Chapter LVIII: Section 4: Social and Religious Missives

Fig. 471 is a letter, one-half actual size, written by an Ojibwa girl, the daughter of a Midē', to a favored lover, requesting him to call at her lodge. This girl had taken no Midē' degrees, but had simply acquired her pictographic skill from observation in her home.

The explanation of the figure is as follows:

_a._ The writer of the letter, a girl of the Bear totem, as indicated by that animal, _b_.

_e_ and _f_. The companions of _a_, the crosses signifying that the three girls are Christians.

_c_ and _g_. The lodges occupied by the girls. The lodges are near a large lake, _j_, a trail leading from _g_ to _h_, which is a well-traveled road.

The letter was written to a man of the Mud Puppy totem, as indicated in _d_.

_i._ The road leading to the lodge occupied by the recipient of the letter.

_k_ and _l_. Lakes near which the lodges are built.

In examining _c_, the writer’s hand is seen protruding from an opening to denote beckoning and to indicate which lodge to visit. The clear indications of the locality serve as well as if in a city a young woman had sent an invitation to her young man to call at a certain street and number.

Fig. 472 is a letter sent by mail from a Southern Cheyenne, named Turtle-following-his-Wife, at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency, Indian Territory, to his son Little-Man, at the Pine Ridge Agency, Dakota. It was drawn on a half-sheet of ordinary writing paper, without a word written, and was inclosed in an envelope, which was addressed to “Little-Man, Cheyenne, Pine Ridge Agency,” in the ordinary manner, written by some one at the first named agency. The letter was evidently understood by Little-Man, as he immediately called upon Dr. V. T. McGillycuddy, Indian agent at Pine Ridge Agency, and was aware that the sum of $53 had been placed to his credit for the purpose of enabling him to pay his expenses in going the long journey to his father’s home in Indian Territory. Dr. McGillycuddy had, by the same mail, received a letter from Agent Dyer, inclosing $53, and explaining the reason for its being sent, which enabled him also to understand the pictographic letter. With the above explanation it very clearly shows, over the head of the figure to the left, the turtle following the turtle’s wife united with the head of the figure by a line, and over the head of the other figure, also united by a line to it, is a little man. Also over the right arm of the last-mentioned figure is another little man in the act of springing or advancing toward Turtle-following-his-Wife, from whose mouth proceed two lines, curved or hooked at the end, as if drawing the little figure toward him. It is suggested that the last mentioned part of the pictograph is the substance of the communication, i. e., “come to me,” the larger figures with their name totems being the persons addressed and addressing. Between and above the two large figures are fifty-three round objects intended for dollars. Both the Indian figures have on breechcloths, corresponding with the information given concerning them, which is that they are Cheyennes who are not all civilized or educated.

Sagard (_a_) tells of the Algonkins of the Ottawa river, that when a feast was to be given, the host sent to each person whose presence was desired a little stick of wood, peculiar to them (i. e., probably marked or colored) of the length and thickness of the little finger, which he was obliged to show on entering the lodge, as might be done with a card of invitation and admission. The precaution was seemingly necessary both for the host’s larder and the satisfaction of the guests, as on an occasion mentioned by the good brother, each of the guests was provided with a big piece of sturgeon and plenty of “sagamite huylée.” There was probably some principle of selection connected with totems or religious societies on such occasions, not told by the narrator, as the ordinary custom among Indians is to keep open house to all comers, who generally were the aboriginal “tramps,” with the result of waste and subsequent famine.

The Rev. Peter Jones (_b_), an educated Ojibwa missionary, in speaking of the eastern bands of the Ojibwa says:

Their method of imploring the favor or appeasing the anger of
their deities is by offering sacrifices to them in the following
order: When an Indian meets with ill-luck in hunting, or when
afflictions come across his path, he fancies that by the neglect
of some duty he has incurred the displeasure of his munedoo, for
which he is angry with him; and in order to appease his wrath, he
devotes the first game he takes to making a religious feast, to
which he invites a number of the principal men and women from the
other wigwams. A young man is generally sent as a messenger to
invite the guests, who carries with him a bunch of colored quills
or sticks, about 4 inches long. On entering the wigwam he shouts
out “Keweekomegoo;” that is, “You are bidden to a feast.” He then
distributes the quills to such as are invited; these answer to the
white people’s invitation cards. When the guests arrive at the
feast-maker’s wigwam the quills are returned to him; they are of
three colors, red, green, and white; the red for the aged, or those
versed in the wahbuhnoo order; the green for the media order, and
the white for the common people.

