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Show LIV ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR are facilitated by the suggestions derived from the author's precursory experiences. The present paper carries out that plan. All other intentions are subordinated in order to explain the characteristics of pictographs, to classify them conveniently, and to offer suggestions for the collection, description, and study of specimens. Theories are postponed until after careful examination of exhaustive collections. For this purpose the author has first stated the distribution in North America of pictures on rocks, either painted or incised or both, with a few illustrative comparisons from foreign countries He has then enumerated the instruments used at different times in pictography, together with the coloring matters employed and the methods of application. The materials upon which pictographs are made are discussed, the objects being divided into natural and artificial. The first division includes many objects, consisting chiefly of stone, bone, living trees, wood, bark, skins, feathers, gourds, horse hair, shells, earth, and sand, and the human person. Designs upon the human person are in paint and by tattooing. Under this head much information is presented for the first tiuie, and it is compared with some recently published accounts of the process in the Pacific Islands. The subject is then considered with reference to the special purposes for which pictography has, in fact, been employed by the North American Indians. They are: 1st, Mnemonic, embracing order of songs, traditions, treaties, war, and time; 2d,- Notification, comprising notice of departure and direction, of condition, warning, and guidance, geographic features, claim or demand, messages and communications, and record of expeditions; 3d, Totemic: this embraces tribal, gentile, clan and personal designations, insignia, and tokens of authority, personal names, property marks, status of individuals, and signs of particular achievements; 4th, Religious, comprising mythic personages, shamanism, dances and ceremonies, mortuary practices, grave posts, charms, and fetiches; 5th, Customs and habits1 requiring details rather than classification; Sth, Tribal history; 7th, Biographic, in which are examples |
