OCR Text |
Show 62 PICT0GRAPH8 OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. During his connection with the Yellowstone expedition of 1873, under the command of General Stanley, Dr. Hoffman found elaborate narratives of hostile encounters between the Absaroka and Dakota Indians incised upon the bark of cotton wood trees, in the valley of the Musselshell River. The Absaroka were shown by having the bark in the forehead removed, thus corresponding to their war custom of painting that portion of the face red, while the Dakota were denoted by having only the part of the face from the eyes down to the chin removed, referring to their custom of painting that part of the face. The number of individuals was shown by the outline of one individual of either tribe, with added short lines. The total number of arms was shown by drawing one gun and the requisite number of spots. The number of horses was indicated in a similar manner. See also with reference to paint on the human person, pages 165 and 167. The present writer, when reading the magnificent work of Gonte Giovanni Gozzadini, Di Ulteriori Scoperte Nell' Antica Necropoli a Marzabotto nel Bolognese, Bologna, 1870, noticed in Plate XII, Figure 1, the representation of a human head in bronze of great antiquity, and that it shows incised lines over the superior malar region, below and outward from the outer canthus of the eye. To any one recently familiar with tattooing and the lines of face painting this gives a decided suggestion, and is offered as such. The head is reproduced in Figure 22. FIG. 22.- Bronze head from the Necropolis of Marzabotto, Italy. A less distinct suggestion arose from the representation of a " Fragment of a lustrous black bowl, with an incised decoration filled wit h |