Читать книгу Picture-Writing of the American Indians - Garrick Mallery - Страница 66

Fig. 63.—Newark Track rock, Ohio.

It is described in the volume cited, pages 94, 95, as follows:

The inscriptions near Newark, in Licking county, Ohio, originally covered a vertical face of conglomerate rock, 50 or 60 feet in length, by 6 and 8 feet in height. This rock is soft and, therefore, the figures are easily erased * * *. About the year 1800 it became a place where white men sought to immortalize themselves by cutting their names across the old inscription * * *.

On the rock faces and detached sandstone blocks of the banks of the Ohio river there are numerous groups of intaglios, but in them the style is quite different from those to which I have referred, and which are located in the interior. Those on the Ohio river resemble the symbolical records of the North American Indians, such as the Kelley Island stone, described in Schoolcraft by Capt. Eastman, the Dighton rock, the Big Indian rock of the Susquehanna, and the “God rock” of the Allegheny river. In those the supposed bird track is generally wanting. The large sculptured rock near Wellsville, which is only visible at low water of the Ohio, has among the figures one that is prominent on the Barnesville stones. This is the fore foot of the bear, with the outside toe distorted and set outward at right angles.

Other sculptured rocks of a similar character have been found in Fairfield, Belmont, Cuyahoga, and Lorain counties.

That the ancient bird-track character belonged to the mound-builders is evident from the fact that it is found among their works, constructed of soil on a large scale.

One of these bird-track mounds occurs in the center of the large circular inclosure near Newark, Ohio, now standing in the Licking county fair grounds. Among the characters will be noticed the human hand. In one instance the hand is open, the palm facing the observer, and in the other the hand is closed, except the index finger which points downward to the base of the cliff. Of the bird-track characters there are many varieties. There is also a character resembling a cross and another bearing some resemblance to an arrow.

Fig. 64 is an illustration of the Independence stone, which is described in the same volume, pp. 98, 99, as follows:

Fig. 64.—Independence stone, Ohio.

Great care has been taken to obtain a correct sketch of what remains of this inscription. A very rude drawing of it was published in Schoolcraft’s great work upon the Indian tribes, in 1854.

The rock here described only contains a portion of the inscription. The balance was destroyed in quarrying. The markings on the portion of the rock preserved consist of the human foot, clothed with something like a moccasin or stocking; of the naked foot; of the open hand; of round markings one in front of the great toe, of each representation of the clothed foot; the figure of a serpent, and a peculiar character which might be taken for a rude representation of a crab or crawfish, but which bears a closer resemblance to an old-fashioned spearhead used in capturing fish.

Fig. 65 is a copy of the drawings on the Track rock, near Barnesville, Belmont county, Ohio, the description of which is in the same volume, pp. 89-93.

Fig. 65.—Barnesville Track rock, Ohio.

The rude cuts of the human faces, part of the human feet, the rings, stars, serpents, and some others, are evidently works of art, as in the best of them the marks of the engraving instrument are to be seen. In all cases, whether single or in groups, the relative dimensions of the figures are preserved. The surface of this block is 8 by 11 feet.

At the south end of the petroglyphs occurs a figure of several concentric rings, a design by no means confined to Ohio. The third figure right of this resembles others in the same group, and evidently indicates the footprints of the buffalo. Human footprints are generally indicated by the pronounced toe marks, either detached as slight depressions or attached to the foot, and are thus recognized as different from bear tracks, which frequently have but slight indications of toes or perhaps claw marks, and in which also the foot is shorter or rounder. The arrow-shaped figures are no doubt intended for turkey tracks, characters common to many petroglyphs of the middle and eastern Algonquian area.

Fig. 66 gives several of the above characters enlarged from the preceding figure.

Fig. 66.—Characters from Barnesville Track rock.

In Fig. 67, referring to another block mentioned in the same report, lying 20 feet south of the one first mentioned, there is a duplication of the characters before noted—human footprints, bear and turkey tracks, and the indication of what may be intended to represent a serpent.

Fig. 67.—Barnesville Track rock, No. 2.

Fig. 68, from p. 105 of the same volume, gives copies of sketches from the rocks near Wellsville, Ohio, with remarks as follows:

Fig. 68.—Petroglyphs, Wellsville, Ohio.

On the Ohio side of the river, 1 mile above Wellsville, there is a large group of sculptures on a flat sand rock of the coal series, scarred by floating ice and flood wood. They are only visible in low water, as they are only 2 or 3 feet above the extreme low stage of the river. * * * They are made in double outline and not by a single deep channel. The outlines are a series of dots made with a round-pointed instrument, seldom more than half an inch deep.

The upper design is a rattlesnake with a fancy head and tail. Its length is 4½ feet, a very clumsy affair, but intended for the common yellow rattlesnake of the West. The head of the snake, which occupies a space 6 inches square, is represented in the second character, which is reduced from a tracing size of nature. It brings to mind the horned snake of the Egyptians, which was an object of worship by them.

The character at the left hand of the lower line may be an uncouth representation of a demon or evil spirit. The right-hand character is probably an otter carrying a vine or string in his month.

It is more probable that the lines from the mouth of the animal indicate magic or supernatural power, of which many examples appear in this paper, as also of the device in the region of the animal’s heart, from which a line extends to the mouth. These characteristics connect the glyph with the Ojibwa drawings on bark.