had been defrayed, as already indicated, chiefly from contributions made by citizens on the way, and from the avails of their exhibitions in the towns through which they passed; in which, arrayed in their national costume, they exhibited their peculiar dances, and native implements of war and music. What was wanting, in addition to these sources, had been supplied by borrowing from individuals.

Martell, who acted as their conductor and interpreter, brought private letters from several persons to members of Congress and others, which procured respect. After a visit, protracted through seven or eight weeks, an act was passed by Congress to defray the expenses of the party, including the repayment of the sums borrowed of citizens, and sufficient to carry them back, with every requisite comfort, to their homes in the north-west. While in Washington, the presence of the party at private houses, at levees, and places of public resort, and at the halls of Congress, attracted much interest; and this was not a little heightened by their aptness in the native ceremonies, dancing, and their orderly conduct and easy manners, united to the attraction of their neat and well-preserved costume, which helped forward the object of their mission.

The visit, although it has been stated, from respectable sources, to have had its origin wholly in private motives, in the carrying out of which the natives were made to play the part of mere subordinates, was concluded in a manner which reflects the highest credit on the liberal feelings and sentiments of Congress. The plan of a retrocession of territory, on which some of the natives expressed a wish to settle and adopt the modes of civilized life, appeared to want the sanction of the several states in which the lands asked for lie. No action upon it could therefore be well had, until the legislatures of these states could be consulted.

But if there were doubts as to the authority or approval of the visit on the part of either the Chippewas or frontier officers of the government, these very doubts led the party, under the promptings of their leader, to resort to the native pictorial art, which furnishes the subject of this notice. Picture writing, in some of its shades, has long been noticed as existing among the western Indians. By it not only exploits in war and hunting are known to be recorded, but such devices are not unfrequently seen drawn on the smooth and often inaccessible faces of rocks, on which they are frequently observed to be painted, and sometimes fretted in. A still more common exhibition of the mode is observed in the Indian adjedatig, or grave-post; and it constitutes a species of notation for their meda and hunting songs.

In the instance now before us, it is resorted to, to give authority to delegates visiting the seat of government. These primitive letters of credence were designed to supply an obvious want on the presentation of the delegation at Washington. Their leader was too shrewd not to know that letters of this kind would be required in order to enable him to stand, with authority, before the chief of the Indian Bureau, the Secretary of War, and the President.

The following are exact transcripts of the rolls on a reduced scale. There are five separate sheets, four of which are illustrative of the principal one, which expresses in symbols the object of the memorial. The material is the smooth inner coats of the bark of the betula papyracea, or white birch of northern latitudes. To facilitate description, each of the pictographs, or traced-sheets, and each of the figures of the several inscriptions, has been numbered. The names of the persons whose totemic bearings are alone introduced into these transcripts, have been written down from the lips of the interpreter. In this way, and from a comparison of the scrolls with other data possessed on the same branch, the whole story has been secured. The chiefs and warriors of the five several villages who united in the objects of the visit for there were some temporary and other objects, besides the one above named, which are not necessary to be mentioned, were represented alone by the symbols, or figures of animals which typify their clans, or totems. Their names were written down from the lips of their interpreter.

It will be seen, that by far the greatest number of the totems or clans here named, are represented by well-known species of quadrupeds, birds, or fishes, of the latitudes in which the Chippewas now live. The totemic devices would, therefore, appear to be indigenous and local, and to have little claim to antiquity. A few of them are mythological, which will be pointed out as we proceed.

The description of Pictograph A, Plate 60, is as follows:

This is the leading inscription, and symbolizes the petition to the President. No. 1.

It commences with the totem of the chief, called Oshcabawis, who headed the party, who is seen to be of the Ad-ji-jauk, or Crane clan. To the eye of the bird standing for this chief, the eyes of each of the other totemic animals are directed as denoted by lines, to symbolize union of views. The heart of each animal is also connected by lines with the heart of the Crane chief, to denote unity of feeling and purpose. If these symbols are successful, they denote that the whole forty-four persons both see and feel alike THAT THEY ARE ONE.

