Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-04-06
THE TURTLES AND THE BEARS.
How the Pictnre-writings of the North
z4 A ,erienn Indians Are Produced.

How the Pictnre-Writings of the North
American Indians Are Produced.
Let us see how an Indian of North
America goes to work to write. Suppose
a wild Indian belonging to the great clan
whose members call themselves the Tur-
ties makes q raid on a village of huts and
wigwams owned by enemies belonging to
the widespread clan called the Bear clan.
Suppose it has taken the Turtles three
days of hard travel through forests and
and over the hills to reach the Bears. By
means of their crafty spies they find that
the brave men of the Bears are away hunt
ing moose, and that most of the squaws
and pappooses are either in the fields of
maize or in the woods, where the berries
are ripe, and only a few old men and
women are left behind to keep watch over
some ponies and oxen Then the Turtles,
each clutching his bow, creep on the VIII
1age under cover of the woods, and with a
terrific yell rush at the wigwams. The
old people run into the bushes, frightened
almost to death, as you q well imagine.
Then the Turtles gather up all the ponies
and oxen, drive them off, burn all the
wigwams they can, and hurry home with
the cattle
| q NOW UltSc StNdSCS tulllh tllCl ilctNS NOhO
quite a fine thing in robbing their neigh
bors of their cattle and plundering and
burning their homes, as does one g%reatna-
ton in Europe when, like our Turtle chief
tain, badly counseled by wicked and am-
bilious men, it robs another of a great
province and forces the wretched people
ton they dislike. And they wish to let
| of1,~- Trjionc l-r,prp urhof nIayar r0hharS
they have been. So the Turtle chief
chooses a piece of smooth, cream-colored
birch-bark, chews up a little tobacco to
serve as ink, plucks a twig of soft wood
for a pen, and with the tobacco juice
draws the following pictures:
First a turtle, and it is a very big
turtle, because he thinks that he and his
clan are very great personages, indeed.
Then he draws as many waving lines, to
represent bows, as there are Indians in his
party, and perhaps the same number of
Indians with topknots; his lines bend for
ward to show in what direction the trail
went. Following these a rising sun
stands for daybreak, and three lines un-
der it means that three days went by IN
going to the Bears. Nexthe puts down as
many little pyramids as there were Bear
wigwams, and draws them upside down
to show that they were destroyed. After
that he draws as well as he can a wee,
wee bear, very small, in order to show his
contempt for the bears. Finally he draws
with the greatest care as many oxen and
ponies as he has captured, because he is
chiefly proud of this part of his exploit,
and wishes all the world of the woods to
know what a great and successful robber
he is. He does not tell that the Bear
braves were away when he surprised the
camp, and probably does not care to tell
that part of the story. We may under
stand itfrom the absence of any sign for
scalps. Had there been resistance and
men slain on either side, the exact num-
Der of dead would have been noted by
drawing just as many human figures
without their heads.-St. Nicholas.