a more ancient custom of cutting off the enemy’s fingers for necklaces. (Cheyenne II.)
Place the extended index at the right side of the nose, where it joins the face, the tip reaching as high, as the forehead, and close to the inner corner of the eye. This position makes the thumb of the right hand rest upon the chin, while the index is perpendicular. (Sac, Fox, and Kickapoo I.) It is considered that this sign, though given to the collaborator as expressed, was an error. It applies to the Southern Arapahos. Lieutenant Creel states the last remark to be correct, the gesture having reference to the Southern bands.
As though sawing through the left forearm at its middle with the edge of the right held back outward, thumb upward. Sign made at the left side of the body. (Dakota I.) “Same sign as for a saw. The Cheyenne Indians are known to the Sioux by the name of ‘The Saws.'”
Right-hand fingers and thumb extended and joined (as in S), outer edge downward, and drawn sharply across the other fingers and forearm as if cutting with a knife. (Dakota, III.)
Draw the extended right index or the ulnar (inner) edge of the open right hand several times across the base of the extended left index, or across the left forearm at different heights from left to right. This sign is also made by the Arapahos. (Dakota IV.) “Because their arms are marked with scars from cuts which they make as offerings to spirits.”
Draw the extended index several times across the extended forefinger from the tip toward the palm, the latter pointing forward and slightly toward the right. From the custom of striping arms transversely with colors. (Kaiowa I; Comanche II, III; Apache II; Ute I; Wichita II.)
Another: Make the sign for Dog, viz: Close the right hand, leaving the index and second fingers only extended and joined, hold it forward from and lower than the hip and draw it backward, the course following the outline of a dog’s form from head to tail; then add the sign To Eat, as follows: Collect the thumb, index, and second fingers to a point, hold them above and in front of the mouth and make a repeated dotting motion toward the mouth. This sign is generally used, but the other and more common one is also employed, especially so with individuals not fully conversant with the sign language as employed by the Comanches, &c. (Kaiowa I; Comanche III; Apache II; Wichita II.) “Dog-eaters.”
Draw the extended index across the back of the left hand and arm as if cutting it. The index does not touch the arm as in signs given for the same tribe by other Indians, but is held at least four or five inches from it. (Shoshoni and Banak I.)
Chipeway, See Ojibwa
Imitate, by the waving of the hand or forefinger, the forward crawling motion of a snake. (Burton, also Blackmore in introduction to Dodge’s Plains of the Great West. New York, 1877, p. xxv.) The same sign is used for the Shoshoni, more commonly called “Snake”, Indians, who as well as the Comanches belong to the Shoshonian linguistic family. “The silent stealth of the tribe.” (Dodge; Marcy in Thirty Years of Army Life on the Border. New York, 1866, p. 33.) Rev. A.J. Holt remarks, however, that among the Comanches themselves the conception of this sign is the trailing of a rope, or lariat. This refers probably to their well-known horsemanship.
Motion of a snake. (Macgowan.)
Hold the elbow of the right arm near the right side, but not touching it; extend the forearm and hand, palm inward, fingers joined on a level with the elbow, then with a shoulder movement draw the forearm and hand back until the points of the fingers are behind the body; at the same time that the hand is thus being moved back, turn it right and left several times. (Creel; Sac, Fox, and Kickapoo I.) “Snake in the grass. A snake drawing itself back in the grass instead of crossing the road in front of you.”
Another: The sign by and for the Comanches themselves is made by holding both hands and arms upward from the elbow, both palms inward, and passing both hands with their backs upward along the lower end of the hair to indicate long hair, as they