SMOKE SIGNALS OVER THE PRAIRIE - Part 1

Articles In This Section:

· THE SEMAPHORE

· SMOKE SIGNALS OVER THE PRAIRIE - Part 1

· SMOKE SIGNALS OVER THE PRAIRIE - Part 2

· SMOKE SIGNALS OVER THE PRAIRIE - Part 3

The Indians had a great number of smoke signals at their disposal. Signals were made to mean various things according to the number, strength, form—balls, spirals, columns, etc.—and color (the column of smoke was colored by the addition of certain herbs to the fire). You have to be a real artist to make good smoke signals, so be satisfied at the beginning with a few signs consisting of dots and dashes which you and your friends agree upon before starting. Throw a lot of leaves and green underbrush on a strong fire so that a heavy, dark column of smoke results. Interrupt this for shorter or longer periods, according to the signal, by holding a solid piece of moistened canvas over the fire. It is best to have two signalers who each hold the cloth by two corners.

The Indians who rode horses—the Apaches, for example—sent a rider to bring messages to friendly tribes. But they also used signal drums and smoke signals just like the Indians who did not ride. And even today, the smoke-signal telegraph is surprisingly well developed among primitive peoples.

Not too long ago an Australian squatter lost his life in a train accident. The news was sent by telegraph to his relatives on the farm. The farm lay 55 miles from the nearest telegraph station, so the message could not be delivered by mounted messenger until the next day. But the news had already arrived at the farm: 24 hours before this, an aborigine had sent the message in smoke! The aborigines' smoke signal beat the electric telegraph by a full day. And 48 hours after the catastrophe, the news had even reached Brisbane—450 miles away—through the native "telegraph."

Signaling with drums is much more complicated. Today it still plays a big role with the natives in the primitive forests of South America and Africa. The skins of oxen, gazelles, zebras, and other animals are spanned over hollowed-out logs, giant gourds, and so forth. A large drum is beaten with two sticks, one just a simple rod and the other in the form of a hammer. The heavy mallet is beaten on the drumhead near the rim and produces a high tone. The ordinary drumstick is used in the center of the skin, producing a heavy, low sound.

No special codes are used in "telegraphing" with the drums. They actually reproduce the real sound of spoken syllables, and whoever is acquainted with the language being transmitted can understand it.

But let us return to signaling with fires. As a matter of fact, it also played a somewhat important role with the ancient civilized peoples. Homer, who lived about the 9th century B.C., sings in the Iliad:

"As soon as the sun sank, they lit bundles of faggots on the lookouts, and the rising brilliance climbed so high that the people dwelling nearby looked to see if perhaps the defenders were approaching in ships of battle. ..."

When the Greeks had captured Troy, they announced their victory across the Aegean Sea by fire signals. The stretch from Troy to Mycenae in ancient Greece was divided into eight stages, each between 12 and 110 miles. This was about 1184 B.C.

The Persians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and the Romans also used an optical means of signaling which was superior to the primitive fire signals. The Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 B.C.) wrote: "The Greeks lying at Artemisium received notice from Sciathos by fire signals about the capture of Greek ships by the Persians." And Thucydides, his contemporary, wrote in his history of the Peloponnesian wars: "Towards night, they were signaled by torches about 60 Athenian ships which were approaching from Leucas. ..." A remark by Aristotle about the Persian fire signals shows that this sort of signaling could really transmit any information: "The system from the borders of the kingdom to Susa and Ebbatana was so masterful, especially that of the watchposts which signaled each other with fire signals, that the great king learned everything new which had happened in Asia Minor on the same day."