Whenever an Indian band camps, it blazes a tree and leaves,
as record for those who may follow, a message written in the phonetic
character. I do not understand exactly the philosophy of it, but I
gather that each sound has a symbol of its own, like shorthand, and
that therefore even totally different languages--such as Ojibway, the
Wood Cree, or the Hudson Bay Eskimos--may all be written in the same
character. It was invented nearly a hundred years ago by a priest. So
simple is it, and so needed a method of intercommunication, that its
use is now practically universal. Even the youngsters understand it,
for they are early instructed in its mysteries during the long winter
evenings. On the preceding page is a message I copied from a spruce
tree two hundred miles from anywhere on the Mattagami River.
[Illustration]
Besides this are numberless formal symbols in constant use. Forerunners
on a trail stick a twig in the ground whose point indicates exactly the
position of the sun. Those who follow are able to estimate, by noting
how far beyond the spot the twig points to the sun has travelled, how
long a period of time has elapsed. A stick pointed in any given
direction tells the route, of course. Another planted upright across
the first shows by its position how long a journey is contemplated. A
little sack suspended at the end of the pointer conveys information as
to the state of the larder, lean or fat according as the little sack
contains more or less gravel or sand.
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