The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-11

| The ESquImauX Long Distance Talk-Mes-
sages in Blocks of snow-Sisnals OF
/ American Indians Almost Perfect-Power
of Little Glass.
| With two Esquimaux hunters was once
standing upon the top Of a rocky hill, about
| two days journey inland from the north
/ shore of Hudsons bay. We had been looking
| for reindeer, but had seen none. l heard the
faint sound of human voice borne upon the
| stiff wind that was blowing from the north
ward l called the attention Of my compan-
| ions TO this sound, and, brushing their long
| black locks from over their ears, they threw
themselves down IN the lee Of a great rock
and listened. They, too, heard the voice,
and said the person calling was 50 far of
that they could not understand what he said.
In the meantime l swept the crest OF a range
of hills in the direction of the voice with nv
field glass, and finally made cut the figure Of
some one who was waving what looked like a
huge piece Of cloth. l passed the glass 10
Sebeeucktalee, one Of my guides, and he at
| once recognized hunter named Aluktay,
and said ne signaled US TO come over where
he was; that there were reindeer there.
THE EsQUMAUx CODE.
The following day went out to hunt with
Aluktay. During that day be explained to
me the Esquimaux signal code. I found it
very interesting at the time, and later on its
usefulness was demonstrated almost daily
during my residence with these people AUX
tay described to me that when an Esquimau
wished to talk with those at distance he
would take a position on an eminence where
his body could be plainly seen against the
S ~
body placed so as to directly face those with
whom he wishes to communicate, he extends
his right arm and morss it UP and down like
pump handle. This signal means Come
here" When so far away that the motion Of
the arm could not be distinctly seen he
would take off his coat, and, using that as
flag, make the same motion, which would
thus be more conspicuous 1t was with his
coat that he made the signal when communI-
eating with US the previous day If after this
he moved his left arm or the coat in a similar
manner, but on the left side, he meant
Bring dogs" Then, by pointing both arms
nearly straight up from the shoulder, as
rude symbol Of the antlers Of reindeer, he
would indicate that he had killed reindeer,
and the number Of times the arms were
raised would denote the number killed, so that
his friends would know how many dogs to
bring. The reply to the message is made by
the receiver turning his right side toward the
sender and bending his body forward, making
right angle at the waist, which would mean
YES in the opposite direction would mean
"No,n or that there was no one to send, or
that there were no dogs around.
Once, when on sledge journey from Mar
bic island, Hudson's bay, to Depot island,
about $50 miles to the north / was three or
four days behind Lieut.. Schwatka, who was
in charge of another party of our native
allies. One day we came upon four blocks Of
snow placed upon each other 50 as to make
WIDE pillar, and upon this were set the head
and antlers of a reindeer. This was inter
preted by my guides as showing that Too
looah, Schwatka's hunter, had killed four
reindeer there three days before. The num-
Der of blocks indicated the number killed,
and the number of days was apparent to my
people by the condition of the snow. They
knew it was Toolooah by the way the blocks
were cut. l could have learned very easily
how to read the symbol that four reindeer
had been killed by somebody, but it would
take vast amount of experience to know by
whom and the time that had elapsed These
savages can tell Enthusiastically, and so, too,
do they know from the condition as to the
frost the length of time the snow has been
cut. By touching the tracks Of people or
wild animals they can tell when they passed
that way almost to an hour if the tracks have
been made within day or two.
INDIAN SIGNALS.
The Indians of the great western plains
have now a system hardly exceeded in eff
cheney by the military code of the civilized
world For many years their only means of
communicating at a distance was by signal
fires upon the hilltops at night and by col
umnS Of smoke during the day. They have a
method, not well known to those outside the
native tribes, of covering q fire until a sufii-
Gent quantity of smoke has been accumu-
lated, when it will suddenly burst forth into
a column of thick, heavy smoke that cannot
fail TO attract attention even at great dis
tance These signal fires and smoke signals
are still in use among them, but they have
besides code Of signals that is telegraphed
from point 10 point by sun flashes made with
a small mirror. Their code is not known be-
yond their own ranks, further than that it is
not a system of words, but that certain
flashes of longer or shorter duration, or that
vibrations intermingled with steady rays,
signify conditions or events that 1t was pre-
viously arranged thay should indicate. The
Indian Photograph is the small round mirror
in metal case which has always been an ar
ticie Of trade with savages all over the world
Every Indian hunter or warrior wears one
of these little mirrors suspended from a string
around his neck, and its use Is constant with
him. An officer Of the army who recently
was acting commlSsaTy of subsistence on
an Apache reservation told me that on one
occasion the stock cattle for issue 10 the Indi-
aus arrived Unexpectedly, when be supposed
that there were not more than ten Indians
within twenty miles Of the spot, except those
around headquarters. These al once put their
little photographs TO use, and responses were
flashed from the neigbboTing
hlltops and repeated 10 those beyond. The
result was that within three hours there were
more than 2, 800 Indians at the point Of issue,
and others were still coming in not haste
from every direction across the plsinA-Cor.
A Kindly Deed.
wealthy elderly lady OF Marblehead,
Mass. who Is a member Of the society Of the
Kings Daughters heard OF the death in
town near Bgcksport, Ne, Of a man VINO left
a widow, an invalid daughter and heavily
d.