Mr. David Boyle (_b_) refers to the above custom, and quotes Rev. Peter Jones, also giving as illustrations copies of the quills and sticks presented by Dr. P. E. Jones which had been brought by his father, the author above mentioned, from the Northwest fifty years ago. These are reproduced in Fig. 473.

When the ceremony of the Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibwa is to be performed, the chief midē' priest sends out a courier to deliver to each member an invitation to attend. These invitations consist of sticks of cedar, or other wood when that can not be found, measuring from 4 to 6 inches in length and of the thickness of an ordinary lead pencil. They may be plain, though the former custom of having one end painted red or green is sometimes continued. The colored band is about the width of one-fifth of the length of the stick. It is stated that in old times these invitation sticks were ornamented with colored porcupine quills, or strands of beads, instead of with paint.

The courier detailed to deliver invitations is also obliged to state the day, and locality of the place of meeting. It is necessary for the invited member to present himself and to deposit the invitation stick upon the floor of the inclosure in which the meeting is held; should he be deprived of the privilege of attending, he must return the stick with an explanation accounting for his absence.

Fig. 474 exhibits the sticks without coloration.

Another mode of giving invitations for the same ceremony is by sending around a piece of birch bark bearing characters similar to those in Fig. 475, taken from Copway, p. 136.

The characters, beginning at the left hand, signify as follows: Medicine house; great lodge; wigwam; woods; lake; river; canoe; come; Great Spirit.

Copway remarks as follows:

“In the above, the wigwam and the medicine pale, or worship, represent the depositories of medicine, record, and work. The lodge is represented with men in it; the dots above indicate the number of days.

“The whole story would thus read:

‘Hark to the words of the Sa-ge-mah'. The Great Medicine Lodge
will be ready in eight days. Ye who live in the woods and near the
lakes and by streams of water come with your canoes or by land to
the worship of the Great Spirit.’”

The above interpretation is too much adapted to the ideas and language of Christianity. The more simple and accurate expression would change the rendition from “worship” and “Great Spirit” to the simple notice about holding a session of the Grand Medicine Society.

Fig. 476, drawn by a Passamaquoddy, shows how the Indians of the tribe would now address the President of the United States, or the governor of Maine for help, and formerly would have made wikhegan for transmittal to a great chief having power over them. They say by this: “You are at the top of the pole, so no one can be higher than you. From this pole you can see the farthest of your country and can see all your children, and when any of your children come to see you they must work hard to get where you are, on top of the high pole. They must climb up this pole to reach you. You must pity them because they come long ways to see you, the man of power on the high pole.” This kind of wikhegan the old men called _kinjemeswi waligoh_, homage or salutation to the great chief. It was always in the old time accompanied by a belt of wampum.

A highly interesting illustration and account of a diplomatic packet from the pueblo of Tesuque appears in Schoolcraft (_g_), and in the same series (_h_) is a pictograph from the Caroline islands still more in point.

A. W. Howitt (_c_) reports:

Messengers in central Australia were sent to gather people
together for dances from distances even up to 100 miles. Such
messengers were painted with red ocher and wore a headdress of
feathers.

In calling people together for the ceremonies of Wilyaru or
Mindari the messengers were painted with diagonal stripes of yellow
ocher, and had their beards tied tightly into a point. They carried
a token shaped like a Prince of Wales feather, and made of emu
feathers tied tightly with string.

The sending of a handful of red ocher tied up in a small bundle
signifies the great Mindari or peace festival. In giving notice of
the intention to “make some young men” the messenger takes a handful
of charcoal and places a piece in the mouth of each person present
without saying a word. This is fully understood to mean the “making
of young men” at the Wilyaru ceremony.

