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Show MALLKRY. J PETR0GLYPH8 IN NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA. 29 the figures, showing 60ine of the pictographs, at least, to have been the work of modern Indians. Others were of undoubted antiquity, and the signs and symbols intended, doubtless, to commemorate some great event. ( See Ex. Doc. No. 41, 30th Cong., 1st sess. ( Emory's Reconnaissance), 1S48, p. 80; 111. opposite p. 80, and ou p. 00.) Characters upon rocks, of questionable antiquity, are reported in the last- mentioned volume, Plate, p. 63, to occur on the Gila River, at 32° , c8' 13;/ N. lat., and 109° 07' 30" long. [ According to the plate, the figures are found upon bowlders and on the face of the cliff to the height of about 30 feet] The party under Lieutenant Whipple ( see Rep. Pac. R. R. Exped., Ill, 1856, Pt. Ill, p. 42) also discovered pictographs at Yampais Spring, Williams River. u The spot is a secluded glen among the mountains. A high shelving rock forms a cave, within which is a pool of water aud a crystal stream flowing from it. The lower surface of the rock is covered with pictographs. None of the devices seem to be of recent date." Many of the country rocks lying on the Colorado plateau of Northern Arizona, east of Peach Springs, bear traces of considerable artistic workmanship. Some observed by- Dr. W. J. Hoffman, in 1871, were rather elaborate and represented figures of the sun, human beings in various styles approaching the grotesque, and other characters not yet understood. All of those observed were made by pecking the surface of basalt with a Jiarder variety of stone. Mr. G. K. Gilbert discovered etchings at Oakley Spriug, eastern Arizona, in 1878, relative to which he remarks that an Oraibi chief explained them to him and said that the " Mokis make excursions to a locality in the canon of the Colorado Chiquito to get salt. On their return they stop at Oakley Spring and each Indian makes a picture on the rock. Each Indian draws his crest or totem, the symbol of his gens [( f)]. He draws it once, and once only, at each visit." Mr. Gilbert adds, further, that " there are probably some exceptions to this, but the etchings show its general truth. There are a great many repetitions of the same sign, and from two to ten will often appear in a row. In several instances I saw the end drawings of a row quite fresh while the others . were not so. Much of the work seems to have been performed by pounding with a hard point, but a few pictures are scratched on. Many drawings are weather- worn beyond recognition, and others are so fresh that the dust left by the tool has not been washed away by rain. Oakley Spring is at the base of the Vermillion Cliff, and the etchings are on fallen blocks of sandstone, a homogeneous, massive, soft sandstone. Tubi, the Oraibi chief above referred to, says his totem is the rain cloud but it will be made no more as he is the last survivor of the gens." A group of the Oakley Spring etchings of which Figure 1 is a copy, measures six feet in length and four feet in height. Interpreta- |
