GH APTER IX. 
MNEMONIC. 
This is the most obvious and probably was the earliest use to which 
picture-writing was applied. The contrivance of drawing the repie- 
sentations of objects, to fix in the memory either the objects themselves 
or the concepts, facts, or other matters connected with them, is prac- 
ticed early by human individuals and is found among peoples the most 
ancient historically or in the horizons of culture. After the adoption 
of the characters for purely mnemonic purposes, those at first intended 
to be iconographic often became converted into ideographic, emblem- 
atic, or symbolic designs, and perhaps in time so greatly conventional- 
ized that the images of the things designed could no longer be perceived 
by the imagination alone. 
It is believed, however, that this form and use of picturing were pre- 
ceded by the use of material objects which afterwards were reproduced 
graphically in paintings, cuttings, and carvings. In the present paper 
many examples appear of objects known to have been so used, the graphic 
representations of which, made with the same purpose, are explained 
by knowledge of the fact. Other instances are mentioned as connected 
with the evolution of pictographs, and they possibly may interpret some 
forms of the latter which are not yet understood. 
This chapter is divided into (1) knotted cords and objects tied; 
(2) notched or marked sticks; (3) wampum; (4) order of songs; (5) tra- 
ditions; (6) treaties; (7) appointment; (8) numeration; (9) accounting. 
SECTION 1. 
KNOTTED CORDS AND OBJECTS TIED. 
Dr. Hoffman reports a device among the Indians formerly inhabiting 
the mountain valleys north of Los Angeles, California, who brought or 
sent to the settlements blankets, skins, and robes for sale. The man 
trusted to transport and sell those articles was provided with a number 
of strings made of some flexible vegetable fiber, one string for each 
class of goods, which were attached to his belt. Every one confiding an 
article to the agent fixed the price, and when he disposed of it a single 
knot was tied to the proper cord for each real received, or a double 
knot for each peso. Thus any particular string indicated the kind of 
goods sold, as well as the whole sum realized for them, which was dis- 
tributed according to the account among the former owners of the 
goods. 
223 