No. 2, is a warrior, called Wai-mit-tig-oazh, of the totem of the Marten. The name signifies literally, He of the Wooden Vessel, which is the common designation of a Frenchman, and is supposed to have reference to the first appearance of a ship in the waters of the St. Lawrence.
No. 3. O-ge-ma-gee-zhig, is also a warrior of the Marten clan. The name means literally, Sky-Chief.
No. 4, represents a third warrior of the Marten clan. The name of Muk-o-mis-ud-ains, is a species of small land tortoise.
No. 5. O-mush-kose, or the Little Elk, of the Bear totem.
No. 6. Penai-see, or the Little Bird of the totem of the Ne-ban-a-baig, or Man-fish. This clan represents a myth of the Chippewas, who believe in the existence of a class of animals in the Upper Lakes, called Ne-ban-a-baig, partaking of the double natures of a man and a fish a notion which, except as to the sex, has its analogies in the superstitions of the nations of western Europe, respecting a mer maid.
No. 7. Narwa-je-wun, or the Strong Stream, is a warrior of the 0-was-se-wug. or Catfish totem.

Beside the union of eye to eye, and heart to heart, above depicted, Osh-ca-ba-wis, as represented by his totem of the Crane, has a line drawn from his eye forward, to denote the course of his journey, and another line drawn backward to the series of small rice lakes, No. 8, the grant of which constitutes the object of the journey. The long parallel lines, No. 10, represent Lake Superior, and the small parallel lines, No. 9, a path leading from some central point on its southern shores to the villages and interior lakes, No. 8, at which place the Indians propose, if this plan be sanctioned, to commence cultivation and the arts of civilized life. The entire object is thus symbolized in a manner which is very clear to the tribes, and to all who have studied the simple elements of this mode of communicating ideas.

The four accompanying pictographs are adjuncts of the principal inscription, and the object prayed for, and are designed to strengthen and enforce it, by displaying in detail the villages and persons who concur in the measure.

Pictograph B, Plate 61, is interpreted thus: This is a symbolic representation of the concurrence of certain of the Chippewas of Trout Lake, on the sources of Chippewa River, Wisconsin, in the object. 53

Number 1 represents the Chief Kenisteno, or the Cree, of the totem of the brant. O-tuk-um-i-pe-nai-see, Number 2 is his son.
Pa-na-shee, Number 3 is a warrior of the totem or clan of the Long-tailed Bear. This is a mythological creation of the Chippewas, by whom it is believed that such an animal has a subterranean existence; that he is sometimes seen above ground; and that his tail, the peculiar feature in which he differs from the northern black bear, is formed of copper, or some bright metal.
Number 4. This is a warrior of the Catfish totem, of the particular species denoted Ma-no-maig. The name is Wa-gi-má-we-gwun, meaning, He of the chief-feather.
Number 5. Ok-wa-gon, or the neck, a warrior of the Sturgeon totem.
Number 6. O-je-tshaug, a warrior of the totem of the species of spring duck called Ah-ah-wai by the natives which is believed to be identical with the garrulous coast duck called Oldwives by sailors. 1
Numbers 7, 8, 9. Warriors of the clan of the fabulous Long-tailed Bear, who are named, in their order, "Wa-gi-ma-wash, or would-be-chief, Ka-be-tau-wash, or Mover-in-a-circle, and Sha-tai-mo, or Pelican s excrement.
Number 10. Ka-we-tau-be-tung, of the totem of the Awasees, or Catfish.
Number 11. 0-ta-gau-me, or the Fox Indian, of the Bear totem; and Ah-ah-wai, or the first spring duck of the Loon totem, all warriors.

