MALLERY. ] DECLARATION OF WAR. 359 
Capt. Laudonniere (@) says: “ Arrows, to which long hairs are at- 
tached, were stuck up along the trail or road by the Florida Indians, 
in 1565, to signify a declaration of war.” 
Dr. Georg. Schweinfurth (a) gives the following: 
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 supended 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. 
In the Notes on Eastern Equatorial Africa, by MM. VY. Jacques (a) 
and EB. Storms, it is stated that when a chief wishes to delare war he 
sends to the chief against whom he has a complaint an ambassador 
bearing a leaden bullet anda hoe. If the latter chooses the bullet, war 
ensues; if the hoe, it means that he consents to enter into negotiations 
to maintain peace. 
Terrien de Lacouperie, op. cit., pp. 420, 421, reports: 
The following instance in Tibeto-China is of a mixed character. The use of mate- 
rial objects is combined with that of notched sticks. When the Li-su axe minded 
to rebel they send to the Moso chief (who rules them on behalf of the Chinese Goy- 
ernment) 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, ete. 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, ete. 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. 
SECTION 2. 
PROFESSION OF PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP. 
The following account of pictorial correspondence leading to peace 
was written by Governor Lewis Cass, while on one of his numerous 
missions to the Western tribes, before 1820: 
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 per- 
manent peace between themand 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 is600 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. Inu 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. 
