MENTAL EVOLUTION OF MAN 223 



The evolution of the art of writing appears with 

 equal clearness when we compare the texts of modern 

 peoples with inscriptions found on ancient temples and 

 monuments and tablets. Even races of the present 

 day employ methods of communicating ideas by writ- 

 ing symbols that are counterparts of the earliest stages 

 in the historic development of writing. An Eskimo 

 describes the events of a journey by a series of little 

 pictures representing himself in the act of doing vari- 

 ous things. A simple outline of a man with one arm 

 pointing to the body and the other pointing away in- 

 dicates "I go." A circle denotes the island to which 

 he goes. He sleeps there one night, and he tells this 

 by drawing a figure with one hand over the eyes, in- 

 dicating sleep, while the other hand has one finger 

 upraised to specify a single night. The next day he 

 goes further and he employs the first figure again. A 

 second island is indicated, in this case with a dot in the 

 center of the circle to show a house in which he sleeps 

 two nights, as his figure with closed eyes and two 

 fingers uplifted shows. He hunts the walrus, an out- 

 line of which is given alongside of his figure waving a 

 spear in one hand ; likewise he hunts with a bow and 

 arrow, which is demonstrated by the same method. A 

 rude drawing representing a boat with two upright 

 lines for himself and another man with paddles in their 

 hands gives a further account of his journey, and the 

 final figure is the circle denoting the original island to 

 which he returns. 



Pictography, as this method of communicating ideas 

 is called, is often highly developed among the Ameri- 

 can Indians. For example, a petition from a tribe of 



