---- HOUSE.
The hand half open and the forefinger extended and separated;
then raise the hand upward and give it a half turn, as if screwing
something. (_Dunbar_.)
Cross the ends of the extended fingers of the two hands, the hands to
be nearly at right angle, radial side up, palms inward and backward,
thumbs in palms. Represents the logs at the end of a log house.
(_Creel_; _Dakota_ IV.)
Partly fold the hands; the fingers extended in imitation of the corner
of an ordinary log house. (_Arapaho_ I.)
Both hands outspread near each other, elevated to front of face;
suddenly separated, turned at right angles, palms facing; brought
down at right angles, suddenly stopped. Representing square form of a
house. (_Cheyenne_ II.)
The fingers of both hands extended and slightly separated, then those
of the right are placed into the several spaces between those of the
left, the tips extending to about the first joints. (_Absaroka_ I.)
"From the arrangement of the logs in a log building."
Both hands extended, fingers spread, place those of the right into the
spaces between those of the left, then move the hands in this position
a short distance upward. (_Wyandot_ I.) "Arrangement of logs and
elevation."
[Illustration: Fig. 253.]
Both hands are held edgewise before the body, palms facing, spread the
fingers, and place those of one hand into the spaces between those
of the other, so that the tips of each protrude about an inch beyond.
(_Hidatsa_ I; _Kaiowa_ I; _Arikara_ I; _Comanche_ III; _Apache_ II;
_Wichita_ II.) "The arrangement of logs in a frontier house." Fig.
253. In connection with this sign compare the pictograph, Fig. 204,
page 379, _supra_. In ordinary conversation the sign for _white man's
house_ is often dropped, using instead the generic term employed for
_lodge_, and this in turn is often abbreviated, as by the Kaiowas,
Comanches, Wichitas, and others, by merely placing the tips of the
extended forefingers together, leaving the other fingers and thumbs
closed, with the wrists about three or four inches apart.
Both hands held pointing forward, edges down, fingers extended and
slightly separated, then place the fingers of one hand into the spaces
between the fingers of the other, allowing the tips of the fingers
of either hand to protrude as far as the first joint, or near it.
(_Shoshoni and Banak_ I.) "From the appearance of a corner of a log
house--protruding and alternate layers of logs."
Fingers of both hands interlaced at right angles several times; then
the sign for LODGE. (_Kutchin_ I.)
_Deaf-mute natural signs_:
Draw the outlines of a house in the air with hands tip to tip at a
right angle. (_Ballard_.)
Put the open hands together toward the face, forming a right angle
with the arms. (_Larson_.)
----, Stone; Fort.
Strike the back of the right fist against the palm of the left hand,
the left palm backward, the fist upright ("idea of resistance or
strength"); then with both hands opened, relaxed, horizontal, and
palms backward, place the ends of the right fingers behind and against
the ends of the left; then separate them, and moving them backward,
each through a semicircle, bring their bases together. The latter sign
is also that of the Arapahos for _house_. An inclosure. (_Dakota_ IV.)
The first part of this sign is that for _stone_.
---- LODGE, TIPI, WIGWAM.
The two hands are reared together in the form of the roof of a house,
the ends of the fingers upward. (_Long_.)
Place the opened thumb and forefinger of each hand opposite each
other, as if to make a circle, but leaving between them a small
interval; afterward move them from above downward simultaneously
(which is the sign for _village_); then elevate the finger to indicate
the number--one. (_Wied_.) Probably he refers to an earthen lodge. I
think that the sign I have given you is nearly the same with all the
Upper Missouri Indians. (_Matthews_.)
Place the fingers of both hands ridge-fashion before the breast.
(_Burton_.)
Indicate outlines (an inverted V, thus ^), with the forefingers
touching or crossed at the tips, the other fingers closed. (_Creel_;
_Arapaho_ I.)
Both hands open, fingers upward, tips touching, brought downward,
and at same time separated to describe outline of a cone, suddenly
stopped. (_Cheyenne_ II.)
