Origin and Migrations of the Polynesian Nation. 123 



square figure on a sugar-maple tree, on the Muskinghaui River, 

 in the State of Delaware. The first line consisted of the figure 

 of a turtle — the emhlem of the tribe to which the warrior 

 belonged — an arbitrary mark designating the particular chief 

 who had executed the writing, and a representation of the sun. 

 Ten horizontal lines on the right side of the figure denoted the 

 number of expeditions in which the warrior had been engaged ; 

 and opposite to each of these lines, on the left, there was a series 

 of marks resembling the letter X, with a bar across the top of it, 

 representing the number of scalps or of prisoners he had taken ; 

 the sex of the victim being designated by a slight variation of 

 the character, and the central part of the figure being occupied 

 with a rude drawing of three different British forts which he had 

 attacked on these occasions. At the bottom of the figure there 

 were twenty-three vertical lines inclining a little to the left (the 

 figure of the sun in the first line of the writing being at the right 

 side of the painting) to denote that at the time the record was 

 left, the writer was marching on another expedition to the north- 

 ward. 



So far north, even, as the Hudson's Bay Territory, this method 

 of communication by picture writing prevails among the wild 

 Indians of that inhospitable region. The Rev. John West, one of 

 the Hudson's Bay Company's chaplains, on travelling in the Red 

 River colony in the year 1820, came up with an Indian family 

 who proposed accompanying him to the factory. " The Indian 

 had two sons, who, he said, were gone in the pursuit of a deer ; 

 and on quitting the encampment to travel with us, he would 

 leave some signs for them to follow us on their return. They 

 were drawn upon a broad piece of wood which he prepared with 

 an axe. They were — 1st. A tent struck to intimate that the 

 party had gone forward in a particular direction. 2nd. Four 

 rude figures indicating the number of the party, and exhibiting 

 by their dress and accoutrements, the rank or condition of each 

 individual, viz., a European chief, a European servant, and an 

 Indian attendant, and the two Indians from the encampment. 

 3rd. A curvilinear figure with the two extremities of the curve 

 pointing towards the hindermost of the figures, to intimate to the 

 Indian's two sons that they were to follow the party,"f 



The development of this rude method of communication into 

 the famous picture writing of Mexico was a natural process to be 

 expected in the progress of society in the large wealthy capital 

 of a great empire like that of Montezuma. 



The same remark holds good also in regard to the astronomical 

 knowledge exhibited in the works of the ancient Mexicans. The 



t The substance of a journal during a residence at the Red Rivei* colony J 

 by John West, M.A., London, 1824. 



