Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-04-27
SIGNALS OF SAYAGES.
HOW THEY COMMUNICATE BY SIGNS
AT LONG DISTANCES.
The Power of the Little Giass-System
of Signals Among the American
Indians and Esquimau.

The Power of the Little Giass-Systen
of Signals Among the American
Indians and Esquimau.
| With two Esquimau hunters, says ;
writer in the Cosmopolitan, l was once
standing upon the top of a rocky bill
about two days journey inland from the
north shore of Hudson's Bay. We hat
been looking for reindeer, but had seer
none Already we had walked a Ions
distance and crossed many hills en- route
for it is the custom with the Esquimau, as
with the Indians, to 60 over the top of 8
hill rather than around it. This is moi
only to have fine outlook from an eleva.
tion, but because it is impossible to con.
vince a savage that it is not a shorter
route. 1t was about noon, and we were
tired, so we stopped to rest few minutes
and to smoke pipe. We had not been
in the enjoyment of these luxuries long
before heard the faint sound of human
|
blowing from the northward. / called
the attention of my companions to this
sound, and, brushing their long black
locks from over their ears, they threw
themselves down in the lee of great rock
and listened. They, too, heard the voice.
and said the person calling was so far off
that they could not understand what he
said.
In the meantime swept the crest of a
range of hills in the direction of the voice
with my field glass, and finally made out
| the figure of some one who was waving
what looked like huge piece of cloth. !.
| passed the glass ato Sebeeucktalee, one of
| my guides, and he at once recognized a
hunter named Aluktay, and said he sig
nailed US to come over where he was; that
| there were reindeer there. The hills did
not appear far off, but it was a full hour
before we reached the man who had sig
nailed to us to come. He then told us that
there were plenty of reindeer beyond that
line of hills, and that his tent and that of
two other hunters were pitched within
easy reach of the hunting grounds. He
gave my two friends some raw venison, and
to me, as an especial favor, nice raw
tongue, from which he first, very politely,
bit off the hard outside skin. 1t was the
first raw meat l had eaten; but having
tasted since the previous noon, l had too
keen an appetite to be particular about
trihes. During this little luncheon Aluk-
tay Id of the quantity of reindeer near
his camp and invited us to go over there
with him. 1t was nearly dark when we
reached the camp, and during the walk I
had ample time to wonder how he had
succeeded in informing my companions
that there were reindeer around when too
far away to be heard. / could understand
that he might beckon to them to come to
him, but the more / thought about it the
more was puzzled over the method of
communicating the fact of there being
good hunting grounds where he was.
The following day my guides, Sebeeuck-
talee and Koomana, went back to bring
their tent and the old folks up to this new
camp, and | went out to hunt with Aluk-
tay. During that day he explained to me
the Esouimau signal code. l found it
very interesting at the time, and later on
its usefulness was demonstrated almost
daily during my residence with these peo-
pie. Aluktay described to me that when
an Esquimau wished to talk with those at
a distance he would take position on an
eminence, where his body could be plainly
seen against the sky or snow-covered
hillside. With his body placed so as to
directly face those with whom he wishes
to communicate, he extends his right arm
and moves 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 a flag,
make the same motion, which would thus
be more conspicuous. 1t was with his
coat that he made the signal when COM
municating with us the previous day. If
after this he moved his left arm or the
coat in 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 ant
lers 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 re-
ceiver turning his rsght side toward the
sender and bending his body forward,
making right angle at the waist, which
would mean "Yes% in the opposite direc-
tlcn would mean "No," or that there was
no one to send, or that there were no dogs
around.
Once, when on a sledge Journey from
Marble Island, Hudson's Bay, to Depot
Island, about 150 miles to the north, l was
three or four days behind Lieutenant
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 so as to make a wide pillar, and
upon this were set the head and antlers of
a reindeer. This was interpreted to me by
my guides as showing that Toolooah,
Schwatka's hunter, had killed four rein
deer 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 could have learned
very easily how to read the symbol that
four reindeer had been killed by some
body, but it would take a 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.
The Indians of the great western plains
have now a system hardly exceeded in
efficiency by the military code of the civil
lied world. For many years their only
means OF communication at a distance was
by signal fires upon the hilltops at night
and by columns of smoke during the day.
They have method, not we'll known to
those outside the native tribes, of covering
fire until a sufficient quantity of smoke
has been accumulated, when it will sud-
| denly burst forth into column of thick,
heavy smoke that cannot fail to attract at
tention even at great distance These