Obeimi, Papua; 1971

William James tells of Africans gathering wonderingly round an early traveler who, in the interior, had chanced upon a copy of the New York Commercial Advertiser & was devouring it column by column. When he got through, they offered to buy this mysterious object, and being asked for what they wanted it, replied, "For eye medicine" - this being their interpretation of the protracted bath he had given his eyes upon its surface.

I've never overheard illiterates talking among themselves about literacy, but I wish I had. Even those who don't understand the nature of writing are often fascinated by penmanship. The Iban of Borneo & the Eskimo of Baffinland regularly crowded round me when I took notes. Many possessed extraordinary dexterity with knives & drills, yet were so clumsy with borrowed paper & pencil, even they laughed at the results.

However, I think most illiterates grasp the nature of writing very quickly. A few may even understand it almost immediately. There is evidence of incipient writing among technologically primitive peoples, but that evidence always seems to postdate some exposure to literacy, however brief. The singing boards of Easter Island were all collected after Europeans had repeatedly visited the island. This script was observed for the first time by Westerners 94 years after the chiefs of the island had witnessed the Spaniards read a proclamation of annexation, to which the chiefs also affixed their "signatures." These signatures are either simple markings, or representations of birds, or of the vulva, such as occur abundantly among local petroglyphs, and appear unrelated to the script. European contact seems to have been the stimulus to the creation of this remarkable script by these Polynesian chiefs or priests.

The Dogon zodiacal system, an enormously complicated African system that has long fascinated anthropologists, makes more sense when one realizes that the Dogon live close to the Islamic center of Mopti & within 150 miles of the medieval "University" of Sankore. Some claim descent from the Mande, transmitters of Islamic learning, including complicated compendia of magical squares, charms, etc., compiled by Al-Buni & others in the 14th century.

Pictorial mnemonic devices, some of them elaborate & ingenious, are far from unknown in technologically simple societies. But phonetic & syllabic alphabets, independently developed, are known only for the city states, and even the conditions of the city state are no guarantee of such inventions. Men who have never been taught to read, but who have seen someone else reading or writing and have understood that speech can be rendered visually, sometimes combine this understanding with local mnemonic devices.

This is one of the most fascinating features of New Guinea life today. In remote areas, one encounters men who, after only the most fleeting exposure to writing, develop their own systems. They proudly exhibit such efforts, with others crowding around, their faces eager. Strange notes are sent to patrol officers & missionaries or left for them in villages. Scraps of paper with markings on them are hidden in sacred bags along with amulets & other treasures.

These writings range from sophisticated syllabic systems to nonrepeated markings, translatable only by their authors. I doubt if any of these innovations will leave much mark, but for one brief moment they provide glimpses into the minds of men moving almost unaided from speech to writing.