Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/42

] notch and begin: "That notch means," etc. The interpreter, either through imitation or because of the same mode of thought, would then take the stick and dig his thumb into the same notch before repeating the story in English. Both seemed to endow the stick and the particular notch with a definite personality in their minds. That notch looked exactly like its neighbors but it stood for something different, which was apparently recalled as much by the sense of touch as by that of sight.

Dots or shallow circular pits and short notches are the most common symbols on the sticks. These have no distinctive meaning, and are used for recording a great variety of events. The human figure is freely used, and may signify that a man killed Apaches or was killed by them, that he was bitten by a rattlesnake, struck by lightning, or, in short, any event relating to a man in any manner may be denoted by this symbol. The date of building railways was recorded by an ideogram, representing rails and ties. Only one symbol had come arbitrarily to designate a single event. This is the ⊤ which was used to record the "tizwin drunks," or festivals at which saguaro or agave liquor was brewed and freely imbibed.

It has been frequently observed that the records of the American Indians contain much that is trivial and oftentimes omit that which is important. There are obvious reasons for this that have been adequately set forth by Mallery, and it must also be borne in mind that the relative importance of an event differs according as it is viewed by Caucasian eyes or by those of the American Indian. Judging by the early portions of the records, the conclusion might be reached that the purpose was to secure chronologic sequence, though the Pimas are not known to have had ceremonies that by their infrequent recurrence would require calendric regulation. However, the later years are so filled with events that the primary purpose is clearly narrative. They are therefore to be designated annals, rather than calendars. Moreover, the years are never named. "In this year the crops failed;" "In this year the floods overspread the whole valley," etc., but never, "This is the famine year" or "This is the flood year." Upon analysis the events recorded are found to be distributed as follows: