H. H. Bancroft (a), in Native Races, says that the Shumeias challenged the Pomos (in central California) by placing three little sticks notched in the middle and at both ends, on a mound which marked the boundary between the two tribes. If the Pomos accept they tie a string round the middle notch. Heralds then meet and arrange time and place and the battle comes off as appointed.
The sending of material objects was the earliest and most natural mode for low cultured tribes to communicate when out of sight and hearing. Such was the system in use among the Scythians at the time of the invasion of their land by Darius. The version of the story in Herodotus is that commonly cited, but there is another by Pherecydes of Heros, who relates that Idanthuras, the Scythian king, when Darius had crossed the Ister, threatened him with war, sending him not a letter, but a composite symbol, which consisted of a mouse, a frog, a bird, an arrow, and a plow. When there was much discussion concerning the meaning of this message, Orontopagas, the chiliarch, maintained that it was a surrender; for he conjectured the mouse to mean their dwelling, the frog their waters, the bird their air, the arrow their arms, and the plow their country. But Xiphodres offered a contrary interpretation, thus: “Unless like birds we fly aloft, or like mice burrow under the ground, or like frogs take ourselves to the water, we shall never escape their weapons, for we are not masters of their country.”
SECTION 4.
SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS MISSIVES.
Fig. 471 is a letter, one-half actual size, written by an Ojibwa girl, the daughter of a Midē', to a favored lover, requesting him to call at her lodge. This girl had taken no Midē' degrees, but had simply acquired her pictographic skill from observation in her home.
Fig. 471.—Ojibwa love letter.
The explanation of the figure is as follows:
a. The writer of the letter, a girl of the Bear totem, as indicated by that animal, b.
e and f. The companions of a, the crosses signifying that the three girls are Christians.
c and g. The lodges occupied by the girls. The lodges are near a large lake, j, a trail leading from g to h, which is a well-traveled road.