In this class are included those signs conveying different ideas, and
really different in form of execution as well as in conception, yet
in which the difference in form is so slight as practically to require
attention and discrimination. An example from oral speech may be
found in the English word "desert," which, as pronounced "des'-ert" or
"desert'," and in a slightly changed form, "dessert," has such widely
varying significations. These distinctions relating to signs require
graphic illustration.
[Illustration: Fig. 112.]
[Illustration: Fig. 113.]
The sign made by the Dakota, Hidatsa, and several other tribes,
for _tree_ is made by holding the right hand before the body, back
forward, fingers and thumb separated, then pushing it slightly upward,
Fig. 112. That for _grass_ is the same made near the ground; that for
_grow_ is made like _grass_, though instead of holding the back of
the hand near the ground the hand is pushed upward in an interrupted
manner, Fig. 113. For _smoke_, the hand (with the back down, fingers
pointing upward as in _grow_) is thrown upward several times from the
same place instead of continuing the whole motion upward. Frequently
the fingers are thrown forward from under the thumb with each
successive upward motion. For _fire_, the hand is employed as in the
gesture for _smoke_, but the motion is frequently more waving, and in
other cases made higher from the ground.
The sign for _rain_, made by the Shoshoni, Apache, and other Indians,
is by holding the hand (or hands) at the height of and before the
shoulder, fingers pendent, palm down, then pushing it downward a short
distance, Fig. 114. That for _heat_ is the same, with the difference
that the hand is held above the head and thrust downward toward the
forehead; that for _to weep_ is made by holding the hand as in _rain_,
and the gesture made from the eye downward over the cheek, back of the
fingers nearly touching the face.
[Illustration: Fig. 114.]
The common sign for _sun_ is made by bringing the tips of the thumb
and index together so as to form a circle; remaining fingers closed.
The hand is then held toward the sky, Fig. 115. The motion with the
same circular position of index and thumb is for _want_, by bringing
the hand backward toward the mouth, in a curve forming a short arch
between the origin and termination of the gesture.
[Illustration: Fig. 115.]
For _drink_ the gesture by several tribes is the same as for _want_,
with the slight difference in the position of the last three fingers,
which are not so tightly clinched, forming somewhat the shape of a
cup; and that for _money_ is made by holding out the hand with the
same arrangement of fingers in front of the hips, at a distance of
about twelve or fifteen inches.
[Illustration: Fig. 116.]
Another sign for _sun_, made by the Cheyennes, is by placing the tips
of the partly separated thumb and index of one hand against those of
the other, approximating a circle, and holding them toward the sky,
Fig. 116, and that for _various things_, observed among the Brule
Sioux with the same position of the hands, is made by placing the
circle horizontal, and moving it interruptedly toward the right
side, each movement forming a short arch. Compare also the sign for
_village_, described on page 386.
The Arikara sign for _soldier_ is by placing the clinched hands
together before the breast, thumbs touching, then drawing them
horizontally outward toward their respective sides, Fig. 117. That for
_done_, made by the Hidatsa, is shown below in this paper, see Fig.
334, page 528. That for _much_ (_Cheyenne_ I, _Comanche_ III), see
Fig. 274, page 447, is to be correlated with the above.
[Illustration: Fig. 117.]
The sign for _to be told_ or _talked to_, and for the reception of
speech, by the tribes generally, is made by placing the flat right
hand, palm upward, about fifteen inches in front of the right side
of the face or breast, fingers pointing to the left, then drawing the
hand toward the bottom of the chin, and is illustrated in Fig. 71,
page 291. The Comanche sign for _give_ or _asking_ is shown in Fig.
301, page 480 (_Comanche_ III), and is made by bringing the hand
toward the body but a short distance, and the motion repeated, the
tips of the fingers indicating the outline of a circle.
The tribal sign for _Kaiowa_, illustrated in its place among the
TRIBAL SIGNS, is made by holding the hand with extended and separated
fingers and thumb near the side of the head, back outward, and giving
it a rotary motion. This gesture is made in front of the face by
many tribes. The generic sign for _deer_, made by the Dakota and some
others, is by holding the hand motionless at the side of the head,
with extended and separated thumb and fingers, representing the
branched antlers. That for _fool_, reported from the same Indians,
is the same as above described for _Kaiowa_, which it also signifies,
though frequently only one or two fingers are used.
The tribal sign both for the _Sahaptin_ or _Nez Perces_ and for
_Caddo_ (see TRIBAL SIGNS) is made by passing the extended index,
pointing under the nose from right to left. When the second finger is
not tightly closed it strongly resembles the sign often made for _lie,
falsehood_, by passing the extended index and second fingers separated
toward the left, over the mouth.
The tribal sign for Cheyenne (see TRIBAL SIGNS) differs from the
sign for _spotted_ only in the finger (or hand) in the latter being
alternately passed across the upper and lower sides of the left
forearm.
The sign for _steal, theft_, see Fig. 75, page 293, is but slightly
different from that for _bear_, see Fig. 239, page 413, especially
when the latter is made with one hand only. The distinction, however,
is that the grasping in the latter sign is not followed by the idea of
concealment in the former, which is executed by the right hand, after
the motion of grasping, being brought toward and sometimes under the
left armpit.
_Cold_ and _winter_, see Tendoy-Huerito Dialogue, page 486, may be
compared with _love_, see Kin Ch[=e]-[)e]ss' speech, page 521, and
with _prisoner_. In these the difference consists in that _cold_ and
_winter_ are represented by crossing the arms with clinched hands
before the breast; _love_ by crossing the arms so as to bring the
fists more under the chin, and _prisoner_ by holding the crossed
wrists a foot in front of the breast.
_Melon, squash, muskmelon_, used by the Utes and Apaches, is made by
holding the hand arched, fingers separated and pointing forward, and
pushing the hand forward over a slight curve near the ground, and the
generic sign for _animals_ by the Apaches is made in the same manner
at the height intended to represent the object.
The sign for _where?_, and _to search_, _to seek for_, made by the
Dakota (IV), is by holding the back of the hand upward, index pointing
forward, and carrying it from left to right about eight inches,
raising and lowering it several times while so doing, as if quickly
pointing at different objects. That for _some of them_, a part of a
number of things or persons, made by the Kaiowa, Comanche, Wichita,
and Apache Indians is nearly identical, the gesture being made less
rapidly.