Incidents of Travel in Yucatan Volume II Part 22

Anas Boschas.

Anas Strepera.

Anas Acuta.

Anas Americana.

Anas Discors.

Peleca.n.u.s Onocrotalus.

Phalacrocorax Carbo.

Phalacrocorax Graculus.

Trachypetes Aquilus.

Phaeton aethereus. (?)

COMMUNICATION FROM MR. SCHOOLCRAFT.

THE RED HAND.

The figure of the human hand is used by the North American Indians to denote supplication to the Deity or Great Spirit; and it stands in the system of picture writing as the symbol for strength, power, or mastery, thus derived. In a great number of instances which I have met with of its being employed, both in the ceremonial observances of their dances and in their pictorial records, I do not recollect a single one in which this sacred character is not a.s.signed to it. Their priests are usually drawn with outstretched and uplifted hands. Sometimes one hand and one arm, but more commonly both are uplifted. It is not uncommon for those among them who profess the arts of medicine, magic, and prophecy (the three are sometimes united and sometimes not) to draw or depict a series of representative or symbolical figures on bark, skins of animals, or even tabular pieces of wood, which are a kind of notation, and the characters are intended to aid the memory in singing the sacred songs and choruses. When the inscriptions are found to be on wood, as they often are in the region of Lake Superior and the sources of the Mississippi, they have been sometimes called "music boards." I induced a noted meta, or priest, to part with one of these figured boards, many years ago, and afterward obtained impressions from it in this city by pa.s.sing it through Mr. Maverick's rolling press. It was covered with figures on both sides, one side containing forty princ.i.p.al figures; six embrace the symbol of the uplifted hand, four of which had also the arm, but no other part of the body, attached. Their import, which the man also imparted to me, is given in the general remark above. On the reverse of this board, consisting of thirty eight characters, nine embrace the uplifted hand, in one case from a headless trunk, but in the eight others connected with the whole frame.

The design of the hand is uniformly the same with our tribes, whether it be used disjunctively or alone, or connected with the arm alone, or with the whole body. In the latter cases it is a compound symbol, and reveals some farther particular or a.s.sociated idea of the action. The former is the most mysterious use of it, precisely because there are no accessories to help out the meaning, and it is, I think, in such isolated cases, to be regarded as a general sign of devotion.

In the course of many years' residence on the frontiers, including various journeyings among the tribes, I have had frequent occasion to remark the use of the _hand alone_ as a symbol, but it has generally been a symbol applied to the naked body after its preparation and decoration for sacred or festive dances. And the fact deserves farther consideration, from these preparations being generally made in the arcanum of the medicine, or secret lodge, or some other private place, and with all the skill of the priest's, the medicine man's, or the juggler's art. The mode of applying it in these cases is by smearing the hand of the operator with white or coloured clay, and impressing it on the breast, the shoulder, or other part of the body. The idea is thus conveyed, that a secret influence, a charm, a mystic power is given to the dancer, arising from his sanct.i.ty or his proficiency in the occult arts. This use of the hand is not confined to a single tribe or people. I have noticed it alike among the Dacotahs, the Winnebagoes, and other Western tribes, as among the numerous branches of the red race still located east of the Mississippi River, above the lat.i.tude of 42, who speak dialects of the Algonquin language.

A single additional fact appears to me to be pertinent to your inquiry.

In an excursion which I made in the year 1831 into the more unfrequented and interior parts of the Chippewa country, lying between the group of the Twelve Apostles' Islands in Lake Superior and the Falls of St. Anthony, I came to a curious edifice, situated in the edge of the forest, on the elevated banks of a fine lake, which was exclusively used as the village temple. It was built of stout posts, describing a circle, firmly and well sheathed with thick bark, fastened on transverse pieces. It const.i.tuted a peculiarity in this structure that there was a circular building within, or, rather, it was arranged after the manner of the whorls of a sea-sh.e.l.l, so that a person could, as it were, involve himself in a labyrinth. It had a single door, subject to the entrance of the priest only. As this person was the political chief of the band, and a man of more than ordinary intellect, he appeared to have adopted this mode of exhibiting his skill and securing and extending his power. He permitted me to inspect the building. Drums, rattles, and other insignia of the priest's art, were hung up on the wall. Heads of men were rudely carved or inscribed, and numerous marks of the hand, as in the case of naked dancers, were impressed on the involutions of the inner walls.

I have expressed the opinion that the human hand denotes strength, or power, or mastery arising from devotional acts. The want or absence of the hand or arm, therefore, in these symbolical figures, should imply impotence, weakness, or cowardice, arising from fright, subjugation, or other causes; and such is found to be the import of the armless figure of the human body in two of the symbols of the ancient hieroglyphic inscription on the a.s.sonet, or Dighton Rock, as explained by the well-known American chief Chingerauk.

THE END.

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FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: See Appendix to vol. i.]

[Footnote 2: See Appendix to vol. i.]

[Footnote 3: Undoubtedly caoutchouc, or India-rubber.]

[Footnote 4: While these pages were pa.s.sing through the press the author had an opportunity of conferring with Mr. Schoolcraft, a gentleman well known for his researches into the character and habits of our North American Indians, and was favoured by him with an interesting communication on the subject of the print of the red hand, which will be found in the Appendix, and for which the author here takes occasion to offer his acknowledgments.]

[Footnote 5: From the year 144 of the vulgar era up to 217.]

[Footnote 6: From 218 until 360.]

[Footnote 7: From 260 until 432.]

[Footnote 8: From 432 until 576.]

[Footnote 9: From 576 until 888.]

[Footnote 10: From 888 until 936.]

[Footnote 11: From 926 until 1176.]

[Footnote 12: From 1176 until 1258, in which was the defeat.]

[Footnote 13: From 1258 until 1272.]

[Footnote 14: From 1272 until 1368, the date of the destruction of Mayapan. And the following, from 1368 to 1392.]

[Footnote 15: From 1392 until 1488.]

[Footnote 16: From 1488 until 1512.]

[Footnote 17: From 1512 until 1536, which concluded the eleventh epoch; the following one beginning in 1536, and concluding in the year 1560.]