948 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



a dozen or more other native dialects, wLich enabled him to observe 

 and acquire the various resources which many of the natives, meeting 

 as strangers, would be compelled to employ to enable them to commu- 

 nicate in ordinary contact, and also in the representation of graphic 

 methods whereby to communicate to owners of houses of a visit and 

 the import thereof. 



The collecti(m of gestures was made, together with many others, from 

 most of the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi Eiver, and deposited 

 in the library of the Bureau of Ethnology, through the courtesy of 

 which I am enabled to give them publicity in this connection. 



gesture signs of eskimo. 

 Bad. 



Place the flat hands, with the palms forward, in front of their respective shoulders, 

 the fingers extended and naturally separated, then throw them forward and back- 

 ward alternately, the face at the same time assuming an expression of disgust. 



Beaver. 



Make the sign for tree; then snap the teeth and hook the curved index horizontally 

 inward toward the face from a position in front and to the right of it; then extend 

 the left fist edgewise to the front and left of the body, the right extended toward 

 the same direction though on a higher plane; then ])ull them simultaneously back 

 toward the right, in a jerky or tugging manner. Conception : Tret, cniting down with 

 the teeth, and dragging away log. 

 Beaver (abbreviated sign). 



Indicate the canines by sticking the forefingers upward and forward from the 

 corners of the mouth; then snap the teeth several times and hook the curved index 

 horizontally toward the mouth from a position to the front and right of it. 

 Bear, Black. 



Pass the flat hands alternately upward and forward from the face, pulling them 

 back again more flexed, as in imitation of his climbing a tree. 

 Big. (Broad.) 



Pass both flat hands, palms downward, from a position before the body outward 

 toward their respective sides. 

 Boat. 



Place the clinched hands at the left side of the body, the right higher than the 

 left, and pass both simultaneously horizontally backwards toward the left hip. 

 Conception : Using the imddle. 

 Boil, To. 



Snap the fingers upward from the inner surface of the tips of the thumb; at the 

 same time move them upward and downward in small circles about 2 feet from 

 the ground. Conception : The bubbling of boiling ivater. 

 Born, To he. 



Place the extended fore and second fingers (or all the fingers) against either side 

 of the epigastrium and throw them simultaneously downward along the body, out- 

 ward and forward in a curve. Conception: Pelvic curve followed by head of child in 

 birth. 



Brother. 



Make the sign for mustache in imitation of pulling the hair upon the upper lip 

 forward, followed by the sign for man by lifting the hand, and then the sign for 

 mine, clinching the fist and thrusting it forcibly forward edgewise toward the 

 ground toward the lower part of the breast. 



