The Bozeman courier., 1927-09-30
BY MRS. NJ. E. PLAssMANN


y ANGUAGE, we are told by scientists,
is something tie human race has
4 gradually acquired. One, at least,
of the skulls unearthed Of our re-
mote ancestors, indicates that speech
was impossible for him. He probably
could expires shis most poignant emotions
by sounds Ineligible to his kind, but
that was all.
Centuries passed, and in the effort
to convey thought, the hand, instead
of the tongue, became the medium Of
exchange through sign language and
pictures, the former antedating the lat
ter, and are preceding speech. Today,
it is claimed, pictures are the principle
factor in education, the movie super
seding the stage because it appeals to
a wider class. 1t is not difficult to un-
derstand pictures; they are no strain
upon the intellect. The movies and illus
trations Of the press stimulate the emo
tions. What knowledge is gained from
them requires no undue effort on the
part of the beholder.
This appreciation Of pictures is hold
over from the infancy of the race. The
cave man liked to scrawl on the stone
walls of his habitations representations
of what appealed to him. He lived by
the chase and naturally drew, or carved,
pictures Of the animals supplying him
with food or those he domesticated.
Indian Sign Language
Our Indians have retained the sign
language-a kind Of yolapuk-universall
understood by their race, wherever situ-
! ated. Whether they continue to make
pictures on the rocks, is doubtful, yet
it is indisputable that they once did
our Montana Indians as we'll as others
These rock pictures are called by ethnolo-
| gists, petroglyphs, differing from picto-
graphs in being stationary, except as
| affected by natural causes. They can
not be carried from place to place, but
the constant action of the elements OF
earthquakes may cause them to fall OF
/ be erased.
Petroplyphs are proof that all man
kind has passed through the same stages
OF development, for rock drawings are
found throughout the world, in Great
Britain, Asia, South America, France
| Germany, Spain, West Indies, Mexico
many islands, and throughout NORTH
America, including Canada. A remark
able similarity is reported to exist be
tween the petroplyphs Of northern 81
IBERIA and those found in North America
This is another reason for the supposi
ton that our Indians are allied to thl
Tartars, and that the northern part q
America and northern Asia were ono
connected by land.
These rock pictures are always crud
affairs, like those drawn by little chill
dren. They do not tell the history o
any people, but from them can b
| learned the state or culture reached b.
the artists, also something of their sur
roundings.
There is one instance given Of com
paratively recent rock drawing. tn
Mandans revered an oracle stone upol
which was displayed pictures visible onl
after public fast enduring a day an
a night. In the morning they turne
their eyes toward the oracle rock, an
were sure to behold an inscription Thi
it is surmised, was the work of th
tribale medicine man, in order t
strengthen the faith of the devotees.
Pictures I'm Minnesota
F. H. Lewis tells the following stor
Of pictured boulders found in an uppe
r Minnesota valley that was told him
r the Indians-quite likely Chippewas:
5 I'm olden times there used to be a
S object that marked the boulder at nigh
q 1t could be seen, but it's exact shaI
: was indistinct. 1t would work maxim
sounds like hammering, and OCCASIONAL