Stránka:roll 1916.djvu/267

Thingg to Know and Do S43 OfiM and Twig Signs In grass or sedge the top of the tuft is made to show the direction to be followed; if it is a point of great importance three tufts are tied, their tops straight if the trail goes straight on; otherwise the tops are turned in the directkm toward «^uch the course turns. The Ojibways and other woodland tribes use twigs for a great many of these signs. (See second row.) The hanging broken twis like the simple blaze means "This is the trail." The twig Clean broken oc and laid on the ground across the line of march means, "Here break from your straight course and go in the line of the butt end," and when an especial ivarn- ing is meant, the butt is pointed toward the one followmg the trail and raised somewhat, in a forked twig. If the butt of the twig were raised and pointing to the left, it would mean "Look out, camp, or ourselves, or the enemy, or the game we have killed is out that way." With some, the elevation of the butt is made to show the distance of the object; if low the object is near, if raised very high the object is a long way off. These are the principal signs of the trail used by Wood- crafters, Indians, and hunters in most parts of America. These are thi- standards — the ones sure to be seen by those who camp in the wilderness. Smoke ^fiuls There is in addition a useful kind of sign that has l)een men- tioned already in these papers — that is, the Smoke Signal. These were used chiefly by »he Plains Indians, but the Ojibways seem to have employed them at times. A clear hot fin was made, then covered with green stuff or rotten wood so that it sent up a solid column of black sm(^e. Hy spreading and lifting a bknlcet over this smudge the column could be cut up into pieces long or short, and by a preconcerted code these could be made to convey tidings. But the simplest of all smoke codes and the one (rf chi^ use to the Western traveler is this: One steady smoke — ^"Here is camp." Two steady smokes — " I am lost, come and hdp me." I find two other smoke signab, namely: Three smokes in a row — "Good news." Four nnokes in a row— "All ue summmied to coumul."