338 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. xin 



learnt the art of the races of the Asiatic continent. I 

 was quite astonished, moreover, at the skill displayed by 

 my own servants in Celebes in copying some of the 

 rough sketches I made in my notebooks. 



There is no evidence that in Minahassa there was at 

 any time a true written language ; but some years ago 

 two remarkable specimens of what seem to be picture- 

 message writings were brought to light. One of these is 

 a piece of wood with certain figures carved on both sides, 

 the cavities being filled up with chalk. There are some 

 human figures, apparently in the act of fighting, some 

 crosses, circles, and horizontal strokes, and also some 

 figures which may be meant for banana trees. Judging 

 from the appearance of these carvings, it is quite possible 

 that this piece of wood is a message-stick, similar to the 

 message-sticks of the Australians, and that it conveyed 

 news of a war that was progressing, with directions as to 

 the way succour might be sent. 



The other example is a piece of coarse paper with the 

 figures drawn in charcoal on both sides. The designs on 

 this are rather more ambitious, and in many of the human 

 figures there is a good deal of action ; but there is 

 wanting, in all the sketches, that touch and feeling which 

 makes the Papuan art so much superior to that of the 

 Malays. There is throughout an absence of all those 

 graceful regular curves and other conventionalisms which 

 are so well marked in many of the ordinary carvings and 

 fretwork of the Papuans (2) . 



