n, in his 'History of the Five Nations,' informs us that when, in
1696, the Count de Frontenac marched a well-appointed army into the
Iroquois country, with artillery and all other means of regular
military offence, he found, on the banks of the Onondaga, now called
Oswego River, a tree, on the trunk of which the Indians had depicted
the French army, and deposited two bundles of cut rushes at its foot,
consisting of 1434 pieces; an act of symbolical defiance on their
part, which was intended to warn their Gallic invaders that they would
have to encounter this number of warriors.

This warlike message is a specimen of Indian picture-writing. It
belongs to the lowest stage of graphic representation, and hardly
differs from the primitive way in which the Persian ambassadors
communicated with the Greeks, or the Romans with the Carthaginians.
Instead of the lance and the staff of peace between which the
Carthaginians were asked to choose, the Red Indians would have sent an
arrow and a pipe, and the message would have been equally understood.
This, though not yet _peindre la parole_, is nevertheless a first
attempt at _parler aux yeux_. It is a first beginning which may lead
to something more perfect in the end. We find similar attempts at
pictorial communication among other savage tribes, and they seem to
answer every purpose. In Freycinet and Arago's 'Voyage to the Eastern
Ocean' we are told of a native of the Carolina Islands, a Tamor of
Sathoual, who wished to avail himself of the presence of a ship to
send to a trader at Botta, M. Martinez, some shells which he had
promised to collect in exchange for a few axes and some other
articles. This he expressed to the captain, who gave him a piece of
paper to make the drawing, and satisfactorily executed the commission.
The figure of a man at the top denoted the ship's captain, who by his
outstretched hands represented his office as a messenger between the
parties. The rays or ornaments on his head denote rank or authority.
The vine beneath him is a type of friendship. In the left column are
depicted the number and kinds of shells sent; in the right column the
things wished for in exchange--namely, seven fish-hooks, three large
and four small, two axes, and two pieces of iron.

The inscriptions which are found on the Indian graveboards mark a step
in advance. Every warrior has his crest, which is called his totem,
and is painted on his tombstone. A celebrated war-chief, the Adj