SIGNS AND HIEROGLYPHICS.
It has been asserted by many persons that the languages of the
Indians are deficient in words, and that, in order to make themselves
understood, they are obliged to resort to motions and signs with
their hands. This is entirely a mistake. I do not know a nation of
whom foreigners do not say the same thing. The fact is, that in every
country, signs and motions with the hands more or less accompany
discourse, particularly when delivered with a certain degree of
earnestness and warmth. Foreigners, who are not very conversant with
a language, pay in general as much and sometimes more attention to
these motions than to the words of the speaker, in order the better to
be able to understand what falls from him. Hence, almost every nation
charges the others with too much gesticulation in speaking. For a
similar reason, a foreign language is generally thought to be spoken
quicker than our own, while the truth is, that it is our ear which is
slow in distinguishing the words, not the voice which speaks that is
too quick in uttering them.
The Indians do not gesticulate more when they speak than other nations
do. In their public speeches they will, like our preachers and lawyers,
enforce what they say by gestures and motions of the body and hands, in
order to give greater weight to their observations, or to represent the
subject they speak of in a more lively manner than can be done by words
alone; but in common conversation they make few of those motions, and
not more, I believe, than we do ourselves; even the women, who every
where speak more than the men, never want words to express themselves,
but rather seem to have too many, and they do not oftener employ
gestures in aid of their conversation than the vivacity of their sex
induces them to do every where else.
It is true that the Indians have a language of signs, by which they
communicate with each other on occasions when speaking is not prudent
or proper, as, for instance, when they are about to meet an enemy, and
by speaking they would run the risk of being discovered. By this means
they also make themselves understood to those nations of Indians whose
languages they are not acquainted with, for all the Indian nations
understand each other in this way. It is also, in many cases, a saving
of words, which the Indians are much intent on, believing that too much
talking disgraces a man. When, therefore, they will relate something
extraordinary in a few words, they make use of corresponding signs,
which is very entertaining to those who listen and attend to them, and
who are acquainted both with the language and the signs, being very
much as if somebody were to explain a picture set before them. But they
never make use of signs to supply any deficiency of language, as they
have words and phrases sufficient to express every thing.
I have frequently questioned Indians who had been educated at our
schools, and could understand, read, write, and speak both English and
German, whether they could express their ideas better in either of
those languages than in their own, and they have always and uniformly
answered that they could express themselves with far the greatest ease
in their own Indian, and that they never were at a loss for words or
phrases in which to clothe every idea that occurred to them, without
being in any case obliged to gesticulate or make motions with their
hands or otherwise. From the knowledge which I have acquired of their
language, I have reason to be satisfied that it is so. Indeed, how can
it be doubted, when we have the whole of the Bible and New Testament
translated into one of their dialects, and when we see our ministers,
when once familiar with the language of the nation with which they
reside, preach to them without the least difficulty on the most
abstruse subjects of the Christian faith? It is true, that ideas are
not always expressed in those languages in the same words, or under
the same grammatical forms as in our own; where we would use one part
of speech, we are obliged to employ another, and one single word with
them will not seldom serve a purpose for which we would have to employ
several; but still, the ideas are communicated, and pass with clearness
and precision from mind to mind. Thus the end of oral language is
completely obtained, and more, I think, cannot be required.
The Indians do not possess our art of writing, they have no alphabets,
or[143] any mode of representing to the eye the sounds of words spoken,
yet they have certain hieroglyphics, by which they describe facts in
so plain a manner, that those who are conversant with those marks can
understand them with the greatest ease, as easily, indeed, as we can
understand a piece of writing. For instance, on a piece of bark, or on
a large tree with the bark taken off for the purpose, by the side of
a path, they can and do give every necessary information to those who
come by the same way; they will in that manner let them know, that they
were a war party of so many men, from such a place, of such a nation
and such a tribe; how many of each tribe were in the party; to which
tribe the chief or captain belonged; in what direction they proceeded
to meet the enemy; how many days they were out and how many returning;
what number of the enemy they had killed, how many prisoners they had
brought; how many scalps they had taken; whether they had lost any of
their party, and how many; what enemies they had met with, and how
many they consisted of; of what nation or tribe their captain was,
&c.; all which, at a single glance, is perfectly well understood by
them. In the same manner they describe a chase: all Indian nations can
do this, although they have not all the same marks; yet I have seen
the Delawares read with ease the drawings of the Chippeways, Mingoes,
Shawanos, and Wyandots, on similar subjects.
While Indians are travelling to the place of their destination,
whether it be on a journey to their distant hunting grounds or on a
war excursion, some of the young men are sent out to hunt by the way,
who, when they have killed a deer, bear, or other animal, bring it to
the path, ready to be taken away by those who are coming along, (often
with horses) to the place of encampment, when they all meet at night.
Having hung up the meat by the side of the path, these young men make a
kind of sun-dial, in order to inform those who are coming of the time
of day it was at the time of their arrival and departure. A clear place
in the path is sought for, and if not readily found, one is made by the
side of it, and a circle or ring being drawn on the sand or earth, a
stick of about two or three feet in length is fixed in the centre, with
its upper end bent towards that spot in the horizon where the sun stood
at the time of their arrival or departure. If both are to be noted
down, two separate sticks are set; but generally one is sufficient,
namely, for the time of departure.
Hunters have particular marks, which they make on the trees, where
they strike off from the path to their hunting grounds or place of
encampment, which is often at the distance of many miles; yet the
women, who come from their towns to fetch meat from these camps, will
as readily find them as if they were conducted to the spot.
I shall conclude this chapter with an anecdote, which will at once
shew how expressive and energetic is this hieroglyphic writing of the
Indians. A white man in the Indian country, met[144] a Shawanos riding
a horse which he recognised for his own, and claimed it from him as his
property. The Indian calmly answered; “Friend! after a little while,
I will call on you at your house, when we shall talk of this matter.”
A few days[145] afterwards, the Indian came to the white man’s house,
who insisting on having his horse restored, the other then told him:
“Friend! the horse which you claim belonged to my uncle who lately
died; according to the Indian custom, I have become heir to all his
property.” The white man not being satisfied, and renewing his demand,
the Indian immediately took a coal from the fire-place, and made two
striking figures on the door of the house, the one representing the
white man taking the horse, and the other, himself, in the act of
scalping him; then he coolly asked the trembling claimant “whether he
could read this Indian writing?” The matter thus was settled at once,
and the Indian rode off.