Probably you have all seen pictures of a birch-bark letter written many
years ago by an Ojibwa Indian. It was written by one of Schoolcraft’s
guides. Mr. Schoolcraft, with a party of assistants and soldiers, was on a
journey of exploration in the Northwest. One morning as they were leaving
camp, Schoolcraft saw an Indian putting a bit of birch bark, upon which he
had drawn some pictures in black, into a cleft at the end of a pole. This
pole was then stuck slantingly into the ground and three notches were cut
in it. When Mr. Schoolcraft asked his guide for an explanation, he said
this letter would inform any Ojibwa Indians who might pass, about their
party. The eagle in the upper corner showed that they were from
Washington—government people. The other pictures showed that there were
eight common soldiers each with a gun; that there were six officers, the
duty of each being indicated by something carried in the hand,—the captain
by his sword, the secretary by his book, the geologist by his hammer,
etc.; that soldiers and officers were white men, as shown by their wearing
hats; that there were two guides, Indians, as shown by their having no
hats and carrying spears; that the night before there were three fires in
the camp, soldiers, officers, and guides, camping separately; that during
the day there had been secured a prairie hen and a turtle, both of which
had been taken by the officers for supper. But other facts were shown
besides those told in the pictures. The pole stuck into the ground pointed
the direction in which the party would journey; the three notches on the
pole told that they would journey in that direction three days.
Of all American Indians those who went farthest in the direction of
developing writing were some of those living in Mexico and Central
America. The Aztecs had an extensive system of picture writing. By means
of pictures they recorded their traditional history and gave full
directions regarding the worship of the gods. They had real books written
with these pictures. These books were written sometimes on skin, sometimes
on paper. The Aztecs made two kinds of paper, one of the soft inner bark
of a tree, the other from the maguey plant. The latter sort was beaten out
of the mass of leaf fibres after they had been soaked in water. The maguey
plant is much like the century plant which you have seen in parks and
greenhouses. The paper or dressed skin was made into long narrow strips
many feet in length. These strips were folded back and forth like a
screen, and the ends were fastened to two thin boards which served as
covers for the book. Sometimes bits of polished green stone were inlaid
into these covers to make them pretty. Some of these old books are still
in existence, though most of them have long been destroyed. We cannot read
any of them very well because pictures are uncertain means of conveying
information. Still we can tell something about their meaning.
[Illustration.]