The following is a description of a Turkish love letter, which was obtained by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (_a_) in 1717:

I have got for you a Turkish love letter. * * * The translation
of it is literally as follows. The first piece you should pull out
of the purse is a little pearl, which must be understood in this
manner:

Pearl Fairest of the young.
Clove You are as slender as the clove.
You are an unblown rose.
I have long loved you and you have not known it.
Jonquil Have pity on my passion.
Paper I faint every hour.
Pear Give me some hope.
Soap I am sick with love.
Coal May I die and all my years be yours.
A rose May you be pleased and your sorrows mine.
A straw Suffer me to be your slave.
Cloth Your price is not to be found.
Cinnamon But my fortune is yours.
A match I burn, I burn! My flame consumes me.
Gold thread Don’t turn away your face from me.
Hair Crown of my head.
Grape My two eyes.
Gold wire I die; come quickly.

And, by way of postscript:

Pepper Send me an answer.

You see this letter is all in verse, and I can assure you there
is as much fancy shown in the choice of them as in the most studied
expressions of our letters, there being, I believe, a million of
verses designed for this use. There is no color, no flower, no weed,
no fruit, herb, pebble, or feather that has not a verse belonging
to it; and you may quarrel, reproach, or send letters of passion,
friendship, or civility, or even of news without ever inking your
fingers.

The use by Turks and Persians of flower letters or communications, the significance of which is formed by the selection and arrangement of flowers, is well known. A missive thus composed of flowers is called sélam, but the details are too contradictory and confused to furnish materials for an accurate dictionary of the flower language, though dictionaries and treatises on it have been published. (See Magnat.) Individual fancy and local convention, it seems, fix the meanings.

A Japanese girl who decides to discourage the further attentions of a lover sends to him, instead of the proverbial “mitten” of New England, a sprig of maple, because the leaf changes its color more markedly than any other. In this connection it is told that the Japanese word for love also means color, which would accentuate the lesson of the changing leaf.

MESSAGE STICKS.

The following extracts are made from Curr’s (_a_) Australian Race:

I believe every tribe in Australia has its messenger, whose
life, whilst he is in the performance of his duties, is held sacred
in peace and war by the neighboring tribes. His duties are to convey
the messages which the tribe desires to send to its neighbors,
and to make arrangements about places of meeting on occasions of
fights or corroborees. In many tribes it is the custom to supply
the messenger when he sets out with a little carved stick, which he
delivers with his message to the most influential man of the tribe
to which he is sent. This carved stick he often carries whilst
traveling stuck in the netted band which the blacks wear round the
head. I have seen many of them, and been present when they were
received and sent, and have some from Queensland in my possession
at present. They are often flat, from 4 to 6 inches long, an inch
wide, and a third of an inch thick; others are round, of the same
length, and as thick as one’s middle finger. When flat their edges
are often notched, and their surface always more or less carved
with indentations, transverse lines, and squares; in fact, with
the same sort of figures with which the blacks ornament their
weapons throughout the continent; when round, fantastic lines are
cut around them or lengthwise. I have one before me at this moment
which is a miniature boomerang, carved on both sides, notched at
the edges, and colored with red ocher. Any black could fashion
sticks of this sort in an hour or two. Some of my correspondents
have spoken of them as a sort of writing, but when pressed on the
subject have admitted that their surmise, all the circumstances
weighed, was not tenable. The flat sticks especially have that sort
of regularity and repetition of pattern which wall papers exhibit.
That they do not serve the purpose of writing or hieroglyphics I
have no hesitation in asserting; and I may remark that in all cases
which have come under my notice the messenger delivered his message
before he presented the carved stick. That done the recipient would
attempt to explain to those about him how the stick portrayed the
message. Still this eminently childish proceeding leads one to
consider whether the most savage mind does not contain the germ of
writing. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, in his Discovery and Conquest of
New Spain, relates that, when his country sent verbal messages by
Mexican bearers to distant tribes, the messengers who had seen the
Spaniards write always asked to be supplied with a letter, which,
of course, neither they nor the people to whom they were sent could
read.

Fig. 477 reproduces the illustration of the message sticks published in the work above mentioned.

Vol. I, p. 306.--In the Majanna tribe messengers are sent with a
notched or carved stick, and the bearer has to explain its meaning.
If it be a challenge to fight, and the challenge is accepted,
another stick is returned.

