Bruce,
Here's one. Smoke signals, referred to by some authors as
"native telegraphy."
Source(s): *Diary of a Visit of Inspection of the Texas Missions Made by Fray Gaspar Jose de Solis in the Year1767-1768,*
translated by Margaret K. Kress with Introductory by
Mattie Austin Hatcher, Southwestern Historical Quarterly,
Vol. 35, No. 1, July, 1931.
A description of smoke signals among the Karankawa.
"They are very sagacious and cautious; and they send
messages by smoke signals, some signals calling them
together, others warning them to flee, others giving
notice of anything new. The proper Smoke for each being
given, as soon as one gets the message he passes it to
another; and he, in turn, gives it to those who follow;
and, in a very short time, whatever news there is has been
made known and forwarned in the province.
Source(s): Gatschet, Albert S.; "The Karankawa Indians," Papers of the Peabody Museum, Volume 1, 1888-1904.More on the Karankawa.
"On clear days, generally at noon, they signalled
news by columns of Smoke from their camp Fires which were
started from small pits in the ground, every Indian having
a Fire in front of his lodge. The column of Smoke was
made to ascend in more than twenty different ways,
sometimes diverging or curling in spirals, sometimes
rising up in parallel lines. Some looked like the letters
V and Y others resembled spiral lines, or two parallel
zigzag lines moving upward, or twin columns standing close
to each other."
Source(s): Cremony, John C.; *Life Among the Apaches,* A. Roman and Company, San Francisco, 1868.Smoke signals and the Apache.
"Smokes are of various kinds, each one significant of
a particular object. A sudden puff, rising into a
graceful column from the mountain heights, and almost as
suddenly losing its identity by dissolving into the
rarified atmosphere of those heights, simply indicates the
presence of a strange party upon the plains below; but if
those columns are rapidly multiplied and repeated, they
serve as a warning to show that the travelers are well
armed and numerous. If a steady Smoke is maintained for
some time, the object is to collect the scattered bands of
savages at some designated point, with hostile intentions,
should it be practicable. These signals are made at
night, in the same order, by the use of Fires, which being
kindled, are either alternately exposed and shrouded from
view, or suffered to burn steadily as occasion may
require."
Bill Crawford (krunchy@bga.com)