what does numbers embraced in brackets in iptables mean

Hi gurus,
I'm doubting what the numbers mean in the following:

[root@Router2 ~]# cat /etc/sysconfig/iptables
*nat
:PREROUTING ACCEPT [1:88]
:POSTROUTING ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
-A POSTROUTING -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE
COMMIT

*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [247:16364]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [163:13692]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [228:18664]
COMMIT

Can anyone kindly explain this to me? Thanks a lot!

Have a look here:

- Those [ damn : brackets ] in iptables must be there for a reason (here at LQ).