PICTURE-WRITING AND WORD-WRITINa. 



85 



arch witli three circles below it shows that there were three 

 suns under heaven^ that is, that the voyage took three days. 

 The tortoise seems to indicate their getting to land, while the 

 representation of the chief himself on horseback shows that the 

 expedition took place since the time when horses were intro- 

 duced into Canada. 



The Indian grave-posts. 

 Fig. 4, tell their story in 

 the same childlike manner. 

 Upon one is a tortoise, the 

 dead warrior's totem, and 

 a figure beside it represent- 

 ing a headless man, which 

 shows he is dead. Be- 

 low are his three marks of 

 honour. On the other post 

 there is no separate sign 



Fig. 4. 



for death, but the chief's totem, a crane, is reversed. Six 

 marks of honour are awarded to- him on the right, and three 

 on the left. The latter represent three important general 

 treaties of peace which he had attended; the former would 

 seem to stand for six war-parties or battles. The pipe and 

 hatchet are symbols of influence in peace and war. 



The great defect of this kind of record is that it can only be 

 understood within a very limited circle. It does not tell the 

 story at length, as is done in explaining it in words ; but it 

 merely suggests some event, of which it only gives such details 

 as are required to enable a practised observer to construct a 

 complete picture. It may be compared in this respect to the 

 elliptical forms of expression which are current in all societies 

 whose attention is given specially to some narrow ' subject of 

 interest, and where, as all men's minds have the same frame- 

 work set up in them, it is not necessary to go into an elaborate 

 description of the whole state of things ; but one or two details 

 are enough to enable the hearer to understand the whole. Such 

 expressions as "new white at 48," "best selected at 92,'' 

 though perfectly understood in the commercial circles where 

 they are current, are as unintelligible to any one who is not- 