Both hands approximated, held forward horizontally, fingers joined
and slightly arched, backs upward, withdraw them in a sideward and
downward direction, each hand moving to its corresponding side, thus
combinedly describing a hemisphere. Carry up the right and, with its
index pointing downward indicate a spiral line rising upward from
the center of the previously formed arch. (_Ojibwa_ V.) "From the
dome-shaped form of the wigwam, and the smoke rising from the opening
in the roof."
Both hands flat and extended, placing the tips of the fingers of one
against those of the other, leaving the palms or wrists about four
inches apart. (_Absaroka_ I; _Wyandot_ I; _Shoshoni and Banak_ I.)
"From its exterior outline."
Both hands carried to the front of the breast and placed V-shaped,
inverted, thus ^, with the palms, looking toward each other, edge of
fingers outward, thumbs inward. (_Dakota_ I.) "From the outline of the
tipi."
With the hands nearly upright, palms inward, cross the ends of the
extended forefingers, the right one either in front or behind the
left, or lay the ends together; resting the ends of the thumbs
together side by side, the other fingers to be nearly closed, and
resting against each other, palms inward. Represents the tipi poles
and the profile of the tipi. (_Dakota_ IV.)
[Illustration: Fig. 254.]
Place the tips of the fingers of both hands together in front of the
breast, with the wrists some distance apart. (_Dakota_ V.) Fig. 254.
Fingers of both hands extended and separated; then interlace them so
that the tips of the fingers of one hand protrude beyond the backs
of those of the opposing one; hold the hands in front of the breast,
pointing upward, leaving the wrists about six inches apart. (_Dakota_
VII, VIII; _Hidatsa_ I; _Ponka_ II; _Arikara_ I; _Pani_ I.)
The extended hands, with finger tips upward and touching, the palms
facing one another, and the wrists about two inches apart, are held
before the chest. (_Mandan and Hidatsa_ I.)
Place the tip of the index against the tip of the forefinger of the
left hand, the remaining fingers and thumbs closed, before the chest,
leaving the wrists about six inches apart. (_Kaiowa_ I; _Comanche_
III; _Apache_ II; _Wichita_ II.) "Outline of lodge." This is an
abbreviated sign, and care must be taken to distinguish it from _to
meet_, in which the fingers are brought from their respective sides
instead of upward to form the gesture.
Another: Place the tips of the fingers of the flat extended hands
together before the breast, leaving the wrists about six inches apart.
(_Kaiowa_ I; _Comanche_ III; _Apache_ II; _Wichita_ II.)
[Illustration: Fig. 255.]
Another: Both hands flat and extended, fingers slightly separated;
then place the fingers of the right hand between the fingers of the
left as far as the second joints, so that the fingers of one hand
protrude about an inch beyond those of the other; the wrists must be
held about six inches apart. (_Kaiowa_ I; _Comanche_ III; _Apache_
II; _Wichita_ II.) "Outline of Indian lodge and crossing of tent-poles
above the covering." Fig. 255.
Fig. 256 represents a Sahaptin sign given to the writer by a gentleman
long familiar with the northwestern tribes of Indians. The conception
is the same union of the lodge poles at the top, shown in several
other signs, differently executed.
[Illustration: Fig. 256.]
[Illustration: Fig. 257.]
Place the tips of the spread fingers of both hands against one another
pointing upward before the body, leaving a space of from four to six
inches between the wrists. Fig. 257. The fingers are sometimes bent so
as to more nearly represent the outline of a house and roof. Fig. 258.
This, however, is accidental. (_Pai-Ute_ I.) "Represents the boughs
and branches used in the construction of a Pai-Ute 'wik-i-up.'"
[Illustration: Fig. 258.]
Place the tips of the two flat hands together before the body, leaving
a space of about six inches between the wrists. (_Ute_ I.) "Outline of
the shape of the lodge."
[Illustration: Fig. 259.]
Left hand and right hand put together in shape of sloping shelter
(_Kutchin_ I.) Fig. 259.
