etatig
of Wabojeeg, died on Lake Superior, about 1793. He was of the clan of
the Addik, or American reindeer. This fact is symbolized by the figure
of the deer. The reversed position denotes death. His own personal
name, which was White Fisher, is not noticed. But there are seven
transverse strokes on the left, and these have a meaning--namely, that
he had led seven war parties. Then there are three perpendicular lines
below his crest, and these again are readily understood by every
Indian. They represent the wounds received in battle. The figure of a
moose's head is said to relate to a desperate conflict with an enraged
animal of this kind; and the symbols of the arrow and the pipe are
drawn to indicate the chief's influence in war and peace.

There is another graveboard of the ruling chief of Sandy Lake on the
Upper Mississippi. Here the reversed bird denotes his family name or
clan, the Crane. Four transverse lines above it denote that he had
killed four of his enemies in battle. An analogous custom is mentioned
by Aristotle ('Politica,' vii. 2, p. 220, ed. Goettling). Speaking of
the Iberians, he states that they placed as many obelisks round the
grave of a warrior as he had killed enemies in battle.

But the Indians went further; and though they never arrived at the
perfection of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, they had a number of
symbolic emblems which were perfectly understood by all their tribes.
Eating is represented by a man's hand lifted to his mouth. Power over
man is symbolized by a line drawn in the figure from the mouth to the
heart; power in general by a head with two horns. A circle drawn
around the body at the abdomen denotes full means of subsistence. A
boy drawn with waved lines from each ear and lines leading to the
heart represents a pupil. A figure with a plant as head, and two
wings, denotes a doctor skilled in medicine, and endowed with the
power of ubiquity. A tree with human legs, a herbalist or professor of
botany. Night is represented by a finely crossed or barred sun, or a
circle with human legs. Rain is figured by a dot or semicircle filled
with water and placed on the head. The heaven with three disks of the
sun is understood to mean three days' journey, and a landing after a
voyage is represented by a tortoise. Short sentences, too, can be
pictured in this manner. A prescription ordering abstinence from food
for two, and rest for four, days is written by drawing a man with two
bars on the