Vol. II, p. 183.--The bearer of an important communication
from one party to another often carries a message stick with him,
the notches and lines on which he refers to whilst delivering his
message. This custom, which prevails from the north coast to the
south, is a very curious one. No black fellow ever pretends to be
able to understand a message from a notched stick, but always looks
upon it as confirmatory of the message it accompanies.

Vol. II, p. 427.--Message sticks are in use, the marks carved on
them being a guaranty of the messenger, the same as a ring with us
in former times.

Vol. III, p. 263.--Message sticks are used by the Maranoa river
tribe. An informant has in his possession a reed necklace attached
to a piece of flat wood about 5 inches long; on the wood are carved
straight and curved lines, and this piece of wood was sent by one
portion of the tribe to another by a messenger, the two parties
being about 60 miles apart. The interpretation of the carving was:
“My wife has been stolen; we shall have to fight; bring your spears
and boomerangs.” The straight lines, it was explained, meant spears
and the curved ones boomerangs; but the stealing of the wife seems
to have been left to the messenger to tell.

A. W. Howitt (_a_) gives a further account on this topic:

The messenger carries with him as the emblems of his missions
a complete set of male attire, together with the sacred humming
instrument, which is wrapped in a skin and carefully concealed from
women and children. It is, therefore, in such cases, the totem which
assembles the whole community.

In the Adjadura tribe of South Australia the ceremonies are
ordered to be held by the headman of the whole tribe by his
messenger, who carries a message stick marked in such a manner that
it serves to illustrate his message; together with this there is
also sent a sacred humming instrument.

Drs. Houzé and Jacques (_a_) give a different view of the significance of the marks on message sticks:

It proves very difficult to discover the signification of
the notched message sticks. The Europeans have not succeeded
in deciphering them. Some marks may represent a whole history.
The following anecdote on this subject is reported by M. Cauvin
(according to J. M. Davis, Aborigines of Victoria, v. I, p. 356,
note): A European, having formed the project of establishing a
new station, started from Edward river with a herd of cattle and
some Indians. When, all being arranged, the colonist was on the
point of returning home, one of the young blacks requested him to
take a letter to his father, and, on the consent of his patron, he
gave him a stick about a foot long covered with notches and signs.
On arriving home the colonist went to the camp of the blacks and
delivered the letter to the father of his young follower, who,
calling around him the whole encampment, to the great surprise of
the European, read from this stick a daily account of the doings of
the company from the departure from Edward river until the arrival
at the new station, describing the country which they had traversed
and the places where they had camped each night.

The Queenslanders did not give Drs. Houzé and Jacques such a long translation of their message sticks, but they informed them that one of the sticks related to the crossing from Australia into America, which is recounted by Tambo, the author of the message. An illustration of it is presented on p. 93 of the above cited work of Houzé and Jacques, but is not sufficiently distinct for reproduction.

WEST AFRICAN AROKO.

G. W. Bloxam (_b_) says of the aroko, or symbolic letters, used by the tribe of Jebu, in West Africa, describing Fig. 478:

This is a message from a native general of the Jebu force to
a native prince abroad. It consists of six cowries. Six in the
Jebu language is E-fà, which is derived from the verb fà, to draw.
They are arranged two and two, face to face, on a long string; the
pairs of cowries set face to face indicate friendly feeling and
good fellowship; the number expresses a desire to draw close to the
person to whom the message is sent [note the rebus]; while the long
string indicates considerable distance or a long road. This is the
message: “Although the road between us be very long, yet I draw you
to myself and set my face towards you. So I desire you to set your
face towards me and draw to me.”

On p. 298 he adds:

Among the Jebu in West Africa odd numbers in their message are
of evil import, while even numbers express good will. Thus a single
cowrie may be sent as an unfavorable answer to a request or message.

The same author writes, on p. 297, describing Fig. 479:

It is a message from His Majesty Awnjale, the King of Jebu,
to his nephew abroad; and here we find other substances besides
cowries included in the aroko. Taking the various articles in order,
commencing from the knot, we observe four cowries facing in the same
direction, with their backs to the knot; this signifies agreement.
Next a piece of spice, _a_, which produces when burnt a sweet odor
and is never unpleasant; then come three cowries facing in the same
direction; then a piece of mat, _b_; then a piece of feather, _c_;
and, lastly, a single cowrie turned in the same direction as all the
others. The interpretation is:

“Your ways agree with mine very much. Your ways are pleasing to
me and I like them.

