()08 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



Lands, and lingers. No. 5 is represented in the act of making a gesture 

 synonymous witli that in No. 4, attracting attention and beckoning to 

 another to approach. 



No. G likewise shows the gestures to come or approach, the direction 

 of tiio hands being earthward, corresponding exactly with a common 

 and widespread gesture for the person called to approach steaHhiUj. 

 Indications by gesture to come are uniformly, amongst the North 

 American Indians and Innuit, made by turning the palm downward 

 and drawing the extended index finger toward the body, as if directly 

 indicating the path npon which the person beckoned to is directed to 

 approach. 



In No. 7 the gesture appears still more excited, and the skill in 

 pictorial expression is certainly very cleverly indicated. The right 

 hand of the figure calls to the beholder to come, while with the left 

 hand, as with the right, the number four is indicated, as is also the 

 case with the figure in No. 0. The reason of this is apparent in Nos. 

 8, 9, 10, and 11, denoting four black or perhaps cinnamon bears, whose 

 heads are directed away from the group of human figures, aiul espe- 

 cially so from No. 3, who thns intimates that he was informed by his 



3 



Fig. 131. 

 SIGNAL OF DISTRESS AND WANT. 



friends of four bears having been seen in a direction pointed to by the 

 left hand of No. 7, but which he did not secnre. 



Had the heads been directed toward the speaker or owner of the 

 record, as in the instance of the two deer, the information would have 

 signified that the bears had been captnred. 



An interesting and rarely found engraving is reproduced herewith 

 in fig. 131. Specimens of like import were described to the present 

 wiiter, and pencil drawings made to illustrate the manner in which the 

 Aigaluvamnt Eskimo of the southern shores of Alaska convey the 

 intelligence that they want assistance and that they possess nothing. 



The figures shown in Nos. 1 and 4 represent the habitations of two 

 families, the storehouse. No. 2, being common property. Nos. 3, 5, 6, 7, 

 and the human figure standing upon the habitation marked No. 4 are 

 making signals, all excepting No. 7, calling attention by their uplifted 

 hands and arms, while No. 7 has his afms extended, to denote nothhuj, 

 this being a universal gesture for that idea. The Egyptian hieroglyphs 

 and the Maya pictograph, as mentioned by De Landa in his represen- 

 tation of alphabetic characters, are drawn in the attitude of out- 

 stretched arms, no other part of the body being present or necessary. 



