MALLERY.] ARAPAHO—ARIKARA—ASSINABOIN AG1 
The fingers and thumb of the right hand are brought to a point, and 
tapped upon the right side of the breast. (Shoshoni and Banak 1.) 
ARIKARA. (Corruptly abbreviated REE.) 
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 
> ? 7 y 
tips so as to form a circle, and place to the lobe of the ear. (Absaroka 
I; Hidatsa 1.) “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 sta- 
tionary, 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, V1IL.) 
Collect the fingers and thumb of the right hand nearly to a point, and 
make a tattooing or dotting motion toward the up- 
per portion of the cheek. This is the 
old sign, and was used by them pre- 
vious to the adoption of the more mod- 
ern one representing ‘corn-eaters.” 
(Arikara I.) 
Place the back of the closed right hand 
transversely before the mouth, and ro- 
tate it forward and backward several, 
; times. This gesture may be accom- 
Wig.285; panied, as it sometimes is, by a motion Fig. 284. 
of the jaws as if eating, to illustrate more fully the meaning of the rota- 
tion of the fist. (aiowal; Comanchel11; Wichita IL;Apachel.) ‘“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 (Avikara) 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 
plantit. (Rey. 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 I.) 
ASSINABOIN. 
Hands in front of abdomen, horizontal, backs outward, ends of fingers 
pointing toward one another, separated and arched (H1), then moved up 