“Deceive me not, because the spice would yield nothing else but
a sweet and genuine odor unto God.

“I shall never deal doubly with you all my life long.

“The weight of your words to me is beyond all description.

“As it is on the same family mat we have been sitting and lying
down together, I send to you.

“I am, therefore, anxiously awaiting and hoping to hear from
you.”

The following account of “African Symbolic Messages,” condensed from the paper of the Rev. C. A. Gollmer, which appeared in Jour. Anthrop. Inst. of Gr. Bn. and I., XIV, p. 169, et. seq., is highly interesting as showing the ideography attached to the material objects transmitted. The step in evolution by which the graphic delineation of those objects was substituted for their actual presence was probably delayed only by the absence of convenient material, such as birch bark, parchment, or other portable rudimentary form of paper on which to draw or paint, or at least by the want of a simple invention for the application of such material:

The natives in the Yoruba country, West Africa, in the absence
of writing, and as a substitute for it, send to one another messages
by means of a variety of tangible objects, such as shells, feathers,
pepper, corn, stone, coal, sticks, powder, shot, razors, etc.,
through which they convey their ideas, feelings, and wishes, good
and bad, and that in an unmistakable manner. The object transmitted
is seen, the import of it known and the message verbally delivered
by the messenger sent, and repeated by one or more other persons
accompanying the messenger for the purpose as the importance of the
message is considered to require.

Cowry shells in the symbolic language are used to convey, by
their number and the way in which they are strung, a variety of
ideas. One cowry may indicate “defiance and failure;” thus: A cowry
(having a small hole made at the back part, so as to be able to pass
a string through it and the front opening) strung on a short bit of
grass fiber or cord, and sent to a person known as a rival, or one
aiming at injuring the other, the message is: “As one finger can not
take up a cowry (more than one are required), so you one I defy;
you will not be able to hurt me, your evil intentions will come to
nothing.”

Two cowries may indicate “relationship and meeting;” thus: Two
cowries strung together, face to face, and sent to an absent brother
or sister, the message is: “We are children of one mother, were
nursed by the same breasts.”

Two cowries may indicate “separation and enmity;” thus: Two
cowries strung back to back and sent to a person gone away, the
message is: “You and I are now separated.”

Two cowries and a feather may indicate “speedy meeting;” thus:
Two cowries strung face to face, with a small feather (of a chicken
or other bird) tied between the two cowries, and sent to a friend
at a distance, the message is: “I want to see you, as the bird
(represented by the feather) flies straight and quickly, so come as
quickly as you can.”

The following fivefold painful symbolic message was sent by D.,
whilst in captivity at Dahomey, to his wife, who happened to be
staying with Mr. Gollmer, at Badagry, at the time. The symbols were
a stone, a coal, a pepper, corn, and a rag. During the attack of the
King of Dahomey, with his great army of Amazons and other soldiers,
upon Abeokuta in March, 1852, D., one of the native Christians and
defenders of his town, home, and family, was taken captive and
carried to Dahomey, where he suffered much for a long time. Whilst
waiting for weeks to know the result his wife received the symbolic
letter which conveyed the following message:

The stone indicated “health” (the stone was a small, common one
from the street); thus the message was: “As the stone is hard, so my
body is hardy, strong--i. e., well.”

The coal indicated “gloom” (the coal was a small piece of
charcoal); thus the message was: “As the coal is black, so are my
prospects dark and gloomy.”

The pepper indicated “heat” (the pepper was of the hot cayenne
sort); thus the message was: “As the pepper is hot so is my mind
heated, burning on account of the gloomy prospect--i. e., not
knowing what day I may be sold or killed.”

The corn indicated “leanness” (the corn was a few parched grains
of maize or Indian corn); thus the message was: “As the corn is
dried up by parching; so my body is dried up or become lean through
the heat of my affliction and suffering.”