---- Great Council House.
Place both flat and extended hands in front of the shoulders, pointing
forward, palms facing; then pass them straight upward and slightly
inward near the termination of the gesture. This appears to combine
the gestures for _much_, _large_, and _lodge_. (_Arikara_ I.)
----, Coming or going out of a.
Same as the sign for _entering a lodge_, only the fingers of the
right hand point obliquely upward after passing under the left hand.
(_Dakota_ I.) "Coming out from under cover."
Hold the open left hand a foot or eighteen inches in front of the
breast, palm downward or backward, fingers pointing toward the right
and pass the right, back upward, with index extended, or all of the
fingers extended, and pointing forward, about eighteen inches forward
underneath the left through an arc from near the mouth. Some at the
same time move the left hand toward the breast. (_Dakota_ IV.)
----, Entering a.
The left hand is held with the back upward, and the right hand also
with the back up is passed in a curvilinear direction down under the
other, so as to rub against its palm, then up on the other side of it.
The left hand here represents the low door of the skin lodge and the
right the man stooping down to pass in, (_Long_.)
Pass the flat right hand in short curves under the left, which is held
a short distance forward. (_Wied_.) I have described the same sign. It
is not necessary to pass the hand more than once. By saying curves,
he seems to imply many passes. If the hand is passed more than once it
means repetition of the act. (_Matthews; McChesney_.) The conception
is of the stooping to pass through the low entrance, which is often
covered by a flap of skin, sometimes stretched on a frame, and which
must be shoved aside, and the subsequent rising when the entrance has
been accomplished. A distinction is reported by a correspondent
as follows: "If the intention is to speak of a person entering the
gesturer's own lodge, the right hand is passed under the left and
toward the body, near which the left hand is held; if of a person
entering the lodge of another, the left hand is held further from the
body and the right is passed under it and outward. In both cases both
hands are slightly curved and compressed." As no such distinction is
reported by others it may be an individual invention or peculiarity.
A gliding movement of the extended hand, fingers joined, backs up,
downward, then ascending, indicative of the stooping and resumption of
the upright position in entering the same. (_Arapaho_ I.)
(1) Sign for LODGE, the left hand being still in position used in
making sign for LODGE; (2) forefinger and thumb of right hand brought
to a point and thrust through the outline of an imaginary lodge
represented by the left hand. (_Cheyenne_ II.)
First make the sign for LODGE, then place the left hand, horizontal
and slightly arched, before the body, and pass the right hand with
extended index underneath the left--forward and slightly upward beyond
it. (_Absaroka_ I; _Dakota_ V; _Shoshoni and Banak_ I; _Wyandot_ I.)
Left hand (W), ends of fingers toward the right, stationary in front
of the left breast; pass the right hand directly and quickly out from
the breast under the stationary left hand, ending with the extended
fingers of the right hand pointing outward and slightly downward,
joined, palm downward flat, horizontal (W). (_Dakota_ I.) "Gone under;
covered."
Hold the open left hand a foot or eighteen inches in front of the
breast, palm downward or backward, fingers pointing toward the right,
and pass the right hand, palm upward, fingers bent sidewise and
pointing backward, from before backward underneath it, through a
curve until near the mouth. Some at the same time move the left hand a
little forward. (_Dakota_ IV.)
The left hand, palm downward, finger-tips forward, either quite
extended or with the fingers slightly bent, is held before the
body. Then the right hand nearly or quite extended, palm downward,
finger-tips near the left thumb, and pointing toward it, is passed
transversely under the left hand and one to four inches below it. The
fingers of the right hand point slightly upward when the motion is
completed. This sign usually, but not invariably, refers to entering a
house. (_Mandan and Hidatsa_ I.)
Place the slightly curved left hand, palm down, before the breast,
pointing to the right, then pass the flat right hand, palm down, in
a short curve forward, under and upward beyond the left. (_Ute_ I.)
"Evidently from the manner in which a person is obliged to stoop in
entering an ordinary Indian lodge."