To the Ancient Indian Hieroglyphics

TO THE ANCIENT INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS 343 come to North America from the Old World. The most common course for that journey is usually thought of as being via Behring Strait, by boat or upon the ice floes — or by way of the chain of the Aleutian Islands. Some scholars find in the South American natives so strong a similarity to Malayan features as to lead them to say that Polynesian seamen may have come from those islands to the coast of South America. "History does not record any proved or accepted visitation an- ciently of any people to the shores of either American continent who came directly across the Pacific, — that is, accepted in the sense of secular history, not religious record. "But such a passage is not difficult of belief; especially when one bears in mind that the direct passage has been made across, in a manner most noteworthy. Harry Pigeon circumnavigated the world in a thirty-four foot boat, sailing alone. And again the similar feat was done when Captain Slocum made the passage of the Pacific in the small boat called The Spray. "From the weight of indisputable evidences," continued the speaker of the occasion, "scholars do accept that a wave or waves, a group or groups, may have come to these shores. And you," he said, addressing his audience, "accept the passage of Lehi." Continuing his remarks, the speaker said: "The very oldest, the primal, urge of man is self-expressiion. Peo- ple of all nations have sought to say something, and to put that expres- sion into permanent form. In Persia, Assyria, Chaldea, Greece, Rome, Egypt — human nature was the same. Convenient rocks were carved with a message; that message may have been a narrative of deeds of glory, a recital of events in a great monarch's reign, or the vainglory of an ambitious ruler; — but whatever the content, the act was the ex- pression of human nature the world over. The motivation was ever the same. "The red man obeyed the same urge. "Indian hieroglyphics were cut for a similar reason. Though our efforts are baffled for an interpretation (though no Rosetta Stone or other paralleled passages gives us a clue) , the basic intent, be it monumental inscription in Eurasia, or an Indian petroglyph in Utah, was and is always the same, — a message — a message of some kind with intent to express to another a thought represented by the marks." Establishing a foundation by the preceding remarks, the speaker continued: "We have now come to the pith of the matter. Establishing that persons arrived here, be the manner of their coming what it may, be their passage by the north or south or straight across, the purpose of our meeting here today is to bring out, by studious scrutiny, any plausible or acceptable likeness of a usage here with a known historical usage in the Old World. "Two such instances of similarity are found in these ancient carvings.

344 IMPROVEMENT ERA "On a rock cut with several figures in ideagraphic expression appears an object held in the left hand, which is strikingly similar to the crux ansata or 'sacred ankh' of the Egyptians." (That figure may be identified in the photo as the ideagraph with the large circle for head, straight stem for body, with legs drawn from it and arms on each side; the left arm is seen to end with a circle surmounting a cross.) "In the old Egyptian usage this emblem is always held in the hand of the god, by the fingers passing into the loop of the circle. "Were this the only instance of this similarity to be found here at Deseret, it might very properly be classed as merely a rare coin- Copyright 192 6, Frank Beckwith, Delta, Utah Top: Ideagraph combined with picturegraphic methods of thought presentation. Placed almost in the hand of the man to the left is a wondrous likeness to the Ankh or crux ansata of the Egyptians. Bottom: A close-up, and a hand drawing taken from a text-book on Egyptology. Compare the two. ' III

TO THE ANCIENT INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS 345 cidcnce, a chance happening, to which no value should be given. But on the contrary, the similarity is found twice. "The second occurrence is on the left of a group of rather varied extent. Because of the number of the figures, this entire group was probably written with a narrative intent. "The crude artisan, doing the best he could (and that best was woefully deficient), drew a figure of a man out of proportion to the rest of the group. It is much larger than any of the other figures. He failed to attain due proportion; nor did he have the skill to draw, as being held in the hand, the object which his tradition or his slight remembrance told him should be held in the hand. But, doing the best he could, he drew the object just as near the required position as he could; he further indicated his intent by ex- tending the bar of his design across the wrist of the figure of the man, denoting by that means that it belonged to and had to do ,with the hand of the figure. Had he the ability to have drawn in better proportion, had he adhered to proper comparative size, the circle would have been held in the hand; but if, in his error of proportion, he had done so, there would not have been room — the legs would have been in the way for a design of even one-third the size he used." ♦ * * * This was the figure the girls were studying. The camera caught them going over the details of the lecture, discussing it point by point. The visiting lady was Miss Esther Nokelby; her hostess on that day was Miss Elva Mace, whose father is a veritable mine of information about things Indian, and of the wonders to be found in that vicinity. He acts as guide for many parties who seek first- hand information from the objects of interest themselves. One large visiting group placed itself before the big carved stone whichhas been named "The First Issue of the Deseret News," and were photographed with that in the background. In the group were Bishop and Mrs. E. L. Lyman, of Delta; Samuel Western, age eighty-two; Lee R. Cropper, also age eighty-two, both from Deseret. That day Mr. Cropper said, "I have seen these rock carvings as far back as fifty- two years ago, and never have they lost their interest to me." John Bennett of Deseret acted as chairman, and was one of the speakers. He took as his subject the great natural phenomenon of the stone face, which by his oratory was christened "The Guardian of Deseret." He stood before the throng, head bared, and rose, to rhetorical flights as he brought out how that wonderful stone face must have seen civilizations come to this land; had seen their rise and fall; had witnessed the massacre of the "Little People of the Cliffs;" had looked upon the vicissitudes of Aztec and Inca; and joyed in the joys of Lehi's descendants and sorrowed in their sorrows. Many of his hearers stood rapt in attention, with faces turned toward the great stone face, as he drew his simile. Others of his listeners bowed their heads in reveries of deepest thought, pondering over a subject which is fraught with so much interest. Delta, Utah.