Pictograph C, Plate 62. By this scroll the chief Kun-de-kund of the Eagle totem of the river Ontonagon, of Lake Superior, and certain individuals of his band, are represented as uniting in the object of the visit of Oshcabawis. He is depicted by the figure of an eagle, Number 1. The two small lines ascending from the head of the bird denote authority or power generally. The human arm extended from the breast of the bird, with the open hand, are symbolic of friendship. By the light lines connecting the eye of each person with the chief, and that of the chief with the President, (Number 8,) unity of views or purpose, the same as in pictograph Number 1, is symbolized.

Numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5, are warriors of his own totem and kindred. Their names, in their order, are On-gwai-sug, Was-sa-ge-zhig, or The Sky that lightens, Kwe-we-ziash-ish, or the Bad-boy, and Gitch-ee-ma-tau-gum-ee, or the great sounding water.
Number 6. Na-boab-ains, or Little Soup, is a warrior of his band of the Catfish totem.
Figure Number 7, repeated, represents dwelling-houses, and this device is employed to denote that the persons, beneath whose symbolic totem it is respectively drawn, are inclined to live in houses and become civilized, in other words, to abandon the chase.

Number 8 depicts the President of the United States standing in his official residence at Washington. The open hand extended is employed as a symbol of friendship, cor responding exactly, in this respect, with the same feature in Number³.

The chief whose name is withheld at the left hand of the inferior figures of the scroll, is represented, by the rays on his head, (Figure 9,) as, apparently, possessing a higher power than Number 1, but is still concurring, by the eye-line, with Kundekund in the purport of pictograph Number 1.

Pictograph D, Plate 62. In this scroll figure Number 1 represents the chief Ka-kaik-o-gwun-na-osh, or a pigeon-haw-in-flight, of the river Wisconsin, of the totem of the Long-tailed Bear. The other figures of the scroll stand for nine of his followers, who are each represented by his appropriate totem. Number 2 is the symbol of Na-wa-kum-ig, or He-that-can-mystically-pass-down-in-the-earth. Number 6, Men-on-ik-wud-oans, Number 7, Sha-won-e-pe-nai-see, the southern bird, and Number 8, Mich-e-mok-in-ug-o, Going tortoise, are all warriors of the totem of the mystical Long-tailed Bear. Number 3 and 9 denote Chi-a-ge-bo and Ka-gá-ge-sheeb, a cormorant, two warriors of the bear totem.

No. 4, Muk-kud-dai-o-kun-zhe, or black hoof, is a warrior of the brant clan.
No. 5, Mikinok, a turtle, and No. 10, Na-tou-we-ge-zhig, the Ear of Day, are warriors of the marten clan.

Pictograph E, Plate 63. By this scroll, nine persons of the village of Lac Vieu Desert, at the source of the River Wisconsin, including its chief, are represented as concurring in the petition, as depicted in scroll A.

No. 1 is the device of the chief Kai-zhe-osh, of the eagle totem.
No. 2, Ush-kwai-gon, instrument or drawer of blood, and No. 3, Mush-koas-o-no, Elk s tail, are represented as belonging to the same totem with himself. No. 4, Pe-kin-a-ga, the winner, is of the ah-ah-wa totem. Of the other persons of this village, who have yielded their assent, No. 5, Ka-ga-no-ga-da, No. 8, Wa-gi-win-a, and No. 9, Pe-midj-wa-gau-kwut, the hoe, (literally, cross-axe,) are of the bear totem. No. 6, Na-bun-e-gee-zhig, bright sky, is of the awassees or fish totem. No. 7, O-zhin-in-nie, the well-made man, is of the elk totem a much-respected totem in that section of country. It is drawn with high horns, and a tuft from the breast, two very characteristic features of this animal, but, as is usual in the native devices, very much out of drawing. It has an eye-line, thrown widely forward, to denote its fixity on the seat of central power at Washington.

It will be perceived that the several members of the eagle totem, 1, 2, 3, and also the duck totem, No. 4, are denoted by the eye-lines as hailing from, or having their residences at, Lac Vieu Desert, No. 10, while the persons of the bear, elk, and cat-fish totems respectively have no such local sign. It is to be inferred, therefore, that these individuals live at other and distinct points, in that part of the country, but are not of the Lake of Vieu Desert.

The whole number of totems in the Chippewa nation is undetermined. Twelve are indicated in these devices. Of the forty-four persons who are represented, one i of the crane, four of the marten, seven of the black bear, one of the nebanabe, or nanfish, six of the cat-fish, three of the brant, eight of the long-tailed subterranean bear, one of the sturgeon, two of the ahahway, or spring duck, eight of the eagle, two of the loon, and one of the elk totem.

It will be seen, in a view of the several devices, that the greatest stress appears to be laid throughout upon the totem of the individuals, while there is no device or sign to denote their personal names. The totem is employed as the evidence of the identity of the family and of the clan. This disclosure is in accordance with all that has been observed of the history, organization, and polity of the Chippewa, and of the Algonquin tribes generally. The-totem is in fact a device, corresponding to the heraldic bearings of civilized nations, which each person is authorized to bear, as the evidence of his family identity. The very etymology of the word, which is a derivative from Do daim, a town or village, or original family residence, denotes this. It is remarkable, also, that while the Indians of this large group of North America, withhold their true personal names, on inquiry, preferring to be called by various sobriquets, which are often the familiar lodge-terms of infancy, and never introduce them into their drawings and picture-writing, they are prompt to give their totems to all inquirers, and never seem to be at a moment s loss in remembering them. It is equally noticeable, that they trace blood-kindred and. consanguinities to the remotest ties; often using the nearer for the remoter affinities, as brother and sister for brother-in-law and sister-in-law, &c.; and that where there is a lapse of memory or tradition, the totem is confidently appealed to, as the test of blood affinity, however remote. It is a consequence of the importance attached to this ancient family tie, that no person is permitted to change or alter his totem, and that such change is absolutely unknown among them.

These scrolls were handed in, and deposited among the statistical and historical archives and collections of the bureau. By closely inspecting them, they are seen to denote the concurrence of but thirty-three Chippewa warriors, out of the entire Chippewa nation, besides the eleven persons present. Each family and its location, is accurately depicted by symbols. Unity is shown by eye-lines, and by heart-lines. Friendship by an open hand. Civilization by a dwelling-house. Each person bears his peculiar totemic mark. The devices are drawn, or cut, on the smooth inner sur face of the sheets of bark. It will thus have been observed, that the Indian pictorial system is susceptible of considerable certainty of information. By a mixture of the pure representative and symbolical mode, these scrolls are made to denote accurately the number of the villages uniting in the object of Martell s party, together with the number of persons of each totemic class, who gave in their assent to the plan. They also designate, by geographical delineations, the position of each village, and the general position of the country which they ask to be retroceded. It is this trait of the existence among the Chippewas and Algonquins generally, of a pictorial art, or rude method of bark, tree, or rock-writing, which commends the circumstances of the visit to a degree of notice beyond any that it might, perhaps, otherwise merit. It recalls strongly to mind the early attainments of eastern nations in a similar rude mode of expressing ideas by symbolic marks and symbols, prior to the remote eras of the introduction of the cuneiform, and long prior to the true hieroglyphic system of the Euphrates and the Nile. In fact, every trait of this kind may be considered as furnishing additional lights to aid us in considering the question of the origin, condition, capacities and character of hunter nations, of whose ancient history we are still quite in the dark.
 

1. This term denotes an effect merely, but conveys no idea of the cause or manner of producing the effect, which is so graphically denoted in the German
2 Vide Strahlenberg, seq.
3. It is believed to be doubtful whether the Ah-ah-wai should not be classified with the totem of the Loon.

Archives Of Aboriginal Knowledge

Archives Of Aboriginal Knowledge, Henry R. Schoolcraft, 1860