Signaling with Drums and Fire

From the ancient days people mostly used signaling with drums and Fire. Fire signaling is very much useful and important. It is also sometimes a sign of victory. When you are out in camping fire signaling will prove to be great in use. Learn more about fire and drum signal in the following article.

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".

From a very long time people started using fire as an important sign and signal. It is still one of the most popularly for signal until the present day.

About The Author-- Mitch Johnson is a regular writer for http://www.1-scuba-diving-gear.com/ , http://www.campfunmadeez.info/ , http://www.goodbudgetholiday.info/

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