Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-12-12
MESSAGES OF sAvA0Ea,
How Letters Are Sent without Writing
by Primitive Peoples.

" HHmhttvo feopleos
HOW DID PEOPLE SEND MESSAGES
IL before the art of writing was under
stood2
Some suggestions on the subject can be got
from the methods used by primitive races To-
day. For example, in the Yoruba country,
West Africa the natives send messages by
means Of shells, feathers, peppers, corn,
stones, coal, razors, powder and shot and
many other things. The meaning Of each OBJ
ject is known, and all of them together make
up sort Of ''code," by which intelligence re-
lating to anything whatsoever may b trans
mitted.
SIMPLY by means Of cowry shells these saw
ages are able to conduct the most elaborate
correspondence. They are strung on bits of
grass hber, and by the manner Of their ar
rangement may be made to convey the widest
variety of meanings. One shell signifies def
ance; two, strung face to face mean friendli-
ness; but pair Of cowries strung back to back
are to be interpreted as an expression of
enmlty. Two cowries, with @ feather fastened
between them, say: Come a. quickly q you
can fiy."
Some years ago white man was captured in
the course OF a raid made by the Amazon war
rlors OF Dahomey upon q missionary settle
ment A few weeks later his anxious wife re-
celved from him q message, which consisted
simply OF pebble, piece Of charcoal, pep
per, grain OF parched corn and a rag. There
was no difficulty in transIating it by the native
code The pQbb!e said: Il am in coed health, -
l. e., hard in body; the piece Of charcoal sig
nined: "Hut my prospects are very black and
gioomy: the pepper meant, 81 am very anx-
ious about the future. lest be killed or sold
into slavery" the grain Of parched corn indi-
Gated: =! have become very thin, and the scrap
OF rag added: my clothing is in tatters'
toothbrush, when sent by one native to
another, signifies friendship. African savages
nave the best teeth in the world, and one
reason for this fact is that they take such
excellent care OF them, cleaning them several
times day. For this purpos they use a short
piece OF wood, which becomes softened by rub
blng In the mouth. Thus the message Of q
toothbrus is: AS remember my teeth con-
stantly so often think of you"
Sugar means peace and love; powder and
shot convey notice of war; q razor is sent to a
murderer by the victims relatives to notify
MIN that it is expected he will kill himself for
their satisfaction. Six cowry shells signify Il
love you" Such q string sent by young man
TO girl expresses his desire to form an en-
gagement of marriage.
Among the natives Of Australia notched and
carved sticks are used for messages. For in
stance, piece of wood carried from one viii
iage to another, with straight and curved lines
cut upon 1t, means there is a fight on hand;
North American Indians have utilized wampum
belts from time immemorial for like purposes
the arrangement Of the different colored beads
conveying the Specification desired. On
several occasions pipes of peace and other
symbolic missives have been received by
the President of the United States from vari-
GUS tribes. The Moquis of New Mexico once
sent him small quantity of wild honey
wrapped in the inner husk of an ear o. corn
he was requested to take piece of the husk
chew it and spit it out upon the ground in
order that the country might have rain.
1t Is recorded in history that when Darius
king of Persia, invaded Scythia, the ruler of
the latter country, Idanthuras, sent him a
message, consisting Of n mouse. a frog O bird
an arrow and pillow. The wiscst men in the
army puzzled over the meaning of it which
was conjectured to be that the empire was sur
rendered 1t was supposed that the mouse
slgnitied the dwellings. the frog the waters. the
bird the air, the arrow the arms and the pillow
the land. But it turned out that the interpre-
tatlon intended was that unless Darius and his
soldiers could fly like birds, burrow like mice
or betake themselves like frogs to the water
they would never escape the weapons of the
Scythians and make their way out Of the coun-
try,
knotted strings were employed by the an
cient people of Peru for messages. They had
no written Characters to express single sounds
and SO they put words together for purposes
dexterous tying of knots on cords To one
thick cord they attached several thinner ones
and on the latter the knots were tied. single
knot meant ten, q double knot 100 and a triple
knot l,OOO The little strings were of different
colors so as to represent various kinds of
things. On one such "quipu' all the accounts
OF the army were kept. red string gave
the number of soldiers with sings.
IA white string the soldiers with spears
and black string the soldiers with clubs, &c.
Similarly all the books of the nation were
posted. In every town were persons known as
''officers Of the knots" whose business il was
to tie the strings and to explain them. They
became SO perfect in this art that they could
with ease make known the laws by the same
means and set down every important event of
the kingdom. To this day like method is fol-
lowed by the farmers in that country, who use
1t for keeping tally of their fiocks and crops.
Similar records are kept with knotted cords
In Polynesia. During the early part Of this
century and previously the official tax
gatherers on the Island of Hawaii, in the Sand
wich group. did all their accounts on a rome
2, 400 feet long. which was divided into lengths.
each corresponding to a district. Loops, knots
and feather tufts along the rope served as
memoranda for the hogs, pigs and pieces Of
sandal wood collected from Taxpayers
The conveying of information by fire giving
smoke by day and illumination at night. is one
OF the very oldest methods adopted for this
purpose. No one knows when the semaphore
was first invented, but the origin of this device
for signaling with arms at different angles is
most ancient. Cryptograms. for communi-
eating III secret language, are nearly as old as
the art OF writing, and invisible inks, which
could be rendered visible by heat or the action
of chemicals, were utilized by the Egyptians
thirty-fve centuries ago.