Imitate the manner of shelling corn, holding the left hand stationary,
the shelling being done with the right. (_Creel_.) Fig. 284.
With the right hand closed, curve the thumb and index, join their tips
so as to form a circle, and place to the lobe of the ear. (_Absaroka_
I; _Hidatsa_ I.) "Big ear-rings." Fig. 285.
Both hands, fists, (B, except thumbs) in front of body, backs looking
toward the sides of the body, thumbs obliquely upward, left hand
stationary, the backs of the fingers of the two hands touching, carry
the right thumb forward and backward at the inner side of the left
thumb and without moving the hand from the left, in imitation of the
act of shelling corn. (_Dakota_ I, VII, VIII.)
Collect the fingers and thumb of the right hand nearly to a point,
and make a tattooing or dotting motion toward the upper portion of
the cheek. This is the old sign, and was used by them previous to the
adoption of the more modern one representing "corn-eaters." (_Arikara_
I.)
[Illustration: Fig. 284.]
[Illustration: Fig. 285.]
Place the back of the closed right hand transversely before the mouth,
and rotate it forward and backward several times. This gesture may be
accompanied, as it sometimes is, by a motion of the jaws as if eating,
to illustrate more fully the meaning of the rotation of the fist.
(_Kaiowa_ I; _Comanche_ III; _Wichita_ II; _Apache_ I.) "Corn-eater;
eating corn from the ear."
Signified by the same motions with the thumbs and forefingers that are
used in shelling corn. The dwarf Ree (Arikara) corn is their peculiar
possession, which their tradition says was given to them by a superior
being, who led them to the Missouri River and instructed them how to
plant it. (Rev. C.L. Hall, in _The Missionary Herald_, April, 1880.)
"They are the corn-shellers." Have seen this sign used by the Arikaras
as a tribal designation. (_Dakota_ II.)