94 DANIEL WILSON ON THE ARTISTIC 



of modificatious iu which the heart is used as equivalent to miud or will, etc. Agaiu, 

 Taryiug iutouations are resorted to, iu order to express différent shades of meaning, as sey- 

 ijav\ "far off," in which the first syllable is lengthened out according to the idea of greater 

 or less distance indicated. Many of their words, as in all interjectioual utterances, depend 

 for their specific meaning on the intonations of the speaker. Such utterances play so 

 small a part in our own speech, that we are apt to overlook the force of the interrogative, 

 afiBrmative, and negative tones, and even the change of meaning that is often produced 

 by the transfer of emphasis from one to another word.^ But with such an imperfect 

 means of intercommunication as the trade jargon, there is a constant motive, not only to 

 help out the meaning by expressive intonation, but also by signs or gesture-language. 

 " A horse," for example, is kuatan; but "riding " or " on horseback" is expressed by accom- 

 panying the word with the gesture of two fingers placed astride over the other hand. 

 Tenets is "little" or " a child," — in the latter case, accompanied by the gesture suggestive 

 of its size, — or it may mean " an infant," by the first syllable being prolonged to indicate 

 that it is A'ery small. In addition to all this, words are borrowed from all sources ; and 

 the miscellaneous vocabulary is completed from English, French, Crée, Ojibway, Nootka, 

 Chilhalis, Nisqually, Kalapuy, and other tongues. 



The late Paul Kane, author of " Wanderings of an Artist iu the North-west," is my 

 authority for some of the details of intonation and gesture-language. He brought back 

 with him a valuable collection of studies of the different races in British North America ; 

 and, by means of the jargon, he learned in a short time to converse without difficulty 

 with the chiefs of most of the tribes around Fort Vancouver. But as an artist he was in 

 constant use of his pencil ; and, as he told me, he frequently appealed to it, sketching him- 

 self, or at times putting his pencil and note-book into their hands, with considerable success 

 in thvis supplementing less definite signs. The gesture-language furnishes Cheyenne, 

 Dakota, Apache, and other signs for " paint, colour, draw," and " write ; " the act of writing 

 or drawing being expressed by holding up the palm of one hand and moving the forefinger 

 of the other over it, as if drawing. The jargon has also its word pent, " paint," transformed 

 to a verb by prefixing the word mamook, " to do, to make ; " and its tzum, " painting," or 

 " mixed colours ; " mamooktzum, " to paint." In the gesture language of the Dakotas and 

 Apaches the equivalent sign is primarily indicative of daubing the face with colour ; but 

 the tribes of the Pacific Coast paint their masks, boats, and houses in diverse coloured 

 devices, with some degree of taste. There is, therefore, reason to look for terms expressive 

 of the art in any language iu vise among them ; though the habitual employment of signs 

 may iu some cases check the evoliition of phonetic equivalents. But among many tribes 

 gesture-language has been systematized into universally recognized pictographs, and so 

 developed into a native system of hieroglyphics. 



Among the Algonkin, Lenape, Iroquois, and other Northern tribes, and in the region 

 comprising New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and other South-western territory, rock-carv- 



' The Eev. Mark Pattison, aceor(lin<r to one. biograplier, Mr. Altliaiis, had cultivated a habit of reticence, till it 

 became one of his most marked charactoristics. His usual response to any remark was " Ah ;" but his biographer 

 adds: " It wa.s interesting to observe of what a variety of shades of meaning that characteristic ejaculation 'Ah' 

 was capable. Many times it was his sole answer. Mostly it signified that something had aroused his interest ; 

 sometimes it conveyed approval, sometimes surprise, sometimes doubt; sometimes it was said in a way that in- 

 dicated he did not wish to express himself on the point in question." 