The rag indicated “worn out;” thus (the rag was a small piece
of worn and torn native cloth, in which the articles were wrapped)
the message was: “As the rag is, so is my cloth cover--i. e., native
dress, worn and torn to a rag.”

A tooth brush may indicate “remembrance;” thus: It is a
well-known fact that the Africans in general can boast of a finer
and whiter set of teeth than most other nations. And those Europeans
who lived long among them know from constant observation how much
attention they pay to their teeth, not only every morning, but often
during the day. The tooth brush made use of is simply a piece of
wood about 6 to 9 inches long, and of the thickness of a finger.
One end of the stick, wetted with the saliva, is rubbed to and fro
against the teeth, which end after awhile becomes soft. This sort of
tooth brush is frequently given to friends as an acceptable present,
and now and then it is made use of as a symbolic letter, and in such
a case the message is: “As I remember my teeth the first thing in
the morning, and often during the day, so I remember and think of
you as soon as I get up, and often afterwards.”

Sugar may indicate “peace and love;” in the midst of a war
this good disposition was made known from one party to another by
the following symbol: A loaf of white sugar was sent by messengers
from the native church at A. to the native church at I., and the
message was: “As the sugar is white, so there is no blackness (i.
e., enmity) in our hearts towards you; our hearts are white (i. e.,
pure and free from it). And as the sugar is sweet, so there is no
bitterness among us against you; we are sweet (i. e., at peace with
you) and love you.”

A fagot may indicate “fire and destruction;” when a fagot (i.
e., a small bundle of bamboo poles, burnt on one end) is found
fastened to the bamboo fence inclosing a compound, or premises,
it conveys the message: “Your house will be burnt down”--i. e.,
destroyed.

Powder and shot are often made use of and sent as a symbolic
letter; the message is to either an individual or a people, viz: “As
we can not settle the quarrel, we must fight it out” (i. e., “we
shall shoot you, or make war upon you”).

A razor may indicate “murder.” A person suspected and accused of
having by some means or other been the cause of death of a member of
a family, the representative of that family will demand satisfaction
by sending the symbolic objects, viz, a razor or knife, which is
laid outside the door of the house of the accused offender and
guilty party, and the message is well understood to be: “You have
killed or caused the death of N., you must kill yourself to avenge
his death.”

The following examples indicate a still further step in evolution by which the names of the objects or of the numbers are of the same sound as words in the language the significance of which constitutes the real message. This objective rebus corresponds with the pictorial rebus so common in Mexican pictographs, and which is well known to have borne a chief part in the development of Egyptian and other ancient forms of writing.

Three cowries with some pepper may indicate “deceit;” thus:
Three cowries strung with their faces all looking one way (as
mentioned before) with an alligator pepper tied to the cowries. Eru
is the name of the pepper in the native language, which in English
means “deceit.” The message may be either a “caution not to betray
one another,” or, more frequently, an accusation of having deceived
and defrauded the company.

Six cowries may indicate “attachment and affection;” thus:
Efa in the native language means “six” (cowries implied); it also
means “drawn,” from the verb fa, to draw. Mora is always implied as
connected with Efa; this means “stick to you,” from the verb mo, to
stick to, and the noun ara, body--i. e. you. Six cowries strung (as
before mentioned) and sent to a person or persons, the message is:
“I am drawn (i. e. attached) to you, I love you,” which may be the
message a young man sends to a young woman with a desire to form an
engagement.

Rev. Richard Taylor (_b_) says:

The Maori used a kind of hieroglyphical or symbolical way of
communication; a chief, inviting another to join in a war party,
sent a tattooed potato and a fig of tobacco bound up together, which
was interpreted to mean that the enemy was a Maori and not European
by the tattoo, and by the tobacco that it represented smoke; he
therefore roasted the one and eat it, and smoked the other, to show
he accepted the invitation, and would join him with his guns and
powder. Another sent a waterproof coat with the sleeves made of
patchwork, red, blue, yellow, and green, intimating that they must
wait until all the tribes were united before their force would be
waterproof, i. e., able to encounter the European. Another chief
sent a large pipe, which would hold a pound of tobacco, which was
lighted in a large assembly, the emissary taking the first whiff,
and then passing it around; whoever smoked it showed that he joined
in the war.