The Natchez make a declaration of war by leaving a hieroglyphic picture against a tree in the enemy’s country, and in front of the picture they place, saltierwise, two red arrows. At the upper part of the picture at the right is the hieroglyphic sign which designates the nation that declares war; next, a naked man, easy to recognize, who has a casse-tÊte in his hand. Following is an arrow, drawn so as in its flight to pierce a woman, who flees with her hair spread out and flowing in the air. Immediately in front of this woman is a sign belonging to the nation against which war is declared; all this is on the same line. That which is below is not so clear or so much relied upon in the interpretation. This line begins with the sign of a moon (i.e., month) which will follow in a short time. The days that come afterward are indicated by straight strokes and the moon by a face without rays. There is also a man who has in front of him many arrows which seem directed to hit a woman who is in flight. All that announces that when the moon will be so many days old they will come in great numbers to attack the designated nation.

The way of declaring war by the Canadian Algonquian Indians is this: They send back to the nation that they have a mind to quarrel with a slave of the same country, with orders to carry to the village of his own nation an axe, the handle of which is painted red and black.

I may here allude to the remarkable symbolism by which war was declared against us on the frontiers of Wando’s territory. * * * Close on the path, and in full view of every passenger, three objects were suspended from the branch of a tree, viz, an ear of maize, the feather of a fowl, and an arrow. * * * Our guides readily comprehended and as readily explained the meaning of the emblems, which were designed to signify that whoever touched an ear of maize or laid his grasp upon a single fowl would assuredly be the victim of the arrow.

The following instance in Tibeto-China is of a mixed character. The use of material objects is combined with that of notched sticks. When the Li-su are minded to rebel they send to the Moso chief (who rules them on behalf of the Chinese Government) what the Chinese call a muhki and the Tibetans a shing-tchram. It is a stick with knife-cut notches. Some symbols are fastened to it, such, for instance, as a feather, calcined wood, a little fish, etc. The bearer must explain the meaning of the notches and symbols. The notches may indicate the number of hundreds or thousands of soldiers who are coming; the feather shows that they arrive with the swiftness of a bird; the burnt wood, that they will set fire to everything on their way; the fish, that they will throw everybody into the water, etc. This custom is largely used among all the savage tribes of the region. It is also the usual manner in which chiefs transmit their orders.

Some years before, mutually weary of hostilities, the chiefs of the Ojibwas and the Dakotas met and agreed upon a truce. But the Sioux, disregarding the solemn contract which they had formed, and actuated by some sudden impulse, attacked the Ojibwas and murdered a number of them.

On our arrival at Sandy lake I proposed to the Ojibwa chiefs that a deputation should accompany us to the mouth of the St. Peters, with a view to establish a permanent peace between them and the Sioux. The Ojibwas readily acceded to this, and ten of their principal men descended the Mississippi with us. The computed distance from Sandy lake to the St. Peters is 600 miles. As we neared this part of the country we found our Ojibway friends cautious and observing.

The Ojibwa landed occasionally to examine whether any of the Sioux had recently visited that quarter. In one of these excursions an Ojibwa found in a conspicuous place a piece of birch bark, made flat by fastening between two sticks at each end, and about 18 inches long by 2 broad.

This bark contained the answer of the Sioux nation. So sanguinary had been the contest between these two tribes that no personal communication could take place. Neither the sanctity of office nor the importance of the message could protect the ambassador of either party from the vengeance of the other.

Some time preceding, the Ojibwas, anxious for peace, had sent a number of their young men into these plains with a similar piece of bark, upon which they represented their desire. This bark had been left hanging to a tree, in an exposed situation, and had been found and taken away by a party of Sioux.

The proposition had been examined and discussed in the Sioux villages, and the bark contained their answer. The Ojibwa explained to us with great facility the intention of the Sioux.

The junction of the St. Peters with the Mississippi, where the principal part of the Sioux reside, was represented, and also the American fort, with a sentinel on duty, and a flag flying.

The principal Sioux chief was named The-Six, alluding, I believe, to the band of villages under his influence. To show that he was not present at the deliberation upon the subject of peace, he was represented on a smaller piece of bark, which was attached to the other. To identify him, he was drawn with six heads and a large medal. Another Sioux chief stood in the foreground, holding a pipe in his right hand and his weapons in his left. Even we could not misunderstand that; like our own eagle with the olive branch and arrows, he was desirous for peace, but prepared for war.

The Sioux party contained fifty-nine warriors, indicated by fifty-nine guns, drawn upon one corner of the bark.

The encampment of our troops had been removed from the low grounds upon the St. Peters to a high hill upon the Mississippi. Two forts were therefore drawn upon the bark, and the solution was not discovered until our arrival at St. Peters.

The effect of the discovery of the bark upon the minds of the Ojibwas was visible and immediate.

The Ojibwa bark was drawn in the same general manner, and Sandy lake, the principal place of their residence, was represented with much accuracy. To remove any doubts respecting it, a view was given of the old northwestern establishment, situated upon the shore, and now in the possession of the American Fur Company.

No proportion was preserved in their attempt at delineation. One mile of the Mississippi, including the mouth of the St. Peters, occupied as much space as the whole distance to Sandy Lake, nor was there anything to show that one part was nearer to the spectator than another.

My father, tell the Sioux on the upper part of the river St. Peters that they mark trees with the figure of a calumet; that we of Red lake who may go that way should we see them, that we may make peace with them, being assured of their pacific disposition when we shall see the calumet marked on the trees.

On the road to Niao we saw on the ground a curious mud figure of a man in slight relief presenting a gong in the direction of Senua. This was supposed to show that the Niao men were willing to come to terms with Senua, then at war with Niao. Another mode of evincing a desire to turn away the wrath of an approaching enemy and induce him to open negotiations is to tie up in his path a couple of goats, sometimes also a gong, with the universal symbol of peace, a palm leaf planted in the ground hard by.

It represents a message of peace and good news from the King of Jebu to the King of Lagos, after his restoration to the throne on the 28th of December, 1851. It appears complicated, but the interpretation is simple enough. First we find eight cowries arranged in pairs, and signifying the people in the four corners of the world, and it will be observed that, while three of the pairs are arranged with their faces upwards, the fourth and uppermost, i.e., the pair in the most important position, are facing one another, thus signifying that the correspondents, or the people of Jebu and Lagos, are animated by friendly feeling towards each other; so, too, there are two each of all the other objects, meaning, “you and I,” “we two.” The two large seeds or warres, a, a, express a wish that “you and I” should play together as intimate friends do, at the game of “warre,” in which these seeds are used and which is the common game of the country, holding very much the same position as chess or draughts with us; the two flat seeds, b, b, are seeds of a sweet fruit called “osan,” the name of which is derived from the verb, “san,” to please [Mem. Notice the rebus] they, therefore, indicate a desire on the part of a sender of the message to please and to be pleased; lastly, the two pieces of spice, c, c, signify mutual trust. The following is the full meaning of the hieroglyphic:

Of all the people by which the four corners of the world are inhabited, the Lagos and Jebu people are the nearest.

As “warre” is the common play of the country, so the Jebus and Lagos should always play and be friendly with each other.

Mutual pleasantness is my desire; as it is pleasant with me so may it be pleasant with you.

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.

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.

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.

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:

And, by way of postscript:

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.

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.

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.

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.