e been discovered a number of painted
pebbles. Whether these were game counters, ownership tags, records, or
what not, no one can guess. Whether the marks on them were purely
mnemonic signs, numerals, or verbal signs of some sort, no one knows.
That they were in some way, however, the ancestors of modern printed
matter is unquestionable.

[Illustration: Pebbles from Mas d'Azil.]

Among the earliest methods of communicating ideas to the absent,
pictures hold the largest place. Other methods were knots, ordinarily
known by the name _quipus_ which they bear among the ancient Peruvians.
The number and arrangements of the knots and the color of the cords made
possible a considerable range of expression. Closely associated with
these were tallies, or notched sticks, and wampum, or strings of colored
shells or beads arranged in various designs. Here perhaps may also be
classed the so-called Ogham inscriptions, made by arrangements of short
lines in groups about a long central line. The short lines may be either
perpendicular to the central line or at an angle to it. They may be
above it, below it, or across it, thus providing a wide range of
combinations with a corresponding variety of expression. These primitive
methods survive in the rosary, the sailor's log line with its knots or
the knotted handkerchief which serves as a simple memorandum. They may
run all the way from purely mnemonic signs to a fairly well developed
alphabet.

More important in its development, however, was the picture. Primitive
men all over the world very soon learned to make pictures, very crude
and simple to be sure, but indicating fairly well what they stand for.
These pictures may be so arranged and conventionalized as to convey a
good deal of information. The position of a human figure may indicate
hunger, sleep, hostility, friendship, or a considerable number of other
things. A representation of a boat with a number of circles representing
the sun or moon above it may indicate a certain number of days' travel
in a certain direction, and so on indefinitely. This method of writing
was highly developed among the North American Indians, who did not,
however, get beyond it.

[Illustration: Indian picture writing. The biography of a chief.]

The next step forward is the attempt to represent abstract ideas by
means of pictures. The picture then ceases to represent an object and
represents an idea. This is called an ideogram. While it has cer